Does matrox tech support no much about win2K ?

[Galvin]

I ask this because I called matrox tech support, trying to find out when win2K users would be able to define their own refresh rates above the 85hz max.

The response I get is it's a bug in win2K, and in the next service pack maybe would fix it. I told him there is nothing wrong with win2K, I even told him even in NT you can define your own refresh rates.

Basically I think he just didn't know and was telling me a lot of crap to cover his ass.

Anyone else get similiar responses like this one from matrox ?

[paulcs]

I get similar functionality out of my Voodoo3 and TNT2U. Could be he's right.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[paulcs]

Someone posted that they managed to get higher refresh rates with PowerStrip. Maybe Ashley could illuminate us about this situation.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Ashley]

I'm not sure how illuminating this is going to be, but here goes:

1. Matrox drivers are limited to just 85Hz, even under Win9x. In order to reach a higher or even just a non-standard refresh rate, you must use PowerDesk.

2. The part of PowerDesk for Win2000 that handles monitors and refresh rates is not finished yet, so you are stuck with VESA standard refresh rates for now.

3. This has nothing whatsoever to do with a Win2000 limitation - the current limitation is due entirely to the fact that PowerDesk for Win2000 is unfinished yet.

4. VESA standard refresh rates max out at 85Hz regardless of resolution. At 1152x864, the only VESA standard refresh rate is 75Hz: hence, no option for 85Hz or even 60Hz at 1152x864, even though you may find 1280x1024x85Hz available. Until PowerDesk for Win2000 is completed, these VESA standard rates are your only choices.

If you cannot wait for PD6 and absolutely must have higher refresh rates now, there is some non-Matrox software out there that provides refresh rates up to 200Hz under Win2000, but I forget what its called...

[paulcs]

Thank you Ashley. I stand corrected.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Haig]

Galvin,

the tech was referring to DH display modes ala win98.

In any case, according to MS knowledge base, there is a refresh frequnecy list somewhere in the monitor tab. You can use this until we include ours.

"Windows 2000 Setup Did Not Detect the Refresh Rate.

WARNING: Before following this procedure, refer to the documentation for your video adapter and monitor to determine which refresh rates are supported by your hardware. Configuring your hardware to use a refresh rate that your hardware does not support could damage your monitor, and is not recommended.

Right-click the desktop, click Properties, and then click Settings.

Click Advanced, and then click Monitor.

On the Refresh Frequency list, click the appropriate refresh rate, click Apply, and then click OK to test the new refresh rate.

If the test screen is visible, click Yes on the Monitor Settings dialog box. If the test screen is not visible, contact your hardware manufacturer to inquire about the availability of a fix for this issue.

Click OK, and then click OK to close Display Properties."

On my system, all I see is list all modes.

Haig

[PJ]

Ashley:

PJ here, new forum member.

From reading your response above, I gather it's the reason my G400MAX, which according to the manual, can go up to 85hz at 1800x1440, and my new Sony G400 monitor can go up to 85hz at this resolution, but the new G400MAX Win2k/Powerdesk drivers only allow me to go up to 75hz at this resolution. Am I correct in my understanding? If so, any idea when higher refresh rates (>85hz) will be available from Matrox?

[Galvin]

I know you can change refresh rates from 60 to 85hz, but when you run games like quake II it will always use 60hz, I looked up in "list all modes" and found out 60hz is 2nd to the 1st lowest setting for 800x600x16bit.

I did try powerstrip, but it seems the two conflict, example, you go and set say 120hz for 800x600, but then if you go into powerdesk and make a change it wipes out the change with powerstrip, so I uninstalled it.

Also mame32 when you use triple buffering it will also drop to 60hz everytime regardless of what your powerdesk settings are, same for quake II/III.

I tried looking into the registry to see if I could hack a higher refresh rate for 800x600 but couldn't find anything.

[Jake]

Could that be the great omnipresent allmighty flamer-slashing administrator PJ from the Bleem forums? If so, welcome on the MURC boards! Hope you stick around!
(Well, welcome anyway, even if you are not THAT PJ...)

Regards,

Jake

[PJ]

Jake and Ashley:

Thanks for the information!

No, I'm not the other flame-slashing admin from somewhere else that you mentioned.

[Phoenix]

1- The Matrox monitor page will be in PowerDesk 6.10
2- Win2k handles monitor limitations without giving the chance to the display driver to tweak it. For example, if you adjust your monitor using the Matrox monitor page to 110Hz when your Windows monitor limit is 85Hz, Win2k will strip the 110Hz refresh from the list of available refresh - unless the user manually uncheck the "hide refresh above monitor limit" (or something like this). We found a way to circumvent this, but there are still problems when running DirectX games full screen.

Phoenix

[Galvin]

Strange that win2K would limit a driver from using refresh rates, but if powerstrip can do it, then matrox should be able to figure it out

Does matrox powerdesk have the same problems with refresh rates using DX7 full screen in win98 ?

[Ashley]

PJ - I think that's what is going on, but only someone from Matrox could say for sure.

If you have Win9x installed and you go to Display Properties > Settings > Advanced > Adapter, you will only find one of two things listed under Refresh Rate: either VESA refresh rates (85Hz max.) or the *single* refresh rate you defined with PD. So there is nothing unusual about Win2000 here: PD for Win2K is just incomplete.

Anyway, I think I read someone from Matrox saying the monitor/refresh controls would be in PD 6.1, but I have no idea when that will ready.

Galvin - I'm not suggesting you do this, but if you want PowerStrip to override everything else refresh-wise, make sure you select the "Custom" refresh rate option, and then open the pstrip.ini file and add something like the following:

[NT-Refresh]
640x32=140
640x16=160
800x16=150
1600x16=80
etc.

As long as the PowerStrip is running, these refresh rates will be enforced no matter which program changed resolution.

[Ashley]

You would expect Windows to limit choices to resolutions and refresh rates that the monitor can handle. That, after all, is one reason why there are monitor.inf files.

But check this page for a comparison between the G400 and some other cards, and you'll see where the current limitation is:
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/w2kref.htm