jimcarmichael26

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I've just bought and assembled a new setup:

AMD 1700+
Matrox HDD
Abit KR7a board.

My old graphics card is a
ELSA GLADIAC 511 64MB AGP GeForce2 MX

However, my new 3D performance is not at all as good as it should be.
Any suggestions for what I should be looking at/ checking/changing?

Thanks
 

AMD_Man

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What do you mean it's not as good as it should be? What's bad about? Elaborate please.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
 

Smilin

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You should be looking at a new graphics card for sure.

If money isn't a huge factor, look into the high end GeForce 4's

If money is a factor, Look at the ATI Radeon 8500 or as a 2nd choice the GeForce3 Ti200.
 

Oni

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we need to know the specs of your old rig, and the performance you got with that video card, and the performance that you get now.
Also what brand, and how much memory do you have?

"Why can't I be the man? I mean, I DO have harmony balls..." -epoth
 

jimcarmichael26

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Sorry, what I mean is that my 3D graphics performance is only slightly better than with my old system. This is shown in unreal tournament. I expected the performance to be much better with my new system.
I haev re installed unreal, but can only run it at the same res with more detail. Not the big improvement I was hoping for.
before I had:
AMD 450HZ
128 SDRAM
ELSA GLADIAC 511 64MB AGP GeForce2 MX

now I have:
AMD 1700+
Abit KR7A board
256 DDR RAM
Matrox 7200rpm 40GB HDD

Is my video card holding it all back, or could there be something I've set up incorrectly, eg BIOS etc? I've got the latest drivers for my video card. I hope this is enough info
 

imo

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I think so, do a search for mx benchmark on tomshardware site, you will notice at what mhz cpu will mx start maxing out!
 

bront

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I did a similar upgrade and had a similar issue. I went from a 3DMark2001 score of 1800 with my GF2 MX on a Athlon 750 Slot A, 2200 with the same card on a AXP 1600+. You'll need a better video card as well to get added performance.

You don't need to go top of the line, you can get better video cards for under $75 US, and they can easily double your video performance.

Oh. btw, you probably have a Maxtor HD, not a Matrox. Matrox makes video cards.
I do not like it Tom you see,
I do not like green PCB.
 

Oni

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faster CPU will only give you a performance boost in low resolutions where the video card doesn't play much part (640x480) so if you want better performance either overclock, or get a new card. The Visiontek Geforce 2 GTS-V can be had for around $50 and will easily overclock to regular Geforce 2 GTS speed. Or the Gainward Geforce 2 Ti500 will overclock faster than Geforce 2 Ultra speeds for around $120. Then again for about $130-140 you can get a Ti200 or maybe even Radeon 8500

"Why can't I be the man? I mean, I DO have harmony balls..." -epoth
 

phsstpok

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Last year I upgraded from a K6-2 400mhz to a Duron 1ghz+. I was using a Geforce256 SDR (very similar performance to the original Geforce2 MX). My game performance tripled. Went from 18-24 frames per second to 60-75 frames per second (a little overclocking is involved) at 1024x768x32, high (but not highest) detail levels.

I think you should be able to expect similar results or better.

It would help if we had some benchmark scores from you but based on what you said, "only slightly better performance...", I'd say something is way off.

Usually, the reason for a big performance deficit is because the AGP driver never got loaded. Did you load the Via 4-in-1 drivers? If so did you activate "Turbo mode" so that AGP 2x and 4x are available?

If the above is not the problem try <A HREF="http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kg7kr7/kg7kr7faq.htm" target="_new">Paul's Unofficial ABIT KG7 & KR7A-RAID FAQ</A> for lots of good information.

<b>We are all beta testers!</b>
 

jimcarmichael26

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I've sorted the problem...

It was a bios prob.

AGP was at 4x, but the AGP apparture was only at 64MB.
I put this to the maximum of 256mb and got very impressive results.
Now at full res/detail/32bit colour/etc as expected.

Thanks to you all
 

phsstpok

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Did you load the via 4-in-1 drivers or at least the Via AGP driver? Without these AGP will always run at 1X, regardless of BIOS setting. Only with the the 4-in-1 drivers installed can the BIOS setting affect the AGP speed. (This, of course, is true only for a Via chipset).

<b>Update:</b>

Sorry. Let me correct what I just said. If you don't load the Via 4-in-1 drivers or AGP driver and Windows doesn't load one either, then your video card will work in PCI mode (very slow). If you do load one of the Via drivers and select non-Turbo mode then your Video card can work at either 1X or 2X. If you load the driver and select Turbo mode then AGP 2X and 4X are available.

<b>We are all beta testers!</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 03/14/02 09:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>