How to disable G400 "Side-Banding" on Win2000 BOX

[R. Kaneko]

Gurm,

How much RAM? Total 384MB(128MB*3).

> Another thought is that you are running a 700Mhz CPU. This CPU requires:
> 1. The correct voltage (you may need to tweak this).

I DO NOT UP or DOWN VCore Voltage. As everyone know, Intel PIII 700MHz
Coppermine's normal VCore Voltage is 1.65V. And mine is CU-Mine 700MHz.

> 2. PC133 RAM (you didn't mention if your RAM was specifically PC133 certified
> or not).

Of course my total 384MB RAM is all TOSHIBA PC-133 certifed;-)

> I'm guessing that your ram is substandard and can't handle Dime transfers
> at 133mhz.

So why??? When I set the AGP settings to 1X but ad no effort.
# With same mobo, RAM and TNT2 Ultra, my system was no problem;-)

[Kruzin]

Try the RAM one stick at a time.
Each stick of RAM you add increases the potential for bus noise. G400 is particularly sensitive to bus noise, which is WHY so many people have to force 1x.

Matrox cards use AGP somewhat differently than other cards do. Everyone else uses DMA mode AGP, while Matrox uses DiME mode. DiME mode is more efficient than DMA (1x DiME is nearly as efficient as 2x DMA).

If the system becomes stable with just one (or 2) stick(s) of RAM, you are closer to your answer. Then you just need to figure out if it's the RAM itself, or the mobo. I think it's probably the mobo just not having a "clean" enough signal with that many sticks of RAM...

[R. Kaneko]

Moderator, Thanks for your follow up.

> Try the RAM one stick at a time.

I've already tried it. And tried to remove all the other cards, too.
I've tried everything;-)

> G400 is particularly sensitive to bus noise, which is WHY so many
> people have to force 1x.

This is the it what I want to hear! I did not know why everyone did'nt
touch this sensitiveness... I foud out "Bus mastering" and "AGP 1x" issue
in this forum but there's a little "Side banding". Anyone want to set
SBA OFF here???

> DiME mode is more efficient than DMA (1x DiME is nearly as
> efficient as 2x DMA).

Yes I know G400 DIME, too. 2X refers to the "Side Band Addressing" of
the AGP slot (the one that swaps textures in and out of memory on DMA
AGP, and reads and executes textures through DIME)...

All directly read/write data to system memory, the bus cycle coherence
will happen very often. Disabling the Side Band signal will reduce this
case, I think. What do you think?

Thx!

[Gurm]

Ok, I'll try to be a bit more detailed this time. If you can enable BM with only a 32-meg aperture, but NOT with a 128-meg aperture or something like that, then there is a problem with either:

- Your motherboard
- Your memory
- Some other card
- A combination of the above

Have you tried disabling video bios shadowing? And have you tried toggling video RAM caching from UC to USWC or vice versa? Have you flashed the P3B-F's BIOS?

Once again, if you can only access the first 16 megs of memory through the AGP aperture then there is something WRONG with the system. A 16-mb aperture is not acceptable functionality. If you don't have enough AGP memory to at least hold the entire contents of your card's RAM, I don't believe DirectX or OpenGL will even USE the AGP memory.

- Gurm



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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Gurm]

Ok look. You're obviously not interested in listening to any of us so...

Please, run me some benchmarks ANYONE. I propose that disabling side banding will neuter your G400. If not, well then of course I'll eat my words. If so then we'll have to lump R. Kaneko in as a slightly less offensive Tombman...

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.