I wonder if you can overclock G400Max?

[Ken D]

I have heard of people overclocking the G400, but the Max? How do you overclock it? Is there a utility that does it or some jumpers on the board? I'll bet if you can overclock the G400 to the max speeds, you should be able to overclock the Max at least 20%. It could be possible. But for now you really don't need to overclock if you have a fast system. Well, I can't say that for the people who buy the card and have a PII 233 and think it will do wonders for them.....
I have a PIII 450, so I don't think I will need to overclock for a while. Well, at least until Max Payne comes out!!! ;-)

[Ken D]

Posted the first thread by mistake, it is suppose to be in the reply section of the next post down, my bad..... ;-)

[MatrixNo9]

Yea, the MAX should overclock. It uses 5NS memory compared to the regular G400's 6NS memory. Thus, there is the room to O/C. Ken, I would O/C your P3 to 527mhz. That is a relatively safe level for the P3 450. Most of them hit 558 w/o problems. The performance gain is amazing. If you plan on O/C'ing, i would get a better heatsink/fan combo. I am running a P3 450 to 527mhz and 558 depending on the weather (no AC in my room). I am using a Tennmax P3 TF cooler on my cpu. With adequate cooling (about 40 dollars) for your cpu and case, you can O/C comfortably at 558 and even 580mhz! 40 bucks compared to the extra 400bucks for a p3 550 is worth it. My CPU was stable at 580, but the TNT2 Ultra Card started getting unstable at the high AGP clock.
SYSTEM SPECS: Abit BX6 2.0, SIEMENS ECC RAM 128 (runs stable at 129MHZ), WESTERN DIGITAL EXPERT 18.0 GIG HD 7200 RPM ATA66, SB LIVE VALUE, FPS2000 SPEAKERS, IBM P72 MONITOR, P3 450 at 558mhz

[rylan]

I'm sure you can O/C the Max, since as was previously mentioned it has 5ns memory instead of the normal G400 6ns. However, I still wonder if the MAX is just an O/C normal G400 with faster memory. If so, then it won't be as overclockable if the chip was designed for the higher speed. Lets hope for the best.
I for one will be attempting to overclock my MAX when (morelike if) it ever shows up.

[mragsdale]

One thing that has always bothered me about the way people look at chips that are run at higher speed than a different version of the same chip (TNT2/TNT2Ultra;G400,G400Max,Pentium200, Pentium233;etc. etc.) is everyone always says, it's just an overclocked xxxx. Well its not true, the chip is made in the same place has the same number of transistors, etc. The only thing different is it is being run at a different speed and it is guaranteed to run at that speed. In order for a chip mfr. to guarantee stability at that speed is for them to test batches out of their yields. One batch can be a regular, the next batch may be an ultra. In the case of Intel, not everyone can afford their highest spec chip at any one time, so naturally, they need to keep the supply of lower clocked chips high, so they in fact pull some silicon from the higher yields to meet the demand for the lower speed stuff. So when you buy a lower speed Intel product, you are usually, not always, going to get something that will overclock. Right now, in Matrox's case, there is a very high demand vs. the supply of their Max chips, which means most, if not every one, of their high yield batches will go to making a Max.

My point is that you are guaranteed that your card will run in specification. And that's it. Just because your card can't be overclocked does not mean it is overclocked already. It means your card will run as designed, and you were unfortunate enough to get one that was not a higher yield, that can overclock well.

But I bet if you wait, the supply will come up, and the demand may drop a little, and we will start seeing some cards that will overclock very well. It is bound to happen, chip mfrs. usually improve their yields as time goes on (unless you are Nat. Semi, heheh ).
Rags

[This message has been edited by mragsdale (edited 08-12-1999).]

[Kruzin]

Yup. All the same chip. Just that some test better than others, and go onto MAX boards.

Don't think of it as a MAX is an overclocked vanilla G400 - A vanilla G400 is an underclocked MAX

And in a rare event, once the MAX is assembled, it will fail it's post-assembly test. If that happens, it is clocked down and packaged as a vanilla. Watch your boards. If it has a fan connector and 5ns RAM, it was gonna be a MAX, but didn't make the final cut (I've only heard of one so far, but there are supposedly a few out there )

On the topic of if the MAX will overclock...some will, some won't. Just like any other component. I seriously doubt we'll see the success rate that we are seeing with the vanillas, though...

[Maniac]

So far I have not heard of anyone that has O/C their MAX. There might be something in the 5.13 drivers that alters the dividers at a cetain point thus limiting the clock speed of the chip.

[Maniac]

So far I have not heard of anyone that has O/C their MAX. There might be something in the 5.13 drivers that alters the dividers at a cetain point thus limiting the clock speed of the chip.

[Kruzin]

Nah...theres nothin in the drivers to do that. I know of a couple people who have overclocked their MAX. Not all Matrox owners post here

[Scytale]

Actually there's not much drive to overclock a MAX. It does everything you throw at it right from the box.
I think the second thing I did to my G200 was to overclock it, but I don't get that itchy feeling with the MAX... yet.

[Kruzin]

For that matter, there's not much need to o/c the vanilla models either. They run plenty fast on their own.

But I still o/c mine, just cause I can

[Meek]

Well, just took by brand new G400 out of it's box. Looks like a de-graded Max, if I understand those little "5"'s at then of the memory chip codes, and the tiny white little useless looking connector correctly.

So, I probably am not going to be very successful in oc'ing, will I, on the Graphics clock side anyway. Not that it matters with my current K6-2 300 anyway. But once the Athlon I just ordered today arrives...

Still have to wait for a couple of hours before trying to do the actual install.

M.

[SteveC]

As what you have is probably a degraded MAX to keep up wth demands, you should almost definitely make it to MAX speeds (with appropriate cooling, of course). The white connector will allow you to connect a fan to it if you wish.
Let us know how you get on! Good luck!

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Cheers,
Steve

My PC? Not that bad, got all sorts of crap in it, and all sorts of crap around it and my desk is also messy. Now what does that say about me? ;¬)

[ALBPM]

Hi Guys ,

I just swapped out my plain vanilla G400 32MB for a real G400 MAX. There is a big difference in the two cards. The MAX uses 5ns memory as opposed to the 6ns memory of the plain G400.

Also the first thing I noticed was a 4-5 degF decrease in my case temperature with the MAX vs the plain G400. I also was not impressed with the Heatsink/Fan combo on the MAX. But it runs cool to the touch so I'm going to leave it alone on this card and not bother replacing it.

And yes, I'm overclocking my MAX and it still stays cool!!

All said my MAX runs cool at 558MHz (124 1/4), AGP 2/3.

Paul

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P3-558(124x4.5), ABIT BX6 r2, 256MB PC100, MILL G400 MAX-32MB on BNC, Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 on D-sub, 21"Trinitron, SCSI CDR/RW, SCSI ZIP,SB Live!Value,USR Voice Faxmodem Pro(USB Ext) WN98
and a (Very Messy Desk) ;-P




[This message has been edited by ALBPM (edited 08-13-1999).]

[deprived]

Ahh , another one with a PIII>500 Mhz and a g400max !
Please , make that one single benchmark :
3dmark99max : 1600*1200*32bit , 32 bit z-buffer , (powerdesk options 32 bit z-buffer ), triple buffer , vsync off , ...

THX albpm !!!!!