Overclocking Newbie wants to o/c G200

[Tomahawk]

Hi folks,

I've had a Millenium G200 for almost three years, and it has labored just fine, but recently it just hasn't been up to snuff with the latest games. I don't really have the money to buy a new video card (ok, ok, the wife won't let me). So I was looking to o/c the card to eek some more performance out of it. So, how do I do it?

I've notice that both Matrox and MGAtools have utils to o/c cards. Which is the best?

What settings have people found that work the best?

What about cooling?

Thanks,
Tomahawk

[Greebe]

The Matrox OC will only work with PD 5.x and MGA Tweak works with both.

[LrngToFly]

Overclocking is very different on a card-by-card basis. One will go to a certain rate and another will go to a different clock rate.

Save your pennies. 5% overclocking a older slow card is still slow.

ps- not trying to piss you off- I still am using a G200!

[Greebe]

So am I (G200, G400Max, G450), managed a ~15% boost with the Millennium G200. How much tho does depend on the quality of the parts on your card.

What cpu are you running?

[Tomahawk]

I'm running a PII 333 on an ASUS P2B.

[Greebe]

Upgrading your cpu would also help (yes I know my wife is the same!

[Stringy]

The G200 generally doesn't O/C well, meannig you don't get all that much improvement... I have 2 and with my Crappy 8Mb module out of one of them I can get to 95 or 100Mhz Core, which does well, but suchs in Reg. Windows cuz I run 1280x1024.. low on memory
with it in I can get 93Mhz core, not bad...

As far as how to O/C a Matrox card, get MGATweak, VERY nice, once you get you're sweet spot, you can use that info and G200.com (DOS O/C'er) to make a batch file and yer done...

you won't see much sadly though, I have a P2-333 and it wasn't cutting it either... the P3700 I have now pushes the G200 hard...

try O/C'ing the CPU...

Craig

[This message has been edited by Stringy (edited 11 October 2000).]

[Marshmallowman]

I had my g200 up to 116, mind you I put a socket 7 cooler on it and put heatsinks on the memory chip.
Actually the socket 7 cooler is way overkill, a small 486 fan would do the job.
But heatsinks on the mem chips mad it much more stable at higher clk's.
I used gclk, also playing with the memory timing made difference in speed, and stability.

ahh the good ol days, alas I have been seduced by the darks side, I have an asus ddr geforce deluxe. but the colors looked way better on the g200.
(perhaps if I used nitrogen cooling on the g200?)

[Alec]

When I owned a G200, 103Mhz core was the limit, with a Cyrix fan (that I´m using on my G400 now). It was the 0.35 micron version, so, if you own the 0.25 micron revision, you are lucky.

Nevertheless, I think it´s ALMOST not worth the trouble. If you don´t mind losing a bit of detail in your games, step down to 640x480, as it´s a easier way to raise your fps.

Edit: Hold it! If your card is 3 years old, it must be the 0.35 micron version. Chucks...

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Don´t you just love naked girls?

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 11 October 2000).]

[Hunsow]

Of course it is worthwhile overclocking the G200, especially because it's slow. I cannot believe the illogical arguments in this thread. Try to get it to run at 100MHz, that will make gameplay far more fluid. And only play games at 640x480@16bit. And a faster processor definitely helps too. If the heatsink is properly connected I wouldn't worry about extra cooling, you will only get a few MHz more. And I would never let a wife tell me what (not) to buy. (Can you tell I'm not married?)

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[Maggi]

Go for it !!!

I was able to OC my first MillG200 from def. 112MHz memory up to 140MHz and its followup, a Rev-5 MystG200 went even up to 164MHz memory clock !!!

The gain was very worth the effort ...

[Alec]

I must disagree partially with everyone, including me.

- G200 overclockability varies quite a bit, and it even depends on the heat inside the computer case.

- I think the Asus P2B supports the Pentium III. Upgrading to a Pentium III won´t perform a miracle because the G200 is easily taken to its limits. When I upgraded my Pentium II 233 to a Celeron 433 (which I overclocked to 468Mhz), the speed difference was there, but not very noticeable.

Bottom line:
Tomahawk, if you want to push your G200, overclock it, but bear in mind that your speed (or lack there of) problem will not disappear. The G200 is outdated for today´s games, unless you play them at low resolutions. My advice is: save some money under the bed and away from your wife´s sight. In two or three months you´ll be able to buy a Pentium III 700 Mhz processor and a newer graphics card (G800 maybe?).
Then you can kick some ass in Unreal Tournament.

Cheers
Alec

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Don´t you just love naked girls?