Matrox G400 - 1.5v or 3.3v?

[Felecha]

New ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 just arrived. Reading the manual I see it says

Do NOT use a 3.3V AGP card on the AGP slot of this motherobard! It may cause permanent damage!

Pretty emphatically clear. I bought the board on the expectation that it would work with my good old Matrox G400 Millenium. So I got the numbers off the board and it looks like there are clues that it's 3.3V, darn it.

MGI G4+MILA/32/OEM

I sure don't want to find out by just trying it a little.

If it wont work, what's a decent video card? The G400 has been fine all these years. I don't do games or 3D graphics. I just need a good old monitor. I have a Samsung SyncMaster 1100P Plus, 21-inch

I see PCIe x16 starting at $49 at newegg. Any reason not to go to the lowest price? Would the lowest be as good or better than my 5-year old G400? Money counts these days.

 

[phaxmohdem]

I think you're good buying on the cheap. I asked something similar the other day about whether or not a cheapo RAdeon 9250 AGP 128 bit card was better than my G450, and the response was a resounding yes. As for image quality in the 2D realm, I have no clue how they stack up though. I think most modern day GPU's produce as good or better 2D than the old MAtrox cards did.

 

[Lord Evermore]

The G400 can work at either voltage, it will automatically switch to work at 1.5V. Any good brand name cards have the notches in the card as well which would prevent you installing it in a board that doesn't support it (some off-brands didn't).

 

[tweekah]

I'd say just about any PCI-e 16 card would perform at par or better than the g400. G400 was a great card for a long time don't get me wrong, but it's time to move on...

 

[Lord Evermore]

But if it will continue to do the job, why spend the fifty bucks? Not everybody needs to upgrade just because there are upgrades available.

 

[tweekah]

If you're unsure is it worth the price of the new mobo? =P Sorry to be the devil's advocate... I'd save the money too for a rainy day if I didn't need it.

 

[Felecha]

Apparently there ARE different version of the G400, and some ARE incompatible. I found on the Matrox Discussion Forum many versions of the question "Is mine 1.5 or 3.3?"

The one that meant the most to me was this one:

Hi,

I have a Matrox AGP video card.

Sticker on back reads: MGI G4+MILA/32/OEM

Other Markings on board:
MATROX
891-0401 REV: A
COPYRIGHT 1999

Is it an 1,5 V or 3,3 V card?

Thank you.


That's EXACTLY what's on my card. There are lots of questions on that forum for cards with different codes. And the Matrox tech guy answered

The card in question is a 2X agp version.
- Our G-400 and later graphics cards, be it AGP4x or AGP2x, are compatible with virtually all motherboards.
However, if the motherboard calls for a 1.5V card ONLY to be installed, the 2x versions of our G400 card may not work properly.


And my new mobo does say ONLY 1.5 is ok. So, you will say, why do I bother you guys here if I think that's a definitive answer? (Well, not exactly definitive - the tech guy said it may not work properly, but who wants to try it?) I just don't want to throw away the bucks if someone here has anything to add that would show how the above is not what I think it is. I don't know anything of the ins and outs. I know how to google and ended up digging up the above, but I might just not have dug up the one that says the last piece of evidence that I missed.

Thanks, all of you

 

[LTC8K6]

Just to be clear, we are talking about the signaling voltage, not the supply voltage to the AGP slot.

What board was the g400 in previously? It being an OEM card complicates the issue further.

According to the manual, all of the g400's are 2X/4X.

G400

If you aren't sure and can't tell, I don't see how you can risk it.

 

[Felecha]

It's been in an ABIT KT7RAID

 

[Lord Evermore]

Did you even check whether it will fit? If it's a 2X only board, then the notches ought to prevent it fitting. Not guaranteed, but it could answer the question right away.

 

[Felecha]

Very interesting tip. Thanks. Never would have known that.

I haven't opened the board yet. This is all because I saw the 1.5 warning in the manual, figuring if this is my first time at this I better read every single word and take my time about it. I'm looking around at these shiny items with a little bit of wonder, awe, and ... nervousness.

And right now the Matrox is busy giving me a screen to type this on.

This is the weekend I was hoping to plunge in, so we'll see!

 

[Lord Evermore]

Based on this image of a claimed OEM G400, and a pic of a current mainboard AGP slot, I'd guess it will fit.

It's never been asked, what system are you running it in now?

 

[Felecha]

ABIT KT7RAID, Athlon 900 TBird, 768 RAM, 2 x Seagate 80BG, Samsung SyncMaster 1100pPlus 21" CRT, custom built at a local shop 5 years ago

 

[Felecha]

Evermore - looking at your image, I would not think that card there would be the one. That card shows 3 segments to the [what do you call the part of the card that goes INTO the slot? The tab-like part with all the golden contacts] and the actual slot on the new board shows 2 segments - one long, one short. I suppose the 2 slots on the right in the photo would slip into the single larger portion of the slot, but it seems not to be made for that.

 

[Felecha]

well, a new solution, maybe

A friend of mine poked through his pile of stuff and came up with some video cards. There are 3 that appear to be AGP (from the tab pattern) and one that is PCI (says so right on the card). Maybe the PCI is my answer. I would have to do the same 1.5 vs 3.3 research on the AGP cards.

The new board has onboard LAN and audio, so I won't need PCI slots for the sound card and NIC from the old rig. I have a USB2 PCI card, and a PCI modem, leaving a PCI slot for that card.

It's a Number Nine. I've looked all over the card for model numbers or any clue that I can google on to see if it's any good, but I don't know what anything on the card means. The big chip says S3 Vision968

 

[LED]

Just pop it in and try it...if it is indeed the higher v's then the Mobo will pus, it just won't boot but I'm betting it will

 

[Felecha]

pop in what - the Matrox or the Number Nine?

I finally found a few hits on google for Number Nine - refurbished cards that MAYBE were the same. They were $115 - $170. So if they are not cheap they might be . . . a good card?

 

[LED]

The G400...and @ >$100 for a refurbished #9 is way too much...Hell I can give a like new PCI-e Nvidia card w 256MB of ram which uses the old 3DFX Technology which is great @ 2D for less then that!

 

[Felecha]

So why the warning from ASRock that it will permanently damage it?

The #9 is not something I'm thinking of buying - I have one here that my friend gave me. I was looking on google for clues about the brand - found those refurbished ones for sale

 

[CrispyFried]

The PCI #9 video card will work fine, there are no compatibilty probs with older pci cards, its basically stayed the same since its introduction. So if youre not gaming and such, its all youll need. Plug it in and away you go.

Its an old card, so Windows should automatically support it, even if its only in standard svga mode.

 

[Felecha]

I've sort of bottomed out on trying to find the specs on the 3 AGP cards my friend also gave me. No clues as to 1.5 or 3.3 so I guess I will go ahead and try the 9, at least it doesnt sound like it could hurt anything. might need to hunt for a driver but I've had to do that before.

 

[CrispyFried]

The #9 is so old xp may not have a specific driver for it, but you should be able to choose standard SVGA and run it. youll probably be limited in resolution, color depth and refresh rate. I think that cards like a 4 or 8 meg card. but it should get you going till you can find out more info on the agps or find a super duper cheapo pci or agp card later.

 

[Felecha]

I found a Deal at newegg for an ASUS AGP card for $28 that would probably work. I've spent hours today on this issue, but weekends are when I have time to do it, so . . .

 

[Felecha]

Well, I did the obvious, finally - I put the #9 in and tried it on the current rig. It won't go to 1280x1024. So enough already with trying to use the old.

So one last bother - I know nothing of brands. I see phaxmohdem and tweekah up top there saying even low end pciexpress x16's will do fine for my purposes. I look at newegg and see quite a few around 50 bucks. The main question is - any brand or spec to stay away from?

Thanks all, I'm about ready to get down to the fun part at last

 

[LED]

I would still use the Matrox ...as stated it works with both v's