Reply 20 of 42, by LunarG
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shamino wrote on 2020-08-20, 13:31:For whatever it's worth, I remember installing a Matrox driver for the G200 that added support for multiple desktops (as often s […]
For whatever it's worth, I remember installing a Matrox driver for the G200 that added support for multiple desktops (as often seen on Unix GUIs). That was on Windows 2000 though, no idea if they did that under Win9x.
That was a very long time ago. Much more recently I installed a driver for a G400 under Win98 and didn't see that feature. Maybe it was just for NT.Since you probably aren't planning to do "serious desktop computing" on this machine, the value of multiple desktops is certainly questionable. But it's the only card where I've ever run into that feature in a Windows driver.
Back in the day, lots of people used to insist that a K6 series CPU shouldn't have anything later than a TNT2, but that wisdom was wrong. A GF2 MX can push performance a bit further and it's easier on the motherboard (electrically).
With the Geforce2 MX, resist the temptation to install a late driver. Older drivers are faster with the K6 CPUs. It's kind of erratic from version to version though, like NVidia didn't pay consistent attention to testing on K6 (shocking). If you want to optimize then find some way to benchmark the games you care about. In general I like 8.05 or whatever it was (8.something anyway).
The full Matrox Powerdesk package should give you multiple desktops in Windows 9x as well. I remember having that on my Millennium G200 back in the day. It is however possible that the Mystique driver package omitted that feature, as I can see Matrox feeling that this should be a more "professional" feature.
matze79 wrote on 2020-08-19, 15:04:swaaye wrote on 2020-08-18, 22:51:That's a Matrox G200. It was for a very brief period of time in 1998 the best 2D+3D card. Should have clear output quality and be fast for 2D in general. It is a bit faster than Voodoo1 for games and much nicer image quality.
Ist was a shit Card in 1998 hab various Problems with drivers , Rendering errors , Transparency issues...
I bought one back then And Quickly replaced it with a 3Dfx Banshee
I can't remember ever having rendering issues on my Millennium G200 back in the day. It was a bit slower than my Voodoo 2, but in most games not that much, but it provided a much better overall picture. 32-bit colours, sharper picture... What's not to like? I played Carmageddon 2 day in and day out for months on the G200. I played Quake 3 on it. Unreal Tournament. It lasted me until the GeForce 256ddr.
As for the GeForce 2 MX400... There is a reason why it's very popular among the retro comminuty. Back in the day, it provided decent performance at an affordable price, so lots of people bought them, which means that they are pretty easy to get hold of today, and they don't cost ridiculous money like the more flagship models do. It's a good choice when you want versatility, good performance and low cost.
WinXP : PIII 1.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 73GB SCSI HDD, Matrox Parhelia, SB Audigy 2.
Win98se : K6-3+ 500MHz, 256MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Matrox Millennium G400 MAX, Voodoo 2, SW1000XG.
DOS6.22 : Intel DX4, 64MB RAM, 1.6GB HDD, Diamond Stealth64 DRAM, GUS 1MB, SB16.