G400 MAX Overview
During these days of higher end consumer graphics cards, there are few cards that offer innovative graphical features. Matrox, a successful player in the graphics scene for many years now, has finally decided to break this mold of “me too product” and design something new and exciting. On top of the features we find standard in most high end consumer 3D cards these days (2/4X AGP, 32MB frame buffer, 32-bit color w/8-bit Stencil, DVD hardware acceleration, high speed RAMDAC), Matrox will be including environmental Bump Mapping (by means of DirectX 6) and Dual video output (with one video card). You might be asking yourself at this point, “Are these features even worth getting the G400 MAX for?” Let us elaborate on these new features and help you decide.
Bump mapping is not exactly a new concept but the fact that the G400 MAX will do it in hardware, is. Currently, bump mapping is done in software that has inferior visual and it often costs a considerable amount of performance. There are debatable ways to implement hardware bump mapping and the method Matrox chose seems to be a winner. The performance and visual quality of the G400 MAX while using hardware bump mapping is excellent. Various effects can be generated with this hardware feature that allows developers to create a more life-like environment. Things like smoldering armor, ultra-realistic pools of water and finely detailed walls are taken to the next level. Currently the only examples offered of this feature are the games Drakan (Psygnosis), Slave Zero (Accolade), Descent III (interplay/Outrage) and Expendable but it’s just the start because 53 titles are to be released in the near future with bump mapping support for the G400 MAX. Game titles like Messiah (Shiny), Max Payne (Remedy) LithTech II engine based games (Monolith) and Dark Reign (Activision/Pandemic) are just a few of the many noteworthy games to soon have support.
Have you ever wanted to watch DVD movies on one screen while finishing up that paper due tomorrow morning or had the need to see what was behind you before you got fragged in the last clan match? All these things might be possible very soon if not already. With the Dual video output feature you’re offered a variety of options ranging from dual desktops to simultaneously having DVD movies playing while you work. The feature that seems to draw the most interest is the ability to have games utilize two screens simultaneously. Star Trek: Armada from Activision will be the first game to take advantage of this feature. You can have your main window running on the first screen while your second screen displays real time combat in 3D. Imagine all the things you’ll be able to do with Ultima Online: The Second Age (one of nine games that are planned to support DualHead) when it comes out. I don’t think this will be a far-fetched idea for the average gamer since monitor prices are getting so low (like $175-200 for a 17″ monitor).
32-Bit Z-Buffer – Does G400 do it or not?
Before I get into one of my observations, I wanted to give a rough description of what a Z-buffer is. A Z-buffer stores the depth of each pixel on the screen. When objects are being drawn, the Z-buffer sorts the pixels on the Z coordinate (depth). Basically, if you have pixel A and pixel B, in the same line of sight, the Z-buffer decides which pixel will be in front of the other. When graphics vendors like Matrox or NVIDIA talk about different Z-buffer `bits,” they are referring to the accuracy of the Z-buffer.
While Matrox is marketing high visual quality with new features like Vibrant Color Quality and bump mapping, they seem to have problems in 32-bit color OpenGL applications. The problem I’m speaking of is found in leading edge games that support 32-bit color modes and require true 24-bit+ Z-buffer support. In games that use 32-bit color but only use a 16-bit Z-buffer you won’t have any problems. However, when you use 32-bit color/Z-buffer mode in a game like Recoil or Quake Arena, you will. The problem can be annoying because it causes objects in the background to “flicker.” The light and wall are both fighting to be in front of each other. We will provide an example (which is hard to show in a still picture) of what we’re talking about below. If you move forward/backward or look up and down, you’ll see the light source disappear as the wall fights to be in front of it. You will not see this problem on a TNT2 because it always supplies the game with a true 24-bit/32-bit Z in 32-bit color mode. We confronted Matrox about this and it turns out that the current OpenGL driver has issues when a program calls for a 32-bit Z buffer in OpenGL (not DirectX). Matrox said it might be fixed in a beta driver to be released in a couple of weeks so we’ll have to see what happens then.
Now you see it….(the far light source)!
Now you don’t!
Matrox has decided to use 16-bit or 32-bit Z-buffer depending on which of the two was requested by the program. Unfortunately, this is what is broken in the OpenGL driver right now. The OpenGL-games get a 16-bit Z-buffer only, producing visual defects in games that require 32-bit Z-buffer. This is the best way to do things as long as it works correctly. If you want 32-bit color and only need 16-bit Z-buffer then you’ll save a considerable amount of memory bandwidth. We believe this is one of the reasons the G400 MAX pulls away from the TNT2 at true color. The TNT2 can do 16-bit Z-buffer in 16-bit color and 32-bit Z-buffer in 32-bit color only, it’s not able to do the two additional possibilities, which are 16-bit color / 32-bit Z-buffer or the more common version of 32-bit color / 16-bit Z-buffer. G400 is able to do that too and that means a performance advantage over TNT2 in the majority of games that use 32-bit color, since most of them only use a 16-bit deep depth information.
Slave Zero Screen Captures
Below you can see two screenshots of a scene in Slave Zero with bump mapping enabled on a G400 MAX (hardware) and a TNT2 (software). The TNT2 shows us what can be done through software on a nice video card right now, without hardware support. The surface of the armor is a good place to look closely at to compare the two pictures. The TNT2 shows impressive visual quality and the bump mapping does enhance the appearance of the model but you can notice that the lighting on the bumped surface isn’t very realistic. However, if you look at the G400 MAX picture, you will notice that the armor is even superior to that of the TNT2. The G400 MAX doesn’t just look like it has been embossed through software but actually appears to have a more realistic bumped surfaces and better shading/lighting effects. Instead of having the typical synthetic flat/shiny look, it provides an accurate natural image.
NVIDIA TNT2 Ultra – with Software Bump Mapping
Matrox G400 MAX – with Environmental Bump Mapping
Expendable Screen Captures
Here we have a great example of what water can look like. You can see a nice light source reflecting off the surface along with ripples splashing around. The only flaw that I found annoying was that the same effort wasn’t put into the actual ground near the water (notice the light on the water isn’t hitting the shore) but that’s not Matrox’s fault. Hopefully game developers will keep this in mind when they decide to use hardware bump mapping so that the realistic look is preserved throughout the scene.
Matrox G400 MAX – without Bump Mapping
Matrox G400 MAX – with Environmental Bump Mapping
DualHead Feature
Multi-Monitor support on video boards used to require two separate video boards installed into the system at one time. The G400 MAX has multiple video out connectors that allow the viewing of two displays with a single G400 MAX board. Typically, with multi-monitor setups in the past the user was able to connect two monitors and span their desktop across them. Matrox has taken their multi-monitor support, which they call DualHead, to the next level. Also, a number of game developers are creating some games with support for the G400 MAX DualHead features. We will provide some screen shots of a couple of games that will be supporting this cool feature.
These monitors are demonstrating a game called “War Monkies.” The screen on the left shows the 3D combat terrain while the right screen shows the overhead terrain map.
This is the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator demonstration on DualHead. On the left side we have the cockpit view while the right side has additional perspectives of the plane. They were also able to fit in an overhead terrain map on the right side.
DualHead Multi-Display & DualHead TV Out
This allows the user to connect an additional display to their system. One of the unique ideas behind the G400 MAX’s multi-display support is that the second display can have its own refresh and resolution. The second display can show a different area of the desktop or part of the same area zoomed, which could provide extremely helpful for developers. Also, the second display can be a TV or monitor. Most video boards to date offer some sort of TV out. But most of these video boards, excluding the G400 MAX, would only allow one resolution and one refresh setting for both the monitor and TV. This would leave the user with a low refresh rate (50 or 60Hz) on their monitor that would result in horrible flickering.
Where are the Results?
A huge matrix of tests were ran, for your viewing pleasure, to give you an idea of how the G400 MAX performs. For DirectX performance, we have included 32-bitBit and 16Bit results using the Expendable Demo (Rage), and some additional 16Bit testing using Shogo/TOMSDEMO (Monolith) will provided tomorrow. As far as GL performance, we used Quake II v3.20 with Brett “3Fingers” Jacobs’ CRUSHER.DM2 and S3’s 32-bit large textured based MON2.DM2 demo. To put the G400 MAX performance in contrast, we have included the two top competitive video cards in the market (TNT2/Ultra, VD3 2000/3000/3500) with the latest drivers available. You may notice the competition has gained some performance here and there but we’ve only updated those scores just to give you an “up to date” view of where the G400 MAX lies today and not to talk about the 3dfx/NVIDIA driver improvements.
Test System Configurations
Windows 98 ( DirectX 6.1 eng)
Expendable Demo
- triple buffering enabled
- highest quality for all video settings
- audio disabled (however a sound card must be present to run)
- movies disabled
- vsync sync to refresh disabled
Quake II version 3.20 (3DNow! V3.20 for AMD processors)
- CD Audio disabled (+set cd_nocd 1)
- Audio disabled (+set s_initsound 0)
- Joystick disabled (+set in_initjoy 0)
- vsync sync to refresh disabled
Intel PII/III/Celeron systems
- Motherboard: SOYO SY-6BA+ (BIOS Rev. ba+_2CA1)
- Memory: (1) 128MB SDRAM Viking (CL2 PC100 DIMM)
- Hard disk: Western Digital AC418000-00DW (18 AMAR 99)
- Network card: Netgear FA310TX (rev. D1)
- Platform specific drivers: None
AMD K6-2/3 systems
- Motherboard: Asus P5A Rev. 1.04 (BIOS Rev. 1007)
- Memory: (1) 128MB SDRAM Viking (CL2 PC100 DIMM)
- Hard disk: Western Digital AC418000-00DW (18 AMAR 99)
- Network card: Netgear FA310TX (rev. D1)
- Platform specific drivers: ALI 1.60 AGP driver
Video cards/drivers
- Matrox G400 MAX
Driver version: 5.11.012 - 3dfx Voodoo3 2000(143Mhz), 3000(166Mhz), 3500 reference board (183Mhz)
Driver version: 4.11.01.1133 - Hercules Dynamite TNT2 Ultra
Driver version: 4.11.01.0188 (NVIDIA reference driver version 1.88)
Matrox G400 MAX Drivers
The drivers included with the G400 MAX allow complete control of the G400 MAX’s features. The controls are all conveniently accessible within both the advanced settings under display properties and on the desktop toolbar under Matrox’s QuickDesk utility icon.
The G400 MAX’s information tab allows for a quick tally of driver versions, etc. This is a useful tool for both Matrox technical support and the end-user. Matrox takes their “Information” tab to the next level by allowing a complete view of all the settings via the “View Readme File” button.
DualHead Controls
The new DualHead feature of the G400 MAX required Matrox to include controls for it’s extensive setup options. Matrox has provided some easy to configure options within their “DualHead Tab”. This section is laid out in a very self-explanatory way.
Within the DualHead configuration menu the user can select which mode they would like to take advantage of the G400 MAX DualHead features. In this menu there are options for selecting whether the user would like to use a second monitor or Television as their second video. In this section is also where you can enable the DVDMax options for viewing DVD titles on your TV. This nice feature allows the user to have full functionality of their computer desktop while viewing their favorite DVD title on the connected TV. The user can also setup their second display to clone their primary display. This would be handy for presentations. The presenter could view their presentation on their monitor while their audience could view the same presentation on the second display. And for those graphic artists, Matrox has also included the setup for their DualHead Zoom feature. This allows the user the ability to setup their second display as a clone display with a controllable zoom. Have you ever tried to manipulate an image in a zoom mode and have to change modes just to see what your changes look like? With the DualHead Zoom feature the user can view the normal sized image on their main display, while zooming in on the second display.
Instead of opting to use the built-in monitor selection and controls provided by the operating system Matrox decided to take control. In this menu the user can select a monitor from Matrox’s extensive list of monitor models or create their own customized monitor settings for each resolution (e.g. refresh, and NTSC or PAL settings). If the user decides to customize their monitor settings they can save their options to a file in case they want to carry their settings to another G400 equipped system or have a backup of their settings stored away.
Miscellaneous Controls
The G400 MAX also includes the standard fare for Color control.
As with most video boards these days Matrox includes a utility (Matrox QuickDesk) that is easily accessible from the toolbar. This allows the user with a quick and easy way to get to the controls of the G400 MAX.
One of the neat features accessible from the QuickDesk util is the Matrox Diagnostic. The diagnostic provides information and suggestions regarding the configuration of the G400 MAX.
DirectX Performance
Looking at the DirectX results below, the G400 MAX holds it’s own against the tough competition from both the TNT2 and Voodoo3. Even when matched up with AMD’s processors the G400 MAX does quite well. The 32-bit DirectX testing shows the G400 MAX leading the pack.
DirectX Performance – Shogo Results
NOTE: In all Shogo testing the Voodoo3 was unable to run Shogo correctly at 1600×1200.
At low to medium resolutions the G400 MAX does pretty good against these top-notch cards. At the higher resolutions you can see the G400 MAX run neck in neck with the fastest TNT2.
Once again the G400 MAX runs a close race with the fastest card and almost matches the performance of the TNT2 @ 1600x1200x16bpp.
It seems that the G400 MAX is losing some ground at the lower resolutions as the CPU power drops. It still does quite well at high resolutions! the PII and P!!!.
All three cards boast “3DNow!” optimizations and it seems that Matrox has done a decent job since it keeps its solid scores throughout the tests.
Looks like the G400 MAX is starving for some more CPU power at the lower resolutions with the K6-2 400MHz. Once the resolutions get past 1152x864x16bpp the G400 MAX approaches the performance of the fastest TNT2 board.
DirectX Performance – Expendable Demo 16Bit
Look at the G400 MAX go. At 1600×1200 it pummels the next fastest card.
Even with a slightly slower CPU the G400 MAX continues to take the lead by a good margin.
Now that the CPU performance starts to drop, the G400 MAX starts to lose it’s lead. At low resolution it takes the last place but still performs adequately.
G400 MAX nestles into the middle of the pack while once again pulling ahead at the highest resolution.
With the CPU being the biggest bottleneck, the G400 MAX manages to keep itself neck and neck with the competition throughout the tests.
DirectX Performance – Expendable Demo 32-bit
This chart is pretty clear cut in showing the G400 MAX in the commanding lead. The G400 MAX takes advantage of the efficient 32-bit color/16bit Z-buffer mode and speeds past the TNT2 (that is held back by the 32-bit color/32-bit Z-buffer mode).
Here we see the G400 MAX retain its marginal lead over the TNT2.
Interestingly enough, the performance of the G400 MAX drops drastically as the CPU performance decreases. Pairing the G400 MAX with a speedy processor is a must if you expect top-notch performance from the card.
As we expected, the G400 MAX drops it’s position due to the slower performing CPU.
The G400 MAX is still doing fairly well even with the slowest processor in 32-bit color. At this point the CPU seems to be hindering both cards.
GL Performance
Obviously, Matrox still has some work ahead of them regarding the optimization of their OpenGL driver. In virtually the entire Quake II tests, the G400 MAX falls short of the competition. In general, the only time the G400 MAX jump ahead is when it’s run at 1600×1200. Once the driver reaches it’s maturity, we hope to see it do even better all around if it wants to remain competitive.
GL Performance – Quake II CRUSHER.DM2 (16Bit)
NOTE: At the 1280×960 resolution the G400 MAX has some driver issues that would now allow it to run properly. Also, the Voodoo3 at 1600×1200 would not run without crashing.
The G400 MAX OpenGL driver definitely needs some work, as the card is unable to compete very well until the highest resolution.
Things start to get very ugly for the G400 MAX as the CPU speed decreases. It almost falls last at all resolutions.
Anyone who owns a Celeron 400 and cares about Q2 performance will probably want to stay away from the G400 MAX at this point in time. The performance isn’t really in the ballpark. Hopefully once the OpenGL driver is enhanced this won’t hold true anymore.
With a little more driver work the G400 MAX might be acceptable when working with a K6-3 450 but right now the scores dip below the acceptable performance level compared to the other cards.
A G400 MAX and a K6-2 are definitely not a good combination at this point in time. With these two together, the performance is horrible.
GL Performance – Quake II CRUSHER.DM2 (32-bit)
With the biggest baddest CPU in the line-up, this time around the G400 MAX isn’t looking so hot. Even at high resolution and 32-bit color, it’s still not as far ahead as we expected.
As we drop to the next CPU, the performance of the G400 MAX dwindles but manages to still do decent at 1600×1200. At the lower resolution it looks real ugly.
Things only get worse for the G400 MAX as we move onto the Celeron 400. Interesting enough, the performance at 1024×768 is nearly as bad as running at the highest resolution.
Using a K6-III is a bit better than the Celeron but the performance is still probably below an acceptable level of performance. On average it falls way short of all the other cards.
Steer clear of the G400 MAX if you’ve got a K6-2 unless you like to lag through your Q2 matches. Lets cross our fingers on the upcoming drivers for the K6-2 users.
Summary
Jumping into the fray with great DirectX performance and innovative new features, the G400 MAX has shown its merits. The “not so hot” OpenGL performance is something that Matrox will need to change if they hope to completely dominate the competition. If Matrox is able to overcome this issue, we’re confident that they’ll have a technically complete product that will put them in a technically very advanced position. Let’s hope that Matrox won’t need as much time for fixing the OpenGL-ICD and bringing it up to speed as it required for the OpenGL-ICD of the G200. We all remember that it took forever.
G400MAX is a good performer in D3D, especially in 32-bit color mode it’s clearly ahead of its competition and this has not only been achieved by its flexible way of handling the Z-buffer bit-depth, but also by its extremely fast 2x 128-bit deep memory interface. The dual-head option is a commendable feature, which will certainly be seen in other 3D-chip solutions as well. G400 supports 3DNow!, so even K6-X-owners can take advantage of it. Only the OpenGL-gaming performance is not quite what it should and probably could be yet, so here I’d expect Matrox to do a decent amount of work in very short time to make G400 and especially G400 MAX become worth its pretty massive price tag.
