Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Misc. questions

  • 27-05-2001 1:38am
    #1
    Q_Ball
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭


    I was looking at my system specs with sysoft sandra and i noticed a few things that i'm unsure about so i was wondering if you could please elaborate on these.

    My System:

    AMD t-bird 1ghz
    128 PC100 ram
    microstar mobo with VIA KT133 chipset.
    WinME
    TNT2 M64 (vanta) graphics card.
    Soundblaster live! sound card.

    Ok,

    1) the microstar mobo that i have, does it accept PC133 ram?

    2) Side band and fast writes are disabled. Should i enable them and if yes, how?

    3) PCI bus speed of 33mhz. Any good?

    4) legacy emulation? it's disabled.

    5) AGP bus speed of 66mhz. I'm told this is not optimal. I'm not using the AGP slot AFAIK. should i leave it or should it be fixed?

    6) "disabled host controllers are present. check bios" warning. I havent touched the BIOS, whats this about?

    Thats all i can think of at the moment. If you need any other system info just post it an i'll get back to ya.

    Thanks in advance.

    Something i found funny...

    when i ran the windows info utility, one of the tips it gave me was to consider upgrading to win2k smile.gif
    It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

    HIT IT!


Comments

  • #2
    po0k
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,815 ✭✭✭✭po0k


    PCI should be 33, AGP shpuld be 66.
    Enable Sideband and fastwrites if u can.
    u might need some tweaking files, if so goto
    http://www.nvmax.com or http://www.3dchipset.com and get ur stuff
    don't know about any of the other stuff though
    John
    No-one ever suspects the Duck
    He who must die, must die in the dark even though he sells candles


  • #3
    Celt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,333 ✭✭✭Celt


    Yes it should accept pc133.
    (buy 2x256mb crucial ram, its dirt cheap and the highest quality)


  • #4
    Gerry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭Gerry


    Your motherboard will accept 133mhz ram, but to run the ram at 133, you will need to find the mem clk = host clk option (or something similar) in the bios, and change it to read mem clk = host clk + pci clk which adds the pci speed to the fsb, while keeping the fsb at 100. Because the fsb is still at 100, you don't get a lot of the speed benefit of the pc133 ram.

    Sidebanding has been proven to give no performance improvement, same goes for fast writes, particularly since nvidia didnt implement fast writes properly on their cards. Both of these options are known only for causing instability. Same goes for agp 4x, though this will be useful in the future, it has no impact right now, certainly not with a tnt2 m64.

    Pci bus speed should be 33mhz, thats standard and your 66mhz agp speed is standard also, but if you aren't using agp, why the hell does it matter anyway?

    legacy emulation should be disabled.

    Disabled host controllers are possibly usb host controllers, but I don't know. Does your computer work properly? If it does, well then you don't have a problem.

    Whats more interesting are the benchmarks in sisoft sandra, in particular the memory benchmark. (your cpu and multimedia benchmarks will be no different from any other 1ghz athlon ). Memory bandwidth makes a noticeable difference in performance, and can be improved by tweaking the bios, running the memory at 133 etc. If you want more info on this, just ask.

    The tip to upgrade to win2k was an inspired one, I don't really know why you found it funny. Win 9x is pants basically, if it works for you, thats great, but the vast majority of people who have upgraded to win2k agree that it is vastly improved in terms of stability, and is generally much better thought out.

    For example. I am currently forced to use an old pentium mmx system at home. It is quite an unstable machine, but win2k has not crashed on me yet. Individual programs crash ok, but I can quit them and windows keeps running away as normal. If I was forced to use win9x, the computer would be out the window by now.

    [This message has been edited by Gerry (edited 27-05-2001).]


  • #5
    Q_Ball
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭Q_Ball


    Thanks guys.

    I dont know why i found the win2k upgrade funny, i just did biggrin.gif

    I was just wondering about the AGP cos it was telling me it wasnt optimal, i like things to be optimal smile.gif

    my USB scanner works grand so i take it i'm ok there.

    Everything seems cool except for the memory bandwith, you've intrgued me there Gerry, please do explain smile.gif

    Thanks again guys smile.gif
    <font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">buy 2x256mb crucial ram, its dirt cheap and the highest quality</font>

    And where may i buy said ram and for how much? my mobo only has two DIMM slots so they would have to be 256mb sticks frown.gif
    It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

    HIT IT!


Advertisement