Which Radeon LE hack to use? 4 important questions

[wjsulliv]

I have seen and read several posts on this site and rage3d regarding how people have enabled their hyperZ by changing the registry, or flashed the bios and changed their Radeon LE to just a Radeon. I have the following questions which are hard to truely decifer as a new user of this site.

1 - Basically, which is the best solution? Flashing the bios or just adding the code to the registry?

If I understand things correctly using the bios changing program will cause the card to be recognized by the drivers as a regular Radeon for ever? Where as adding the code will just enable the hyperZ until I update the drivers again? At that time I will again need to add the code to the registry to enable hyperZ?

2 - Can I use the bios program if I am running Windows ME (most places say something about Windows 98)?

3 - If I do use the bios method what will happen to the clock speed? Could it possibly be to high if my chip really was defective? Will I need an over clocking program regardless?

4 - Could some one provide the address of where I can get the best bois program, including instructions, or where to get the most comprehensive list of things to change in the registry to enable all the functions available on my card?

Thanks a lot. I appreciate all the help you can give me.

 

[Toro 45]

This & this should answer most of your questions,see my replies on those threads.
Toro

 

[AG73]

personally, i like the software hack with radeon tweaker. i'm too chicken to flash the bios.
AG

 

[wjsulliv]

Ok I'm going to add the code to the registry by hand. And not change the bios itself. However there seem to be at least 3 versions of the suggested registry key.

Anand Tech
"EnableWaitUntilIdxTriList2"="1"
"FastZClearEnabled" with a value of 1
"DisableHierarchicalZ" with a value of 0
"DisableHyperZ" with a value of 0
"AntiAlias"="0"

Most hacks add the following additional code to the registry
"Vsync"="0"
"ZFormats"="3"
"ExportCompressedTex"="1"

xbitlabs.com adds the following additional code
(from http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon-le.html)
Colorfill = 0
DitherAlpha = 0
ExportWBuffer = 1
TableFogEnable = 0

Should I add all of them? If not which parts should I add?
Is there a way to know that its working?
Also how do I make sure that HyperZ is running in OpenGL? Is there anyway to check the code in the registry.

 

[Parn]

I had the exact same question. Anandtech review only changes 3 things... And says hyperZ in OpenGL is already enabled in LE version.

"The keys not present upon a Radeon LE install are all located in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\Driver\0000\atidxhal] key in the registry. Keep in mind that the "0000" key may be different on each machine, depending on how many other ATI video cards have been in the system. If the "atidxhal" subkey is not present in 0000, check for it in another key (0001, 0002, and so forth) and use that key instead.

To enable HyperZ in Direct3D mode, the following strings must be added to the atidxhal key in the registry. The keys to be added are: "FastZClearEnabled" with a value of 1, "DisableHierarchicalZ" with a value of 0, and "DisableHyperZ" with a value of 0."