G400@89mhz AGP: UNSTABLE, G200@89mhz AGP: STABLE, WHY???

[MariusT]

Hi.
I'm running a p3-450@600 with 133FSB, AGP 89mhz.
When I play games and 3dbenchmarks the G400 randomly crashes.
I've done pure CPU-stability-tests and get ROCK STABLE, so it's not a CPU problem.

However I put my old G200 back in my computer and I am unable to get it to crash in games and 3dbenchmarking.

Have I gotten a bad g400 or is the g200 generally more stable?

I'm running at IRQ9 no sharing. I have also tried setting the agp from 4-256mb.

Marius.

[kelin]

No I don't know fo sure, but 89Mhz at the AGp is going pretty fast...realize that at AGP 2X it is hitting twice that...should be 66 mhz at 2/3 of 100Mhz FSB...I haven't really oc'd my max, cause its on my K7 system, but my V3 and TNT would run at 90 Mhz...but the TNT would get a bit unstable...
So, it might be that....Are you sure that your AGP is set for 66% or 2/3 of the FSB speed???
Kelin

[WayneHu]

Hi, MariusT,

Have you tried SDRAM CAS Latency to 3? I have got my G400 stable with AGP 2x by it... If it doesn't work, that means the quality of G400 you have is not good enough. Of course, you can't blame Matrox because both you and I do the over-spec actions...

In other words, Can you see any words from Matrox that promise you get AGP 2x at 89 MHz AGP bus?


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Celeron 300P@558/2.0v, P3B-F, G400DH/32MB


[This message has been edited by WayneHu (edited 13 November 1999).]

[waxling]

Well, I don't think you should be having any problems at 89 Mhz AGP. I've been running at 1x FSB (not 2/3) which is at 100Mhz, since I got this baby about two months ago.

Try dropping your FSB down to 100 and running your AGP at 1XFSB. If the lock ups stop, its not your video card. Its either your ram or processor.

[space7]

waxling what are you doing is not a very good idea. Are you runing at X2? If so you are forcing your card to 200 Mhz. By making this you reduce the life of your card. You will not realy benefy of spead increase. Marius, some card will not run 89 Mhz. Try to force your AGP to X1 I ting it will be stable. I forget like what waxling say are you having lockup when you are not overclocking ? It may be your RAM.

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My concern is with growth. You must grow to become one, to become whole, to become sane. I am not going to force sanity upon you. Rather, I am going to bring out your insanity. When it is pulled out completely, throw into the wind, sanity will happen to you, you will grow. You will be transformated. That is the meaning of meditation

Osho
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I will try to use a dictionary when I can't
(Corrected by Robert&Collins dictionary)


[This message has been edited by space7 (edited 14 November 1999).]

[Thundrchez]

I'm running my G400 on a P3-450 overclocked with a 124MHz FSB, and I am not getting any problems. 2/3 of 124 is ~83MHz for my AGP bus, and it is running OK in AGP 2X mode. I also have a HUGE fan aimed at the heatsink of my G400.

I too have a G200 which I ran at a 100MHz AGP bus in my celery 300@450 box. However, it fell back into AGP 1X mode. Performance with AGP 1X100 was very comprable to AGP 2X66 in the couple of test cases I ran. You can see whether you are running in AGP 1X, 2X, or 4X mode with PCIlist, which is available from the murc downloads.

Maybe you could try increasing the cooling over your G400.

[Neil]

Here is another post that won't help you, but may provide inspiration to keep trying.

My G400max runs fine on an agp bus of 86mhz on a p3-450 @ 581. It even runs fine overclocked to 173/216, and runs fine at agp 2x.

[waxling]

WTF?

Way to go space7, do you always help by providing misinformation?

500 point in 3d mark and 10 fps in Q2? I think thats a good enough performance increase.

As for a reduction in the life of the card. Well There isn't a part in my 'old' computer thats older than 2 1/2 years. Couple this with a three year warranty and you work it out.

[space7]

AOUCH what a acusation. waxling I get only 98 point more in 3D Mark between 59.3 Mhz and 89 Mhz, I set it to 89 because 59.3 is to slow. 300 point? houh! big difference. For the Quake test I dont now because I hate Quake.

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My concern is with growth. You must grow to become one, to become whole, to become sane. I am not going to force sanity upon you. Rather, I am going to bring out your insanity. When it is pulled out completely, throw into the wind, sanity will happen to you, you will grow. You will be transformated. That is the meaning of meditation

Osho
--------------
I will try to use a dictionary when I can't
(Corrected by Robert&Collins dictionary)


[This message has been edited by space7 (edited 14 November 1999).]

[This message has been edited by space7 (edited 14 November 1999).]

[KvHagedorn]

I think it's remarkable that Matrox has such a reputation for quality and stability that people expect their cards to run so far out of spec.. Marius, you might try forcing AGP1x and see if that helps. If it doesn't and you try waxling's suggestion to no avail, then perhaps it is one of the few that just won't do it. It really isn't supposed to be going faster than 66, you know

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[ThunderFoot]

I'm currently overclocking my Celeron 400 to 81 mhz, running at AGP 2x. It doesn't really matter whether I set AGP to 2/3 or 1 it still runs the G400 REALLY hot, I need to get a fan for it, but because of my motherboard arrangement I have very little space to put one.
I think it's the main reason I can't overclock higher, because my processor still runs cool, but I get lockups all the time that I didn't get with a crappier video card.

[Marshmallowman]

This is just a suggestion.
but if you are running agp overspec and your crashing, maybe you underclock your g400 slightly to compensate?.

[MariusT]

Hi guys.
Thanks for your opinions.
Well, everything is stabel now. It was a heat problem. Now I've got so many fans in my comp that it will soon take off and fly around in my office :-)

Marius.

[Gurm]

Folks,

A general comment - some cards can handle out of bounds AGP speeds and some can't. The only speed you're GUARANTEED to run at is 2/3 of 100Mhz, or 66mhz. That's it. That's all. If you can run any faster, you are lucky.

Now, as for the original poster. The reason the G200 _MAY_ be more overclockable in terms of AGP speed is that it isn't pushing the AGP bus as hard as the G400 is. The G400 has the fastest bus transfers of any commonly available card (verdict still out on the GeSpot666). So the fact that it won't operate almost 50% out of spec is not very surprising.

- Ash