epox 8k7a pci divider question ?

[Paolo]

I flashed my bios to 1711. I thought there was a new pci divider of 1/5 in this bios. What utility do I use see what bus speed my pci slots are running at. I tried SiSoft Sandra2001 but couldn't find this info (the AGP bus is at 1/2). I'm dual booting win98se/XP_RC1 and currently at FSB 146.

 

[Insane3D]

Sisoft will not read the 1/5 and 1/6 PCI divisors as it does not support this yet. The 1/5 divisor kicks in automatically @ 166mhz FSB (166/5=33) and the 1/6 divisor kicks in @ 200mhz (200/6=33). The AGP divisor remains @ 1/2 though..

 

[Courtland]

Any of you think theres a chance that we will see an agp divisor of some sort on the 8k7a?

 

[Insane3D]

I'm hoping..when PC2700 comes out, a 200mhz FSB could be a reality. A 100mhz AGP speed is pretty rough though...

 

[Paolo]

Thanks! So it sounds like I should turn down my cpu multiplier and try 166FSB. With the APG bus so high does changing some APG related bios values help (Radeon 32mmeg DDR card) like 4x to 2x or deactivate APG fast read?

 

[Insane3D]

The Radeon's are actually very stable @ AGP 4X and high AGP speeds...yours should be fine. Also, Fast Writes is one of the first things that will cause instability @ high AGP speeds, so if AGP problems happen with GF cards, you should disable that first. You can disable at any time on your Radeon because it does not support FW. No Radeons do. At real high FSB speeds, you might need to drop down from AGP 4X, but any performance lost will be offset by the higher speed of the AGP bus. I am running my GF DDR right now @ 175mhz FSB (88mhz AGP) and it does 4X without a hitch. I was just playing some Max Payne earlier. Good luck..