New Win2K and 9x drivers with a BIG bonus!

[frogster]

i just got the g400tv for my athlon system.

is there a serious problem with the 2k drivers and athlons?

[Jorden]

Kruzin forgot to mention the Win9x_driver new features, so here goes

New features
============

This software includes new features, especially for Matrox hardware with DualHead support. These include:

- The use of different DualHead features (Multi-Display, DVDMax, Zoom, and Clone) *without* restarting Windows

- Easier-to-use interface for DualHead controls

- Controls for dividing graphics resources (memory and bandwidth) between your main and secondary displays

- More features accessible through user-defined hot keys (keyboard shortcuts)

Jord.

[Greebe]

Frogster, no.

[Brian R.]

Thanks Kruzin

[dZeus]

Controls for dividing graphics resources (memory and bandwidth) between your main and secondary displays

I hope those will also be available for Win2k soon... at least, if they permit what I have in mind.

[Ali]

MultiMonitor faults according to Anandtech:

1) The Matrox card did make us reboot, however, when enabling DualHead, something that the Radeon VE did not make us do.

2) Another downside is that current dual display setups are limited to 2D. In the case of the solutions out there now, only the primary display gets hardware 3D acceleration.

3) Windows 2000 has a limitation that prevents two separate monitors running off the same card from running at different resolutions.

All these shortfalls have now been fixed, so if you look at the table on the final page http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1423&p=8 you will see that the G450 gets top marks on everything. As its already number 1 for ease of use there is nothing on the market that can touch it.

Also if what was said in that eDH thread about a price cut comming, the price difference will be gone to.

I knew there was a reason I have Matrox cards in all my home and work machines (with a few exceptions at work).

Ali

EDIT:
I know that the 2nd head could always get 3D acceleration, but the ability to change memory resources is new.

[This message has been edited by Ali (edited 26 February 2001).]

[DentyCracker]

DLed them earlier, haven't installed them yet. (DLing some 80's music) I will have a good platform to test on. My Duron seems to like 950 MHz at 1.825 V. It actually seems stabler than at default (700 MHz at 1.600V) Go figure. I'll post back in about 2 hours after I've Ragged it a bit

[Kruzin]

They've now made it to the Latest Drivers web page...

http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/latest/home.cfm

[IceStorm]

Someone want to explain to me why, on my G400 MAX under W2K, 1280x960x32bit@75hz isn't a valid resolution for the second head, while 1280x1024x32bit@75hz is?

I can live with 1280x1024 for a while under W2K - it's loads faster than the dual card setup I was using (G400 MAX/Millennium II), but it would be nice if I could adjust my second display's refresh manually so I can get it back to the nice 4:3 aspect ratio it was at...


[This message has been edited by IceStorm (edited 26 February 2001).]

[Liquid Snake]

I don't make extensive use of DH though, but this is a major breakthrough! Another reason to get a G400/450

[Nuno]

I am glad to report that the problem I was experiencing with 5.3x drivers (AGP texturing disabled in DXDiags and all around louzy performance) is FIXED!!!

I think these drivers are really great. Good performance (better than 5.20 with 5.33 ICD), no more annoying Dx bug, True Dual-Head (is it really true, I mean, do you get two independant displays or a streched desktop like 1200x600?)

A big thumbs up to Mtx

[hella356]

Anyone try these with the RR-G? There have been no new drivers for the RR-G in almost a year and according to Matrox's site those old drivers should only be used with the 5.55.022 G400 drivers. Does this mean that I have a choice between using these cool new drivers with no RR-G and sticking with the old drivers if I want to use the RR-G? What's the holdup concerning the RR-G?

[Jon P. Inghram]

Umm... with Win98 at least, you still need to reboot to turn multi-display on or off.

[Kruzin]

To fully enable or disable DH, yes it still needs a reboot.
But if DH is enabled, you can switch between the different DH modes without a reboot...

[DentyCracker]

Runs Fifa2001 great under win2k. Seems very stable in 3D so far. Going to try NFS5 under WinMe now.