I'm a blonde....................techie question.

[Lynne]

Hi ya

I have been running my Ati 9600XT card at 4X rather than 8X, ( I stupidly
thought that it would default to that when installed, doh! Ditzy blonde,
etc, etc). Because I was gobsmacked in the improvement in graphics from old
card (silurro Ti4400) to this one, I didn't realise the settings were not
running at optimum, until I did my monthly computer maintenance checks.

What actual benefits will be gained from running the XT card at 8X.

Be grateful for comments and tips on the above.

Cheers

Lynne

 

[Andrew]

What actual benefits will be gained from running the XT card at 8X.

Probably nothing that you will notice, but try it for yourself.

 

[redTed]

I have been running my Ati 9600XT card at 4X rather than 8X, ( I stupidly

thought that it would default to that when installed, doh! Ditzy blonde,
etc, etc). Because I was gobsmacked in the improvement in graphics from old
card (silurro Ti4400) to this one, I didn't realise the settings were not
running at optimum, until I did my monthly computer maintenance checks.

What actual benefits will be gained from running the XT card at 8X.

Be grateful for comments and tips on the above.

Sorry about the nvidia link, but it will show you what antialiasing is all
about. There are some good images and a few video clips on there, too.
Personally I prefer the sharpness of no antialiasing even though there may
be a few "jaggies" in there.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/3dblaster_fx_5900_ultra/page_3.shtml

 

[Sham B]

The AGP is a data transfer bus, and its speed defines how fast data can be
moved between the card and the motherboard. It does not define how fast
either the computer of the card run, just how fast they can move data
between each other
For big memory cards (which is more or less all of the ones available now)
the x4 is enough for most games, so you will not see any difference with x8.

The AGP rate will only really comes into its own when you are playing games
with *very* large textures.
As a tip - when you start a level, turn round 360 degrees, this usually
forces the video card to be loaded with max textures at the start, so you do
not see glitches later. I found this to work with games like Far Cry, when
using large textures, and prevents the card trying to load textures every
few minutes during actual gameplay.

Sometimes common sense beats technology hands down

S

 

[Rockin Ronnie]

The AGP is a data transfer bus, and its speed defines how fast data can be
moved between the card and the motherboard. It does not define how fast
either the computer of the card run, just how fast they can move data
between each other
For big memory cards (which is more or less all of the ones available now)
the x4 is enough for most games, so you will not see any difference with x8.

The AGP rate will only really comes into its own when you are playing games
with *very* large textures.
As a tip - when you start a level, turn round 360 degrees, this usually
forces the video card to be loaded with max textures at the start, so you do
not see glitches later. I found this to work with games like Far Cry, when
using large textures, and prevents the card trying to load textures every
few minutes during actual gameplay.

Sometimes common sense beats technology hands down

I have not heard this before. Sounds interesting!

Ron

 

[Marko =?iso-8859-2?Q?Svir=E8i=E6?=]

What actual benefits will be gained from running the XT card at 8X.

None, or maybe 1%.

 

[Tod]

8X will only be used on a motherboard that supports 8X
Is it possible your motherboard only goes up to 4X.
What model motherboard do you have ?

 

[Sham B]

I have not heard this before. Sounds interesting!

Try it on the Far cry demo with the higher quality textures... you'll see
that the 360 degree is really jerky, but then if you do a second 360, it
will be much smoother. Also works on other games I play regularly that are
real texture monsters:
lock on - switch to an external camera and then rotate around the aircraft,
taking in the horizon.
Operation Flashpoint (when loaded down with mods) - do the 360 turn.

Every time you see a bit of jerkiness later in a game, do it again when you
have a quiet space, and the same effect will be seen again.

I'm not entirely 100% sure if this is caused by textures being moved from
computer RAM to video ram, or from hard drive to computer RAM, probably a
mixture of the two, but it certainly works in many games! It means I can
move up a notch in texture quality in a lot of games, plus it is cheaper
than upgrading my 128Mb card to a 256Mb one

S

 

[RipFlex]

Lynn, there are no games that will utilize all 8X speed of your AGP. AT BEST
maybe 1% (at best).

I have a old 400Mhz Intel board and CPU at 2.21 Mhz with a ATI Radeon 9800
Pro 256 meg card on a 4X AGP slot. My benches are the same as similar speed
system on 8X AGP.

So you would not be missing much at at. No fret.

 

[Lynne]

Lynn, there are no games that will utilize all 8X speed of your AGP. AT BEST
maybe 1% (at best).

I have a old 400Mhz Intel board and CPU at 2.21 Mhz with a ATI Radeon 9800
Pro 256 meg card on a 4X AGP slot. My benches are the same as similar speed
system on 8X AGP.

So you would not be missing much at at. No fret.

Thanks everyone, excellent response as per usual !!

The games that I'm into are Madden 2004, Ms Flight sim, Command and conquer,
Max Payne 2 (although finished on the old graphics card, doing again on the
new one), Splinter Cell (same again, old card/new card).
The motherboard by the way is a Gigabyte, GA-7NNXP. Which is a fantastic
board. Not the easiest board to set up, but the features and grunt from it
are unbelievable. It's one of those boards that you know the next jump can
only be the 64s, Anything else would just be pants!

Thanks again

Lynne