its possible. but unlikely. Now if the textures are too big, the computer uses system memory and having more video memory will help a lot. othewise adding ram will only let you display higher resolutions.

Also SGram bust be matched with SG ram, sd with sd.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Compaq-356125-002-8MB-SGR … =item230ed788e6

the sd ram chips are a lot cheaper but you might want to think about not underclocking your system if you need more speed. If running the cpu faster gives you better FPS, then it isnt the video cards fault. and vise versa.

No, a G200 memory upgrade won't speed up anything. Your video card is fillrate limited, specially in multitextured games like Quake 2. More VRAM may only help on games that run at low res and use high res textures, but don't require a powerful graphics card. I can't think of many games that meet those criteria (Nocturne and Blair Witch Trilogy, maybe). And no, a SDRAM module won't work at all on a G200 with SGRAM memory. Read more here:
Matrox G200 PCI 8MB video card, quick test

I don't think G200 could be any better than Voodoo3 in 2D performance. Actually every 2D/3D card from 3dfx but the Voodoo Rush should beat G200 due to higher clock speed and faster RAMDAC. G200 is a perfect match for 3D-only cards such as Voodoo1 or Voodoo2, but that's it. Voodoo3 saves one or two PCI slots and gives better performance in both 2D and 3D. And G200 isn't the best choice for DOS, either. Tseng Labs ET6000 wins performance wise, while S3 Trio64V+/Virge + UniVBE is better compatibility wise.

I vaguely remember that the Quake III system requirements stated that it would work on a G200 if it had the memory upgrade. I know for a fact it didn't work without the memory upgrade, but I've never had the upgrade to try it out.

I think you mean Quake III: Gold/Team Arena, not Quake III: Arena. I own both releases of Quake III, and Q3A needs only a 4 Mb video card, while Q3TA requires a 16 Mb video card. The expansion indeed states that it will work on a G200 with the 8 Mb upgrade. I can confirm that RTCW will run on an upgraded G200, but it was barely playable.

So yes, the memory module may allow to run more games (Q3TA, RTCW), but those that already work on G200 without it (Quake2) won't run any faster.

Yeah I do mean Q3TA I'm more of a UT99 fanatic to remember the difference.

Thanks guys, just the info I was looking for.

As for the higher clock after my post I tried 133x7.5 (1GHz). My Diamond Voodoo 1 flips out with larger squares of green and such will not work at 133MHz FSB and forgot that I left Q2 in 3DFX opengl. I then tried 100x7.5 (750MHz) the game started under 3dfx opengl but picture was really high on gamma or something as it still didn't look right like it should at 66MHz. Anyways testing at 750 with default opengl only got 24FPS under demo1.dm2 which shows fillrate limited.

I never played with a matrox before this and realize why I went with TNT/Voodoo back in the day 😀

Dunno whats up with my Voodoo 1 though. What I do know is that the SMD 10uf 16v caps are starting to smell like fish which means capacitors need changed so I'm thinking of swapping them out with some tantalum type for a good long life 😀

Does upgrading G200 to 16mb give any benefits for 2D?

It looks like maximum resolution (1920x1200) is limited by 250mhz RAMDAC and not by frame buffer size. Is that right?

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

This weekend I've been testing out some hardware to see what works, what doesn't and what can be fixed. […]
Show full quote

This weekend I've been testing out some hardware to see what works, what doesn't and what can be fixed.

Testing out a Matrox G200A w/ 8MB SGRAM and 6.82 driver on a Pentium 1GHz underclocked to 500MHz performance isn't the greatest. Using quake 2 at 800x600 with dynamic lighting and such on gets me in the mid to high 20's FPS.

Will adding another 8MB upgrade slot really do anything? I was reading that the card should pull system memory if needed. On ebay these upgrade mem cards appear to be SDRAM, will that work with SGRAM without issue?

Will 2D performance be better than that of a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP. I see others say they love the dos compatibility of the matrox card. Currently pairing my G200 with a Voodoo 1 for testing and would think this would be a good setup for 1995-1998 games.

What games are you underclocking for? For most games from that time period, I would see no problems in running at 1GHz. If it's for period correctness, well honestly I think even a 500MHz P3 would be crazy, so why not go all the way and get the most performance?

Replying to a two years old post? 😉

This is exactly why it would be nice to have a thread creation date shown on the topic lists, as some of us were musing about in another thread.

Then don't hijack a necrophiliac thread but mention it over there 😉
I use mostly the forum search fornew threads and there the creation date id listed 😉

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

This is exactly why it would be nice to have a thread creation date shown on the topic lists, as some of us were musing about in another thread.

No, this exactly why old thread should lock automatically after they have been inactive for a certain amount of time.

and have an unlock button for OPs that want to kick up their own old threads

kokornov wrote:

Does upgrading G200 to 16mb give any benefits for 2D?

It looks like maximum resolution (1920x1200) is limited by 250mhz RAMDAC and not by frame buffer size. Is that right?

Could you please answer?

kokornov wrote:

kokornov wrote:

Does upgrading G200 to 16mb give any benefits for 2D?

It looks like maximum resolution (1920x1200) is limited by 250mhz RAMDAC and not by frame buffer size. Is that right?

Could you please answer?

Well, 1920x1200 at 32bpp needs 9000kB so 8MB is not enough to use that mode. At 24bpp 6750kB are needed so that should fit, there is still RAM left for buffers/acceleration features. Just simple maths, not specific for G200.

what's the real difference between 24bpp and 32bpp anyhow? Aren't they pretty much the same as far as colors go?

Addressing performance (32bpp is faster)