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best windows 98 agp card

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Reply 120 of 153, by rodimus80

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Voodoo started to go away around the time Jedi Outcast released I believe. I was rocking a Voodoo 2 at the time and I remember that game punishing my Pentium II 300 MHz. More and more games were coming out without 3Dfx support. Actually, now that I read this, I don't think my Voodoo 2 was even supported in Jedi Outcast. The game made me upgrade to a AMD Thunderbird at the time with a ATI 9700 I think. Huge increase in power for the time.

Reply 121 of 153, by cxm717

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Putas wrote:
vvbee wrote:
I can replicate his G400 Max numbers, but not vanilla G400. For example I get: Quake 2: 57,6 Quake 3: 39,7 […]
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Putas wrote:

Averages 9% on a p3 1.1 ghz with latest drivers at between 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768, as per Matrox Roundup G200, G400, G400 MAX, G450 and G550.

At 640 x 480, probably close to 0%.

I can replicate his G400 Max numbers, but not vanilla G400.
For example I get:
Quake 2: 57,6
Quake 3: 39,7

Maybe it is because my G400 has only 16 MB of memory, but I doubt that.

Does Phil even say what the clocks of his cards are? Maybe his G400 has the "expected" clocks while his G400 max doesn't. Out of my Matrox cards only my G400Max and G200 are actually clocked at what reviews reported. My G450, G550 and Parhelia cards are all clocked lower. My G550 for example is only 104MHz while techreport reported their G550 ran at 125MHz.

Also, sort of off topic but how does he run forsaken in 32bit colour? Is it only available in the full version with a patch or is there a command line/file edit to enable it?

Reply 122 of 153, by Putas

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I don't think there was a clock variance among G400 cards. At least not Max.

cxm717 wrote:

My G550 for example is only 104MHz while techreport reported their G550 ran at 125MHz.

Too low for G550. Which tool reported your clock?

Reply 123 of 153, by cxm717

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Putas wrote:
cxm717 wrote:

My G550 for example is only 104MHz while techreport reported their G550 ran at 125MHz.

Too low for G550. Which tool reported your clock?

I used powerstrip. Same for all my cards, though I have used MGA tweak on my G400. Is there anything else that works on a G550?

Reply 124 of 153, by vvbee

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Putas wrote:
I can replicate his G400 Max numbers, but not vanilla G400. For example I get: Quake 2: 57,6 Quake 3: 39,7 […]
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I can replicate his G400 Max numbers, but not vanilla G400.
For example I get:
Quake 2: 57,6
Quake 3: 39,7

Maybe it is because my G400 has only 16 MB of memory, but I doubt that.

I'm seeing 42 in quake 3 on a 1.4 ghz athlon xp with a 32-mb g400.

Reply 127 of 153, by noshutdown

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the g400max is a fast card but my vote goes to tnt2ultra. even though the g400max can be faster in some tests, the tnt2ultra is a better allrounder with more mature drivers, and won't perform badly in some tests that its driver forgot to support.

Reply 129 of 153, by NostalgicAslinger

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noshutdown wrote:

the g400max is a fast card but my vote goes to tnt2ultra. even though the g400max can be faster in some tests, the tnt2ultra is a better allrounder with more mature drivers, and won't perform badly in some tests that its driver forgot to support.

Here is a comparison video that I have made on my Tualatin 1400 testbench system. G400 Max, TNT2 Ultra and Voodoo3 3500. The G400 Max is very strong in 32 bit, loses significantly less performance than a TNT 2 Ultra in 32 Bit colour. You can see this in the last test, Incoming Subversion. All other was made in 16 bit for a fair use (also the voodoo 3 with disabled 22 bit filter, 22 Bit on in Incoming Subversion).

Reply 130 of 153, by The Serpent Rider

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G400 can do trilinear filtering and TNT2 don't (only dithering).

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 131 of 153, by noshutdown

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NostalgicAslinger wrote:

Here is a comparison video that I have made on my Tualatin 1400 testbench system. G400 Max, TNT2 Ultra and Voodoo3 3500. The G400 Max is very strong in 32 bit, loses significantly less performance than a TNT 2 Ultra in 32 Bit colour. You can see this in the last test, Incoming Subversion. All other was made in 16 bit for a fair use (also the voodoo 3 with disabled 22 bit filter, 22 Bit on in Incoming Subversion).

youtube is not accessible here, but i don't run old tests like incoming, i ran some newer tests like 3dmark01, quake3 and so on(all in 32bit colors) to push them to the limit and tnt2ultra has an edge over g400max. g400max is faster in quake2 but its an older game which is easier for the drivers to optimize.
as i said, g400max does have a faster hardware spec, but tnt2ultra has more mature driver which provides consistent performance throughout various tests, which is what g400max lacks.

Reply 132 of 153, by cxm717

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Putas wrote:

I don't think there was a clock variance among G400 cards. At least not Max.

I went and watched Phils G400max review and you can see when he opens powerstrip (at about 4:46 in the video) his card is clocked at 145MHz, so clearly there is some variance. My card is 150/200 MHz and most examples I was able to find online were clocked the same.

Reply 133 of 153, by noshutdown

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cxm717 wrote:

I went and watched Phils G400max review and you can see when he opens powerstrip (at about 4:46 in the video) his card is clocked at 145MHz, so clearly there is some variance. My card is 150/200 MHz and most examples I was able to find online were clocked the same.

i had tested several g400max cards before and i can claim that there are a few mhzs variance between them, despite the standard ought to be 150/200.

Reply 135 of 153, by Bige4u

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Best windows98 agp card..... i just built a P3 1.4ghz tualatin system and im looking for a video card that compliments the cpu w/o either one bottlenecking each other, currently im a using a GF3-ti500, am i spot or will i be better off with a GF4-ti series card?

Pentium3 1.4ghz tualatin
Asus Tusl2-c
Kingston 1x512mb pc133 cl2
Asus Gf3 ti500 64mb
WD 20gb pata 7200rpm
SB pci128
usb2.0 pci 4port
dvdrom/3.5'' floppy drive
Enermax 550w (tester)
Win98se

Pentium3 1400s/ Asus Tusl2-c / Kingston 512mb pc133 cl2 / WD 20gb 7200rpm / GeForce3 Ti-500 64mb / Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 SB0100 / 16x dvdrom / 3.5 Floppy / Enermax 420w / Win98se

Reply 136 of 153, by KT7AGuy

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GF3 Ti500 is period-perfect and performance-perfect for a 1.4ghz Tualatin with 512mb RAM. With the exception of your sound card, you have a perfect Win98SE build. Don't change it. It doesn't get any better than what you have already designed. The only addition I would recommend is a Voodoo 2 for GLIDE support. Oh, and swap out that craptastic sound card for a CT4620 or CT4670.

I only recommend GF4 cards because the GF3 Ti500 cards are so rare now. If mine had not died, I would still be running it in my 1ghz Coppermine.

Reply 137 of 153, by The Serpent Rider

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Even Tualatin can utilize GeForce 4 Ti perfectly - just use quality option like anti-aliasing.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 138 of 153, by Bige4u

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Figured someone would mention the sound card.... i do have an "AOPEN AW744L II - Yamaha XG YMF744 YMF724 OPL3 PCI" retro sound card i could try out, just for windows games only, no DOS type.

Pentium3 1400s/ Asus Tusl2-c / Kingston 512mb pc133 cl2 / WD 20gb 7200rpm / GeForce3 Ti-500 64mb / Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 SB0100 / 16x dvdrom / 3.5 Floppy / Enermax 420w / Win98se

Reply 139 of 153, by ruthan

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Bige4u wrote:

Figured someone would mention the sound card....

Why i thread named - best windows 98 agp card?

Im old goal oriented goatman, i care about facts and freedom, not about egos+prejudices. Hoarding=sickness. If you want respect, gain it by your behavior. I hate stupid SW limits, SW=virtual world, everything should be possible if you have enough raw HW.