k8vnxp and slow graphics

I have recently upgraded to a k8vnxp with an Athlon64 3000, 512MB of
Ram and a SATA hard drive.

I reused the graphics card from my old PC which is a Hercules AIW
8500DV (AGP)(basically the ATI card re-badged).

The problem is that when I try and play games (I have tried Colin
McRae 4 and NFS Underground), the graphics refresh rate is so slow
that the game is unplayable. There is about a second gap between each
refresh.

The MB manual mentions that it doesnt support AGP 2x, but my card is
supposed to be 4x.

I had installed the latest ATI drivers when I rebuilt the system. I
went back to the version that I had on my old PC, but still had the
same problem.

I have read various comments about changing the AGP apeture size in
the BIOS, but I cannot find it in the BIOS. Doesnt this MB have that
functionality.

Anyone have any ideas ?

TIA

Alan

(Alan Campbell) wrote in message . com...
I have recently upgraded to a k8vnxp with an Athlon64 3000, 512MB of
Ram and a SATA hard drive.

I reused the graphics card from my old PC which is a Hercules AIW
8500DV (AGP)(basically the ATI card re-badged).

The problem is that when I try and play games (I have tried Colin
McRae 4 and NFS Underground), the graphics refresh rate is so slow
that the game is unplayable. There is about a second gap between each
refresh.

The MB manual mentions that it doesnt support AGP 2x, but my card is
supposed to be 4x.

I had installed the latest ATI drivers when I rebuilt the system. I
went back to the version that I had on my old PC, but still had the
same problem.

I have read various comments about changing the AGP apeture size in
the BIOS, but I cannot find it in the BIOS. Doesnt this MB have that
functionality.

Anyone have any ideas ?

TIA

Alan

First ensure that everything is typically ok by running DxDiag(in
WinXP start-run-dxdiag.exe). In the dxdiag, go to the display Tab
and check to see that Directdraw, Direct3d, and Agp texture
acceleration are all enabled. Also do the directdraw and direct3d
tests. If something is wrong here, then try to reinstall the
drivers(most recent). Uninstall ati drivers and control panel use
registry cleaner to delete any Ati registry entries, reboot and
reinstall.
Before reinstalling the ati drivers, be sure that you have installed
the latest motherboard chipset drivers. Via hyperion 4.51 are the
latest for all via motherboards.(if your mobo is k8Vnxp then its
chipset is via , if it is k8Nnxp then it is nvidia)

Go and get wcpuid from www.h-oda.com and check the agp status that
this program is reporting. Another usefull utility is powerstrip fron
entech.

On the main bios screen press ctrl-f1 to get the advanced chipset
options. In there there should be options for agp aperture size, agp
fastwrite e.t.c. Set agp aperture size to 64 or 128. If that doesnt
help, disable agp fastwrite.

My last thought is that it might be a hardware incompatibility issue,
or a driver issue(usually guys with amd 64bit have one of the latest
graphic cards so this combination might not have been tested by
catalyst driver testers).

Addition to my previous message:
The link for the 32bit via drivers(Hyperion 4.51) is
http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver...4IN1_V451v.zip

Install Via 64bit drivers only if you have install Windows XP 64-bit
or Windows server 2003. The link for these drivers is here
http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver...o64_v096P2.zip

This not a display problem
HG
"Alan Campbell" wrote in message
om...
I have recently upgraded to a k8vnxp with an Athlon64 3000, 512MB of
Ram and a SATA hard drive.

I reused the graphics card from my old PC which is a Hercules AIW
8500DV (AGP)(basically the ATI card re-badged).

The problem is that when I try and play games (I have tried Colin
McRae 4 and NFS Underground), the graphics refresh rate is so slow
that the game is unplayable. There is about a second gap between each
refresh.

The MB manual mentions that it doesnt support AGP 2x, but my card is
supposed to be 4x.

I had installed the latest ATI drivers when I rebuilt the system. I
went back to the version that I had on my old PC, but still had the
same problem.

I have read various comments about changing the AGP apeture size in
the BIOS, but I cannot find it in the BIOS. Doesnt this MB have that
functionality.

Anyone have any ideas ?

TIA

Alan

(Dimitris) wrote in message om...
Addition to my previous message:
The link for the 32bit via drivers(Hyperion 4.51) is
http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver...4IN1_V451v.zip

Install Via 64bit drivers only if you have install Windows XP 64-bit
or Windows server 2003. The link for these drivers is here
http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver...o64_v096P2.zip

Thanks Dimitris, I will give your suggestions a go and let you know how I get on.

Alan

Its sorted now.

I tried changing various AGP settings in the BIOS, but this didnt make
any difference.

I tried installing the lates VIA 4 in 1 drivers, but that didnt make
any difference.

I ran the dxdiag application and performed the driectx and direct draw
checks, which all passed. I then noticed another option under this
which was something like AGP shadowing acceleration, which was greyed
out. I reinstalled directx, but it was still greyed out. I installed
the lates ATI drivers (which I had done originally and stepped back to
an older version when I couldnt get it working) and the option was
available and enabled.

I then tried out various games and everything was fine.

Thanks to Dimitri for the very usefull pointers.

(Alan Campbell) wrote in message . com...
Its sorted now.

I tried changing various AGP settings in the BIOS, but this didnt make
any difference.

I tried installing the lates VIA 4 in 1 drivers, but that didnt make
any difference.

I ran the dxdiag application and performed the driectx and direct draw
checks, which all passed. I then noticed another option under this
which was something like AGP shadowing acceleration, which was greyed
out. I reinstalled directx, but it was still greyed out. I installed
the lates ATI drivers (which I had done originally and stepped back to
an older version when I couldnt get it working) and the option was
available and enabled.

I then tried out various games and everything was fine.

Thanks to Dimitri for the very usefull pointers.

AGP texture acceleration. This is greyed out either for having install
the motherboard drivers but not the graphic drivers, or having install
the graphic drivers but not the motherboard drivers(this must be your
case originally). After you installed the via drivers you have to
reinstall catalyst drivers cause the ati drivers dont see agp texture
acceleration. Some say if you go to the display
properties-advanced-smartgard tab and press retest all then the
drivers reinitialize the agp texture acceleration. But it is a better
thing to reinstall the catalyst drivers.

The correct order is WinXP install-DirectX 9.0b update-motherboard
drivers
-graphic card drivers.