I seem to have problems running my Geforce4 4200Ti 8X on 8X speeds. The display usually turns up garbage and generates artifacts whenever I run apps using directx or even while clicking the start menu, eventually hanging up the system. I suspected it to be an 8X problem when the symptoms went away when I tried lowering it to 4X speeds in the bios. By the way, I'm using this card on an MSI K8N-Neo board (the one with socket 939) running on Windows XP Pro. What could be causing this, to think that the card should be able to work normally on 8X speeds?
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AGP 8X Issue? 1
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One thing you may want to concentrate on first is the difference between 4X and 8X.
AGP 8X does give you more bandwidth, but it was put into place for future cards. Originally the GeForce4 line of cards all ran on the 4X interface, which had more than enough bandwidth. I didn't realize that they released an 8X version of the 4200Ti. All that really means is that it should be compatible with 8X if you saw it in the specs somewhere.
Regardless, you should think of it this way. Take a standard ethernet connection, for example. It connects a 100 Mbit/s. If you have a broadband connection at home, you're talking somewhere around 2 Mbit/s (give or take some). The bandwidth of the ethernet connection is more than enough to accomodate the broadband connection. Although it's not as extreme, the same analogy applies here. AGP 4X is more than enough for the 4200Ti.
With that said, you should feel comfortable running the card only at 4X if that's what it takes to get it to work properly...
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
AGP 8X does give you more bandwidth, but it was put into place for future cards. Originally the GeForce4 line of cards all ran on the 4X interface, which had more than enough bandwidth. I didn't realize that they released an 8X version of the 4200Ti. All that really means is that it should be compatible with 8X if you saw it in the specs somewhere.
Regardless, you should think of it this way. Take a standard ethernet connection, for example. It connects a 100 Mbit/s. If you have a broadband connection at home, you're talking somewhere around 2 Mbit/s (give or take some). The bandwidth of the ethernet connection is more than enough to accomodate the broadband connection. Although it's not as extreme, the same analogy applies here. AGP 4X is more than enough for the 4200Ti.
With that said, you should feel comfortable running the card only at 4X if that's what it takes to get it to work properly...
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
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- #3
Thanks cdogg for sharing your thoughts and you're right about that. The only thing that puzzles me is why it works on 4x and not on 8x as clearly it should work on 8x too if we're talking about bandwidth. That, or Inno3d misleads buyers by releasing something that is not. Oh well, I might try disabling fastwrites as a last resort before coming up with a final conclusion. Again, thanks cdogg!
No problem.
For reference, the AGP Fast Write function offers very little benefit, it any. It is disabled by default. The feature was originally designed back in the days when 16 and 32MB video cards were common. It helped smaller memory cards directly access main system memory bypassing the CPU.
Newer cards don't need it in most cases. Access to main memory is rare compared to the good old days. What could turn out to be a 5-10% increase in performance is hardly worth the chance of occasional glitches and blue screens.
That setting is disabled by default. If this is one of many settings you've tried to tweak, then your original problem might be related to changes you've made since installing the card. I recommend you reset the BIOS to the defaults and start over...
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
For reference, the AGP Fast Write function offers very little benefit, it any. It is disabled by default. The feature was originally designed back in the days when 16 and 32MB video cards were common. It helped smaller memory cards directly access main system memory bypassing the CPU.
Newer cards don't need it in most cases. Access to main memory is rare compared to the good old days. What could turn out to be a 5-10% increase in performance is hardly worth the chance of occasional glitches and blue screens.
That setting is disabled by default. If this is one of many settings you've tried to tweak, then your original problem might be related to changes you've made since installing the card. I recommend you reset the BIOS to the defaults and start over...
~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
I had a few GF4 Ti cards and the naming did get confusing.
There are Geforce4 4200Ti's with 8X AGP But:
They were often called by another name: Geforce 4800SE
Are you sure yours has got 8X AGP?
Martin
We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.
There are Geforce4 4200Ti's with 8X AGP But:
They were often called by another name: Geforce 4800SE
Are you sure yours has got 8X AGP?
Martin
We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.
- Thread starter
- #6
I checked in the bios and fastwrites were in the auto setting. I disabled it and the problem also went away. I've also heard about disabling fastwrites since they pretty much don't add up to performance that much, so I'm going to keep this setting. Thank you so much, cdogg!
Yes paparazi, it was indeed an 8x AGP card since it was displayed at boot up while the video card information were shown.
Yes paparazi, it was indeed an 8x AGP card since it was displayed at boot up while the video card information were shown.
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