A7N8X-VM 400 questions

[George Newton]

I have an Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton) w/a pair of Corsair
VS512MB333 chips.

Questions:

1. I have a Maxtor DiamondPlus 9 6Y20P0. The best that the bios
appears to offer for this drive is PIO4/UDMA2. I have it set to
auto and it reads for that, as well.

The system diagnostic Everest Home, however, reads this drive
at it full capabilities: Active UDMA Transfer Mode: UDMA 6 (ATA-133)

The bios is the latest: 1003. Why is it limited to UDMA2?

However, is my drive really running at UDMA6? What is Everest
reading? W2k Device Manager is set to UltraDMA and offers no
specific version.

2. Is there a way to totally disable the integrated graphics?

This is my 3rd mATX. I buy them to build smaller systems, but
don't want to use the onboard graphics. I'm using an
ATI Rage128 PCI, 16mb. (I don't game.)

My 1st mATX - Shuttle - had a jumper to select/disable
onboard graphics. That seemed to prevent any memory from being
used, and anything wanting attention in the device manager.

Now, with BIOS controlled graphics (a PCChips and this Asus),
it seems impossible to totally shut down the graphics chip.

My bios settings:
Video Frame Buffer: auto
Graphics Aperture Size: disabaled
MDA Access Control: PCI
Primary Video: PCI

My 1Gb memory reports 960Mb in the Bios, and W2k/SP4 device
manager continues to "?" about the video controller.

Yes, I can disable it, but I cannot remove it for good:
I remove it in the device manager and it seems to be gone,
but then when I reboot, Windows installer wants to install
it all over again.

And...unless I leave it enabled, with no drivers installed (?!),
it reboots automatically upon shut-down.

Both the nVidia video and chipset drivers have been very difficult
to install and uninstall - I've had to do both a few times to get
the system stable.

Asus, if you read this, some people want mATX w/o the video, please.

 

[Paul]

I have an Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton) w/a pair of Corsair
VS512MB333 chips.

Questions:

1. I have a Maxtor DiamondPlus 9 6Y20P0. The best that the bios
appears to offer for this drive is PIO4/UDMA2. I have it set to
auto and it reads for that, as well.

The system diagnostic Everest Home, however, reads this drive
at it full capabilities: Active UDMA Transfer Mode: UDMA 6 (ATA-133)

The bios is the latest: 1003. Why is it limited to UDMA2?

However, is my drive really running at UDMA6? What is Everest
reading? W2k Device Manager is set to UltraDMA and offers no
specific version.

Are you using an 80 wire IDE cable ? That is needed for the higher
transfer rates.

2. Is there a way to totally disable the integrated graphics?

This is my 3rd mATX. I buy them to build smaller systems, but
don't want to use the onboard graphics. I'm using an
ATI Rage128 PCI, 16mb. (I don't game.)

My 1st mATX - Shuttle - had a jumper to select/disable
onboard graphics. That seemed to prevent any memory from being
used, and anything wanting attention in the device manager.

Now, with BIOS controlled graphics (a PCChips and this Asus),
it seems impossible to totally shut down the graphics chip.

My bios settings:
Video Frame Buffer: auto
Graphics Aperture Size: disabaled
MDA Access Control: PCI
Primary Video: PCI

Here is a recipe for another board. This procedure basically
just hides the hardware from the current profile, so it isn't
really totally disabled. It is a procedure for an Intel chipset.

http://groups.google.ca/[email protected]

My 1Gb memory reports 960Mb in the Bios, and W2k/SP4 device
manager continues to "?" about the video controller.

Yes, I can disable it, but I cannot remove it for good:
I remove it in the device manager and it seems to be gone,
but then when I reboot, Windows installer wants to install
it all over again.

And...unless I leave it enabled, with no drivers installed (?!),
it reboots automatically upon shut-down.

Both the nVidia video and chipset drivers have been very difficult
to install and uninstall - I've had to do both a few times to get
the system stable.

Asus, if you read this, some people want mATX w/o the video, please.

Paul

 

[George Newton]

Are you using an 80 wire IDE cable ? That is needed for the higher
transfer rates.

Nice new CoolMax $6.49 ATA133.

Here is a recipe for another board. This procedure basically
just hides the hardware from the current profile, so it isn't
really totally disabled. It is a procedure for an Intel chipset.

http://groups.google.ca/[email protected]

Paul,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure that that approach is applicable: the onboard 'adapter'
is not specifically identified in device manager. It's listed under
? Other devices
? Video controller (VGA compatible)

 

[DanO]

The onboard graphics chip will disable itself when an AGP video card is
inserted into the MB. Why on earth would you prefer an old ATI Rage 128 PCI
card over the onboard graphics? The onboard graphics smokes that ancient
relic, even if you're not gaming. Of course it uses some ram, but not much.

 

[George Newton]

The onboard graphics chip will disable itself when an AGP video card is

inserted into the MB. Why on earth would you prefer an old ATI Rage 128 PCI
card over the onboard graphics? The onboard graphics smokes that ancient
relic, even if you're not gaming. Of course it uses some ram, but not much.

I guess it may sound astounding, depending on what what seeks or values.

Since I basically only work with text, or the small graphics that web
pages provide, I never 'notice' the speed.

When I first installed the board, I did so w/o installing the ATI PCI
card. I was immediately dismayed. The quality of text (basically what
I'm looking for) was significantly poorer than the Via CLE266 which
lies on my Already less-than-great PChips M791G.

As for using the ram, my post on this is about how 'it' uses the
ram whether you're using 'it' or not!

 

[DanO]

Ok, then my advice to you is find a cheap AGP card with good text
capabilities.

 

[Rob Stow]

Ok, then my advice to you is find a cheap AGP card with good text
capabilities.

Doesn't need to be AGP. Any AGP or PCI Matrox card is unbeatable
for 2D image quality, although you will have a hard time finding
anything older than the G550 cards and may have to spend a little
more to get a P650. Finding a used G400 or G450 is another option.

Matrox cards suck for 3D, but they are the best for everything
else. (Their OpenGL performance is not as bad as their DirectX
performance so they are minimally adequate for /some/ OpenGL uses.)

Any time an office worker complains of headaches from blurry text
in word processors and web browsers or fuzzy lines in things like
cell borders in spreadsheets the first - and usually also the
last - thing I try is a Matrox card.

 

[George Newton]

Any time an office worker complains of headaches from blurry text

in word processors and web browsers or fuzzy lines in things like
cell borders in spreadsheets the first - and usually also the
last - thing I try is a Matrox card.

Years ago just before I bought the ATI Rage128 mentioned above,
I almost went Matrox, but at the time there was some reason I
didn't - might have been some driver issue or whatever to do with
NT...

Anyway, I went ATI/PCI and have been very pleased with the sharp
text, especially with my Samsung LCD which has that extra image
lock feature to enhance the sharpness.

Now I'm running through a CompuSwitch, and I wanted to have
matching cards, so I bought a used Rage128 card. Couldn't find
any new ones, at the time. Turns out that version of the chip
required the boxed cd for the correct drivers, which was missing.
Download drivers don't match - wouldn't work. So I bought a Radeon,
figuring that might be a close match, because it's a pain to have
to keep re-adjusting the screen when you switch.

Well the cards don't sync. They're each capable of sharp text,
but need their own adjustments.

Have you ever compared text between Matrox and ATI?

 

[DanO]

Rob,
The OP wanted the onboard graphics disabled. The only way to do that is
by installing an AGP card.

DanO

 

[Rob Stow]

Rob,
The OP wanted the onboard graphics disabled. The only way to do that is
by installing an AGP card.

You've got to be kidding me !

I have disabled the onboard AGP that way in the past, but I never
thought Asus would be so stupid as to make that the only way to
do it.

I don't have a manual for that board on hand so I tried to find
one on the Asus web site, but - as usual - they suck tonight and
I keep getting the usual message from all of the sites:
"The server is currently unavailable. We apologize for
the inconvenience. Please try one of these alternate
ASUS support sites:"