Underclocking ?!?

[mrtones]

So I'm processor-limited - I have a Celeron 500, but only a 66MHz board and memory ( 192 MB ), ie. no overclocking option. Playing with the new MTSU, I successfully O/C'd my vanilla G400 16MB SH to 115%, but with no improvement in Q3 demo 1, viz. 42 fps with the normal settings @ 800x600 and dynamic lights off.

So, just for the hell of it, I underclocked the card down to 50% ! And, whaddya know, no performance drop, in Q3 at least.

Now my system overall runs pretty hot ( too many old hard-drives :-), so I'm thinking of leaving the board under-clocked to help cool things down, since it doesn't seem to affect performance. Obviously time will tell on that score, but - theoretically, how low could/should I go ? Or will the performance actually be suffering in ways that timedemos and the likes don't show ?

Cheers,

Tones

[frankymail]

First, you should be able to upgrade your motherboard to something better for almost nothing. You should be able to buy a new or second-hand BX mobo for very cheap (like an Asus P3B-E or F, Abit BH6/BX6.2 or BF6. However, if you choose not to upgrade, you should OVERclock your G400 and play at higher resolution (With my G400 32 MB DH O/C @ 175Core/233mem, I can play Q3A at 1024x768@32bits with all eye-candies maxed out. Highewr resolutions are more Video Card dependant... But, underclocking the G400 will not make a big difference in case temp. Also, underclocking will reduce the 2D display quality of your card, as it will slow down the primary RAMDAC, which is on-die and core-speed proportionnal (EG: a vanilla G400 has a COre speed of 125MHz and a 300MHZ RAMDAC (5/12 ratio) and a G400MAX has a core speed of 150 MHz and a 360MHz RAMDAC (still 5/12 ratio). BTW, I suggest you use Power Strip, as you'll see the real speed (in MHz) of your core and memory.

Francis Beausejour
Frankymail@yahoo.com

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- Intel P3 850 MHz Retail O/C 1.133 GHz
- Alpha FC-PAL6030
- Asus CUSL2-M
- 256 MB TinyBGA PC150 (2 DIMMs)
- Matrox Millennium G400 DH 32 MB O/C 175/233
- Sony E400 + Sony 210GS (the E400 is a beauty, and very cheap too!!!)
- Quantum Fireball LM 10 GB + AS 40 GB
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Francis: 19/Male/5'8"/155Lbs/light blue eyes/dark auburn hair/loves SKA+punk+Hard/Software... just joking, I'm not THAT desperate (again, Émilie, if you ever happen to read this (like THAT could happen...), I'm just joking and I REALLY, REEEAAALLLLLYYY love you!))

[This message has been edited by frankymail (edited 25 January 2001).]

[Ali]

It sounds more like your overclocking isnt working. Try another overclock utility, and see if that makes a difference.

Remember the G400 came out in the days when a P2 450 was the fastest thing you could dream of having. A 500 should be able to push it quite well.

Ali