Parhelia..Runs like a Fat kid in Gym Class

[leech]

Originally posted by K6-III
Make sure to install the latest bios and the latest AMD AGP driver...

That's probably most likely it. GTA3 runs great on mine (probably around 30fps, haven't ever tried to clock it) Hell, Serious Sam 2 at 1024x768 runs quite well even on my slower (850mhz) pentium 3. Everything runs in the 20-40fps pretty much that I throw at it. Only problems with the Parhelia I've really had are the FAA bugs (usually Q3A type games, like SoF2, JK2. Also there are some slight glitches with it in Serious Sam 2)

Leech

[albatorsk]

Chucky Cheese: I will try that later today!

K6-III: I'm using the ASUS 1006 BIOS and AMD AGP 5.33 drivers. Maybe you know of a newer version available somewhere that I could try? I don't mind if it's beta...

[Maggi]

Originally posted by albatorsk
I'm using the ASUS 1006 BIOS and AMD AGP 5.33 drivers. Maybe you know of a newer version available somewhere that I could try? I don't mind if it's beta...

ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/BIO..._MPX/A7M266-D/

has BIOS 1007d


also make sure you run the AMD registry patch:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_2367,00.html

[albatorsk]

Thanks!! I will try these things out later tonight and let you know of how it goes!

About the AGP patch: Does it work in XP? Or is it "2000 only"? What I mean is, since it's from september 2000, is there any risk of it screwing up WindowsXP?

[Maggi]

Originally posted by albatorsk
About the AGP patch: Does it work in XP? Or is it "2000 only"? What I mean is, since it's from september 2000, is there any risk of it screwing up WindowsXP?

no idea, sorry

[GNEP]

I have heard that the AGP patch causes no problem in XP, but there has been some debate as to whether or not it has any effect at all. So you can apply it anyway, to be sure.

Fine in 2k for me though!

gnep

[DGhost]

unless you are running an MP or MPX chipset motherboard it makes no difference in XP

[Maggi]

obviously, he's running the A7M266-D which uses the MPX chipset ...

[albatorsk]

After upgrading to BIOS 1007, installing the AGP registry patch and booting Windows in UP mode, there was unfortunately no difference in any games I've gotten around to testing (GTA3, Mafia and CS).

But the fish-demo still runs fine though

[Geotpf]

See my post above to see what I think about my Parhelia. Basically, it runs Half Life, America's Army, and AVP2 correctly, although Surround Gaming doesn't work in AVP2 mulitplayer or Half Life at all. It CRASHES in RTCW, Quake 3, Kyodai Mahjongg, and Crimson Skies (unless you run it in software mode). It has graphical issues with GTA3, Unreal Tourney, and SOF2, and none of those games work in surround mode (although UT is supposed to). I'm actually debating on seeing if Matrox will accept an RMA on it, since I bought direct from them, although I bought it two or three months ago (right when it came out), and I threw the box away.

[UberLord]

Originally posted by Geotpf
It has graphical issues with GTA3, Unreal Tourney, and SOF2

For UT you can't force Aniso filtering through the PowerDesk. Other than that it has no problems with the Parhelia (except for DX 8 problems which are apparent on all cards that hardly crops up - I'll post a pic to demonstrate if you need.)

RichieG from the Matrox support forums indicated that it will be fixed eventually. Not soon as UT is an old game, but eventually

[K6-III]

...it may be old, but the user base is pretty large as they go...

[RanDob]

Hey, give Matrox a chance. Only the 1.00 drivers are out so far. 1.01 will be better.

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by RanDob
Hey, give Matrox a chance. Only the 1.00 drivers are out so far. 1.01 will be better.

Huh?

[RanDob]

My post was in response to the original post of the thread.