Overclocking G400 32 SH OEM question

[jediphoenix]

Forgive me if I have asked this before but I honestly cannot remember. I have a K6-2 450 with 128 sdram and a G400 32 SH OEM card with the 5ns sgram. Would putting a 486 fan on it and overclocking it to max speed or higher show me any performance increase considering my processor?

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***TRUST IN YOUR TECHNOLUST***

[vanguardian1]

I think it would show some difference in 32 bit color rendering, but I can't say for sure.....

[Zenfe]

I never got a Fram Rate difference. But it sure does increase your fill rate

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Athlon 500MHz @ 750MHz 1/3
G400 32 meg Dual-Head Vanilla @ 160/200 (401, 2.5/2.0/2.5)

[Maniac]

Uh Jedi, why don't you do what we all do? Try it and see for yourself!

[Unam]

Hey Jedi, before you try anything that involves modifying your video card (and voiding your warranty ) upgrade that processor.

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Asus P3B-F1, PIII 600B, 128Mb PC133 RAM, 18.2 KA drive, HP CDRW & Travan drive, SB64PCI, Intel EPro+ PnP NIC, G400.

[jediphoenix]

umm well since I have no money and our first child on the way, unam you think you could lend me an athlon and mobo? LOL

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***TRUST IN YOUR TECHNOLUST***

[TomDavidson]

I sympathize, Jedi.

Sometimes it seems like there are two camps out there overclocking: the people who are trying to squeeze as much performance as possible out of their less-than-SOTA hardware and those who are trying to squeeze bragging rights out of their $3000 system.

I'm behind the tech curve, myself, although I DID go out and buy a new motherboard when it became obvious that my G400 32MB single-head simply wouldn't run on the old 577. Heck, everyone here will simply gasp in dismay when they find out I've only got 64MB of generic SDRAM on my system, simply because I can't afford another stick of the good stuff.

(Remember, it's mainly the tech geeks who care about the fps, and it's the tech geeks who have the good jobs on the coasts. *grin* When milk is $3 a gallon, I suppose that dropping another $400 on your computer doesn't seem all that bad.)

Unfortunately, I've got to agree with the general consensus. Overclocking your G400, given your processor, won't achieve a whole lot; you're limited in too many other ways. I'm speaking from personal experience, here; I've done it recently, and the improvement wasn't exactly anything to write home about.

To be honest, though, it's not worth the $170 or so you'd need to move up to a K6-3, and CERTAINLY not worth the $400 investment you'd need for an Athlon and new mobo. Wait until the Athlon is yesterday's news (give it a year or two), and then buy.

*grin* And if you're REALLY cheap, like me, you can buy the games the year after they come out, save $30, and still feel like your system is fast enough to handle them.

[firehawk2]

good answer Tom

[jediphoenix]

Thanks guys, and thanbk you especially Tom

***Jediphoenix beats away the FPS demons for the time being***

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***TRUST IN YOUR TECHNOLUST***

[Unam]

Hey Jedi, would you return it to me when your done with it?

BTW Good luck with your first one, we are only a few days away from number 5!

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Asus P3B-F1, PIII 600B, 128Mb PC133 RAM, 18.2 KA drive, HP CDRW & Travan drive, SB64PCI, Intel EPro+ PnP NIC, G400.

[jediphoenix]

Sure Unam I would return it back to you hehe

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***TRUST IN YOUR TECHNOLUST***

[Maggi]

Hi Jediphoenix,

you will see an increase especially in the higher resolutions.

I don't know if it would fullfill your expectations, but at least it gives you more stamina also in lower resolutions when the card is stressed by a lot of polygon and/or textures.

I added two fans onto my G400, one on the heatsink, the other one on the backplate pointing directly on the location of the G400 chip.
Both fans also cool the RAM chips and hence you'd be able to clock higher than without fans.

Furthermore it is hell of fun to sit in front of your rig, OC the heck out of it while chewing nervously finger nails and waiting for the first glitches and/or lockups ...

You cannot imagine how often I thought:
Sh*t ... that was it ... it's fried ...
just because my reset button didn't reset the compo (turning off and back on fixed it btw...)



I'd say: Go for it !!!


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Cheers,
Maggi
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Working Rig:
Asus P2B-DS @ 100MHz FSB
Double Pentium III-450
4 x 128MB CAS2 SDRAM
Matrox Millennium G400 32MB DualHead
Eye-Q 777 (22" with 127kHz) on primary VGA
Nokia 445Xi (21") on secondary VGA

Home Rig:
Asus P2B-S Bios 1010 @ 100MHz FSB
Celeron 333A @ 500MHz
2 x 128MB CAS2 SDRAM
Matrox Millennium G400 32MB DualHead @ 150/200MHz
CTX VL710T (17")
and a brand new Pioneer 303S SCSI-DVD

[Unam]

Hey Jedi, don't expect a large increase in frame rates. You can expect an increase in fill rates. My OEM 16MB G400 did not give much of an increase in FPS but got fill rates that were okay. Personally I would still suggest your system will be CPU limited, what you need is a new MOBO/CPU... I'm working on that Athlon for you.

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Asus P3B-F1, PIII 600B, 128Mb PC133 RAM, 18.2 KA drive, HP CDRW & Travan drive, SB64PCI, Intel EPro+ PnP NIC, G400.

[jediphoenix]

I wish that were true Unam That would be one hell of a present

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***TRUST IN YOUR TECHNOLUST***