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Help me Tweak my HP Pavilion P4 3.06 Media Center

R

Red

Diamond Member
HP Pavilion 884 Media Center PC...

P4 3.06 w/ HT, one stick of 512 PC2100
MS-6577 Mainboard (845 Chipset)
"advertised" 8x AGP Ti4200 128MB w/ DVI / Svideo / TV out
SB Audigy
120 7200 rpm
DVD Writer (300n?)

Hear's the dillio. The BIOS is obvious as vague as any other mainstream pre-built computer. I can't see any AGP info at all to verify 8x or not. I can't change FSB or alter memory settings. So nothing I can do to tweak performance in the BIOS. Is there anyway to flash a hacked MS-6577 BIOS? Should I look for jumpers on board?

2nd... the video card works great so far. I pulled about 11.8k 3dmarks totally stock. I have a beef about the AGP though. The computer is advertised as "8x AGP" all over the place. The Windows display driver is even titled "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8X" ... however, SiSoft Sandra and NVidia Detonators say AGP is 4x. I've downloaded an overclock util and I can't seem to get past 270 / 550.

Is there anything at all I can do to tweak my hardware besides a simple video card overclocker? I'm running out of ideas to get a punch from this system.
 
Dont know about the BIOS, but the mobo is a 845E chipset, and only supports up to AGP 4X. It doesnt make any difference performance wise, unless you plan on using high res AF AA, which will slow it down so much it doesnt matter.
 
So there isn't a huge performance hit between 8x and 4x? And if not, great! However, HP is going to get a piece of my mind with advertising like that. I got the computer for free for busting their balls about a harddrive problem on my last Media Center (2.53gz). They bought back my old one and sent this new one for free. Now I'll get some more outta them for falsely throwing that 8x AGP around.
 
I wouldn't cout on it. The card probably is an AGP 8x card, and that is what they said in their advertising. They never said the motherboard would run it that fast. Supporting a spec and being able to run at that spec are two different things. I agree it's not right, but you would notice no difference between 8x and 4x, so maybe you should just be happy with a free computer.
 
Just trying to see if I can =) Looking for hidden mobo options or a way to flash the bios to a non-HP BIOS, like the standard MSI-6577 BIOS which prolly sports the different AGP figures.
 
If you wanted an overclocker, why the HP media center? Don't fubur your rig for some ridiculous no gain 4x to 8x AGP BS.
 
The Intel 845E is incapable of supporting AGP 8x. If you want AGP 8x, which will give you zero performane improvememt, you are going to have to get a chipset like the 845PE or newer. Since the computer was free, might not be a bad idea to get a new motherboard. That way you could set your ram to run 4:5 for DDR 333, if it can handle it, and you can change your memory timings. Together, these tweaks would give you a pretty significant performance boost. Of course, a good retail board would also allow you to overclock, if you so desire.
 
The video card is 8x agp but as others have said the chipset is limiting you

I don't think you need any more punch, the sytem looks great as it is. If you want more of a punch, build your own next time!
 
You need to flash the bios Of the oem board.... IE whoever made the board bios for that revision ...make sence.. to get the settings of the oem board...
 
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