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2006-02-06 14:23:33
vjs
Member
+19|6992
I have a MSI K&D-delta socket A
15K SCSI drive
2G of ddr ram with 2-2-2-5 timing
ATI Sahpire 9800 Pro 128MB overclock to XT levels 409/360
Windows XP

I basically have a fairly good performing system running at medium setting however I wondering if I could get more??? In addition to this I'm thinking about upgrading to a x850 Pro card.

But, the problem is in the ATI pannel, it simply lists the AGP interface at 1x.

No matter what I do I can't get 2x 4x or 8x support although both the card and board support it, 1x seems to run the 9800 fine but if I upgrade to the x850 I'll probably loose performance.

I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong or how to fix this, I know it's an issue some people have I just can't find the solution. Tried googleing but couldn't find an answer just many people asking the same thing.

Tried the omega drives... I think they are better but still list the interface at 1x.

-----------------

Does anyone have some constructive comments how to fix the interface support or a link to a web page.
2006-02-06 14:58:17
IBKCKNURASS
Corrosion Inhibitor
+172|6958
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/ … update.php
2006-02-06 15:38:43
vjs
Member
+19|6992
Yeah I updated the Bios to the most recent version a while back... I also tried a few beta bios b/c of the Raid problem with sata. No sure which version I have in there now, could be the issue.

Perhaps the It's the beta bios...

I'll try the drivers again and the specific MSI nforce package instead of the most recent version from Nvidia, and force it down the winXP verification this time.

Thanks for making me do the obvious...
2006-02-06 16:04:24
sixshot
Decepticon Geek
+50|6896|Planet Seibertron ;)
When I ran my old ATi card with an nForce2 system, I basically installed the nForce drivers first prior to the video drivers.  I never had any problem getting it to perform at 8x but I'd like to know what version of the nForce drivers you're using before trying anything else.
2006-02-06 17:44:17
vjs
Member
+19|6992
O.K. I'll doument exactly what I do and if it works or not...

As for what's currently in the system...

I'm not good at updating drivers, I'm a serious overclocker so once I get the machine up and stable I'll generally leave things alone. I also hate using live updates expecially MSI's, MS autoupdate seems to love installing drivers that don't work. Windows updated audio driver on MSI k7d-delta nforce2 anyone.... (need I say more).... O.k. I will if you decide to install the MS recommend driver the onboard sound quits working. It's also a pain to remove the driver from the system, winxp almost refuses to use the driver that works once this one is installed.

What I have currently (best memory), intalled in the following order...

Fresh install of XP serice pack2, Nforce drivers from www.nvidia.com current as of about 6-months ago.
Omega drivers most recent to avoid the .net install. I believe the bios installed is the beta-raid bios from a year ago, hasn't been any bios updates for that board since.
2006-02-06 18:15:03
sixshot
Decepticon Geek
+50|6896|Planet Seibertron ;)
Well it's good that you run the official nForce drivers from nvidia directly... however, it really helps as to which driver version you used... the latest nForce1/2 drivers from them is 5.10, 5.11 for nForce3, 6.70 for nForce4, and 6.85 for nForce4 X16.  For nForce4 and related, the drivers came with no AGPgart drivers, which I found was the cause of my AGP speed problem when I installed those drivers (they do work despite being for different chipset) on my old AGP-based system.

It's a wild goose chase to see whether this is the problem... and I have long forgotten as to which particular device in Device Manager is related to the AGPgart subsystem.  But you can try to see if you can reinstall the AGPgart driver.
2006-02-07 10:25:53
vjs
Member
+19|6992
My god sixshot you hit the nail right on the head!!!!

The version of the nforce drivers I was using was dated 3/05 which should be pretty good for an nforce2 board.

Well I simply downloaded the nforce drivers from the MSI website (looked old to me) and selected to only install GART drivers.

Well fired right up at 4x support, selected x8 in smartguart and it took x8 no problems. Since I'm overclocking my understanding is that the benifit of x8 support probably wouldn't be realised with a 9800 pro and it's also a little finiky vs 4x support, so I decided to stay with 4x.

Can't say it made a difference in game however but it's nice to know I'm actually using 4x now.

Today dude you rock, I'll have to remember this.



google search words hopefully people can find this solution

ATI Smartguard 8x 1x 4x can't get nforce2 omega fastwrite
2006-02-07 14:55:45
sixshot
Decepticon Geek
+50|6896|Planet Seibertron ;)
Dang, that's pretty ancient.  Even the latest nForce3 which is just one notch up is dated Nov 05.

I kinda had that feeling that it's the AGPgart missing since you were wondering about the same thing I was wondering way back then.  When I set up my previous Frankenstein, I installed the nForce4 drivers and completely forgot about the AGPgart driver.  BF2 played like crap, and Guild Wars can barely run on its own.  None of the games can run all that well.  When I checked the drivers, I spotted that AGP was set to 1x so I went investigating.  The BIOS checked out fine and there was no error in the ATi Catalyst install.  It then dawned on me that the AGPgart driver was missing so I manually installed it.

Well, I'm glad that it's all fixed.  And you're very much welcome.  Strange how nVIDIA glorifies their unified drivers yet has separate drivers for nForce2, 3, and 4.  Duh.
2006-02-08 09:44:17
vjs
Member
+19|6992
Yeah I was a little po'ed when I installed the system a while back... Couldn't get the sata raid to work correctly. It's another known issue where a stripe raid isn't any better than a single disk.
That's when I decided to go scsi on that machine.

It also has the wiremodded mobile barton chip running at 12 x 205 with only 1.6V.

Needless to say the benchmarking was pretty decent, HD, CPU memory (2x1G 2-2-2-5).

Just didn't care much about the video at the time. Seemed to run just fine at 1x with the 9800pro.

I guess it's time to do a little reseach into frame rates differences between 1x and 4x. What do you think? Was I saturating the AGP bus at 1x?
2006-02-08 13:50:49
sixshot
Decepticon Geek
+50|6896|Planet Seibertron ;)
Possibly... I remember running the BF2 demo when it was at 1x and the framerate was somewhat decent when you're not moving around.  But once you started looking around as anyone would, the framerate goes to hell.  AGP4x would seem to be the absolute minimal but I never actually benchmarked that speed.  At the time, I wasn't getting into BF2 much due to playing Guild Wars.  If any, don't try 1x since it appears the bus does get saturated and overworked.  Keep it at 4x or 8x or whichever speed you prefer.  The better the AGP speed, the more likely the game will benefit from any form of performance benefits.

 

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