<Rant> Just finished my new build...but I'm not that impressed...(UPDATE)

[thawolfman]

Originally posted by: JBDan

Originally posted by: Amaroque
I think your first mistake was getting a Via based board. IIRC you also need to install the Via hyperion drivers to get any good 3D performance

You could also OC the CPU. The 3200+ has a lot of headroom. But again, IIRC you're limited to 220MHz on the Via board.

Newer Via based boards are just fine. Its his drivers, both chipset and GFX card that are giving him slower FPS performance. Use 4.55 (do NOT install VIA's agp driver if you have SP2 WinXP: untick in setup) for your chipset and use any WHQL Nvidia driver. 66.93 (Nov) is still up on Nvidia's website, but there are many newer WHQL'd drivers out now. Try fastwrites on and off. My VIA based 939 board oc's just dandy! As for the noise I just got some pannies and SilenX's and use speedfan 4.20 (PWM) to automatically adjust rpms at certain temps. Get a good 120mm for the rear (atleast ~60cfm), softmount it, and use either speedfan or a controller to reduce the noise. That cooler on your gfx card has been flamed often for its noise. For your HSF, an xp120 with a 120mm 1200 rpm'er is what I use and if ya got the funds and your mobo is compatible, then the thermalright solution is tops for low temps. (for air cooling) You can also use speedfan for your present HSF.

VIA's AGP driver ok on SP1? Or should I just avoid it altogether?

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: thawolfman

Originally posted by: JBDan

Originally posted by: Amaroque
I think your first mistake was getting a Via based board. IIRC you also need to install the Via hyperion drivers to get any good 3D performance

You could also OC the CPU. The 3200+ has a lot of headroom. But again, IIRC you're limited to 220MHz on the Via board.

Newer Via based boards are just fine. Its his drivers, both chipset and GFX card that are giving him slower FPS performance. Use 4.55 (do NOT install VIA's agp driver if you have SP2 WinXP: untick in setup) for your chipset and use any WHQL Nvidia driver. 66.93 (Nov) is still up on Nvidia's website, but there are many newer WHQL'd drivers out now. Try fastwrites on and off. My VIA based 939 board oc's just dandy! As for the noise I just got some pannies and SilenX's and use speedfan 4.20 (PWM) to automatically adjust rpms at certain temps. Get a good 120mm for the rear (atleast ~60cfm), softmount it, and use either speedfan or a controller to reduce the noise. That cooler on your gfx card has been flamed often for its noise. For your HSF, an xp120 with a 120mm 1200 rpm'er is what I use and if ya got the funds and your mobo is compatible, then the thermalright solution is tops for low temps. (for air cooling) You can also use speedfan for your present HSF.

VIA's AGP driver ok on SP1? Or should I just avoid it altogether?

There are some confusions I have read from both Microsoft and VIA regarding this AGP driver issue. VIA's agp driver IS fine for SP1 according to their data. SP2 has Microsofts new UAGP (universal) driver and it solved mine and many other peoples issues regarding the VIA 4.53/4.55 and agp compatibility issues when under SP2.

 

[thawolfman]

Excellent - thanks for all the info!~

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: thawolfman
Yeah, I got that all set to download. In my last post I was talking more about overclocking ability w/ the 754s vs the 939s

754, and 939 OCing capabilities are pretty much the same. Of course YMMV with any CPU.

Originally posted by: JBDan

Newer Via based boards are just fine. Its his drivers, both chipset and GFX card that are giving him slower FPS performance. Use 4.55 (do NOT install VIA's agp driver if you have SP2 WinXP: untick in setup) for your chipset and use any WHQL Nvidia driver.

I was referring to OC capability of an NF chipset Vs a Via chipset. Stock performance is similar between the two chipset's, but Via OC's like crap compared to NF. There's no way you'll even find the max CPU clock speed of a 3000+ on a Via chipset based board.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: thawolfman
Yeah, I got that all set to download. In my last post I was talking more about overclocking ability w/ the 754s vs the 939s

754, and 939 OCing capabilities are pretty much the same. Of course YMMV with any CPU.

Originally posted by: JBDan

Newer Via based boards are just fine. Its his drivers, both chipset and GFX card that are giving him slower FPS performance. Use 4.55 (do NOT install VIA's agp driver if you have SP2 WinXP: untick in setup) for your chipset and use any WHQL Nvidia driver.

I was referring to OC capability of an NF chipset Vs a Via chipset. Stock performance is similar between the two chipset's, but Via OC's like crap compared to NF. There's no way you'll even find the max CPU clock speed of a 3000+ on a Via chipset based board.

Agreed. OC'ing is not a VIA quality for sure especially compared to the NF chipsets, but mine oc's so well maybe some VIA's are better oc'ers than others, I dunno. Has no one ever had a high oc with a 3000+ on a VIA based board? Just curious.

 

[thawolfman]

Update - 2/25/05, 4:35PM
Welp, it damn sure was the chipset drivers!

Installed the latest VIA 4 in 1's (4.55), installed the 71.25 Forceware drivers, and now it's better than it was in the Dell. Temps are back to where they were as well, so I don't know if that's an issue w/ the beta forcewares that I had running last night (75.90).

Areas that were ~25-30fps last night are now 45-55fps, with even more settings enabled than with the Dell! Lovin it!

Just fyi: 1680x1050, 4xAA 4xAF in WoW

Thanks to EVERYONE for their help!
-Ben-