Asus P3B-F+ PIII 450+Micron PC133 Memory means studdering 3D graphics.

[cpld005]

Anyone with this same setup seen this? Everything was fine with the old Intel SE440BX-2 board. I don't have anything overclocked either.

[stringy13]

Hmmm I don't have a P3B-F but I have used the P2B series of MoBo's alot...
What do you have the AGP Apiture size set to??

I don't think it's the memory, prolly just a bios setting...



Craig

[cpld005]

It turned out to be the the board, I think Asus's plug and play on this board is horrible, I tried reinstalling the system 3 times and everytime my net card, sound card, and SCSI card all were using IRQ 11. I went to an all IDE based system and still devices trying to use the same IRQ, this time it is the USB controller and SB Live trying to use IRQ 5. I am in contact with ASUS about this, but if they can't figure it out the board is going back. Oh the agony we go through for the latest and "greatest?"

[martijn sipkema]

in the bios there normally is a setting to have the bios do the pnp or the OS. if not already so, you may want to have the bios control the resources instead of the OS, with me this always works fine. you can also assing IRQ to legacy ISA cards and to PCI slots manually to sove possible conflicts.

if you have the OS handle pnp the bios only gives resources to VGA and IDE/SCSI i think

[cpld005]

I'll try it again with the bios controlling the devices instead of the OS, sounds like an interesting idea. Just for the hell of it I threw in the old Intel board I was using and no problems at all, so if that idea doesn't cure it, i'm just gonna send the board back and buy an Abit, I think I should have done that in the first place.

[Jorden]

I've come across a question like this before and it might be the problem of the PIII in combination with the PC133 RAM.

The P3B-F is speciffically made for PC100 RAM and 100 MHz FSB, and then to overclock all.

It's got a jumperless BIOS feature, jumperless mobo and all. You direct everything from the BIOS.

But it doesn't seem to work too good with PC133 RAM. Was never made for that kind of RAM, and thus when your try to play with this speeded up RAM, it gives faults.

I think that if you'd have reverted to PC100 RAM and then played games, you'd have no problems at all. OCing would have been alot easier as well.

If your P3B has PC133 RAM onboard, there you'd have your first bottleneck with a PIII already. The mobo can't handle the speed it directs the data to main RAM and back to the CPU. And my guess is that it's a PIII thing.
Maybe because the L2 cache on board the PIII is CPU clocked?? (In your case at 450 MHz)

Try it with the Abit. Go ahead and do hope that this board does understand PC133 RAM.

Jorden.

[agallag]

L2 Cache on P3 is 1/2 speed. It won't be full speed until coppermine is out.

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Andrew Gallagher - andrew@agallagher.com
Asus P2B-S, PII-350, 64MB PC100, 12.7GB Quantum Fireball EX ATA-33, 3.2GB IBM Deskstar3 EIDE, 2x2.1GB Quantum Atlas I UWSCSI, Toshiba 6201 SCSI CD, WangDAT SCSI, MillG200 8MB (Anxiously awaiting my G400MAX), SBLive! Retail, Win98SE

[Jammrock]

cpld005,

!!!CAUTION: EXTREMELY LONG POST AHEAD!!!

I too have an ASUS P3B-F and have had the problem you described. My question is what VIDEO Card are you using? It may not be the motherboad, RAM or CPU, but the video card that is at fault (stuttering video usually means video card problems). I am running a P3B-F (5 PCI, 2 ISA version), PIII-450 and 256 MB PC133 SDRAM (Luck Glodstar Semicon, aka LGS) and a Voodoo3 2000...upgrading to G400 MAX when I can get one. I doubt the PnP on the board is causing it, I have had my video card shared with 2 other devices on my board and not had troubles. The ASUS PnP is one of the best on the market.

I got my studdering when I started overclocking and put my computer in a wooden case (have to dampen the sound of 11 fans somehow). Anyway, I would be benchmarking the computer using 3DMark Max and I would notice that the graphics would start stutttering. When I clocked down the computer it ran just fine. After some tweaking and testing I determined 2 things. First, my RAM timing not set conservatively for overclocking. Secondly, I noticed that the video card couldn't handle the higher speeds.

Once I reset the RAM timing the computer was very stable. I also keep the cabinet door open to keep a better air flow going, which allowed me to run the computer at the higher speeds. My suggestion to you (since you are not overclocking) is to go to the Advanced -> Chip Configuration menu in the BIOS. Make sure the SDRAM Configuration is set to [by SPD], the SDRAM MA Wait State is set to [Normal] and the Graphics Apeture Size is set to at least 50% of you total RAM, but no less than 64 MB. Reboot the computer and run some 3D games and/or benchmark utilities (3DMark Max is a very good one).

You can also specify the IRQ's for the PCI slot by going to Advanced -> PCI Configuration. As you can see in this menu that slot 1 and 2 have their own IRQ, while slot 3 shares with 6 and 4 shares with 5 (if you have the 6 PCI version and no ISA installed). This is done because the board has a limited amount of IRQ's it can use for a lot of devices. Here are some tips to get the cards on their own IRQ's with the P3B-F. First, disable any 'legacy' ports (COM ports and Parallel/Printer port) that are not in use, by going to Advanced -> I/O Device Configuration (I have all 3 disabled). Next go to the Boot menu in the BIOS and set the Plug & Play O/S to [NO]. Then go to Advanced -> PCI Configuration again and set each PCI slot to it's own IRQ. Depending on how many PCI cards you have depends on where things go. I suggest the following:

Leave slot 1 open if you have the space and set the IRQ = 4 or 3 depending on which COM port is disabled, and your modem goes on the other open IRQ unless it is a WinModem, in which case it will take the IRQ of the PCI slot. Put your sound card in slot 2 and set the IRQ = 5. Slot 3's IRQ = 9, leave slot 6 empty if you have the space. Slot 4/5's IRQ = 10 or 11, which ever one is not used by the video card, and leave slot 4 empty if possible. If you are forced to share IRQ's with 2 PCI devices put them in the last 2 slots, with your network card (if you have one) in the last slot and then your least heat producing item above it (or in slot 1). No matter what you do though, the USB will share an IRQ with something, so make sure it is shared by the device least used. If you have a SB Live! make sure the SB16 Emulation is disabled, if you have questions about that give me a tell. This should fix most of your IRQ problems.

If you are still geting video stutter try setting the SDRAM Configuration to a specific preset timing (like 7ns, 8ns or 10ns), or you can set it manually to all 3T's except the DRAM Idle Timer to 10T (standrad PC100 RAM settings).

If this still does not fix your problem I would suggest trying one more thing before you pitch your motherboard. Take the case off your computer and put a floor or box fan next to the case. Turn the fan on to low and make sure it is blowing air directly onto you video card and CPU. If this fixes you video stutter problem then something is overheating. Since it is a video problem, more than likely it is you video card. If you have the resources try using a different video card and so forth to test it out. Replace the defective part.

Hope this helps.

Jammrock

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PIII 540 (120 MHz x 4.5 - 540), 256 MB PC133 SDRAM, ASUS P3B-F, Winblows 98 SuckyEdition, 18 GB WD Expert HDD, Encore 6x DVD w/ Dxr3 decoder, (TEMPORARY!!!) Voodoo 3 2000 @ 175 MHz which will be replaced by a Matrox G400 MAX, Sound Blaster Live! full retail, MAG DX715T 17

[cpld005]

Thank you so much for the reply I have a G400 (Vanilla version). It does however seem that if the scsi controller is the only thing in the system (leaving nic, and sound out) everything appears to be alright o/c'd or not. That's why I had come to the conclusion that is way the way the board was allocating resources. I could be very wrong, I hope I am very wrong cause the board definately has the potential to kick some serious ass.

[cpld005]

Well,
I tried all the suggestions listed above, and I was still having probles with studdering, so as a last ditch attempt I took a floor fan and pointed it at the video card and set it on high and the problem has disappeared (the card on the back where the chip is was hot enough to burn your finger off). The card is the cause so I guess I need to find some type of additional cooling, I have a fan already on the unit but apparently that will not be enough, I have on order a new Tennmax cooler adapted to the G400 series cards so hopefully that will remedy the situation, I think I will also put a fan on the back of the card to keep it extra chilly.

[DMan]

Is it just me, or are you people stupid? First, your P3B-F aint gonna be worth shit when coppermine comes (.18 micron). Just becuase your mobo has the 133 Mhz FSB speed, doesn't mean you could run at that speed.

The BX chipset only allows 1/1 and 2/3 AGP bus dividers. Which means it's only meant to operate at 66 or 100 Mhz. It's Intel's protection measure so you hbave to go buy and i820 (Camino) board this fall. If you try and run at 133 Mhz, any cid card you have will totally crash, because it's AGP bus would be running at 87n Mhz, muhc over the spec 66 Mhz.

Basically, you should've gotten PC100 and a cheaper BX baord (BH6 is awesome), because the PC100 SDRAM would've hit 129 or anything below that and the P3B-F doesn't give you shit.

Maybe one more PCI slot, but what the hell do you need 6 PCI slots for?!? 5 is enough right now. I guess I just fail you see your logic here. The PIII 450 will overclock just as good on most other "overclocking" boards (I mentioned two above)

[Genom]

Good to see such open mindedness from someone. I'll tell you right now that I would KILL to have an extra PCI slot in my system. I only got this P2B-F cause I prefer Asus over Abit (personal reason). Also the P3B has some nice new features and coppermine isnt OUT YET. So before ya bash someone for beeing stupid, remwember that if your gonna wait for new tech before buying, you aint never gonna buy shit.

[M Ragsdale]

DMan,
What kind of video card do you use? My G200 and the about 15 or so that I have installed into other computers have all sustained that kind of overclocking of the AGP bus just fine. I am assuming that the G400 will follow in that tradition.

Matt

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486 sx25, 4MB, Hercules Dynamite Pro VLB, SB16, PIO mode 2 145MB Hard drive, Win 3.1

[cpld005]

I tried the system with certified PC100 SDRam and had the same results. My feeling is that the board sucks when it comes to assigning IRQ's since so many things were being assigned to the same IRQ and it was different each time I reinstalled the system.

[cpld005]

ok.