Does Matrox Tweak Utility work with the latest (certified) drivers?

[Alec]

Does it work in ME, also?

------------------
Intel Atlanta 440LX 66Mhz @ 72Mhz bus (Bios 14)
Intel Celeron 433Mhz @ 468Mhz
Gigabyte GA-6R7 slocket PPGA - Slot 1 converter
Hyundai 192Mb SDRAM PC100
Western Digital Caviar 4.3 Gb UDMA
Creative Soundblaster PCI128 (driver revision 2)
Creative 24x CD-ROM
Matrox Millennium G400 SH 16Mb SGRAM @147Mhz/196Mhz + attached fan (Powerdesk 6.04)
Genius desktop speakers + subwoofer
Microsoft Optical Intellimouse
Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro
Standard keyboard
Standard FDD

Windows Millennium
DirectX 7.1

[Gurm]

Yes, and since ME uses the Win9x drivers, yes.

But even if ME used the WDM drivers from Win2k, the answer is still yes.

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Alec]

Sorry, Gurm, I was talking about the utility who would let you increase the G400´s clock speed. Is that the one you´re talking about? I guess I did not refer to it properly...

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 06 November 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 06 November 2000).]

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Alec, if I remember correctly, it doesn't work with certified drivers. I'll try to give you a more definite answer after checking through my info pack.

[aaroncgi]

I have the latest versions of both Matrox Tweak and MGA Tweak, as well as the latest certified Matrox drivers (PD 6.04), and they all work! Didn't notice anything different with the new drivers. I also didn't notice much improvement by upping my core/memory speeds by 25% (worked fine, but got some artifacts and snow in the picture after a couple hours game play).

Aaron

[ayoub_ibrahim]

pasted from readme for tweak utility 1.12. note last paragraph

English]
README.TXT MATROX GRAPHICS INC. 1999.09.13

Matrox Tweak Utility
Revision 1.12


Overview
========

With this program, you may be able to increase the clock speeds that the
Matrox display driver uses with your Matrox graphics card. Increasing
clock speeds may increase display performance.

Supported operating systems: Windows 95/98
Supported graphics cards: Matrox G400-based graphics cards
(including Millennium G400 MAX cards)

WARNING: With this program, you may be able to select settings that your
graphics card doesn't fully support. If unsupported settings are applied,
your display may become garbled or unusable.

Note: We recommend that only advanced users use this program. Matrox doesn't
provide additional customer support for this program.


Installation
============

To install, run the "setup" program included with this program.

Note: This program doesn't work with certain Matrox display drivers.
Specifically, this program doesn't work with Matrox display drivers that
are WHQL (Microsoft) certified.

[aaroncgi]

Interesting. I have MGA Tweak v. 1.20 and Matrox Tweak v. 3.00, can't find any warning about not working with specific drivers sets in the readme for either one of them.

ayoub_ibrahim,

Is there yet another Matrox tweaking program that I haven't found yet? Either that or I just am blind, or botched the install of the PD 6.04 drivers and really am still using 6.01, or both...

I thought two tweaking programs was enough, especially since I can't really notice any difference after using them...not that I'm complaining! Who can say if what would happen if I bought a brand new game though, still on year old ones...

Aaron

[ayoub_ibrahim]

aaroncgi, the tweak utility 1.12 is for overclocking the G400. it is completely different to the matrox tech tweak utility. as you are using mga tweak already, you won't need tweak 1.12.

[toysoldier]

Actually, this is a general question on the use of these utilities, and if I'm making a mistake, please tell me.

I have a G400MAX-DH, and I'd like to tweak it some, but when I download these programs, there is no tutorial <G> and I don't know what to change and how much is safe. I'm running an overclocked system... so does that affect which utility I should use? If anyone can point me to a readme file that gives dummies a step by step walk-thru... I'd appreciate that!

Thanks!

Mike

------------------
•Never be afraid to ask dumb questions•

[ayoub_ibrahim]

welcome aboard toysoldier.
I'm sure if you download any utility for your MAX,people here will be only too willing to lend you a hand but first you have to ask or else how will we know of your problems or difficulties!

[Alec]

Please tell us what´s your system in detail, just like I do in my signature below.

------------------
Intel Atlanta 440LX 66Mhz @ 72Mhz bus (Bios 14)
Intel Celeron 433Mhz @ 468Mhz
Gigabyte GA-6R7 slocket PPGA - Slot 1 converter
Hyundai 192Mb SDRAM PC100
Western Digital Caviar 4.3 Gb UDMA
Creative Soundblaster PCI128 (driver revision 2)
Creative 24x CD-ROM
Matrox Millennium G400 SH 16Mb SGRAM @147Mhz/196Mhz + attached fan (Powerdesk 6.04)
Genius desktop speakers + subwoofer
Microsoft Optical Intellimouse
Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro
Standard keyboard
Standard FDD

Windows Millennium
DirectX 7.1

[toysoldier]

Ok, my system is in a state of flux at the moment <grin> as my new mobo arrived today, and the cpu/hsf should be here shortly. But, here it is:

Asus A7v rev 1.02
AMD T-Bird 750MHz
Thermaltake SuperORB HSF
Mushkin 128MB Cas2 -GH PC100 stick
Matrox G400Max-DH 32 MB (+RRG)
Ricoh 4X4X32X CD Burner
IBM 75GXP 46.1 Gig UltraATA100 HDD
IBM 14GXP 10.1 Gig UDMA/ATA33 HDD
Zip100 IDE
AOpen 40X CD UDMA/Ide
Diamond Ensonic S90 PCI sound card
A-Pro Model 801 Mid-Tower w/certified 250W PS
MS PS2 Mouse/IBM Rapid Access Smart Keyboard
Yamaha Desktop YST-M10 Speakers (No Sub)

Windows Millennium
DirectX ?

(The system right now is a Abit BH6/PII-300 OC'd to 504MHz)

Hope this helps.

Mike

[Alec]

aaroncgi, if your system is 450Mhz or below, your G400 is being limited by your processor... it´s what happens to me: at 468 Mhz with the G400 overclocked almost at MAX speeds, the improvements are of 3-4 fps... with a 800 Mhz Pentium III, for example, the G400 is much faster, and also taken to its limits.

[Alec]

The Tweak Utility is referred to by Matrox as being the "Overclocker" . It doesn´t work with these drivers. Here are the latest driver release notes...read the last line:


Powerdesk V. 6.10.013 Release Notes for Win9x and WinME
-------------------------------------------------------
Supported Products
-----------------------------
G400 graphic cards.
Graphic portion of the G400 Marvel.
G450 graphic cards.

New Features
------------------
- DVDMax output to monitor
- DualHead Zoom multi-region support with the possibility to save a region to a file or the clipboard.
- `Mini-Wizard`to help enabling of Dual Head Multi-display mode

Description of release
-----------------------------
Supports Win9x and WinME only.
ICD included

Main Fixes
---------------
- Black screen when changing resolutions in Unreal and UT.
- Flickering lines in the "Sensor Manager" screen in Homeworld.
- Green tint around explosions in Q3.
- Invalid Page fault when quiting HL.
- Black screen when running Descent 3 in OGL mode.
- Fixed problem in 3DS Max where the image in top left viewport was not being refreshed properly when moving the window.
- Fixed corruption when previewing 3D Pipes Screensaver.
- Fixed various problems with Star Office 5.1.
- Fixed various OGL problems with GP Legends.
- Fixed various bugs with dark engine games.
- Fixed top left viewport refreshing problem in 3DSMax.
- Fixed blue triangle problems in Motocross Madness 2.
- Fixed color key corruption in HL.
- Fixed distorted textures in Star Wars Racer
- Fixed texture problems in WorldCraft 3.3
- Fixed Team Alligator and Roll Cage II crashes when reaching EMBM scenes.
- Fixed SOF problems when you would get sent back to the desktop after the 1st mission.
- Fixed SOF Z buffer issues.
- Fixed Freezing in Rainbow 6 Rogue Spear.
- Fixed missing scenery in FLight Sim2000 when playing in night mode.

Main known issues
----------------------------
- Tiger Woods - If game resolution is increased Image exceeds the screen size.
- Forsaken - Power ups leaving pixels trail and flashes (G100 and G200 only).
- Fogging issues in X-plane 461
- If you encounter a decrease is frame rate playing OGL games, please use our MTSTUtil to disable Vsync.
- When firing the 20mm cannon in F-15 (Jane's Combat Simulations) the frame rate drops to zero and the textures flip off and then back on.
- FAKK2 Heavy Metal may display 4 rectangular blocks rather than the game menu. You would have to enable "compile vertex arrays" to work around this.
- With the "Tribes" game, you may notice some minor display artifacts and the opening video introduction may not display properly.
- Various OGL screen savor issues.
- When Dynamic Lighting is enabled in Elite Force (within the game options), you may defects in display.
- When using Direct 3D in HL CS, the decals are not visible.
- When Using OpenGL in HL CS, the menus will over lap and you will get corruption on the screen.
- During gameplay in Klingon Academy, you may see white dots appear in the middle of the screen.

*** TurboGl and Overclocker not supported.***

[Alec]

OK, Toysoldier:

Overclocking the MAX with your future system will give a small boost that I doubt you will notice in real gameplay. Well, I´d overclock it anyway :
If you have Windows 95/98 or Millennium, I advise you to use MGATweak. After running it for the first time, you´ll see that your G400´s PLL clock is at 300 Mhz. This is the standard MAX speed, with the graphics clock at 150 and the memory at 200. What you have to do is to increase the PLL clock in such a way that the graphics clock goes up in 5Mhz increments, so be slow about it. Tick the "Save Settings" option and "Run Minimized", to take it to the system tray.
To make it start at Windows startup, put a shortcut in the startup section of you start menu, go to the shortcut´s properties and select "Run minimized".

When you find the "sweet spot", or by other words, the clock speed that lasts for 3 hours of constant fragging in Quake 3 without giving picture artifacts (defects) or even freezing your system, let it stay. Serve chilled.

I´d advise you to read the .pdf file included in the download, causew there are more options in the program. The success of your overclocking depends also upon the temperature inside your computer case. Good luck.

P.S. Oh, and install the latest drivers.

[This message has been edited by Alec (edited 08 November 2000).]