I’m not sure why I enjoy this so, but in my ongoing journey to know and love the Millennium, I have finally found the 12MB WRAM module! It’s Compaq branded, cool and largely useless. I love it!

Incidentally in searching for it I found that there were Compaq and HP kits as well as the kit direct from Matrox and they all have different part numbers and varying availability depending on where in the world you are.

Here is the box, a Millennium II with the upgrade installed, and the 4MB upgrade for comparison.

So the key findings:
1. It’s cool
2. When connected to a 4Mb card, there is indeed 16MB seen by Matrox utility in Windows 98. As expected, there is no resolution/color depth advantage nor performance advantage (Winstone/Winbench in W98Se and DOS) that I could discern when compared to the 12MB configuration.
3. I had a 8MB card and thought... what happens if I add the 12MB WRAM to it?! 20MB?! Well for the zero people who’ve always wondered about this... The card works fine, Matrox reports 16MB (aww) and there again is no performance difference vs the “sanctioned” 16MB configuration.

I’m not sure where I go from here, but I’m gonna continue living the 1920x1200x24bpp dream on a card that incidentally works perfectly on a 486.

Nice find. Even though there might not be a practical use for it who cares it's just plain awesome.

BTW if you use this card for DOS gaming, I found a huge difference in Quake 640x480 on my Pentium 90 when using SciTech UniVBE 6.70

No VESA software - 5.7 fps
UniVBE 6.70 - 16.2 fps

Other cards I've been benchmarking have not shown this kind of improvement so I thought I'd mention it. All other benchmarks in Phil's benchmark are identical whether or not a VESA driver is installed.

Swiego wrote on 2020-06-06, 19:27:

I’m not sure where I go from here, but I’m gonna continue living the 1920x1200x24bpp dream on a card that incidentally works perfectly on a 486.

Now that's what I call retro computing.

There's no higher resolution with 16MB probably because no higher resolution was defined that times, also there's a limitation by RAMDAC that may not reach at least 60Hz (min. Acceptable for CRT) at higher mode than 1920x1200. More VRAM can be used for multiple video buffers but it may not bring any speed up beceuse the application must support it and also cpu must enough have power to compute more frames otherwise it doesn't help. In theory the 16MB card can fit 2 buffers at 1920x1200/24b while 12MB card only one...

BTW is there available pinout for memory expansion connector? I didn't find any documentation about it. How many PCB layers does the module have? 2/4? If only 2 it would be possible to reverse-engineer the wiring from hires photos/scans and make a new expansion board. The WRAM chips can still be bouht. I'd be happy with 4MB version.

Does your upgraded 16 MB Millenium II run MSI accelerated games, like Destruction Derby 2, Tomb Raider or Screamer?

I recently bought a couple of Matrox Millenium cards and I really like them, you can tell they're good quality just looking at them. Yes, there are a few games that may not work well but no biggie for me at the moment. As everyone knows, Commander Keen has scrolling issues with them, but there's an option in game that fixes it (options / "fix jerky motion").

I have a Millenium I 4Mb and a Millenium II 8Mb with a 4Mb expansion board. Didn't know they made a 8Mb expansion board too. I'm using the millenium I on my 486 build, looks wonderful but to be honest, I'm not sure if a can tell the difference in 2D quality compared with my Diamond Stealth64 Video (2Mb / S3 Trio64V+). Would need to compare them side by side but don't have that option right now. I'm still sticking with the Millenium I for my 486 since there are no 3D games that will run on a 486 as far as I know. Maybe in my Pentium I makes more sense to combine them with a Voodoo. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I was able to find a Voodoo I 4Mb for $50 not long ago, all the others are way too expensive now.

Also, I bought a Millenium I with an expansion board, in box with manuals, disks, etc. Compaq release. I have no idea about the base memory, still waiting to get it on the mail. I'll post pictures later on.

There is a web page that has newer BIOS firmwares that the ones we have at Vogons Drivers: http://asavage.dyndns.org/Matrox/index.html. I updated both of my card's BIOSes. (No, I don't know the guy)

Cheers!

Dusko wrote on 2021-01-22, 04:20:

I have a Millenium I 4Mb and a Millenium II 8Mb with a 4Mb expansion board. Didn't know they made a 8Mb expansion board too.

Hi, please could you look closer at the memory module towards some strong light to see if the PCB is 2-layer or multiple layers? If you can see a bit throug traces from other side then it would be only 2-layer and would be easier to RE.

BTW I also saw Mill II 4MB for AGP - chip version 2164WA-B, I was a bit surprised to see it but there are of course better cards for AGP systems...

RayeR wrote on 2021-01-22, 05:44:

Hi, please could you look closer at the memory module towards some strong light to see if the PCB is 2-layer or multiple layers? If you can see a bit throug traces from other side then it would be only 2-layer and would be easier to RE.

BTW I also saw Mill II 4MB for AGP - chip version 2164WA-B, I was a bit surprised to see it but there are of course better cards for AGP systems...

Wow! I didn't know there was an AGP version.

It looks like a 2 layer to me, but check this out! you can get them for $20 each, this guy still have a bunch of expansion boards for sale: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Matrox-4MB-50NS-W … 872.m2749.l2649
I bought mine from him, brand new (or that's what it seems) in a sealed bag! and it was nicely packaged in a box.

Yes, I saw there are some offers on ebay but the sellers are always from USA, that means for me the price of item is multiplied x-times by insane shipping cost, taxes, etc... I think it would be nice to be able manufacture new exp. boards. The PCB itself can be made in china for few $. The memory chips still can be bought or I can buy a cheaper donor card to solder them out. The problem is there's no any tech. info or circuit diagram. If you have a time please try to make the best photos of the top and down side of the exp. module on good light condition, it may help. I'm still trying to find someone who has the module and can borrow it but here it's very rare...

Hi, I started with reverse-engineering of memory chips wiring on Millennium II. I identified almost 92% of all pins and have some idea how it works. But I need to track the rest of pins to be able to make replica of memory module. I need someone who has the module and multimeter, with some electrical skills and be kind to help.

Here's my partial result:
http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/MGA1.png
http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/MGA2.png
My numbering of connectors:
http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/MGA3.jpg

Hi RayeR, I got busy with work, I haven't forgotten about the pictures you asked, I'll send them during the weekend (maybe earlier). I'll take a look at your diagrams too.

Hi, I had a closer look at your photos and also I got some photos of 12MB module from Russia but I'm unable to track unknown pins as the PCB traces are hidden below pin header or inner layers. So this method will not work, it needs to be probed with multimeter...

Yes, I was thinking the same thing, not sure if these pics will help. I guess it would be easier if you mark in the pictures what pins you haven't identified yet. Let me know.

A few more pics...

Hi! I have a couple of the 12MB modules now and a multimeter and am happy to contribute. May need some startup training 😀. Will message you in a couple of days once I’m settled and ready.

Hi, I need to identify this pins, see picture below.
It's very helpful to have a multimeter with beep tester that reacts immediately on probes connection. It's paradox that some cheap multimeters do this better than expensive ones that have overvoltage protection so it takes a few 1/10s until they beep, then seeking is much slower.
So just hold one probe on unknown pin (better on components side) and with second one move slightly touching all pins around the package of memory chips A1 to A4. Once it beeps stop and localize exact pin which beeps and count its position from nearest numbered edge pin. Pin numbering on a package below. Write down the pin number, memory chip number and connector pin number, so e.g. J2.D10=A1.78. On 4MB module some of unknown pins would be probably unconnected, on 12MB module probably all are used. Thanks.

Working on it right now...

Ok, here it is, not sure if you are still missing something, let me know...

J4-A30 n/c
J4-A29 n/c
J4-A28 n/c
J4-A27 n/c
J4-A26 n/c
J4-A25 n/c
J4-A23 A1,2 -99(OE)
J4-B30 n/c
J4-B28 A1,2 -18(CAS)
J4-B27 n/c
J4-B26 n/c
J4-B24 n/c
J4-C29 A1,2,3,4 -80(SE)
J4-C26 A3,4 -18(CAS)
J4-D28 n/c
J4-D24 A3,4 -99(OE)

J2-D10 n/c
J2-C27 n/c
J2-B13 n/c
J2-A03 n/c
J2-A17 n/c
J2-A19 n/c
J2-A23 n/c