AGP x2?

[Paddy]

I have a Legend V motherboard
Is this AGPx2?
If not would upgrading improve performance?
i have a P2 300 with 256mb RAM
Would changing the processor make a diference?
I was recommended a K7 Asus mobo - but i dont know what that is?

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Cheggers
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System Spec:
Its white, shiney and has a 32Mb G400 in it.
What more do you need to know?

[Paddy]

Is there a difference running a G400 on AGP x1 or AGP x2?

btw I read the nfo re: Snark's Problems.
Nice to see there is a forum that bothers to help!

big electronic pat on the back

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Pat

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Cheggers
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System Spec:
Its white, shiney and has a 32Mb G400 in it.
What more do you need to know?

[Scytale]

You seem to like questions.

The Legend V board is based on the LX chipset, and it's more or less supposed to do AGP2X. Don't be surprised if it doesn't.

A mainboard based on the BX chipset will improve performance when you also upgrade your memory to PC100 or even PC133 memory.

A faster CPU would improve performance.

The Asus K7M mainboard needs a K7 (AMD Athlon) CPU and at least PC100 memory.

At this time AGP2X is in some cases faster than AGP1X, but mostly there's not much of a difference to be noted.

[James]

I have slightly different questions on the same issue.

- Is using RegHacks my best or even only solution to get AGP 2x?
- Is there any risk in using RegHacks such that I might as well stay with 1x?
- Is RegHacks easy to use (any pointers)?

Opinions anyone?

Background:

My system would seem to support AGP 2x but PCIList tells me that it's only at 1x transfer. I've tried a few things, including running the system without any overclocking, but it doesn't achieve AGP 2x.

The system doesn't seem to be performing too badly at AGP 1x, however. At 1024 x 768 32bit color, 32bit z-buffer, I get 3Dmark99 marks of 4-4.5k for the video card and 5-5.5k for the CPU (everything overclocked). I have no complaints about game performance.

However, my card and board are supposed to support AGP 2x, which I suspect would be at least a small performance boost compared to 1x. So, after scouring the board, it seems that I have to resort to using the RegHacks to pry AGP 2x from my system.

What do you think?

Thanks.

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Windows 98SE
AOpen AX6BC Pro Gold
Cel 366 (@550)
64 Megs PC100
Matrox G400 Dual 32 Meg w PD5.30 (@118.2%)
Sound Blaster Live!Value w Liveware 3.0
Pioneer DVD3 6x

[Scytale]

I think what you think is what I think. Use the RegHacks and try to force AGP2X. There's nothing to loose. If it doesn't work (ie. you get crashes) go back to default.

[James]

I haven't used RegHacks before. I'll have to see if I can find some sort of docs on it.

Do I just double click on the ForceAGP2x.reg file and it takes care of everything else?

To switch back, I guess I can double click on ForceAGP1x.reg or DefaultAGP.reg. Is that right?

Is it this simple or do I actually have to edit stuff manually?

[Scytale]

Basically, it's that simple.

But... you may need to edit the RegHack files if the display entry \0000\ does not match your actual setup (ie. when yours is \0001\). Just look at the ForceAGP2X.reg file and locate the correct key in the registry. If necessary, edit the reg files before merging.

[James]

Well, it sounds pretty simple.

I'll see if I can recall how to open up the registry again. I take it that's where my setup would be.

I'll report back if the thing blows up on me.

Thanks for the info.

[Scytale]

Are you enjoying yourself, Andrei?

[Ant]

Just hit this <a href="http://www.murc.ws/Utils/PD5RegHacks.zip">Reg Hacks</a>

[James]

Merci tout le monde (Thanks everyone),

Andrei, je me demande si les "RegHacks" sur ton site est different que les "RegHacks" ici. Je pense que non.

Anyway, I finally managed to get my system to AGP2x. My key was already set at 0000, so there wasn't any editing involved, just clickedy-click. I'm guessing that your first video card is at 0000 and the second at 0001. Is that how these keys work for video cards or what?

Here's the funny stuff... perhaps a lesson that tweaking does not always improve performance.

I suspect that my video performance is now WORSE at AGP 2x. Is this possible? If I recall correctly, the only thing that has changed since my previous benchmark tests was the installation of LiveWare 3.0. Shouldn't affect video right?

So, post AGP2x gives me around 3950 for 3dmark99 marks. Pre AGP2x (i.e. AGP1x) was giving me about 4150 for 3dmark99 marks. Checking the specific test results, most of them are slightly worse post AGP2x. That is, FPS is down marginally pretty much across the board along with lots of the other stuff. Only some of the fillrates are up.

Conversley, however, the CPU marks have gone up a few points from AGP1x to AGP2x.

So, is this ~200 point decrease in my 3dmark99 marks and the seeming net performance loss due to switching to AGP2x? Perhaps this is why the board installed at AGP1x, because it's optimal? What's the point with AGP2x? Have I done something screwy?

How perplexing.

Can I expect ANY improvement from AGP2x at all or should I just switch back to AGP1x and hope my better test results come back?

Any ideas guys?

[SCompRacer]

AGP X 2 will improve your 32MB texturing speed in 3D MARK test. That is only area that changes significantly for me between X 1 and X 2. Went up 14 fps.

So far, no game uses textures this size. Only 3D/Cad apps will use textures this size when you render the project.

So if it works better at AGP X 1, leave it there.

[James]

Ok, to answer one of my earlier questions... I did indeed do something screwy, which resulted in misleading results.

So, I'm here to 'fess up and spill the beans so as not to mislead anyone else who might be dealing with the AGP1x or 2x issue.

My original 3dmark99 test results at AGP1x were run under single display. The test results with AGP2x were run with the G400 card set on dual display (DVDmax), biasing the results.

I was watching DVDs and forgot to reset the card, since it really doesn't seem to noticeably affect game performance. Anyway, I only just noticed that I still had the card set on DVDmax.

After accounting for this difference, it appears now that AGP2x doesn't seem to make any significant difference at all for my 3dmark99 results, even with respect to individual tests.

In general,

I'm looking at just under 4000 for 3dmark99 marks and around 5200 for the CPU when running with both displays enabled, both AGP1x and AGP2x.

Switching to single display, I get just under 4200 and about 5250 respectively, both AGP1x and AGP2x.

These tests are at 1024 x 768 32bit color, 32bit z-buffer, tripple buffering.

In short and without doing a rigorous test, my guess is that any deviations from AGP1x to 2x are easily attributable to normal testing errors that might arise even at AGP1x. That is, no big deal for me switching to 2x.

It is interesting that video performance only takes a small hit when both displays are enabled, at least according to 3dmark99.

[scotty]

hiya Cheggers,

finally someone else who has this damned legend-v! i have one too, and i'm pissed off. qdi claims that it will support 2x agp, but then again, when i bought my mill g200, matrox claimed to have opengl support hm, maybe qdi will come up with a proper 2x agp icd...

if you've got 1x agp then that's probably the best you'll get. i've tried using the reg hack to force 2x, but the system froze every time i booted. it might have something to do with o/cing by upping the bus speed to 75mhz. i figure it's better to get the increase in performance with the o/c than the nominal increase from 2x agp. between that, and clocking the g200 up to 99mhz i get respectable performance. from what i understand, you are going to want more processor horsepower to drive that g400. i've heard that a p3 450 is about where the g400 should start off.

and yes, this forum is a great place eh!

8¬)

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p2 266@300 (4x75mhz) | qdi legend-v, lx chipset, bios 2.0sl | 96 mb pc100 | mill g200agp@99mhz 8mb sg, bios 2.6, pd 5.3 | win 98se

[This message has been edited by scotty (edited 01 November 1999).]