Can someone tell me if my G400 is a MAX?

[Jimmy]

The G400 MAX I bought came in today and I was kinda disappointed to discover the lack of the keyword MAX on the box and that the RAMDAC was 300Mhz.I contacted the store which is willing to swap it if a mistake was made but they told me that the card should be a MAX if the PN was G4+MMDHA32GR and non-MAX if it was G4+MDHA32GR.Now my PN IS G4+MMDH4A32GR.Does that mean it IS a MAX despite the fact that it doesnt say so on the box.I find that kinda hard to believe.Anyway thanx in advance for any help.

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-=Jimmy=-

[dZeus]

Ramdac of the MAX should be 360MHz whatever the shopkeeper says.... and is there a fan on the heatsink? only MAX has a fan. Where did you see the Ramdac speed? The info tab in the Powerdesk drivers sometimes misreport stuff, but I haven't heard it of misreporting the Ramdac speed. Did you install the drivers for MAX? did it recognise the MAX?

Best bet is to look for the fan on the heatsink.... else contact Matrox and sent your P/N

[This message has been edited by dZeus (edited 08 May 2000).]

[Jimmy]

I didn't wan't to open the box in case it gave me trouble to return it.The 300mhz DAC was on the box.Anyway I opened the box since then and it turned out that there was a fan on the heatsink so I guess it was a MAX with a non-max box...

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-=Jimmy=-

[ALBPM]

Sounds strange Jimmy. Where is the card made???? Also the final test would be to see what Power Desk identifies it as.

Paul

[Damien Green]

Basically, if there's a fan on the heatsink that you've definately got a MAX - as dZeus says, the MAX is the only card to ship with a heatsink and fan. Powerdesk and indeed misreport the RAMDAC speed. I wouldn't worry, just enjoy the card - I suspect it's just a case of the wrong label being on the box.

[Jimmy]

I think so too.Anyway PowerDesk didn't misreport anything.I still haven't had the chance to put it in a system(cause there isn't one...I'm putting it together now and I still need the CPU and monitor).Anyway thanx for posting to everybody.

BTW is the software included with the MAX different than that of the non-MAX G400?

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-=Jimmy=-

[Dobber]

I've gotten both Max and Non-Max units recently and none of the boxeshas ever indicated that it was a MAX inside. The MDH/MMDH, fan/no-fan was my only determination of fact, aside from installing.

FWIW, I recently got a M3D in a G400 box, but that was rather obvious

[Kruse]

Hmm... I believe my box said Max... I'll have to check when I get home.

[xortam]

My Max came in a box marked "G400 MAX" & "G4+MMDHA32GR" (from Matrox store, last October). It seems some of you have gotten returned products that weren't correctly repackaged. The part #, memory speed, fan presence, and RAMDAC speed should prove that its a Max.

[Jimmy]

Repackaged products,huh?I hope I don't get any problems.The fan on the MAX looks completely crappy,it doesn't even have a label on it.I also hear horror stories about it here about it being noisy and not dependable.Should I change it?Should I change the HS as well?How bout the GlobalWin LAC08(U can check it out at http://www.globalwin.com.tw/product/chip.html# in the chip cooler section.BTW how do I include pics?) fan/HS.It looks pretty good,is cheap and the mounting 'mechanism' looks the same.Anybody knows if it'll fit for sure?

(hmmm...looks like the above link doen't work.Just copy it and paste it in the address box of Ur browser.It should work this way)

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-=Jimmy=-


[This message has been edited by Jimmy (edited 08 May 2000).]

[Livius]

MAX boxes not only contain the word "MAX" but also a mention of the 360MHz RAMDAC printed in the upper left corner. On the other hand, is you have a heatsink then the chances are you have got a MAX, unless Matrox has decided to use fans on all Matrox cards. One other way to decide if it is (not) a MAX is lookig at the memory chips. If they are not 5ns then it is NOT a MAX. If they are 5ns chips, then it might or it might ot be a MAX.
Was your box sealed when you got it?

[Jorden]

Repackaged products? That's about the scare of my lifetime I had when I sent a faulty G400 back to the dealer and got a working one back in a TNT-2 box... That's when your heart races

Jord.

[Jimmy]

Well the product number on my board matches the one on the label on which there's also a serial number which matches the one of a MAX.Since there's also a fan and heatsink on the board I'd say that I'm about sure it's the right one.This refurbished and repackaged idea does concern me though.Well I still havn't had the chance to use it so I guess we'll see.BTW what about my question about the heatsink and fan?Anybody out there's got an answer?

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-=Jimmy=-

[xortam]

Jimmy, I simply said repackaged ... doesn't necessarily mean refurbished or even used. Did the board come in a sealed anti-stat bag? I thought it was a Matrox sticker but I'll look around for my old bag to make sure. Not sure what you mean by the s/n is that of a Max; I assume you meant the product number (grammar?). If you have the right box, the s/n should match on the box and the board.

P.S. I found my old bag ... it has a sticker that also lists the matching product code and s/n. The bag seal was simply a generic anti-stat "ATTENTION" sticker. Make sure this seal doesn't cover an older broken seal. Funny thing ... my first board came from Matrox with a reused anti-stat bag. Landed up being bad and I had to RMA it for a new one. First board was a Canadian made board w/ a metal-fin fan and the new card was a Irish made board w/ a plastic-fin fan. My system stays plenty cool so I never mucked with the Max fan.

[This message has been edited by xortam (edited 08 May 2000).]

[Fifth Horseman]

Jimmy, you could replace it with the globalwin fansink you mention, or you could get a Lasagna fansink from Tennmax.

Personally, I ripped the original heatsink off and I have a Tennmax Lasagna (not the new mini-lasagna) on it.

I also have an old low profile 486 heatsink mounted to the backside of the card (Tennmax sells some that should work. I happened to have one lying around from an old HP Vectra N2 PC, so I didn't buy it from them). Basically, I attached the front heatsink using thermal transfer tape, and I used push-pins (the ones that are holding on the original fansink) to attach the backside heatsink. The reason I did it that way was because you have to use a small copper spacer (and some thermal paste) to raise the backside heatsink above the capacitors on the back of the card. Since it's such a small area, thermal tape wouldn't have held the backside heatsink on. But... on the front of the chip, there's plenty of surface area, so I could use thermal tape there.

You have to use the old heatsink as a template to make a mirror image of the holes onto the new backside heatsink (you can't use the old heatsink because the holes won't line up). I then unscrewed the original fan from the original heatsink, and I mounted on the backside heatsink. Yeah, yeah.. I know it sounds complicated, but it was actually very easy to do (if you have a dremel tool that is. ). If anybody's really interested, I can try to take some pictures of it with my digital camera.

It works pretty decently too. Under heavy use, the card rarely ever gets 10F over room temperature.

I imagine you could use a push-pin type fansink for the front, but you'd have to use nylon screws to attach it if you add a backside heatsink like I did.

Oh yeah.. One other way you can tell if you have a MAX is to see if there's a heatsink on the BIOS chip (at least I beleive it's the BIOS chip).

Just my $.02

-FH