Quick Question

[snafu]

Hi all,
  I've recently been trying to get a bit more speed out of my PC, Not overclocking or anything like that just following the advice of others who have posted on the board. AGP 4X, Aperture size, latest VIA 4in1 drivers etc.

Question...
 How do I enable "fast write". I've been through the BIOS and have enabled "Fast write support" but "SiSoft Sandra" tells me it is not activated. Am I missing something somewhere?

Also I have PC133 RAM but my bus speed is only showing as 100Mhz

Not exactly PC illiterate but...
Please answer  s l o w l y  using only small words

OK yes I am PC illiterate.

Thanks in advance

TTFN
snafu

Motherboard
Manufacturer:      Abit
Model:         8363-686A(KT7A-RAID)
Chipset:      VIA KT133
BIOS Vendor:      Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Version:      6.00 PG
BIOS Release Date:   01/29/2001
BIOS Charasteristics:   Plug and Play, Flash, AGP

Memory
2 - 128mb PC-133 = 256mb

CPU
Manufacturer:      AMD
Family:         Athlon(tm)
Internal Clock:      1000MHz
Internal Clock Maximum:   1000MHz
External Clock:      100MHz
Capabilities:      MMX, CMov, RDTSC, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!
CPUID:         0x00000642

Video Card
Manufacturer:      ATI Tech.
Name:         Radeon 64MB DDR
Display Driver:      ATI2DRAG.DRV
Display Driver Version:   4.13.01.7199
Device ID:      0x5144
Vendor ID:      0x1002
Sub-System ID:      0x000a1002
Revision:      0x0000

Sound Card
Manufacturer:      Videologic
Model:         Sonic Fury
Driver Version:      4.1201.4078-2918

Operating System
Operating System:   Microsoft Windows 98
Version:      4.10.2222  A

Directx
DirectX Version:   8.1 (4.08.01.0881)

[Sox62]

Assuming that you didn't forget to "exit and save changes" after enabling fast writes,it could be that Sisoft is just wrong.
 Is the software version older than your motherboard bios?

[Tyro48]

On the KT-7A Raid go to the BIOS and once there click on Softmenu III setup, then go to the bottom of the screen and and enable the HCLK + PCICLK that will add up to 133 mhz for your ram cl speed.

[snafu]

Thanks for the answers guys, I have definately saved the changes so perhaps "Sandra" is wrong. I'll do the HCLK thingy Later cos it's 06:00am here and I'm seeing double (TOD just finished).

Thanks again

TTFN
snafu

[Nashwan]

http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm

A good site with everything you need to know (and lots more) about tweaking the KT7A

[snafu]

Wow. Great site Nashwan, I should really be able to screw it up big time with the info available on there It's been added to my favourites.
 I've set HCLK + PCICLK and the ram is now reporting correctly, thanks. Using some of the optimisation suggestions from the link I have so far boosted my 3D2001 score by over 400 points so that can't be bad. Strangely my AH FPS has stayed about the same. 58-60 normal flying but down to 21-29 in smoke etc. (1280*1024*32bit) I think the main reason for that though is I have an old Hitachi CM2095ME 20". We are old friends now but it isn't even listed as a monitor in windows and Hitachi don't have any W98 drivers for it. It's only rated at 60Hz so I believe that could explain my lowish framrates. I'm still confused about the "Fast write" thingie the Sisoft Sandra is the "2000 Lite" version so it should be recent enough, the Bios revision is WZ so I am a bit behind in that area. I have put off upgrading the BIOS as the last attempt gave me an unbootable PC because the upgrade screwed my CPU multiplier settings and I spent a few days doing a very good "Headless Chicken" impression until someone told me that it was a known bug. Thinking back this could explain why I have so many options which I can tweak because I think I tried loading the "Failsafe" defaults to get around the Bootup problem and I probably was to frightened to change them afterwards


Thanks again

TTFN
snafu

[bloom25]

The reason fast writes isn't showing as enabled is because that video card you have doesn't support fast writes.

[snafu]

Ah, Thanks Bloom, That explains it, Does it make a lot of difference in the performance stakes? I was thinking of going for a top of the range GF3 soon as there should be some real bargains about with the release of the GF4.

TTFN
snafu

[bloom25]

It makes virtually no difference even on GeForce cards.  Current generation video cards are limited mainly by the bandwidth (basically the speed) of the RAM on the card itself.

The price of GF 3 cards should be dropping rapidly, but the GF 4 does seem to have significantly higher performance.  (Of course you are going to have to have a very fast system to be able to take advantage of it though...)