G400MAX..How fast A CPU should I have?

[Tom]

I have an older Celeron266(no cache SL2QG o'c to 400MHz).
It seems seriously under-powered to get full
benefit of the Matrox G400MAX. In fact, I
checked out some old benchmarks that I recorded a while back and saw some surprises.
My Viper v550 and Pure3DII were BOTH faster
at "Kingpin" (timedemo) and QuakeII (all demos). I realize that benchmarks aren't
the most important thing on earth, but this
really bugs me!
And yes, I do have the new drivers and ICD.
It's like the G400MAX is literally gasping
for more from the CPU!
How fast a CPU do I need to eliminate this
bottleneck?

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MatroxG400MAX, AsusP2B-L(rev.1010), Celeron266(SL2QG@400MHz), 128MB PC100 SDRAM, QuantumFireball(ST)6.4, ADI MicroScanG66(19"), MonsterSoundMX200, PioneerDVD103-S(6x,32x), MotorolaCyberSURFR(cable), Windows98(4.10.1998+SP1)

[Zypher]

Grab a 300a...cmon they're fairly cheap. Or grab a 366 thats been tested to 550. P3-450s are under $200, P3-500s are getting close to $200. Retail one for $235, heatsink and everything! You could try oc'ing the p3's.

My 450 (from 300a) does 34fps 1600x1200 in q2 (ogl no less)...I never would have thought the cpu could make it that playable at such a high resolution.

The 128k of full speed L2 helps. Most games don't need a lot of L2, but the small and fast stuff in the newer celerons sure helps.

[Zypher]

I should mention it also did 35 fps at 640x480 lol! After some fiddling it went a lot higher, but it at least tells you the g400 has so much potential.

[Tom]

Zypher,
Thanks for your input!
I will likely go for a PIII 500
and overclock it to ~560.

[Tom]

Zypher,
Thanks for your input!
I will likely go for a PIII 500
and overclock it to ~560.

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MatroxG400MAX, AsusP2B-L(rev.1010), Celeron266(SL2QG@400MHz), 128MB PC100 SDRAM, QuantumFireball(ST)6.4, ADI MicroScanG66(19"), MonsterSoundMX200, PioneerDVD103-S(6x,32x), MotorolaCyberSURFR(cable), Windows98(4.10.1998+SP1)

[Picard]

Tom,
I think it would be better for you to buy P3-450 rather than P3-500. The price different is about USD60. And the maximum reachable overclocking speed is almost similar. P3-450 can O/C to 558MHz (4.5 x 124) easily. And for P3-500 the most possible O/C speed is 575 MHz, not very different with 558. Although some P3-500 can reach 620 (5 x 124). But very rare.

[Tom]

Picard,
Thanks for your reply!
Unfortunately, my AsusP2B-L has a maximum bus speed of 112MHz...the most I could overclock
a PIII 450 would be 504MHz(4.5x112)....
...that's still quite fast....
I don't really want to part with the P2B-L
just yet, as the on board 100/10 Mbps LAN
works GREAT with my cable modem...

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MatroxG400MAX, AsusP2B-L(rev.1010), Celeron266(SL2QG@400MHz), 128MB PC100 SDRAM, QuantumFireball(ST)6.4, ADI MicroScanG66(19"), MonsterSoundMX200, PioneerDVD103-S(6x,32x), MotorolaCyberSURFR(cable), Windows98(4.10.1998+SP1)