Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
Paul,
I'm leaving the AGP aperture setting alone. The Radeon seems to be working
just fine.
I'll check out the pages you linked. Thanks. I'm enjoying learning all
sorts of new things as I researched my new system, built it, and am now
using it.
John
"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:nospam-0307040444390001@192.168.1.177...
> In article <wKydnffsnpPD13vdRVn-vg@lmi.net>, "John Blaustein"
> <nomail@nomail.com> wrote:
>
> > Paul,
> >
> > See below...
> >
> > > Video cards have a 2D and a 3D portion to them. We spend the big bucks
> > > to get enhanced 3D performance, but the 2D part of the cards, for the
> > > most part, hasn't changed in years. In that sense, any modern card
with
> > > a working AGP interface is going to work for you. (A PCI video card
> > > might be perceived as too slow at screen updates, when handling large
> > > bitmaps.) As I'm not a dedicated Photoshop user, it would be unfair
> > > for me to suggest a card, as there can be tiny differences between
> > > them that annoy professional users.
> >
> > Yes, I understand that about 3D vs. 2D, which is why I don't see the
need
> > for an expensive card.
> >
> > I've switched cards -- the Radeon 7000 is back in the new system. No
> > flicker, needle sharp text and images, immediate redraw, passes all
DXDIAG
> > tests. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see how it goes.
> >
> > > If you have a color calibration system and a good CRT monitor, then
> > > you can probably calibrate out any color issues. (Calibrator, as in
one
> > > of those devices that you hold up to the CRT, to calibrate the color
> > > response.)
> >
> > Yes, I use a color calibration system -- ColorVision's OptiCAL with
Spyder
> > (the device you stick on the monitor to read the color). I use a good
Sony
> > 21" monitor. I haven't loaded OptiCAL on the new system yet, but will
in
> > the next few days. I also will install a second video card --
inexpensive
> > PCI card to run a second monitor for Photoshop use -- you put the image
on
> > the main monitor all the palettes (controls) on the second monitor.
It's a
> > great way to work. (I'm a photographer, so I spend a lot of time using
PS.)
> >
> > I'm assuming OptiCAL will "do its thing" with the Radeon card, but until
I
> > install OptiCAL and run the calibration and profiling software, I won't
be
> > sure the Radeon is the best solution. There is no reason it shouldn't
work,
> > but you know how that goes.
> >
> > > Other than that, video cards have some differences between them, as
> > > to how sharp they are at high resolution. You could try Google on
> > > the name or model number of what you plan on using, combined with the
> > > word "fuzzy", to see if the card you are interested in is a dud
> > > or not. Some cards in fact don't have bad video chips - they have
> > > too much filtering of the output just before it goes to the VGA
> > > connector. Some of those cards can be fixed by removing the filter
> > > caps from the PI filters near the connector. The filters are
> > > distinguishable by the fact there are three color channels, so you
> > > see three groups of identical components near the VGA connector
> > > on the video card. People used to care about this in years past,
> > > and there used to be recipes for removing the caps by snipping
> > > them (yuck!). It is a wonder the video cards weren't damaged by
> > > that.
> >
> > I'm not inclined to start snipping things off of video cards, but I'll
have
> > a look!
> >
> > > Too bad the flicker cannot be stopped on your Matrox. Have you
> > > tried disabling all hardware acceleration ? There is a slider to
> > > do that, and maybe with all acceleration disabled, it will stop
> > > flickering.
> >
> > Yes, I tried disabling hardware acceleration, disabling hyper-threading,
> > trying different resolutions and refresh rates, but nothing made the
flicker
> > go away. One interesting thing is a fellow-photographer I met on the
> > Photoshop newsgroup has the same mobo as I do and he uses a Matrox G550
> > (mine is the G450, but virtually identical), and he doesn't have the
> > flicker. Go figure. He e-mailed me that he has a G450 he's not using
and
> > offered to send it to me just to test. Even though the Radeon is
working
> > now, I may have him send the card. I sure would like to find out that
my
> > G450 is defective, rather than conclude that there is something wrong
with
> > my mobo. It's all perplexing since the G450 should work just fine with
the
> > P4P. Oh well.
> >
> > In the installation guide for the Radeon card, it says that prior to
> > installing the card, the AGP aperture size should be set to 1/4 the size
of
> > the memory on the card. I found the AGP aperture setting in BIOS and
it's
> > at 64. I left it there and the Radeon is working fine. I'm curious
what
> > that setting does. Do you know? The Radeon has 32MB on it, so that
would
> > suggest I set the AGP aperture to 8MB. What do you think?
> >
> > John
>
> Sounds like everything is working out for you.
>
> The AGP aperture is for mapping system memory as an extension of
> the texture memory for 3D stuff. I wouldn't worry about the setting
> unless you plan on gaming. (As far as resource usage, AGP aperture
> reserves part of the address space of the processor, so in a large
> memory situation, could be an issue. What I don't know, is whether
> the memory it maps to, is allocated on the fly, or is statically
> allocated (rojakpot says GART memory is on the fly). And, the rule
> might have been "1/4 of system memory", which could be a ridiculously
> large number. Some systems freeze up when you mess around with the
> AGP aperture, so leaving it alone is also an option.)
>
>
http://www.sysopt.com/agp.html
>
> There is BIOS settings advice here:
>
>
http://www.rojakpot.com/freeBOG.aspx
>
http://www.rojakpot.com/showFreeBOG.aspx?Lang=0&bogno=32 ("Aperture")
>
> While working in 2D, most of the memory on your video card will
> be unused. The memory that is used, will be for frame buffering.
>
> HTH,
> Paul
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