agp 8x

[easypickings]

i just got my self a 9800xt but i cant seem to get it to stay on agp 8x,

i used to have a 9700 pro and when i first got that it was on 8x but then as the newer patches came out it seemed to just stay on the 4x aswell.

the only other thing i have changed is the memory.
do i need to go in to bios or some thing to make it stay on 8x
i have the newest drivers the 4.1 cat etc.

any ideas ??

[Cyanide]

You may have to go into the bios to get it to stick on 8x. The truth is that the real difference between 8x and 4x is minimal. A Geforce4 8x performs almost exactly the same as a Geforce4 on 4x. There's maybe a 1 or 2 fps difference.

[Marsman]

actually its' even less than 1 or 2 fps. Recent tests concerning PCI-ex tested a bunch of cards at both AGP 4x and AGP 8X - it all cases the differences were about .1 fps with respect to games. AGP 8X will offer nothing - stick to 4x

[Phaelon]

While you see from websites, there is very little difference in the FPS, the difference in bandwidth is HUGE.

AGP4x handles around 1100 MB/s where as AGP8x handles around 2290 MB/s. That is a huge jump. The reason you don't see a FPS difference is because games are not written to utilize the 2290 MB/s of bandwidth AGP8x allows.

They talk about it in this article, that games are made for the bandwidth provided. When someone makes a game based on AGP8X, i guarntee you, there will be a HUGE frame rate difference.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/...0/pcie-02.html

[Fragmatic]

Originally Posted by easypickings

i just got my self a 9800xt but i cant seem to get it to stay on agp 8x,

i used to have a 9700 pro and when i first got that it was on 8x but then as the newer patches came out it seemed to just stay on the 4x aswell.

the only other thing i have changed is the memory.
do i need to go in to bios or some thing to make it stay on 8x
i have the newest drivers the 4.1 cat etc.

any ideas ??

4.3's are the latest.

Does your motherboard support AGP 8x?

[Cyanide]

Originally Posted by Phaelon

While you see from websites, there is very little difference in the FPS, the difference in bandwidth is HUGE.

AGP4x handles around 1100 MB/s where as AGP8x handles around 2290 MB/s. That is a huge jump. The reason you don't see a FPS difference is because games are not written to utilize the 2290 MB/s of bandwidth AGP8x allows.

They talk about it in this article, that games are made for the bandwidth provided. When someone makes a game based on AGP8X, i guarntee you, there will be a HUGE frame rate difference.

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/...0/pcie-02.html

Yes, obviously there is a difference. The point is that by the time anybody is writting games to use 8x, his card will be out of date. So there's really no reason for him to worry weather his card is in 4x or 8x mode.

[Phaelon]

Unreal tournement 2004, Half-Life2 and Doom 3 are all built upon AGP 8x buffer rates. FPS increases in each of these games will be substantial when looking at AGP8x vs AGP4x

[Rbstr]

go to guru3d.com and download Riva tuner, and fiddle agaon with the AGP settings in that you may be able to get it to stick

[Cyanide]

Hmm. Strange then that the fps for a TI4600 and 4600 8x are almost exactly the same in UT2k3, which is using essentially the same engine that's powering UT2k4.

And by the time HL2 and Doom3 are actually released, his card will be out of date.

[easypickings]

ok guys thanks for the advice, i went in to bios and got it to stay on 8x and got the new 4.3 cat.

many thanks

[GreyFox]

Originally Posted by Cyanide

nd by the time HL2 and Doom3 are actually released, his card will be out of date.

Not really. It won't be the best card out there, but it will still be good.

[Phaelon]

Quote "Hmm. Strange then that the fps for a TI4600 and 4600 8x are almost exactly the same in UT2k3, which is using essentially the same engine that's powering UT2k4.
"

Excpet for one thing, UT2k4 uses some new nifty shading effects, which utilize the bandwidth pipeline better, making more realistic shadows at the pure cost of raw speed. If you turn all the shaders on in UT2k4, it will want more than AGP4x can provide.

[Phaelon]

Did you know there are huge rumors circulating that Doom3 is going to hit in April, i highly doubt his card will be obsolete by then