Please HELP, about to throw out my G400!!!

[Athlon700]

Hello all....
Ive scoured the posts and could not find an answer to my dilema...sorry if this was addressed before.
5 min. ago i was on my way to pricewatch.com to order a new video card, but decided to give my current card a last chance by posting my issue here...
My issue is this: I bought my G400 D/H back in 8/99 when i built my current pc.....i was pleasently happy with the performace of the card in the few games that i played...mostly Tribes....anyhow, recently, say the last 6 months ive noticed a dramatic deacrease in FPS and quality.....WHAT HAPPENED!!!???
At first i though it was because i switched to WIN ME (about 6 months ago)....i figured the card wasnt set up right to run off of ME....so i kicked my self for going to ME and moved on....however, after realizing ME stinks (topic for another day) i decided to take some vitamins and type "format C"....but after loading 98se back on a nice fresh HD and installing the current drivers listed at matrox site, I GET CRAPPY FPS, or i should be more specific in that they fluctuate all over.

Specificly to Tribes, which ive played daily since 9/99, the performace has gone in the crapper....i used to be able to play at 1024x768 and OPENGL with NO issues, very smooth, 25+ FPS.....now i get like 7-15fps same resolution no OPENGL (with OPENGL fagetaboutit)

any suggestions??
Running PD 6.14.051
I believe there is a newer vesion of PD, and i tried it with no performace increse, so i went back to 6.14

Any feedback, would be much apreciated.....if i cant get this resolved, then im gonna have to resort to one of the "big named" companys with 64megs and put the g400 in my soon to be built wifes kitchen pc...i know its mean, but i cant deal with 9fps....jeez

thanks

------------------
Classic Slot Athlon 500 @ 709
5 Fans attached to cpu by STEPthermodynamics.com
Asus K7M
256 pc133 cas3
G400 D/H 32meg
Diamond Monster MX400 S/C
no name cd-rom
scsi Sony burner
scsi Sony dvd
adaptec scsi card
Pinnicle Fire Wire card
3com nic
IBM 13g 7200rpm HD
Unknown 6g HD
Win98se
Enlight full tower
5 case fans

[Rags]

Hello,

The best drivers to play Tribes with, IMO, are the 5.51 drivers with TurboGL installed.

Rags

[rylan]

Also make sure you reinstalled the latest mobo/agp support drivers for the AMD-751 chipset.

[Athlon700]

HEY Rags....thanks a bunch, i'll give it a try.....

Rylan, thanks for ur input, could you elaberate....not sure in that area....ah also i ran a little progy the other day that said i was running 1x AGP....could this be right?....should be 2X with K7M..humm, any ideas?

Athlon700

------------------
Classic Slot Athlon 500 @ 709
5 Fans attached to cpu by STEPthermodynamics.com
Asus K7M
256 pc133 cas3
G400 D/H 32meg
Diamond Monster MX400 S/C
no name cd-rom
scsi Sony burner
scsi Sony dvd
adaptec scsi card
Pinnicle Fire Wire card
3com nic
IBM 13g 7200rpm HD
Unknown 6g HD
Win98se
Enlight full tower
5 case fans

[Liquid Snake]

AGP speed doesn't matter (yet). No games take advantage of it enough for AGP 4x, or even 2x for it to be useful. Just keep it at 1x, it will be more stable too.

[CactusJack]

I must add my voice to those saying MAKE SURE THE CHIPSET DRIVERS ARE UPDATED...Win98 doesn't,by default, load the best ones...look at VIA for the newest 4in1 drivers. This will make a huge difference! Also must concur with the choice of powerdesk plus TGL drivers. 5.51 works well on most systems, esp with older games (like Tribes, not to mention CS, Half-Life,and UT). I still run UT at 1024X768X32 with my Celeron 300@450, and a vanilla g400 32 meg. Fast enough...barely.

[Athlon700]

thanks guys....

CactusJack......Northbridge?, or Southbridge?...the K7M has AMD Northbridge, and VIA southbridge, but dosent Northbridge control AGP/PCIand Mem??

thanks for the help....

[Greebe]

A700, you are correct, NB. Use the drivers from AMD.

If you feel the need, install only the specific Via drivers for the SB.

(never liked that MB or Step mod'd cpu's (garbage HS)

[rylan]

Yes, go to AMD's website and there should be a link to download the latest drivers for the 751 chipset. DON'T use the 4-in-1 drivers from via.. it'll hose your system bigtime, as its the wrong chipset.

[Athlon700]

Kudos to u all......

You saved a G400 from being damned to the wifes machine...

I uninstalled/reinstalled the 5.51 drivers and the current AMD NB drivers....

Started up Tribes in 1024*768 (NO TGL) and was disapointed with fps, only increased to 18fps......BUT, then switched on the TGL, and damnit i'll be darned....i got 45-60fps......YES!....thanks alot guys....much appreciated.

{L^H}Athlon700
Tribes clan found at www.lordsofhonor.com

[cjolley]

Try this:
Make a copy of the tgl dll.
Install the latest drivers.
Put tgl dll back in game directory.
This is what I do for Quake1.
It works great and allows me to keep
my driver set up to date.
chuck

[Liquid Snake]

Actually, I don't think that would be a good idea. TGL is not officially supported with PD 6.x. It works, but there are some bugs. I've noticed some fps bugs - fps jumps from 60 to 28 and back, making it very jerky. Also, some texture problems. This is in HL/CS, I don't know about other games.

[cjolley]

That's why I sugested a test.
It works fantasticaly for quakeworld, not as well for quakePlain.
Your milage may vary!
chuck