GF2 MX400 to GF4 Ti4200, so *** is going on!!?!?

[Spyda]

right, so I finally got myself a GF4 Ti4200, i was expecting big things, but was i expecting too much?

I installed it, and ok it does run GTA3 better, but from what other people said, it should run a hell of a lot faster.
I mean the GF2 i had was PCI and this is AGP 4x

So I ran 3DMark, Iwas told by many people i should expect about 8000 - 10,000. what did I get?
4189, what the hell is up with that??

should i be changing some settings? Should i just reinstall windows so it is fresh and its not muddling up the drivers or past configurations etc?

please help this cost me quite a bit of money, and at the moment im a tad disappointed

[Force Flow]

First, try getting the latest drivers for the card and the latest det drivers.

Is your AGP aperture set correctly in the BIOS? Try setting it to 64MB if it isn't already.

[RenegadeKing]

64mb AGP aperture? Don't you want to set it as high as it goes as long as you have enough ram? Mine is at 256mb. Make sure in the BIOS that the speed is set to 4X and fastwrites are on. Also you might want to try uninstalling the the detonators and installing them fresh from www.nvidia.com

[pam123]

RK,
This is the thread on AGP aperture size.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...t=AGP+aperture

[TimPoet]

Originally posted by Spyda So I ran 3DMark, Iwas told by many people i should expect about 8000 - 10,000. what did I get? 4189, what the hell is up with that??

What were your 3D Marks before that? I mean, how much of a jump did you get?

Edit: I just noticed your specs, hmmm, something is wrong. Did you uninstall the original drivers before you installed the first set of new ones? That needs to be done with video drivers these days.

[Alienware_Dude]

Make sure you don't have AA or AF turned on; they will choke even the fastest cards. Muck around in your display options, and set everything as close to 'Best Performance' as the available options allow.

[Spyda]

ah, had AA and AF on, turned them off and reset to defaul and now im getting 10,500

nice one

[Alienware_Dude]

Nice, that's a great score.

[Spyda]

GTA3 is so much nicer in 1024x768x32 wit hmax draw distance when it runs this smooth and quick, im used to 640x480 and a tad jerky, its giving me motion sickness
love it

[Spyda]

oh yea, what is this agp aperture size and fastwrite, where can i set those, i looked in BIOS and nothing in there

[pam123]

Agp Aperture Size and Fast Write are in Advanced Chipset Features in your bios.
I would leave Fast Write disabled unless you just want to experiment.

[ILLPHIL]

what does AA and AF stand for ?? thanks

[Spyda]

Anti Aliasing and Antistropic(?) Filtering

the only thing i have in Advanced Chipset Features is DRAM timings and Memroy Hole
it can be Disabled or 15-16MB

[pam123]

AA, anti-aliasing: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/aliasing.html

AF, anisotropic filtering : This has to do with texture, why the bear actually looks fuzzy in that ATI demo.
This is about pixel shaders and vertex shaders and bump mapping and I get a headache thinking about it for too long.
This definition will help :http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/t/texture.html
but for the exhaustive explanation borrow, or buy, the April 02 edition of MaximumPC.
They're talking about GeForce cards but the explanation covers everything.

[pam123]

Get out your MicroStar manual and read it!
It's in there somewhere.
Then go to your bios and read through all the screens, note that you have to use the arrows to scroll through them there's a good deal more on the chipset screen then DRAM timings and Memory Hole. You covered only a third of that section.
Also read the bios guide on this site and, when you've done that, book mark this site : http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=1
It will tell you everything you need to know about each bios setting.
Only when you've done all this should you think about what settings you want to change.
Familiarizing yourself with your bios settings will save you alot of grief later on.

[pam123]

Sorry guys, wasn't thinking when I hit the tab.

[Spyda]

I am familiar with BIOS, so thats why im stumped at it not being there, my manual also says that its not there, there isnt a single mention of anything except the options that i see in BIOS, and memory hole is for ISA slots.
The only options i have are

DRAM Timing settings
SDRAM Idle Timer
Memory Hole

That is it

[Spyda]

eek, i found out what is wrong, the BIOS version i have. The AGP Aperture Size was only added in a later BIOS, this means i have to flash my BIOS with a new one, which i am scared of doing.
I have AMI BIOS on XP with NTFS File system, so do i flash wit hte AMIBIOS instructions or the 'for users of a non FAT file system'?

[RenegadeKing]

follow directions and get the bios here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...&NAME=MS-6566E

[Spyda]

i did it in the end, i just hoped, and luckily, did it right first time, hello AGP aperture!! 256MB? why thankyou

[pam123]

Nice going !

[Spyda]

Originally posted by RenegadeKing 64mb AGP aperture? Don't you want to set it as high as it goes as long as you have enough ram? Mine is at 256mb. Make sure in the BIOS that the speed is set to 4X and fastwrites are on. Also you might want to try uninstalling the the detonators and installing them fresh from www.nvidia.com

reading that, i noticed you dsay that it should be set to 4x, i think my board is a 4x only, cos if i put in a 2x card, my board will go pooof. i have heard that fastwrites shouldnt be on either, also that the aperture should be set to about 64 to 128

[RenegadeKing]

Yea, I read a while ago that you can set it as high as you want as long as you have enough ram. But I guess 64 or 128 is enough. I always have fastwrites on, i mean my graphics card supports it, so why not? And with 2x and 4x, most motherboards you can choose between the two. I know my old motherboard (abit kt7a) defaulted at 2x.