FIC VA503+ motherboard and 32MB video card

[jallers]

Has anyone been able to get a 32MB video card to work with the FIC VA 503+ motherboard? I have a Diamond Viper v770, nvidia TNT2, 32MB RAM and it doesn't work well in Windows 98 on my system. It freezes my system after about 5 minutes. The homepage for FIC says that the motherboard only supports up to 16MB video cards. I notice that I've never had probelms with the Viper card under linux. I was just wondering if there is some kind of work around so that I can actually make some use of it. Thanks.

 

[Zach]

I'd like to hear about this too, I can hardly believe that the motherboard limits the video memory, I wonder if they're BS'ing you. Could be driver issues or something like that for all we know, and the MVP3 isn't known as the compatability king..

Maybe something to do with how AGP works, how much does it relyon the system's memory?

Anyone?

 

[Quaggoth]

Hmmm, I think someone is passing the buck so they don't have to support newer systems running their old board. I can't think of any reason why you couldn't run a 32Mb card. I don't claim to know everything though. I can't remember ever trying it though. If you leave the machine alone does it crash? What drivers? What 4 in 1 drivers? Are you sure the HS/F is on good? Do you have thermal paste? I would guess it's 4in1's. Version 4.29 is the latest and I have heard that 4.26-8 have major problems. I think 4.23 were good as well.

 

[RanDum72]

I had an Epox board (MVP3-G2, ATX) with the same chipset and it never had problems with 32mb video cards. Try to see if you have the latest BIOS for the FIC. Also, if the video card has jumpers for 2x/4x AGP, set it to 2x. Have the latest 4-in-1 VIA drivers and use nVIDIA's own detonator drivers.

 

[BuddyHolly]

I had a friend that ran one of those boards..i think he ran a 32mb geforce in it..I will have to check..

 

[Farmall]

Latest bios is JE4333. From what I've seen you should have no problem with a 32mb card. However agp is not the 503+ strong point. There was a review done on super 7 and agp here, search video cards. There also was a review on the best video card for super 7, and the install procedure that seems to work the best. You definetly want the latest 4in1 drivers.

 

[jallers]

I've got the Viper installed again with all the latest drivers. It seems to run fine for a while, but after about 15 minutes my computer starts acting funny. It already froze my system once. I wasn't doing anything unusual. I did notice that the heat sink to the processor was extremely hot. I didn't know if that was normal after running for just 15 minutes or so. I also did notice that my motherboard pcb revision is 1.1a. If I read the homepage correctly some major agp fixes were made starting with pcb 1.2, so maybe that's what my problem is. Thanks everybody.

 

[Quaggoth]

Yep, I would say it's the 1.1a. We use 1.2b boards here at work for our refurbs and they wourk great.

 

[RanDum72]

Just to eliminate the possibility of heat probs, try to do something about the heat. What kind of CPU do you have and what are the temps?

 

[Gepost]

I've got a 503+ with a 32mb Savage 4 in it. It runs fine, no problems. I know it is not the greatest card, but it works for my kids.

 

[RagingGuardian]

I had a VA-503+ and I was using my Radeon 64DDR with it with no problems whatsoever.

 

[jallers]

I'm running an AMD K6-2 300. I don't know what the temps are though.