G400-- Worth it?

[Sabrehawk]

Well, my old G200 is putting along (about 20 fps in HL in OpenGL), and I think it's about time to upgrade. I've been reading down the line, and many people have really talked highly about the G400. What I would like to know (if you have 30 sec to type a response) is A) Do you like your G400 and B) Some specs on it.. fps in HL, Unreal Tourney.. stuff like that.

And if you DON'T like your G400 (I doubt you'd still be checking the board), could you tell me what you would rather have?

My System, if it makes a difference:

Asus P2B-F Motherboard
Intel Pentium III 450 Mhz CPU
128 PC100 SDRAM
24x Creative CD-ROM
Sound Blaster Live Value
Matrox Millinium G200 (with updated bios and drivers)
Linxsys 10/100 Etherfast Network Card


Thanks guys! This board rules.

Sabre

[Rags]

I recently dumped my G200 to my secondary system in favor of a G400 for my primary system. I have also had a V770 Ultra and a V3 3000 in my primary. My system is basically the same as yours except I have an ABit BH6 and a 3Com NIC. The difference in the newer games is amazing. HL looks MUCH better than anything I have seen, and it plays very well (I cannot give you benchmarks, but it plays verrrry smooth and is actually faster than any of the aforementioned cards except the V3 which is ugly anyhow). MechWarrior3, Descent3, Q2, Q3,HL/TFC, Midtown Madness, and many others look like new games and play better. I do not ever regret getting this card (G400 Single Head, 16MB). GO for it!!!

Rags

[jerryka6bwz]

Went from ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 8meg AGP with a VOODOO2 to CL TNT2 ULTRA, went back to ATI and V2. Got my G400 MAX and am giving ATI and V2 to my son. Sys is MVP3G-M, AMD K6 III 450, CL Sound Blaster Live Value.

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No dummy, its rape, pilage, and THEN burn.

[CMB]

I have a Marvel G400 (same as a 16mg G400 for gaming)

and am please but with mixed views.
its Astounding when it works,
Q3 blew me away
INDY demo is amazing, also slave zero is good
but i seem to have probs running games with the unreal engine, and a general judder in direct 3d.

After searching the forums today other people have had similar probs and theyve been fixed by going back to DX 6.1
which means a lenghty complex uninstall procedure or a re-install

my advice to you is to get a G400 if you dont mind a bit of fiddling around with it to get games running,
if you do consider something else but face it, its not gonna look as good or have the functionality of the G400

I saw my friends TNT2 the other day and BLEEUGHH what is it with the card, a Gamma problem? its so dark and Nocturne was a joke
my pal insisted he liked it like that and when he tried to brighten the image via montior controls/gamma sliders/windows control pannels he just couldnt do it

i told him to buy a G400 hee hee

[The Rock]

Sabrehawk:

I have almost the identical system (P3 450 + 128megs + Asus P2B), and I recommend the G400 highly. Unreal and U.T. both ROCK like you wouldn't believe under directx7. I'm averaging anywhere from 40-60fps depending on a buncha things. Not only Unreal engine games, but Q3, Shogo, Re-Volt, Heavy Gear 2, Mechwarrior 3, all run flawlessly. Pay no attention to the people in here who say you have to mess with the card to get it working. 9 times outta 10, that's a pure crock caused by idiots who don't know how to read video driver installation instructions. Buy one NOW!!

The Rock

[CMB]

there are lots of people having probems 'Rock'
surely we cant all be stupid

I install the drivers by first using matrox's uninstall utility, when my card detects my marvel, i point it at the 5.30 folder and it does the rest.

perhaps you do it a different way?
would you be willing to share it?

id love to play Unreal Tournament i really would!!! :O)

CMB

[LAMFDTK]

Buy one and return it if you don't like it. We all have the same system here. The card is great. If you do not need "Dual Monitors" I'll give you a price on my G400/32/SH E-mail me. I want a MAX

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PIII-450@504, 128 HDSRAM, Asus P3BF, G400/32, SBLive!, Nokia 447Xi 17", oh yea, a nice floppy drive

[The Rock]

CMB:

I don't think there's "lots" of people having driver problems. Sure there's a few, but lots is overstating it. Maybe I'm lucky in that I formatted my HD completely before installing my G400 because I bought a new HD along with it. Did you try that? And if you have a socket 7 system, your officially in hell. I hear you must install things in the proper order for those to work right.

The Rock

[CMB]

I have a P3 450@475
in a jetway BX200 motherboard.

if memory serves, socket 7 is for kmd chips?
(ok if thats totally wrong its not my strong point ok :O)


i read somewhere in another post that having detailed textures slows UT down a lot, and disabling it fixes it? is this the case for you?

i also reinstalled when i got my marvel
maybe i should again,
I use w98 SE
Dx7
you?
also could you post what res, settings you run UT in
it looks like a really good game and i cant wait to play it :O)

[The Rock]

CMB:

Your memory is correct. I just thought you might have a K6-2 or K6-3 based system. Unless you have a small amount of RAM (64megs or less), I really don't know what to tell ya. I have a P3 450 + 128megs RAM and it flies like a bat outta hell with all graphics details set to "high". You could try a few things, like set your OCed processor back to 450, turn off 3d sound (especially if you have a SB Live), check for a BIOS update for your mobo, make sure your video cache mode is set to USWC in your BIOS, etc. You should NOT have to turn down any graphics options to make it smooth on your system. Your system is just fine, except you never said how much RAM you have, and U.T. and Unreal are both RAM pigs.

The Rock