What is the best tool to overclock the G400?

[DarkSyd]

I already have a version of Performance Tuner installed. Is MGATweak any better? Does Performance Tuner set your oc'd speeds at reboot, or do you have to set them everytime you boot?

Thanks

DS

[DuRaNgO]

MGATweak is best, with a shortcut, it'll load at startup
jim

------------------
PIII-500mhz @ 620 ! with an Abit BE6 mobo
128mb pc-100
Mill G400 (YAHOO!!!) 32mb @ 165/205 with MGATweak-410mhz, (2.5, 2, 2.5), PD 5.30 & bios 1.5-22
Maxtor 14.3 gb Uata66 hdd
SB Live!
Winblows 98se & DX7
32 lbs. of fans, heatsinks and aluminum ductwork
3DMark Result 5954.69 3DMarks
Synthetic CPU 3D Speed 9325.69 CPU 3DMarks
Rasterizer Score 2791.72 3DRasterMarks
Game 1 - Race 65.07 FPS
Game 2 - First Person 54.89 FPS
Fill Rate 268.79 MTexels/s

[Kruzin]

Not too many people are using performance tuner these days. It's an offspring of PowerStrip, and not many of us trust that one any more, after it ate a bunch of G400s BIOSes for lunch in an earlier version...although those problems are all reported to be fixed in the current version...

Most people choose between MGATweak, or Matrox's own o/c util (Matrox Tweak, aka PDOverDrive).

MGATweak gives the most options, including RAM optimizations. It's the most advanced one out there.

PDOD is a simple slider, that reports in xxx% rather than clock speeds, and it writes it's settings to the G400s registry settings, so you do not need to run it every time you boot up.

So just decide if you want advanced, or simple...both are available at MURC's d/l page...
http://www.murc.ws/Utils.html

[DarkSyd]

Thanks guys, that's what I needed to know.

Kruzin, unless you can explain in small words what the RAM optimizations can do for me, I think I'll take the 'simple' option

Thanks again

DS

[Brian R.]

Kruzin - Correct me if I'm wrong, but RAM optimizations don't do anything for video unless you are swapping textures (not common under current software).

PS I use Powerstrip on my MAX without problem. It has numerous functions in addition to o'cing.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 27 November 1999).]

[Rags]

Brian R.,

Kruzin is not referring to system RAM optimizations, he is referring to video RAM optimizations. Your video card's RAM speed plays a major role in the performance of your 3D applications. The optimizations in MGATweak can allow you to clock your G400 core and memory speeds higher, by adding some latency to the SGRAM.

Rags

[DuRaNgO]

you will notice a performance increase just by tweaking the vid memory through MGATweak even before you change the core/mem
jim

[DarkSyd]

Durango or Kruzin-
Do you guys have some tips on where to start tweaking mem settings, or can you point me to a thread that already covers this?

DS

[Kruzin]

MGATweak has it's own forum here, where the author and other users of the program can give help...
Just "hop to" MGA Tools....

[DarkSyd]

Thanks Kruzin, I found the other forum after I asked

[DarkSyd]

Thanks Kruzin, I found the other forum after I asked.

DS

[Ashley]

Just for the record: to date, not a *single* bug related to the PowerStrip's G400 clock controls has ever been reported, and there have been absolutely *no* changes whatsoever to the program that relate to the clocks since early July.

Well, being first is a thankless task and, anyway, its not July anymore: unless you are running NT4 or W2K, there's no reason *not* to use the "official" Matrox utility...