Tweet
I got my new Asus A7S333 from FedEx and I have a question on installing PCI Cards. I've always put the sound card in the last slot then network card and so on so forth. I have a promise RAID card I got and I'm assuming the 2nd PCI slot would be the best place to install it. Any comments?
-
Why is it called tourist season, if we can't shoot at them? -
Trial and error
-Slougi
-
Most existing single CPU mainboards use a standard PIC chip (Programmable Interrupt Controller). These cards have just four INT's: INTA, INTB, INTC & INTD. Since so few INT's are responsible for all 16 (0-15) interrupts some sharing is *almost* inevitable.
Counting from the AGP:
PCI #1 should be avoided for all but low bandwidth cards because it most often shares INTA with the AGP itself. The AGP can *theoretically* use up to 2 INT lines, but most often does not.
PCI #2 is typically unshared and best for high bandwidth devices like a video editing card.
PCI #3 most often shares an INT line with a 6th PCI slot, if any.
PCI #4 and 5 most often share an INT line.
The wisdom of putting a sound card in the last slot depends on the cards bandwidth, what is in the shared slot if any etc.
Some PCI sound cards are still high PCI bandwidth operators (Audigy, SBLive etc.) while others use almost no resources when playing DirectSound (Turtle Beach Santa Cruz/VideoLogic Sonic Fury, Hercules Game Theater).
Many newer mainboards are coming with the ability to use either PIC (legacy mode) or the newer APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) which can handle up to 256 interrupts
When APIC is used (must be an NT kerneled OS) you can have >16 IRQ's, and those you use will work much faster than with a PIC chip.
Rub: best to install the OS with both APIC and ACPI active in the BIOS so it'll configure itself properly. As such existing OS installs may work at first but become unstable after some time. Forcing an ESCD update may fix this, but 'tis better to start fresh.
Time to dig through the BIOS section of the manual to see if you hit the jackpot
FYI: the Gigabyte GA-7VRX and GA-7VRXP are both APIC boards.
The only problem with the GA-7VRX has a problem with the Fasttrak TX4 but the Fasttrak100 works great.
The GA-7VRXP has a Fasttrak100 controller onboard.
Dr. MordridLast edited by Dr Mordrid; 10 June 2002, 16:30.Dr. Mordrid
----------------------------
An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fpsComment
-
Doc,
Thanks for the info...the Asus A7S333 supports APIC and I was wondering what the hell it was...the manual doesnt tell you jackcrap on what it does, though I noticed that only my Video card and Promise controller where reported in the lower ICQ numbers during boot up when it was turned on.Why is it called tourist season, if we can't shoot at them?Comment
-
Your graphics card has it's own ICQ number! Cool. Who does it talk to ?
1st system
Athlon AXIA Y 1Ghz @ 1.40Ghz, coolermaster hsf, Elite K7s6a, 512 MB Crucial DDR RAM, 20GB IBM 7200RPM Hard drive, Radeon 8500le 64mb, SB Audigy, 3 com 10/100NIC, 300w PSU, midi tower, FPS 1600 Surround, Belinea 17" monitor, Intellimouse explorer USB
System 2
Athlon TB 1.4 @ 1.5, Zalman Flower in silent mode, Elite K7S6A, 768MB DDRAM, Ati Radeon 8500le 64mb ddr, SB Audigy, 3Com 10/100NIC, 80GB IBM 7200rpm, Liteon 16 speed DVD, Lite-on 24102b CDRW, Songcheer Superwide, USB scanner, Intellimouse explorer, Microsoft keyboard, 19in iiyama Monitor, FPS1600
system 3
Abit ST6 RAID, Celly 1.2 @1.4 ,512MB SDRAM, Zalman Flower HSF noisey mode, ATi Radeon 8500le, SBLIVE, 3com 10/100 NIC, 80GB Seagate barracude HDD, 40GB IBM120GXP, 60GB IBM60GXP,Extra highpoint controller card, 16x Pioneer DVD, Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-RW, ATX Full tower case. 300w psu, 17in LG monitor, 20in Samsumg telly, epson stylus colour 880, 200W RMS Surround sound amp with Mission M71 Speakers.
.
System 4
Elite K7S5A, Duron 1.0, 128mb sdram, Coolermaster hsf, 80GB 120GXP IBM, Liteon 16x DVD, Radeon 7200 64MB DDR, SBLIVE.
Linksys 4 port router/firewall
512k Cable modem. niceComment
-
LOL got me!Originally posted by birdy
Your graphics card has it's own ICQ number! Cool. Who does it talk to ?
Why is it called tourist season, if we can't shoot at them?Comment
-
It's normally a case looking in the book and seeing which slot shares with which.Comment
-
As an addendum to what Doc Mordrid said: If you've have the USB controller enabled with and IRQ, it will share PCI 4,5 on your board.
I've owned a ton of Gigabyte boards (My two of my machines are using them now), and just got a new one (You're not cleared for that one yet hehe...), and this has always been the case with them.Hey, Donny! We got us a German who wants to die for his country... Oblige him. - Lt. Aldo RaineComment
-
Thanks for that addendum MM. I should have included that tidbit, but was getting writers cramp
I'm on my first couple of Gigabytes; one GA-7VRX and one GA-7VRXP. Both are excellent save for the 7VRX's problem with the TX4.
The only other problem with them is VIA's making: poor PCI busmastering performance. This problem still haunts the cards that use their chipsets bigtime.
Dr. MordridDr. Mordrid
----------------------------
An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fpsComment
-
Normally ASUS lists the PCI IRQ settings in their manuals.. it will be a diagram where it will be indicated which device/slot is sharing an IRQ with another slot, normally if i am using a sound card. i would disable the onboard sound and use the slot it was sharing since it should now be free :PLife is a bed of roses. Everyone else sees the roses, you are the one being gored by the thorns.
AMD PhenomII555@B55(Quadcore-3.2GHz) Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 Kingston 1x2GB Generic 8400GS512MB WD1.5TB LGMulti-Drive Dell2407WFP
***Matrox G400DH 32MB still chugging along happily in my other pc***Comment
Comment