Author Topic: ATHLON & geforce the reason? (Read 1794 times)

HABICHT · « **on:** April 09, 2000, 02:57:00 PM »

hiya.
have a big problem.
systems often hangs up, only possible to reset.
have following components:
MB: ASUS K7M
cpu: athlon 550
graphic: geforce ddram (erazorx2)
128 MB ram (133mhz)
soundblater live 1024
....
have a 235W power supply. often read about
problems with athlon & geforce and power
supply. saying u need a 300W power supply to
run you system stable.
my monitor has seperate power supply.

so, any suggestions?
(think i have more discos in score than
everybody else because of this "hang up's"

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JG2 "Richthofen"

[This message has been edited by HABICHT (edited 04-09-2000).]

BBGunn · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2000, 06:44:00 PM »

Are you using the Nvidia 3.76 driver? Latency 2 or 3 for memory? Any possible heat build up problems?

[This message has been edited by BBGunn (edited 04-09-2000).]

bloom25 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 10, 2000, 01:26:00 AM »

You might also check your MB manufacture's web site for bios updates and AGP driver updates. I know that VIA has had troubles, along with AMD's own Irongate chipset, with GeForce cards. VIA has a new driver that fixes the problem, but I don't know about AMD.

bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

bloom25 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 10, 2000, 01:39:00 AM »

I found your problems solution. Check out this link and read the paragraph about 1/2 way down the page: http://www.asus.com.tw/Products/Techref/Tech-report/qa-mb0220.html

The fix is a new driver version found at this link. http://cgi.asus.com.tw/cgi-bin/dl.asp?filename=vga/agp/v6600/66-368.exe

Here is the exact text from the first link above:

"Question:
My ASUS K7M motherboard seems to have compatibility problems with nVidia GeForce-based AGP VGA adapter. It crashes on me intermittently. What can I do?

Answer:
From the QA Testing, we have observed potential issues when nVidia GeForce-based AGP VGA adapters are installed in an AMD K7 motherboard with Athlon processor and AMD-750 core logic chipset. This chipset cannot run AGP 2X/4X with command and data in the same cycle, which is one of the functions featured in nVidia's GeForce 256. To solve this problem, it is recommended to use driver 3.62 or newer available on ASUS website. The driver will detect the AMD 750 chipset and set the AGP bus to 1X. If the new driver still cannot solve this problem, please contact our technical support department.

"

Problem solved ... I hope. But notice the problem is AMD's Irongate chipset. As I have posted before, it can only use GeForce cards at AGP 1x.

I hate to tell you, but the problem is a poorly designed AMD chipset, and the above fix is a workaround at best. Hopefully AMD will resolve this issue soon.

bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2000, 11:13:00 AM »

HABICHT, it seems you have a too weak power supply to keep the GeForce at AGPx2 with K7.
You have three options:
1 - Get a >= 300W PS.
2 - Install the specific drivers that force your GForce to work at AGPx1.
3 - Get a VIA Kx133 mainboard.

bloom25 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2000, 03:05:00 PM »

The power supply won't help. The problem is the Irongate chipset is unable to work above AGP 1x with GeForce video cards. (Not to say that a bigger power supply isn't a good idea though, but it isn't your problem here.)

Options 2 and 3 are great. I don't know, but perhaps you could turn your AGP setting down to 1x without the new driver, perhaps in the bios?

bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

HABICHT · « **Reply #6 on:** April 12, 2000, 02:11:00 AM »

first, thx for help,
but my system still hangs up after variable
time. btw, it hangs up sometimes at 3d
applications AND on win desktop :-(.
did a bios update on MB with newest asus driver for k7m (xxx8 driver was newest i found) and i installed the newest INVIDIA
drivers (5.1XX i think, got it from BBGUNS
link in post)
so, problems are still up.
did i forget something?
btw, that guy on link got more than 5000 in
benchmark with a , i think 750mhz athlon.
i got 44xx with 766 mhz athlon :-(
something is really wrong.....

------------------

JG2 "Richthofen"

[This message has been edited by HABICHT (edited 04-12-2000).]

[This message has been edited by HABICHT (edited 04-12-2000).]

[This message has been edited by HABICHT (edited 04-12-2000).]

Dnil · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2000, 07:59:00 AM »

Did u load the AGP mini driver? I had funky problems when I first put in my TnT 2 card until I loaded the AGP driver (off the website, not the disc one) and flashed the bios. Its smoking now, k7m board with 700 cpu.

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Dnil
JG-2
Part time aircraft restorer. www.kingwoodcable.com/jheuer

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2000, 03:07:00 PM »

What Dnil said.

If that doesn't work, try somehow manually setting AGP speed to 1x.

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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

Cleaner · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2000, 05:19:00 PM »

Spend $200 dollars and get the new EPOX EP-7KXA board...This is a VIA 133 chip and does AGPx4 also get a 300 Watt power supply, the Athlon and GE-Force are some hungry mothers.
When you go to set up your BIOS goto to the AMDZONE and follow there bios setup for the EP7KXA Board. I have this mobo with an ASUS geforce SGRAM pure and it rocks. Also make sure you update with the new VIA 4-1 drivers as well as nvidia....The Clean_Dawg

BBGunn · « **Reply #10 on:** April 15, 2000, 07:05:00 PM »

A few people have reset default settings in the bios and had better results.
If there is an A at the end of your processors serial number its an .18 micron core if its a C then its a .25micron core. The .25 core Athlon could require extra power but the .18 would probably not require more.
Don't think I would invest in extra hardware until you identify the problem.

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2000, 03:52:00 AM »

Lately I upgraded to Athlon system:
K7 700
Soltek SL-77KV
128 PC133
CL Anihilator Pro (GeForce DDR)
250W power supply.

This system is stable 100%, just 0 crashes or hangs. Performance of GeForce was plain sh^*t until I loaded "optimized settings" from bios and selected just half the memory for AGP (64MB). Even now, I get only about 63 fps with 190A8 frontal view (1024 16bpp). Before GeForce I was using V2 SLI and the same settings gave me 72fps. Switching to 32bpp decreases the performance so drastically that the game is not playable.
All this using the latest drivers posted by Creative Labs.

bloom25 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2000, 01:11:00 PM »

I'd try upgrading your bios Mandoble. The new version released on 4-8-2000 added support for 256 MB aperature sizes along with other AGP updates. You might also try upgrading the drivers for the VIA KX133 chipset on your motherboard. According to Tom's Hardware Guide, this particualar VIA chipset has been performing sub-par with GeForce cards, compared to others (i.e. intel 810, 440BX, etc.) The drivers are at www.soltek.com.tw .

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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #13 on:** May 03, 2000, 07:23:00 AM »

Thanks for your post Bloom25, but I'm already using that bios and the latest 4in1 via drivers.
Anyway, the textures in AH should stored in the main memory of the GeForce, so AGP bus should not be any issue with 32bpp mode. 32bpp fps drops below 40 and this should be enough, but the movement is not exactly smooth, like it was some synchronization problem with the monitor....

I would like to know what are the optimal settings with the nvidia drivers for that video card...

bloom25 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 03, 2000, 10:52:00 PM »

Have you tried the drivers made by the company that makes your card. They may be better for DX.

I personally use a V770 Ultra, and I can tell you that the reference (detonator) drivers are a little bit slower for DX than than Diamond's drivers.

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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS