G400 MAX + Athlon 1GHz?

[Avron]

Tomorrow I am installing my new box with an Athlon 1GHz in a MicroStar(MSI) K7T Pro 2-A Motherboard using a G400 MAX for graphics and I was wondering what drivers I should use, I play half-life/counter-strike alot but I want to play newer games too without any issues..

I have already downloaded the 4 in 1 VIA drivers and the latest drivers from Matrox, but someone mentioned that 5.51 is the best driver for halflife, and it just so happens that this is the driver I am currently using in my K6-2 300(all newer drivers crashed for me)..

So, should I stick to 5.51+tgl to be able to run halflife, and if I do so how much performance am I missing out on in newer games?

- Avron -

[Greebe]

PD 5.51 is for Win2k, unless your running Win2k you can't use them. Also TGL is only for PD 5 Win9x setups. so...

if Win2k use PD 5.51
if Win9x use PD 6.50.008

TGL is outdated

[Nuno]

I can second that

[Avron]

Ops I meant 5.52 hehe...

So I should use the latest drivers then? And there are no known issues or big problems with half-life or other games in Athlon+G400 systems? That sounds cool.. =)

[Six Of One]

Hey Avron,

just make sure you have the latest VIA drivers (4.29 i think) and in the BIOS set AGP 4x to OFF/DISABLE. Also you should disable AGP FAST WRITE. To make everything safe and sound force AGP 1x for the G400 with the MTSTU tool.

Voilá

[Electric Amish]

I wouldn't worry about forcing the AGP 1x. I've never had a problem with my G400. I'm running 2x on my Abit KA7 and Athlon Classic.

amish

[Skystorm]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Six Of One:
just make sure you have the latest VIA drivers (4.29 i think) and in the BIOS set AGP 4x to OFF/DISABLE. Also you should disable AGP FAST WRITE. To make everything safe and sound force AGP 1x for the G400 with the MTSTU tool.</font>

Hi all,
I have recently upgraded my system to an Athlon as well (running @1,3GHz) and my G400MAX is running in AGP4x-mode with AGP-fastwrites enabled - I haven't had problems at all so far!
So you should only disable these settings if you encounter any problems...
regards,

Skystorm

[rylan]

Yeah, I have my MAX in a 1GHz Duron machine with everything tweaked out to the max and its rock solid stable.

[Avron]

Rylan and Skystorm, what MBs are you using?

- Avron -

[Six Of One]

More power to you guys, but i haven't seen a KX board yet that ran AGP 4x and AGP Fast Write stable. I don't know about KTs but i think it's pretty much the same. Anyway, i am glad to hear that newer boards don't suffer this problem.

Regards

[Wombat]

I'm running the 6.10 drivers in Win98. Stable and fast. And I do play a good bit of CounterStrike.


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Epox 8KTA3 w/ Duron 850@7.5*133 with Alpha 6035, 256MB Crucial 7E, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, IBM 45GB 75gxp, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-final), and Win98 (when I have to).

[rylan]

I'm running on am Epox 8KTA2 board. The sucker is extremely stable and fast.. can't really complain, unless I start whining abou thow I want the G800 or whatver card :P

[Indiana]

I still think the PD5.52 or 5.55 are the overall best Win98 ones on VIA/Athlon systems, very balanced between performance/stbility/features.

PD6 had lesser performance here, introduced Overlay-problems on the second head and din't fix anything I need - but then I don't play halflife.

P.S.: And yes, if TGL works with the game you want to play it's still the fastest.

[Skystorm]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Avron:
Rylan and Skystorm, what MBs are you using?</font>

Sorry, I forgot to mention this:
I am running an Abit KT7A-Raid with Win2K (SP-1) and VIA 4in1 4.29 (the older beta-ones).

Skystorm

[spawn666]

duron 650@910
g400max
abit kt7a raid, driver pd6.50

works perfekt for me ! but i am considering to try out these kyro2 babies in my second computer.