Help! What is suddenly wrong with my Radeon LE?

[l0pher]

Hi All,

Basically, I had my Radeon running just fine after a lot of tweaking on my old system. It was at 190/190 with Hyper-Z turned on (via Raid-On); I was getting 3DMark scores of over 3500. My HD died so I had to reinstall all my software I've got DX8 on the system, the same Radeon drivers and the same Via AGP except now, my Radeon crawls through 3DMark. Yes, I used Raid-On it's clocked the same and has Hyper-Z enabled. Everything, as far as I can tell) is identical to the old system except now the 3DMark runs at about 8-10 FPS on the low quality when it was 40+ FPS in the past. Also, in the low quality tests (with the trucks) the sky starts flashing, that didn't happen before. And yes, I have a fan cooling the HS for the Radeon. Like I said, as far as I can tell, everything is identical. Am I missing something?

 

[DClark]

Since you're using a Via chipset on your motherboard, the first guess would be that you forgot to install the other files of the Via 4-in-1s. I have read posts in the past that have had severe performance decreases and the lack of the newest 4-in-1s was the culprit. I don't use Win2K so I'm not sure which are the best 4-in-1s for you, but the 4.29 version has an IDE Busmaster fix in it.

Also check for any IRQ conflicts that your graphics card may have. The Via 4-in-1s may help you in this regard as well, if you're not currently using Via's IRQ Routing Drivers.

The latest 4-in-1s can be downloaded at ViaHardware.com.

Also, check that your AGP Aperature size is at at least 32mb; the only time I got a visual problem similar to what you're describing was when I tested my system with an AGP Aperature of 16mb.

 

[l0pher]

I already did install the Via 4-in-1 (4.29). I ran 3dMark 2001 again and my score is about 1700. That's about half what I used to get. My AGP Aperature is at 64M and I believe that's correct.

 

[DClark]

The only other thing I can think of is that you may be running in AGPx1 mode.

If you accidentally installed the AGP driver in "Normal" mode instead of "Turbo" mode, then that would most likely be the problem, as it would cut your scores roughly in half.

Besides operating in "Normal" mode, the only other thing that I can think of that would cut a score in half is an IRQ conflict.

 

[l0pher]

Ok, it's fixed! Thanks for your help. I'm not sure exactly why this worked but I downloaded the 4.29 drivers and reinstalled them. Maybe I didn't install it in turbo like you said but I didn't see that option when I installed it. Regardless, reinstalling the 4-in-1 did the trick. Thanks

 

[Orbius]

I personally wouldnt run an LE at 190, it will do that speed but I dont feel the stress on the card is worth the couple of FPS you get.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

ditto orbius

 

[l0pher]

<< I personally wouldnt run an LE at 190, it will do that speed but I dont feel the stress on the card is worth the couple of FPS you get. >>



I've heard some run it at well over 200mhz. I have a 7200 RPM fan on it, do you think there is too much stress if I go over 190? What would be the optimal clock speed?

 

[EMAN]

I run mine @ 185 and can play all resolutions without visual glitch. With a regular 60mm duron cpu fan.

Long as it's cooled good you don't have to worry about it.

E