Overclocking Your 3D Accelerator Part II

In the last article we examined the overclocked performance of the RagePro 2X, Riva 128, Verite V2200, and the Voodoo 2. Here we will do the same thing for the Matrox G100, G200, and the Intel i740. The new version (2.25) of PowerStrip still does not allow for overclocking i740's memory clock, but there's an option for fast memory testing which worked flawlessly. [update 08/27/98] According to MURC, apparently PowerStrip is actually UNDERclocking the Millennium G200- the actual memory clock should default at 100 MHz and not 84 MHz. When EnTech releases a corrected pstrip.cfg file I will redo the tests. Really sorry about this! I don't know why the games crashed at 98 MHz, leading me to believe that things were getting too hot, but when I re-ran some tests at 100 MHz today there was no lock-up at all.

Many of you asked me why the overclocked settings were not being saved by PowerStrip. Ashley from EnTech explained to me that it is because the evaluation version of PowerStrip does not allow for the settings to be saved. Apparently the information is in the readme file but I forgot to check it. If you register your PowerStrip ($29) then everything should be fine. Entech also informed me of a "shortcut" way to get to the Performance tab- simply right-click on the last button on the PowerStrip, and voila!, the About the PowerStrip window will pop up. One other thing- you can actually edit the pstrip.cfg file located in the Windows folder to alter the overclockable range for your card. But unless you really, really know what you're doing you should not change it. Thanks to Renato for the tip.

The system configuration is as follows: Pentium II 300, Asus P2B, 96 Mbyte PC 100 SDRAM, Diamond Fireport 40, Quantum Viking 4.5 NSE Ultra Narrow SCSI Hard Drive. Windows 95, DirectX 5, Forsaken 1.0 (640x480) Nuke Demo, Quake II 3.17(640x480) Demo 1, and Turok 1.01 (640x480) TMark were used for benchmarking. All video cards had V Sync disabled when the option was available. I used Turok instead of Quake II for testing the Productiva simply because neither an OpenGL or a Direct3D wrapper was available. Although there's a Direct3D wrapper for the Millennium G200, Turok was used regardless since the OpenGL ICD is coming out soon.

Eontronics Picasso 740
At the heart of the Picasso 740 is the Intel i740 chipset. Although PowerStrip (and the pstrip.cfg file) does not allow for overclocking pass 100 MHz, there is a fast memory timing option. Running Quake II and Forsaken yielded no problems with the option on while garnering 3 to 4% performance gain. It's not much, but since there was no trouble at all during testing I recommend turning the option on. If any of you run into problems let me know. Drivers used: Intel PV 2.1
Fast Memory Timing OFF Fast Memory Timing ON
Forsaken framerate 60.06 62.15 [+3.5%]
Quake II framerate 36.5 37.9 [+3.8%]

Summary
Overclocked stability Excellent
Should you overclock? Yes
Recommended memory clock: Turn on the fast memory timing
Default / Max allowable memory clock: fast memory timing off, fast memory timing on

Matrox Productiva G100
The Productiva G100 is a relatively slow 3D card with less than desirable 3D image quality. Using the recently released Matrox drivers helped out, as the card is much faster and looks a bit better than the first time I tested it. I had a lot of trouble with the card at 108 MHz, as Turok would refuse to load and Forsaken cannot run more than a couple of seconds without freezing up. At 105 MHz the performance increase was about 7% for both Forsaken and Turok, while at 102 MHz there is only 1%. Although the card was stable at 105 MHz, I don't think you should go that high since a little higher meant trouble. Stick with the default setting or overclock 1 to 3 MHz at the most. Drivers used: Matrox unified driver version 4.11

oc-g100-t.gif (2265 bytes)

 oc-g100-f.gif (2229 bytes)

Summary
Overclocked stability Not too good
Should you overclock? Yes if you want 1% increase in framerate
Recommended memory clock: 100 to 102 MHz
Default / Max allowable memory clock: 99 MHz, 110 MHz

Matrox Millennium G200

Results taken off-line due to bug in PowerStrip- new results coming soon.


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