What files 'should' I get??

[Top_Cat]

I got my G400 at X-mas and I installed all the software that came on the retail CD.
I have now installed PowerDesk Revision 5.41.008 and TurboGL 1.00.002. I have also got the PowerDesk 5 Resolution Manager 2.1 program but I do not understand what all the options are such as:
AGPFallback
AlternateFillPolygons
Anisotropic
ClockOverrideEnable
FipOnVBlank
etc...
should I turn these feature on? what do they mean? is there a much better readme that will explain what each feature does and what effect it will have etc... (if not then do any of you know if the author will be doing one?)

Also what else should I put on my PC is I have only put these three things on?
Do I need to upgrade my graphics card bios? (what version should I get and where?)
What program do I need to Overclock my card as I have a BIG slowdown on 3DMark 2000 when doing the high detail tests and 64mb Textures (I did not visually see this slow down on my old 16Mb Diamond Banshee card)


Thanks a lot for all your help it is really appreciated

Top Cat

--------------------------

System Information:

Processor Type: AMD-K7(tm) Processor
Processor Speed: 500MHz
Processor Caps: Enhanced 3D Now!/MMX

Total System RAM: 128Mb Dimm PC100

Motherboard: MS-6167 (AMD751)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI128
Graphics Card: Maxtrox G400 MAX


RESULTS
3DMark Result: 2074
Game 1 - Helicopter
Low: 43.0
Medium: 25.8
High: 8.1
Game 2 - Adventure
Low: 47.8
Medium: 30.3
High: 17.9
Fill Rate (Single-Texturing): 226.3
Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing): 236.9
High Polygon Count (1 Light): 1587
High Polygon Count (4 Light): 1417
High Polygon Count (8 Light): 1225
8MB Texture Rendering Speed: 154.1
16MB Texture Rendering Speed: 146.1
32MB Texture Rendering Speed: 115.8
64MB Texture Rendering Speed: 103.1
Bump Mapping (Emboss, 3-pass): 61.3
Bump Mapping (Emboss, 2-pass): 84.1
Bump Mapping (Emboss, 1-pass): 156.8
Bump Mapping (Enviroment): 73.7

Internal 3D CARD
Name: Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead Max - English
Driver Name: G400DD32.DLL
Driver Version: 4.11.01.1410 (Not Certified)
Total Video Memory: 32697KB
Total Texture Memory: 28809KB
Bus: PCI (Is this right?????) my card is an AGP
IRQ line: 9

[Kruzin]

You have all you need, unless you want to overclock. Then you have several options. I wuold suggest looking at the MGA Tools forum, if you want to get into overclocking.

Res Manager is mostly for adding custom resolutions to choose from. The other options in there are registry switches, which you don't really need to worry about, unless you are having problems (fliponvblank is vsynch, if you want to toggle that on/off). There are registry hacks available on the MURC utilities page that will do many of these things.

As far as slowdowns in the 64meg AGP test...your score looks pretty good to me (103.1, 64 meg test). You could not have seen any slowdown on your Banshee, because it could not possibly have run all of those tests, since Voodoo cards don't use AGP. Either way, there is nothing out there that actually uses that much AGP texturing, except 3DMark type benchmarks, so I wouldn't worry about it...

[Top_Cat]

Hello

Thanks for your help, it is really apprecited.
I hear that the Powerdesk 5.30 is BETTER than the one I have, is this right?
will I be able to play more games with this one installed? (Quake 3 don't run)

also where can I get a list what exactly these things do:

AGPFallback
AlternateFillPolygons
Anisotropic
ClockOverrideEnable
FipOnVBlank
ie AGPFallback does ****** and if you enable it you will see ****** happen but should only before people with ****** etc...

Also about the bios upgrade for the matrox G400, is there one? where do I get it?
is it worth getting?

Thanks a lot

Top Cat

[Rags]

Hi Top_Cat,

You should keep your video BIOS up-to-date in order to use newer drivers and to keep up with "bug fixes", but it is not entirely necessary, you can find the BIOS upgrades for your card here: http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/bios/home.htm

If you are having problems getting Q3 to run, use the 5.30 drivers with your setup, and make sure you have all the proper drivers for your motherboards chipset installed. After you install 5.30, install the TurboGL, and you will get a nice performance increase in lower resolutions up to 1024x768. TurboGL can be found on Matrox's website or use the quick link found on www.murc.ws .

I wouldn't worry too much about the registry settings unless you can't work out your setup problems to get something to work, I usually consider these a troubleshooting and last resort tool.

Rags

[Top_Cat]

Hello

Thanks very much for your help, I will get the 5.30 drivers right away
do you know why these seem to work and not the 5.41 drivers? have Matrox given a reason?

Thanks again

Top Cat

[Rags]

I am not sure, all I know is that they have some sort of problem working with anything but an Intel chipset. They work on some non intel, but most don't.

Rags