ATI HD4200 IGP With 128MB Sideport!!!

[The Happy Stromboli]

So I have a HD4200 IGP in my Biostar TA785GE motherboard and it's actually not too bad. It comes with 128MB of memory already dedicated and I can take up to 512MB of my system RAM to add to it if needed. It's GFX clock is about 500MHZ and I have been successfully able to overclock it to as much as 900MHZ and it be stable. Currently I am running it at 750MHZ with the extra 512MB of RAM assigned to it and I get 80-110 FPS in WOW at 1920x1080 with details set to low. If I bump the resolution down to 1440x900 and raise details to medium I get about 40-60FPS. Not bad at all for an IGP! I can even play Dragon Age Origins without issue on medium settings!

 

[Jovec]

Brings to mind two points:

1) 95% of the OEM computers sold today would provide a better user experience with an AMD chip and IGP
2) Why the hell Intel can't ship a decent IGP or license one

 

[The Happy Stromboli]

The X3100 Intel's AKA 965 chipsets were a step in the right direction but the driver support was awful. Intel has gotten a little bit better since the GMA950s but for AMD having someone like ATI in house I'm sure makes things a lot easier!

 

[Engineer]

Would you mind running a memory benchmark (like SiSoft's Sandra or something similar) to test your main memory speed with zero main memory shared with the video and then again with the 512MB shared. I've found, in the past, that IGP's that share memory cut the bandwidth of main memory down by as much as 50% vs a dedicated memory card. I'm just curious if sideport does the same or not.

By the way, I looked at that very board for nearly a month and thought about getting a X4 620 to go with it. Ended up with a Core I5 and Biostar 1156 P55 board that died within 30 minutes of powering on!:'''(

 

[The Happy Stromboli]

I just ran the SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth test.

With 512MB allocated...10.89 GB/s

Without...10.96GB/s

These were the Int Memory Bandwidth and Float Memory Bandwidth tests

Is this what you wanted?

 

[sandorski]

I probably won't get a Biostar, but will be getting the same chipset. Will be using my 4850, so Onboard Video won't matter much...although I'll be curious to see what CrossfireX does.

 

[MarkLuvsCS]

I probably won't get a Biostar, but will be getting the same chipset. Will be using my 4850, so Onboard Video won't matter much...although I'll be curious to see what CrossfireX does.

(Forgive me if this isn't what you mean) Unfortunately you CAN NOT use the hybrid crossfire for IGP + GPU card. I tried endlessly to set it up on my bro's biostar board + 4850 snd it simply wouldn't work. After digging around online it appears the only things that can use IGP+GPU are like 2400/3400 series.

Look at this post halfway down the page it shows compatible cards. Notice how laptops have like a 10 choices?!?! ya... RAWRRR...

I thought this hybrid crossfire was to conserve power when in 2D by using IGP and turning off GPU, but apparently it's focus is on bringing LOW end old cards with newer IGP to get slightly better speeds.

 

[Engineer]

I just ran the SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth test.

With 512MB allocated...10.89 GB/s

Without...10.96GB/s

These were the Int Memory Bandwidth and Float Memory Bandwidth tests

Is this what you wanted?

Yep. Seems to have been solved (unless an independent card raises them which it did on the ones that I tested but those were all shared memory, not sideport).

 

[sandorski]

(Forgive me if this isn't what you mean) Unfortunately you CAN NOT use the hybrid crossfire for IGP + GPU card. I tried endlessly to set it up on my bro's biostar board + 4850 snd it simply wouldn't work. After digging around online it appears the only things that can use IGP+GPU are like 2400/3400 series.

Look at this post halfway down the page it shows compatible cards. Notice how laptops have like a 10 choices?!?! ya... RAWRRR...

I thought this hybrid crossfire was to conserve power when in 2D by using IGP and turning off GPU, but apparently it's focus is on bringing LOW end old cards with newer IGP to get slightly better speeds.

Ah ok, thanks for the info. Well, it'll still be nice to have around as Backup in case(when) the Vidcard gives up the ghost.

 

[lopri]

Would you mind running a memory benchmark (like SiSoft's Sandra or something similar) to test your main memory speed with zero main memory shared with the video and then again with the 512MB shared. I've found, in the past, that IGP's that share memory cut the bandwidth of main memory down by as much as 50% vs a dedicated memory card. I'm just curious if sideport does the same or not.

Another factor is HT1/HT3. The difference is huge and I didn't need to run any benchmark to learn. Even a 65nm K10 (which is arguably a dud) with a lower clock frequency gives better performance than a K8 with a higher clock frequency when IGP is used.

 

[Stefan Payne]

Brings to mind two points:

1) 95% of the OEM computers sold today would provide a better user experience with an AMD chip and IGP
2) Why the hell Intel can't ship a decent IGP or license one

1) yes but there are (too many) people out there who only buy Intel products.
Some of them don't know better and others know better but, well, lets call them 'mainstreamer' who only buy products from a few vendors like Intel CPU and Chipset, nVidia GPU, Enermax PSU (and here in Germany they likely drive a VW Golf or maybe an Audi)...
2) due to arrogance...
nVidia IGPs were decent and they have a Chipset for the Nehalems ready to manufacture but, as you know, you have to stick with the Intel IGPs on an LGA1156 system due to the rather slow interface to the SB.

 

[SlowSpyder]

(Forgive me if this isn't what you mean) Unfortunately you CAN NOT use the hybrid crossfire for IGP + GPU card. I tried endlessly to set it up on my bro's biostar board + 4850 snd it simply wouldn't work. After digging around online it appears the only things that can use IGP+GPU are like 2400/3400 series.

Look at this post halfway down the page it shows compatible cards. Notice how laptops have like a 10 choices?!?! ya... RAWRRR...

I thought this hybrid crossfire was to conserve power when in 2D by using IGP and turning off GPU, but apparently it's focus is on bringing LOW end old cards with newer IGP to get slightly better speeds.

I could be completely off on this, but I thought the hybrid CF thing was for laptops... where you'd have a more powerful GPU and the IGP, the IGP would be used for non-3D work and the more powerful GPU would kick in when you game. Again, I could be wrong that it's just for laptops, but I thought that's how that worked.

Also, OP: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,1785-8.html TomsHardware was able to get a 500MHz 3200IGP to run at 950MHz, so I wouldn't be too shocked if the 4200 also gave you a nice boost.

 

[Stefan Payne]

It was announced for desktop but never came to market.

If you take a look at nVidia who brought a hybridpower to market but it didn't work very well...

 

[s44]

All well and good, but it's disastrous that ATI *still* can't handle HDMI audio in their IGPs. Even Intel does it right!

 

[sandorski]

All well and good, but it's disastrous that ATI *still* can't handle HDMI audio in their IGPs. Even Intel does it right!

If only Intel could do decent Video in it's Video Chips.

 

[Stefan Payne]

All well and good, but it's disastrous that ATI *still* can't handle HDMI audio in their IGPs. Even Intel does it right!

ATI Can handle it, I've tried it with a DFI Lanparty JR 790GX-M3H5...

The problem is probably the screen...

Did I mention that this HDCP is utterly crap 'cause it tends to not work properly?