Framerates: ATI users - beware of your AGP settings!

[hopper1]

I have a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (Atlantis) card. In my constant battle for better framerates I tweaked and renamed and what have you, but I only accidently stumbled across the tab in DirectX-3D-settings where you set your AGP speed (simple didn´t think of taking a look there because I would not have dreamed about anything being wrong there...): surprise! AGP speed was set to "off"!! I turned it to 4x, because my system is able to handle that. Catalyst/SmartGuard self-tested stability after required re-boot, and: second surprise! AGP was "off" again!!!

I browsed various internet boards and found out that 100s of ATI users had exactly that problem, and 10s of well-meant suggestions wouldn´t work! AGP was simply not recognized, although BIOS settings etc. had AGP shown and enabled. Many users noticed that problem after having upgraded to the latest Catalyst drivers (4.1 or 4.2; it was 4.1 in my case).

Only ONE solution worked (at least for me): AFTER upgrading to the latest Catalyst driver you should also update your chipset drivers, which in my case is a VIA chipset. Their latest drivers include an AGP patch. Got the VIA 4in1 driver (from here: http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 ), installed, went to my AGP settings - and: surprise! AGP speed now enabled and correctly set to "4x"!

Ok., fellow ATI users: Do check your AGP speed settings in your DirectX-3D tabs. (Obviously, many people would not check there because they simple assume that their system surely has AGP enabled!). If you find it "off", and have a VIA chipset, install their latest drivers!

Oh, I forgot: yes, fps went up (slightly....).


hopper

[Tabs]

Moral of the story - don't use VIA chipsets! After upgrading my system to an Nvidia nForce based motherboard, I was pretty shocked at how many things that were big issues with the VIA board I had before, like AGP, USB problems, etc were total non issues with the nForce 2 board... Not gonna use VIA again here!

Ryan

[AngelFuree]

Thanks for the advice! :D

I don't have that problem, but if it ever happens to me I'll keep it in mind. ;-)

Oh yeah, I do have an ATI card and a VIA chipset, so thanks. ;-) :D

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...b008c5b529.jpg

[hopper1]

Sorry to disappoint you, Ryan:

Also happens with Intel chipsets, but VIA seems to be affected more often.
See: http://forums.devhardware.com/showth...6b2defd573eaa0

[Stonec0ld]

Tried that for my Asus Radeon 9800XT, which shows as Off... Set it to 8X (my agp port speed), rebooted, and got a bsod during boot.... Pressed the reset button, and it booted completely except my mouse wouldn't move, even after unplugging and replugging it.... Reboot again and everything back to normal, AGP="Off"....

Going to Intel to find & download the latest 875P chipset drivers....

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http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...a47a41242e.jpg
(One of these centuries I'm gonna make a better sig... :-lol)

[hopper1]

According to other posts in different forums, some users have experienced difficulties when using AGP 8x. Try AGP 4x (still better than "off"!...) and see what happens.

[ponyboy]

Hey hopper,

Is the VIA chipset you are referring to part of the ATI board or the motherboard? I have a 9700 Pro but cant find what chipset it uses before I try your Hyperian suggestrion.

Currently I used the ATI Smartgart un-install program which removes that AGP auto-setting. So far (as I know), I am running a full 8x.

[ponyboy]

Just sawe in my ASUS manual my P4S8X motherboard has the SIS 648 South Bridge and SIS 963 South Bridge chipset, so are referring to ATI's AGP board?

[hopper1]

The chipset refers to the *motherboard*.

You can check which chipset you have by either checking the documents you got with your computer, or going to the homepage of your motherboard´s manufacturer, or take note of the very first bits of text you see once you boot your computer (and maybe then compare what you see with information acquired from the manufacturer´s webpages). As you already found out, you have an SIS chipset. Most likely, ASUS will offer the latest SIS chipset drivers for download, or will direct you to the SIS website. Do NOT mistake BIOS flashes for chipset drivers.

Note: *Only* update your chipset drivers if you have problems, and have made sure that AGP is enabled in your BIOS advanced chipset settings, and ATI SmartGart does not let you select any AGP speed!

[MadMaster]

There is nothing wrong with VIA chipset motherboards. The computer I'm using right now has a VIA chipset motherboard and it never gives any trouble. It is a rock solid machine. Our family has about 2 others that are rock solid machines that lock up about once every 6 months, and that is just about it.

Their is one case of a VIA chipset motherboard giving trouble. That is with my brother, but he has a cheapo ECS motherboard which are known for their cruddiness. Really its not VIAs fault, and if it is its just a minor bug that EVERY motherboard has. It is probably more of a problem on ATIs side.