G400 - How many memory types are there?

[ch43racing]

I just bought a g400 w/ 32 megs of memory.

I thought that all g4's had SGRAM. Mine indicates that it is SDRAM, running @ 166.

It is an OEM card. Were OEM's SDRAM and retail SGRAM. I believe that they are running at the same clock speed? so performance should be similar.

Thanks for helping to clear this up. I can't seem to find a thing about it on the net.

Matt

[Alec]

SGRAM is a type of memory optimized for graphics, it might run at the same clock speed, but it´s faster. And it´s generally more overclocking-friendly.

See here:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/video/tech.htm

About OEM or not, it doesn´t matter: my G400 is OEM (no box or software) and it has SGRAM in it. The normal G400´s memory runs at 166Mhz, G400 MAX´s memory runs at an higher clock speed, as well has the main graphics controller chip.

[Maggi]

First off ... Welcome aboard !



There are three different memory configurations available for the G400 series:

G400 MAX > 5ns SGRAM = 200MHz
G400 retail > 6ns SGRAM = 166MHz
G400 OEM > 6ns SDRAM = 166MHz

but I found out that most of the non-MAX G400s are willing to get overclocked to MAX speeds ...

Hope that helps.

[arbymo]

back in the G200 days, i believe SDRAM was more overclockable than SGRAM, dunno why though.

[Greebe]

arbymo, U R correct. The SDRAM version of the G200 was more OC friendly... which to me was a slap in the face for those of us that bought the retail product with SGRAM (but not as much as the OGL fiasco was!

[Ovi]

Gooooood!!

And I always thought that my G200 with SDRAM was inferior to those with SGRAM, but not any more!
Thanks to Arbymo and Greebe for the info!!
Cheers
Ovi

[dZeus]

btw. G400 OEM / Bulk versions don't necessarily contain SDRAM... I think that most of those made even contain SGRAM.. they're exactly the same as the G400 retail, but miss the fancy box and a manual. Just the card, cable and a CDROM with drivers / dvd player.

[Taz]

FYI Both my OEM G400's have SGRAM, one was bought as a white box card, (32Mb DH), the other is from a Compaq PC, (16Mb DH).

I guess it's luck of the draw

[ch43racing]

Update on memory

Thanks to all of your for your prompt and informative replies. Wow, the people on this board are really on top of things! For the sake of clarification, I ran a check on the memory on the 32 mb 400 I bought this week.

It was Samsung K4S643232C

Listed on their site as 166 mhz 6sec SDRAM memory

BTW, I bought this @:

http://www.egghead.com

They had these, along with the Dualhead version for $35 & 45 US Dollars shipped to your door.

[cerb]

Originally posted by Maggi
but I found out that most of the non-MAX G400s are willing to get overclocked to MAX speeds ...

I am not sure if mine is SGRAM or SDRAM (up till now I didn't realise they used the different types - all I know is it's 6ns. ) but it won't go anywhere near MAX speeds.

With MGATweak I can get it to about 175/175 so the core seems capable of the higher speeds, but my memory max's out (no pun intended) at about 183Mhz.

With Powerstrip I recently got to about 135/185 and it was stable in q3.

[Alec]

Mine is overclocked to 144Mhz core (don´t know the memory speed, but the rise is proportional) without any extra cooling and it never gave me a lock up.


Celeron 433@468 Mhz
Intel Atlanta 440LX @72Mhz FSB
192Mb Hyundai PC100 SDRAM
Soundblaster PCI 128 (Ensoniq 1370)
Matrox G400 16Mb SGRAM AGP@144Mhz
Maxtor 10Gb EIDE 7200 RPM
WD Caviar 4.3 Gb EIDE 5400 RPM
Creative 24Xmx CDROM
Sony Spressa 4x2x6 CD-RW (USB)
Iomega internal IDE ZIP100
Sony HMD-A200 17" Trinitron monitor w/ self-powered USB hub
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical (USB)
Microsoft Freestyle Pro (USB)
Epson Stylus Color 200
Genius desktop speakers w/ subwoofer
3"5 generic floppy drive

Win2K + SP2
DirectX 8a
Powerdesk 5.52

[Wombat]

My poor MAX won't OC at all. The memory won't even do 203MHz.

[cerb]

SGRAM

Just had a look at the advanced display properties pages and my G400 is SGRAM. Might explain why I can't get past 185Mhz. Perhaps we should do a bit of a survey. Actually, I might do that now...

[Alec]

I just checked and my memory is always at 192Mhz without extra cooling and no lockups nor artifacts, even after some hours of gaming. It´s SGRAM.

[George YS]

Originally posted by Maggi

G400 MAX > 5ns SGRAM = 200MHz
G400 retail > 6ns SGRAM = 166MHz
G400 OEM > 6ns SDRAM = 166MHz

I want to make a correction is that I ever got a retail G400 does use SDRAM, it's a 16MB SH card. how about other G400s using SDRAM, are the cards of SH or DH? I guess may be a portion of G400 SH cards use SDRAM instead of SGRAM whatever it's retail or OEM version.