Refresh Rate Fix?

[Airbrush]

Hi all

I am new to the site......
It is great to see all the fellow Matrox users gathered in a community......
I have a problem with Win XP......
Seems that the refresh rate is locked at 60Hz during gaming......
Is there a fix for Matrox cards, just the nvidia fix for the geforce cards?
Please help me, you all are my only hope......
Thanks

Airbrush

[Rags]

Re: Refresh Rate Fix?

Originally posted by Airbrush
Hi all

I am new to the site......
It is great to see all the fellow Matrox users gathered in a community......
I have a problem with Win XP......
Seems that the refresh rate is locked at 60Hz during gaming......
Is there a fix for Matrox cards, just the nvidia fix for the geforce cards?
Please help me, you all are my only hope......
Thanks

Airbrush

Unlike the 'other' makes of video cards, the Matrox drivers give you a way to customize all of your video modes.

If you simply goto display properties/settings/advanced/MONITOR SETTINGS and adjust a different display mode, set the modes you wish to use and set it for the desired refresh, you will be set. One word of caution: MAKE SURE you set the modes EVEN IF THEY ALREADY say the refresh you want, go ahead and adjust it, and make sure to save it for windows to use when given that option. Notice a display mode is defined not only by its resolution, but also by its color depth, so make sure to pay attention to what modes you wish to set. Once you set your modes, save the customization to file and this way if you ever lose your settings from a driver upgrade or mishap, you can simply load the customization file and not have to worry about manually setting each and every mode.

Rags

[Airbrush]

I know about that......
But that was only for within windows environment rite?
When games are loaded, the refresh rate will go back to 60Hz for OpenGL games and 75Hz for D3D games right?

Airbrush

[Greebe]

No... load the resolution which your gaming at and tweak it's settings... save.

[Airbrush]

Originally posted by Greebe
No... load the resolution which your gaming at and tweak it's settings... save.

Do you mean the advanced settings under display?
Will it stay the same throughout?
Even with OpenGL games?

Airbrush

[Greebe]

If you are playing say at 800x600 16bit res but your 2D display setting is 1280x960 32bit... go to the Advanced tab in display properties and select monitor settings. Now select Adjust a different display mode. From here you can pick out 800x600, the color depth to be used and the refresh rate (amoung many other things).

Save this (Save a customization file).

[Airbrush]

Thanks man.
I will go and try and let you know the results....

Airbrush

[Rags]

Originally posted by Airbrush
I know about that......
But that was only for within windows environment rite?
When games are loaded, the refresh rate will go back to 60Hz for OpenGL games and 75Hz for D3D games right?

Airbrush

Nope. You have been misinformed. If you set the modes like I tell you, your in game refresh rates will be the same as what you set them at.

Rags

[Liquid Snake]

Yup the Monitor Settings will affect the desktop and 3D. Strange that the refresh rate says 85hz but it's not. I guess this is a Windows bug, and not a Matrox problem. I have the same problem with my Radeon 7500. And the refresh rate seems to reset itself back to 60hz randomly, unlike my G400 which locked the refresh rates at whatever I set it to.

[duke_srg]

The real problem is that most games can't see ANY customized modes under XP. For example - Duke Nukem Manhattan Project, HoMM4, Warcraft3 Beta. DirectX games fails to set any resolution that was customized in powerdesc (meanwhile OpenGL works fine). Funny, but i execute HoMM4 at standard refresh, then switch to display properties and load a monitor profile with a desired refresh and switch back to HoMM4, which now works at desired frequency...
Overriding frequency in dxdiag won't help
So, is there any real fix for that problem?

[SuRGV]

Get Refreshrate Lock as someone here recommended before. I forgot the link and I can't find it here. If you can't, I will give you the link when I get home.
It's realy good program. No installation needed. Now games look so much better to my eye at true 85 Mhz.

SuRGV

[Tempest]

Yep, Refreshrate Lock seems to be a nice program
Home page is http://www.pagehosting.co.uk/rl/

[Rags]

I don't have this problem with any of the DX games mentioned. However, I have seen issues with some monitor drivers in XP/2K where they understate their refresh rate capabilities, and as such DX games will revert to the 60Hz refresh since the refresh rate selected goes beyond what the monitor inf says is possible.

When you setup your refresh rates, the easy way to tell if the refresh rate exceeds the monitor .inf's reporting of what the limit is is to look for the yellow exclamation mark and the dialog saying that the refresh rate is beyond what your monitor can handle...etc. If this yellow exclamation appears, then the refresh won't stick in DX. All that is needed then is to either select a Matrox monitor profile or edit the .inf yourself.

HTH

Rags

[duke_srg]

Rags, which .inf you'r talking about? There was no any exclamation mark!

2Tempest: Can i still use Powerdesk customizations with Refreshlock?

[Rags]

Originally posted by duke_srg
Rags, which .inf you'r talking about? There was no any exclamation mark!

The monitor .inf (driver).

Where are you looking for the exclamation mark?

Rags