Duron + A7V = Slow Memory

[Guest]

I have an Asus A7V, Duron 650, Geforce II GTS, 256mb PC100 SDRAM. Running memory demanding CAD software I have found the performance to be useless - half the speed of 440BX and P3V4X setups running PIII 700s. I have run benchmarks under 98 and NT4. The machine hits the swap space before the ram runs out and grinds to a halt. The same can also be said for Athlon and KX133. Any help would be gratefully received.

 

[Raistlin]

Several points.
1) why are you using pc100 memory for a cad station
i have the same board and i got 256meg ram stick for 90$
at www.pccost.com (try pricewatch.com)
2)make sure your swapfile is set to a min size, 300meg should be good.
3)if you are doing cad maybe you should upgrade to about a 900mhz thunderbird? although the only difference is the L2
cache.
4)make sure the bios is set for optimal not normal, and you have installed the newest via 4-1 drivers from www.via.com.tw
5)what bios are you using? you can try upgrading the bios
if you have the orginal.
6)I am sure there are other thinks you can do, what are you using autocad 2k or 14? or something else?
I made a cad station with tbird 800 gforce 2gts etc and it blows away p!!! 800's on benchmarks for less price

Bored, Certified Tech

 

[Guest]

I am used to putting together CAD workstations using the more expensive bits (its my job), but with the advances in AMD and nvidia chips over the last year I wanted to try to build one on the cheap. As for the memory, I recently bought a 256 PC133 Dimm (at today's prices it would be rude not to) but it turned out to be a dud, anyway the speed of the RAM is going to make no difference if the machine is hitting swap space for no reason. I'll give the BIOS upgrade a go, it can't do any harm - the machine runs like a dog. Saying that the graphics are brilliant, my benchmarks say that the Geforce II GTS is just as fast for Pro/Engineer as an Elsa Gloria II (as long as you don't run NT4). NB. Pro/E is a REAL CAD package, AutoCAD is an insult to the industry!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by robertmason on 11/22/00 09:57 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[uncoando]

that's because the BX was a design freak; inadvertent super design...industry can't catch its ass, now.
Piii plus BX equals come catch me
However, when optimized, the Duron is the performance champ.
($/value)
tweak ram settings in BIOS, > queue depth, > fsb, declare all ram unbuffered/non-ecc, quit expecting piii performance from a $90 dollar proc when doing pro apps
my p3 800 abit bx raid 133 and p3 733 msi bxmaster are w/in 3-5% of the 1.2 ghz Athlon in all but the fpu-intensive benchmarks.
It's too easy to argue that they are extremely stable and pliable...

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

A colleague of mine has had the exact same problem with a slot A 700 Athlon and a KX motherboard. I am not looking for workstation performance from my Duron but I would expect it to be at least 75% as fast as a similarly clocked PIII. At the moment its less than 50% (even OC'ed from 650 to 800). There is a serious problem with AMD chips and the way they handle RAM!

 

[ledzepp98]

i don't know what os you are running but this might help...if you are running win98/winME (don't think it works with nt4/2000) you can add the following line to the 386Enh section of the system.ini settings:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
i tried it on the advice of various members of various forums and it works. it makes windows use all the available ram before using the swapfile (i have monitored this using norton system doctor while using memory intensive programs)