A7N8X Deluxe problem - graphics card not working properly?

[Peter Weir]

Hi all,

I've just built my new PC using an A7N8X Deluxe board (specs below),
carrying over my ATI 8500DV card from my old machine. Having previously used
Gigabyte boards, I'm very hopeful that a move to Asus will get me a stable
machine for a change!

The first thing that was more than a bit strange was that, for some reason,
the graphics card, sound card and another card were not recognised by
Windows (although, obviously, it could recognise the ATI card enough to send
a signal to the monitor!); however, manually installing the drivers seems to
have solved that (mostly).

The problem, though, is that the graphics performance seems really quite
creaky - my ATI card certainly had a good deal more punch in my old system.
I haven't yet run any 3DMark benchmark yet, but I don't have any numbers to
compare with.

I've yet to try any 3D apps with the new system, but 2D performance seems to
be particularly below what I had before: even scrolling web pages can be a
bit of a pain.

I've got the latest ATI drivers and the latest nForce2 chipset drivers
installed.

I can see a few settings in the BIOS (1006) that could be useful; AGP 8X and
fast-writes are enabled, graphics aperture size is set to 64MB (the amount
of memory on the 8500DV), but I've not tried changing anything else (AGP
Frequency, Video RAM Cacheable?).

Anyone any ideas?

New system:

A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0
Athlon 3000+
ATI AIW 8500DV
2x512MB PC2700 (not dual channel)
Creative Audigy player card

(Old system:

Gigabyte 7VRXP
Athlon 2000+
Graphics, memory, audio as above.)

Very many thanks in advance,

Peter

 

[Kyle Brant]

Did you install a new OS to a blank HD or did you try to use your old
OS install?

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| Hi all,
|
| I've just built my new PC using an A7N8X Deluxe board (specs below),
| carrying over my ATI 8500DV card from my old machine. Having
previously used
| Gigabyte boards, I'm very hopeful that a move to Asus will get me a
stable
| machine for a change!
|
| The first thing that was more than a bit strange was that, for some
reason,
| the graphics card, sound card and another card were not recognised
by
| Windows (although, obviously, it could recognise the ATI card enough
to send
| a signal to the monitor!); however, manually installing the drivers
seems to
| have solved that (mostly).
|
| The problem, though, is that the graphics performance seems really
quite
| creaky - my ATI card certainly had a good deal more punch in my old
system.
| I haven't yet run any 3DMark benchmark yet, but I don't have any
numbers to
| compare with.
|
| I've yet to try any 3D apps with the new system, but 2D performance
seems to
| be particularly below what I had before: even scrolling web pages
can be a
| bit of a pain.
|
| I've got the latest ATI drivers and the latest nForce2 chipset
drivers
| installed.
|
| I can see a few settings in the BIOS (1006) that could be useful;
AGP 8X and
| fast-writes are enabled, graphics aperture size is set to 64MB (the
amount
| of memory on the 8500DV), but I've not tried changing anything else
(AGP
| Frequency, Video RAM Cacheable?).
|
| Anyone any ideas?
|
| New system:
|
| A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0
| Athlon 3000+
| ATI AIW 8500DV
| 2x512MB PC2700 (not dual channel)
| Creative Audigy player card
|
| (Old system:
|
| Gigabyte 7VRXP
| Athlon 2000+
| Graphics, memory, audio as above.)
|
| Very many thanks in advance,
|
| Peter
|
|

 

[markjen]

I assume you set the BIOS to AGP Graphics rather than PCI Graphics?

- Mark

 

[Barry Walsh]

Hi all,

I've just built my new PC using an A7N8X Deluxe board (specs below),
carrying over my ATI 8500DV card from my old machine. Having previously used
Gigabyte boards, I'm very hopeful that a move to Asus will get me a stable
machine for a change!

The first thing that was more than a bit strange was that, for some reason,
the graphics card, sound card and another card were not recognised by
Windows (although, obviously, it could recognise the ATI card enough to send
a signal to the monitor!); however, manually installing the drivers seems to
have solved that (mostly).

The problem, though, is that the graphics performance seems really quite
creaky - my ATI card certainly had a good deal more punch in my old system.
I haven't yet run any 3DMark benchmark yet, but I don't have any numbers to
compare with.

I've yet to try any 3D apps with the new system, but 2D performance seems to
be particularly below what I had before: even scrolling web pages can be a
bit of a pain.

I've got the latest ATI drivers and the latest nForce2 chipset drivers
installed.

I can see a few settings in the BIOS (1006) that could be useful; AGP 8X and
fast-writes are enabled, graphics aperture size is set to 64MB (the amount
of memory on the 8500DV), but I've not tried changing anything else (AGP
Frequency, Video RAM Cacheable?).

Anyone any ideas?

New system:

A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0
Athlon 3000+
ATI AIW 8500DV
2x512MB PC2700 (not dual channel)
Creative Audigy player card

(Old system:

Gigabyte 7VRXP
Athlon 2000+
Graphics, memory, audio as above.)

Very many thanks in advance,

Peter

Your card doesn't support 8x AGP so don't worry about that. Your AGP
aperture isn't meant to match your cards memory. It should be set to
whatever closest to twice the cards ram plus 12 megs, so set it to 128.
You may want to check your AGP acceleration status by start -> run ->
dxdiag.exe and you'll see it in the display tab. THe ATi smartgart tool
is know to have issues setting the AGP acceleration properly.

 

[Ben Pope]

Your AGP
aperture isn't meant to match your cards memory. It should be set to
whatever closest to twice the cards ram plus 12 megs,

Where did you get that from?

Ben

 

[Barry Walsh]

Where did you get that from?

Ben

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/AGP_Aperture_Size.htm

That's the only place I could immediately find, but I've seen it elsewhere.

 

[Bill]

Where did you get that from?

Ben

He just made that up,Ben.

 

[Ben Pope]

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/AGP_Aperture_Size.htm

That's the only place I could immediately find, but I've seen it
elsewhere.

It does seem to have a fairly inconsistant argument for it.

It gives you that formula which clearly grows with card memory. Then says
"So, graphics cards with 32MB of RAM or more will require a smaller AGP
aperture than graphics cards with less RAM." which is in direct conflict.
Then says "So, it's recommended that you set the AGP Aperture Size to 64MB
or at most, 128MB"


http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/aperture-size/3.shtml

Shows no explicable difference in performance for differing AGP aperture
sizes.

I have not seen anybody who can, with any level of technical competence,
explain what size the aperture should be set to.

Ben

 

[Barry Walsh]

It does seem to have a fairly inconsistant argument for it.

It gives you that formula which clearly grows with card memory. Then says
"So, graphics cards with 32MB of RAM or more will require a smaller AGP
aperture than graphics cards with less RAM." which is in direct conflict.
Then says "So, it's recommended that you set the AGP Aperture Size to 64MB
or at most, 128MB"


http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/aperture-size/3.shtml

Shows no explicable difference in performance for differing AGP aperture
sizes.

I have not seen anybody who can, with any level of technical competence,
explain what size the aperture should be set to.

Ben

I suspect that article is slightly old anyway and presumes everyone has
either 32 or 64 meg cards, hence their end suggestion. I never said it
would increase performance, although the context might have suggested
that I meant it would. I did see a more complete explanation of the
twice ram + 12 rule before, but I've no idea where that was now. AGP
always was a fairly nebulous technology, roll on PCI express I say.

 

[markjen]

I think the BIOS defaults to 64K on this board - other guides I've seen have
said to leave it where it is which always sounds like a good idea if you
don't have a good reason to change.

In any event, I don't think aperature is the reason for the original
poster's poor performance.

I recall when building my system that just after installing the OS, the
graphics card (Radeon 9600) was working slowly - there were noticeable
hesitations simply dragging a window around on the screen - but after
installing latest drivers from ATI's site and setting the BIOS to AGP rather
than PCI, everything works fine. I didn't change anything else in the BIOS
or in Windows XP.

- Mark

 

[Peter Weir]

Did you install a new OS to a blank HD or did you try to use your old
OS install?

New OS to a blank partition (freshly reformatted (NTFS) ).

Peter

 

[Peter Weir]

I assume you set the BIOS to AGP Graphics rather than PCI Graphics?

Yep.

Peter

 

[Peter Weir]

Your card doesn't support 8x AGP so don't worry about that. Your AGP
aperture isn't meant to match your cards memory. It should be set to
whatever closest to twice the cards ram plus 12 megs, so set it to 128.

Ah - this I've never been too sure about. I'll give it a try to see if it
makes a difference!

You may want to check your AGP acceleration status by start -> run ->
dxdiag.exe and you'll see it in the display tab.

AGP Texture acceleration is enabled.

THe ATi smartgart tool
is know to have issues setting the AGP acceleration properly.

Interesting one: from my experience with ATI cards, I initially turned off
the AGP fast-writes; Smartgart seems to be happy that my card can run at AGP
x4. I've just tried enabling fast-writes in the BIOS, but I expect that
smartgart will prevent this from making any difference...

Peter

 

[callsignviper]

Hi all,

I've just built my new PC using an A7N8X Deluxe board (specs below),
carrying over my ATI 8500DV card from my old machine. Having previously used
Gigabyte boards, I'm very hopeful that a move to Asus will get me a stable
machine for a change!

The first thing that was more than a bit strange was that, for some reason,
the graphics card, sound card and another card were not recognised by
Windows (although, obviously, it could recognise the ATI card enough to send
a signal to the monitor!); however, manually installing the drivers seems to
have solved that (mostly).

The problem, though, is that the graphics performance seems really quite
creaky - my ATI card certainly had a good deal more punch in my old system.
I haven't yet run any 3DMark benchmark yet, but I don't have any numbers to
compare with.

I've yet to try any 3D apps with the new system, but 2D performance seems to
be particularly below what I had before: even scrolling web pages can be a
bit of a pain.

I've got the latest ATI drivers and the latest nForce2 chipset drivers
installed.

I can see a few settings in the BIOS (1006) that could be useful; AGP 8X and
fast-writes are enabled, graphics aperture size is set to 64MB (the amount
of memory on the 8500DV), but I've not tried changing anything else (AGP
Frequency, Video RAM Cacheable?).

Anyone any ideas?

New system:

A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0
Athlon 3000+
ATI AIW 8500DV
2x512MB PC2700 (not dual channel)

Should be dual channel since it is automatically set by the BIOS.

Creative Audigy player card

(Old system:

Gigabyte 7VRXP
Athlon 2000+
Graphics, memory, audio as above.)

Possibly a stupid question: Did you install the drivers that came with your
motherboard?


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.

 

[Scarletdown]

Should be dual channel since it is automatically set by the
BIOS.

That depends on whether or not one of the DIMMs is in the middle
slot. If it is, then you will only get single channel. If I read
the manual correctly, dual channel requires one DIMM in each of the
two outer slots. (Would that be considered 1 and 3?)

 

[Kyle Brant]

|
|
| > Your card doesn't support 8x AGP so don't worry about that. Your
AGP
| > aperture isn't meant to match your cards memory. It should be set
to
| > whatever closest to twice the cards ram plus 12 megs, so set it to
128.
|
| Ah - this I've never been too sure about. I'll give it a try to see
if it
| makes a difference!
|
| > You may want to check your AGP acceleration status by start ->
run ->
| > dxdiag.exe and you'll see it in the display tab.
|
| AGP Texture acceleration is enabled.
|
| >THe ATi smartgart tool
| > is know to have issues setting the AGP acceleration properly.
|
| Interesting one: from my experience with ATI cards, I initially
turned off
| the AGP fast-writes; Smartgart seems to be happy that my card can
run at AGP
| x4. I've just tried enabling fast-writes in the BIOS, but I expect
that
| smartgart will prevent this from making any difference...
|
| Peter
|

I have BIOS setup for fastwrites enabled and 8x and 64M AGP aperture,
but with my 8500 ATI card (64meg), smartgart shows FW disabled and 4x
mode. I did an in place upgrade of win2k when I installed my
a7n8x-dlx mobo (reinstall over current win2k install once mobo was
replaced). I have some faint memory of slower than normal video
response but can only suggest that I uninstalled and reinstalled the
ATI Catalyst drivers (am using ver 3.6) and installed nforce drivers
from asus (later upgrading to the 3.13 ver from nvidia) and my vid
card is working fine speed wise.

Can you run 3dmark2k1se and give us an update on the results. My
system resulted in about 103000 on the test (CPU: XP @ 2088 Mhz,
333Mhz Mem/FSB).

 

[Ed]

That depends on whether or not one of the DIMMs is in the middle
slot. If it is, then you will only get single channel. If I read
the manual correctly, dual channel requires one DIMM in each of the
two outer slots. (Would that be considered 1 and 3?)

Leave the center slot empty (with 2 sticks) and she should boot up in
Dual mode.

Ed

 

[Peter Weir]

Leave the center slot empty (with 2 sticks) and she should boot up in
Dual mode.

Well, from what I had read on this board, the A7N8X can be quite picky over
the memory used. My two sticks of 512MB are of different makes, so I thought
I'd start with them only in slots 1 & 2. I may well try it using slots 1 &
3, but I haven't yet.

Peter

 

[Ed]

Well, from what I had read on this board, the A7N8X can be quite picky over
the memory used. My two sticks of 512MB are of different makes, so I thought
I'd start with them only in slots 1 & 2. I may well try it using slots 1 &
3, but I haven't yet.

Peter

Well it says right in the mobo manual, To utilize dual channel memory
feature install the DIMMs in any of the following sequence: sockets 1 &
3 , sockets 2 & 3 or sockets 1, 2 & 3

I don't see 1 & 2 mentioned. ;p
Cheers,
Ed

 

[Peter Weir]

seems seems

Should be dual channel since it is automatically set by the BIOS.



Possibly a stupid question: Did you install the drivers that came with your
motherboard?

Yes: I've installed the nForce2 drivers (latest version from the Asus
website).

Peter