This is an open warning to the community that could save some inexperienced users a headache and a loss in performance.
I got my P4S533 about a month ago. Don't get me wrong, I love this board.
However, for users installing an AGP video card (most), like me, there are some BIOS settings you really need to change from defaults.
By default, the default VGA BIOS setting is 'PCI VGA Card BIOS". Change it to "AGP VGA Card BIOS". Sidebanding and Fast Writes will be disabled but should be enabled if your card supports them.
When I noticed a few days after setting up my new system that my geforce 4 ti was running in PCI mode for no apparant reason, needless to say I was frustrated. Being relatively experienced as a user I was able to find the problem and fix the settings within about 15 minutes, but many inexperienced users may NEVER NOTICE this.
I'm not saying Award bios should be changed, I understand why PCI must be the default, but users with an AGP card should be told to change it.
I tested 3DMark 2001SE twice in a row with the same default settings and same default, non-OC'ed clocks, only change being the AGP.
Default BIOS Settings (PCI mode, no sband, no fastwrite)- 6816 3dmarks.
Changed BIOS Settings (Proper AGP)- 8481 3dmarks.
As you can see its a rather obviously major difference.
-Col.Kiwi
I got my P4S533 about a month ago. Don't get me wrong, I love this board.
However, for users installing an AGP video card (most), like me, there are some BIOS settings you really need to change from defaults.
By default, the default VGA BIOS setting is 'PCI VGA Card BIOS". Change it to "AGP VGA Card BIOS". Sidebanding and Fast Writes will be disabled but should be enabled if your card supports them.
When I noticed a few days after setting up my new system that my geforce 4 ti was running in PCI mode for no apparant reason, needless to say I was frustrated. Being relatively experienced as a user I was able to find the problem and fix the settings within about 15 minutes, but many inexperienced users may NEVER NOTICE this.
I'm not saying Award bios should be changed, I understand why PCI must be the default, but users with an AGP card should be told to change it.
I tested 3DMark 2001SE twice in a row with the same default settings and same default, non-OC'ed clocks, only change being the AGP.
Default BIOS Settings (PCI mode, no sband, no fastwrite)- 6816 3dmarks.
Changed BIOS Settings (Proper AGP)- 8481 3dmarks.
As you can see its a rather obviously major difference.
-Col.Kiwi
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