3dmark 2001 and Voodoo 5500 AGP

[wutwut]

Ok, i seem to have gotten, in my opinion, a low score than what i wanted. I ran 3d mark with this system:

Athlon 1.33ghz @ 1.4 ghz
Abit kg7-lite
256 DDR memory @ cas 2.5
IBM deskstar 40GB
3dfx Voodoo 5500 AGP

An okay system excluding the vid card. I ran it and i got a score of 2378 :/. i feel that this score is somewhat low, and i had some conflicts that i hope can be resolved. In bios, i have AGP 4x, but in windows, it says it's running at agp 2x. Same with agp fast write. its enabled in bios, but not in windows. Then, when i go to direct x, it says that agp texture acceleration is not supported, and that it's disabled. is there no way around this?

here is what i have installed:
via 4-1 4.33
AMD AGP miniport win2k drivers

thanks and i hope i was clear, im hoping there is some way to get these things enabled, especially agp texuture acceleration cause madonion.com said if enabled, it will give a 50 percent boost.

 

[EMAN]

that seems right.

 

[wutwut]

What seems right? my score? also if i could have some info on correcting some of the stuff i mentioned would be great, thanks.

 

[Mingon]

That score is about right, I get a similar score with a PCI voodoo 5500

 

[wutwut]

hrmm, but what about changing the things i addressed, like agp 4x, agp texutre acceleration, and agp fast write? is there anyway to change this? or am i s.o.l.?

 

[jbirney]

Well 3dmark2001 is heavly optimized for DX8 TnL functions. Since the V5 has no TnL your CPU will probably have more of an impact than anything else. But since 3dmark2001 is not a gaime I would not worry about it

 

[EMAN]

hrmm, but what about changing the things i addressed, like agp 4x, agp texutre acceleration, and agp fast write? is there anyway to change this? or am i s.o.l.?

There is no such thing as 4x AGP, AGP texturing, AGP fast write for voodoo.

Voodoo 5 runs at AGP 1x and doesn't support any of the features. It runs smooth without them.

Max Payne is based on one of the engines that is made by 3dmark2k1. I could play Max Payne without a problem I had to run it 1024x768 22bit filter and other settings on. It looked good as my Radeon 1024x768 32bit.

 

[Rand]

<< hrmm, but what about changing the things i addressed, like agp 4x, agp texutre acceleration, and agp fast write? is there anyway to change this? or am i s.o.l.?

There is no such thing as 4x AGP, AGP texturing, AGP fast write for voodoo.

Voodoo 5 runs at AGP 1x and doesn't support any of the features. It runs smooth without them.

Max Payne is based on one of the engines that is made by 3dmark2k1. I could play Max Payne without a problem I had to run it 1024x768 22bit filter and other settings on. It looked good as my Radeon 1024x768 32bit. >>



The V5 5500 runs at AGP 2X, while the V4 4500 does AGP 4X. Besides that it does not support any of the 'advanced' features of AGP like fast writes etc.

 

[EMAN]

Rand, voodoo 5 is only AGP 1x. It's actually pci66.

 

[jbirney]

<< Max Payne is based on one of the engines that is made by 3dmark2k1 >>



Actually MP is based mostly off the 3dmark2000 engine. There is no DX8 features in MP which is the main thing behind 3dmark2001.

 

[EMAN]

Actually MP is based mostly off the 3dmark2000 engine. There is no DX8 features in MP which is the main thing behind 3dmark2001.

Who told you this?

 

[jbirney]

It was posted over on B3D and on the Reverands web site.

Besides MP has been in developement for a few years yet DX8 is still new.

 

[Rand]

<< It was posted over on B3D and on the Reverands web site.

Besides MP has been in developement for a few years yet DX8 is still new. >>



What makes you say that the AthlonMP is in any way specifically designed for 3DMark 2000 or even specifically optimized for DX7?
Could your provide a link to this?
I'd be interested in their reasoning.



<< Rand, voodoo 5 is only AGP 1x. It's actually pci66. >>



Are you sure of this?
Where have you gathered the info that it's AGP1X, as that runs contrary to everything I've ever heard and my own experiences with the card.
All the specification I've ever seen have stated AGP 2X for the V5. Also, I have used the card many times, and when in use it's is consistently recognized by utilities as being AGP 2X.

 

[EMAN]

Are you sure of this?
Where have you gathered the info that it's AGP1X, as that runs contrary to everything I've ever heard and my own experiences with the card.
All the specification I've ever seen have stated AGP 2X for the V5. Also, I have used the card many times, and when in use it's is consistently recognized by utilities as being AGP 2X.

Yes I'm sure. I had 1 until couple of days ago. It can also work as 2x AGP but made no difference what so ever. It's default is 1x AGP.

 

[rogue1979]

The 3DMark 2001 score was about right for the V5. The V5 AGP version runs a true 1X AGP just like the PCI version.

 

[BenSkywalker]

"It can also work as 2x AGP but made no difference what so ever. It's default is 1x AGP."

Actually, no it can't. You can get utilities to say you are running at AGP 2X, but the V5 is incapable of it. That is why the V5 6000 was never released, they couldn't get the AGP bridge chip functioning properly on all platforms to allow for higher AGP transfer rates(which the V5 6K would have been able to use). The V5 runs in PCI66 mode when in the AGP slot.

 

[jbirney]

<< << It was posted over on B3D and on the Reverands web site.

Besides MP has been in developement for a few years yet DX8 is still new. >>



What makes you say that the AthlonMP is in any way specifically designed for 3DMark 2000 or even specifically optimized for DX7?
Could your provide a link to this?
I'd be interested in their reasoning. >>




Doh, TMA = Too Many Acronyms MP in this case ment Max Payne. Sorry my bad. So your right nothing to do with the MP CPU. But again there are no Vertex shaders (the main core of DX8) in Max Payne.

 

[Mingon]

Ben,

with the newer motherboard allowing greater bandwidth to the pci bus do you think an increase in performance is possible with the 5500 pci ?

 

[EMAN]

Actually, no it can't. You can get utilities to say you are running at AGP 2X, but the V5 is incapable of it. That is why the V5 6000 was never released, they couldn't get the AGP bridge chip functioning properly on all platforms to allow for higher AGP transfer rates(which the V5 6K would have been able to use). The V5 runs in PCI66 mode when in the AGP slot.

Sorry I didn't word it right. In the drivers you can choose AGP 2x but made no difference and still uses AGP 1x.

 

[Boogak]

Quoted directly from Anandtech.com's Voodoo5 5500 and 4500 reviews:

The chip is an AGP 4X part, with support for AGP 2X, AGP 1X and PCI operating modes. In spite of this, the VSA-100 does not support AGP texturing. 3dfx still feels that AGP texturing is not truly beneficial and thus there is no reason to pursue support for it with their products.

The 5500 article also mentions this:

Despite claimed support for AGP 4x in the VSA-100 chip, our board apparently does not support it. As we've shown in the past, AGP 4x offers virtually no performance advantage over AGP 2x, so it's not really a big deal, but still worth noting.

 

[Sleater]

Another disadvantage for the V5 in 3dmark is that all of 3dmark's tests use D3d (direct 3d) which is native to NVidia cards. If those same tests used OpenGL, the V5 would perform much closer to say a Geforce2 GTS then it does now.

 

[Rand]

<< Another disadvantage for the V5 in 3dmark is that all of 3dmark's tests use D3d (direct 3d) which is native to NVidia cards. If those same tests used OpenGL, the V5 would perform much closer to say a Geforce2 GTS then it does now. >>



DX is not native to any card let alone nVidia cards.

 

[Rand]

<< Quoted directly from Anandtech.com's Voodoo5 5500 and 4500 reviews:

The chip is an AGP 4X part, with support for AGP 2X, AGP 1X and PCI operating modes. In spite of this, the VSA-100 does not support AGP texturing. 3dfx still feels that AGP texturing is not truly beneficial and thus there is no reason to pursue support for it with their products.

The 5500 article also mentions this:

Despite claimed support for AGP 4x in the VSA-100 chip, our board apparently does not support it. As we've shown in the past, AGP 4x offers virtually no performance advantage over AGP 2x, so it's not really a big deal, but still worth noting. >>



Anand has been incorrect before, it's possible he was then.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Mingnon-

"with the newer motherboard allowing greater bandwidth to the pci bus do you think an increase in performance is possible with the 5500 pci ?"

A slight one, yes. I wouldn't expect anything major, even at peak rates PCI 33 doesn't have enough bandwith to deal properly with upcoming games. However, I would expect that you will moved to an AGP card by then

Boogak-

"Quoted directly from Anandtech.com's Voodoo5 5500 and 4500 reviews:

The chip is an AGP 4X part, with support for AGP 2X, AGP 1X and PCI operating modes. In spite of this, the VSA-100 does not support AGP texturing. 3dfx still feels that AGP texturing is not truly beneficial and thus there is no reason to pursue support for it with their products.

The 5500 article also mentions this:

Despite claimed support for AGP 4x in the VSA-100 chip, our board apparently does not support it. As we've shown in the past, AGP 4x offers virtually no performance advantage over AGP 2x, so it's not really a big deal, but still worth noting."

Chip and board are two different things. The design of the Voodoo5, particularly the dual chip factor(this is possible to work around, 3dfx simply couldn't in the proper time frame), prevents it from operating at higher then AGP 1X which when combined with the fact that it doesn't support AGP texturing, fastwrites etc, equals out to a PCI 66 operating environment at all times.

 

[Mingon]

My voodoo is in my system with the geforce 2 ultra and a KVM so I can swap between them for primary card on bootup it allows me to play certain games which I have had trouble with the geforce.