GeForce GTS 2 On Asus K7M

[Rotax]

I'm seriously thinkging about getting a GF2. But I've read/heard of there being problems with the chipsets on the mobo.? What kinda problems are there exactly? Is there a perfomance hit??? I'm currently using a G400 32MB SH and its just not cutting it anymore. I want higher rez/better quality. Anyone got links for Benchmarks on a system like mine running a GF2?

Also, what brand is *better*? I don't care about default clock speeds cuz I'll oc it anyway. Which one is better at ocing?

 

[BenSkywalker]

You may be stuck running in AGP1X, though it depends on the particular revision of your mobo chipset.

I'm running a Herc DDR GF1 on my K7M, they were supposed to be extremely problematic with the Irongate based mobos and after getting it set up properly(you had to force AGP1X at the time, now the drivers do it themselves) this has been the most stable Win9X machine I have ever used. On a regular basis I go weeks without rebooting, and I work my machine rather heavily(including 3D modeling applications), I have made it over a month without a reboot or crash.

Performance hit will be a factor, but for most games it will be rather small. Myself, I could use AGP2X for vertice traffic because of what I run, but for games the performance hit overall isn't that much, ranging from nill to ~20%, still significantly faster then your G400.

 

[Rotax]

Well, I guess thats what I'm looking for. "Faster than my G400". So for my setup the GF2 GTS would be the *fastest* upgrade? Would the Radeon be worth looking into? I've seen a good 10x7@32bpp score while surfing through some messages..... I don't wanna do any mobo/CPU upgrades till maybe the Mustang. Also, I'd like to keep the price around $200.

 

[BenSkywalker]

If you are running a Win9X based OS, then I would go with a Radeon. Better 2D, better video playback support, better feature support and nearly equal in speed(a big step up from a G400). The GF2 is faster, but not much, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference while the benefits it offers will be far more noticeable not only for day to day desktop stuff, but also in the coming year when titles that support the Radeon's added features start shipping.

Either board will likely make you happy, and if you are running Win2K or plan on it I would switch my reccomendation to the GF2. A more important factor is are you happy with your G400 now? If the answer is no, then by all means upgrade. If you want to upgrade in anticipation of upcoming titles then I would try and hold out for the DX8 boards(G800, NV20, Rampage etc).

 

[XMan]

Ben, according to CPU ID, my GeForce DDR is running at 2X AGP with side-banding enabled on my K7M . . .