Tweaks-The Definitive Guide

[Maximus Nickus]

Tweaks-The Definitive Guide:



A lot of you out there are trying to squeeze just that extra bit of power out of your system, whether it’s to hit 10k, or 5k this guide will help.

Warning, editing your Registry could cause errors within the Windows’ subsystem and may cause data corruption and possibly lead to you needing a re-format, please BACKUP your data.
Now down to business:


Now the basics.

PC’s always run faster after a re-format and clean Windows install, however this doesn’t mean that you have to keep re-formatting, just don’t install programs which you never use, have another machine to test out the programs first. This way your registry won’t clog up.

Standard procedures are:
Clean the registry, Scandisk once a week, Defragment once a week, run disk-clean-up as well.

Obviously try to run PC’s at there fastest overall settings (memory latency’s etc) as this will increase your overall performance. I would also recommend you test for stability by “Burning-in” your PC.
This may sound drastic but all it stands for is running a component at maximum stress for a long period of time, if no errors occur then you may proceed to overclock.

“Burning-in” your PC has also been reported to increase stability at a speed once unattainable, but why?
It rather controversial and complicated but it boils down to the degradation of Transistors, simply put making 50% of the transistors in your CPU a bit worse, and making the other 50% a lot better.
This is explained very thoroughly Here (http://people.freenet.de/s.urfer/conditioning.htm) (all credits go to Pinky for this link.)

The Method of this burn-in is to run at the highest Voltage, at the lowest temperature (as they are dependant of each other) with the lowest clockspeed (lower heat).
“The higher the voltage, the higher the effect, the higher the temperature, the lower the effect”.
It doesn’t always work but it does sometimes, my Radeon 8500 went from 280Mhz Core to 300Mhz Core after a weeks burning.
Remember though that all systems are unique, two rigs with identical components never run the same, heat, speed, stability, and so on.


Benchmarking Tweaks.

3DMark has become the standard for many people to benchmark their systems and test them for stability (“Burn-In”) following its success Futuremark® created many other Benchmarking programs to target individual aspects of PC performance, they will be listed here as well.
The following Tweaks allow maximum performance to be gained using 3DMark as well as many other benchmarking programs.


3DMark Downloads/Drivers.
3DMark 2003[/url]
3DMark 2003 - DirectX 9 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark03.shtml)
3D Mark 2001 SE - DirectX 8 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark2001.shtml)
3DMark 2001 - SE Patch (upgrade to SE version) (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark2001patch.shtml)
PCMark 2002 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?pcmark2002.shtml)
3DMark 2000 v1.1 - DirectX 7 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark2000.shtml)
Video 2000 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?video2000.shtml)
3DMark 99 MAX - DirectX 6 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark99max.shtml)

DirectX 9 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx)
DirectX 8 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx?url=/windows/directx/downloads/)
DirectX 7 (http://www.pacosdrivers.com/dx.asp)
Dx Misc (http://www.pacosdrivers.com/dx.asp)

Sisoft Sandra 2005 (http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=)
Powerstrip – Universal, overclocks any video card (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=718)

Ati Overclocking (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=178)
Ati Drivers Official (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=139) Beta (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=140)
Specialised Ati Drivers (www.omegacorner.com)
Ati ROM files (http://files.aoafiles.com/index.php?dir=179)
Ati Flash (http://www.3dchipset.com/bios/ati/flash/index.php)
Ati BIOS' for 9500/9700 cards - fixes non-overclock issue. (http://www.3dchipset.com/bios/ati/warp11/index.php)
Nvidia Overclocking (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=181)
Nvidia Drivers (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=138)
Nvidia Refresh Rate Fix (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=182)
Kryo Overclocking (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=180)
Voodoo Overclocking (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=184)
Voodoo Drivers (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=141)
Maxtrox Drivers (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=137)
Hercules Drivers (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=136)

Via Drivers – AMD only (http://files.aoafiles.com/index.php?dir=115)
More Via Drivers (http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2)

Abit Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=4)
Asus Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=5)
Biostar Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=12)
AMD (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=13)
P3 (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=14)
P4 (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=15)
DFI Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=229)
ECS Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=18)
Epox Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=20)
Chaintech (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=227)
Shuttle Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=79)
Soltek Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=246)
Soyo Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=80)
K7V Dragon Plus Bios (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=81)
Supermicro Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=82)
Tyan Files (http://files.aoaforums.com/index.php?dir=83)


[u]Tweaks/Misc Downloads.

Tweaking Compilation (http://www.tweak3d.net/)
Tweak UI (http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp)
Fast Boot /Fast Resume Design (http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/default.asp)
Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp)
Tweaking Downloads (http://www.majorgeeks.com/)
A huge index of Windows Tweaks! (http://members.aol.com/axcel216/)
Innovative Tweaking Tool (http://www.xteq.com/products/xset/)
Great list of Windows Tweaking Downloads (http://files.aoafiles.com/index.php?dir=168)


Great Download Sources.

http://files.aoaforums.com
www.clockingfiles.cjb.net
www.download.com
www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com
www.reactorcritical.com
www.3dchipset.com
www.driverfiles.net
www.majorgeeks.com/

If you cannot find the latest drivers for any Hardware you have, go to Driverguide (http://www.driverguide.com), it offers a good service once you sign-up (free) to find drivers quick and efficiently.


Volt Mods.

9700 Volt Mod (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/guides/R9700_Vmod_1.html)
8500 Volt Mod-Sophisticated Version (http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon8500-overclocking/)
8500 Volt Mod-Pencil Version (http://www.xcl-clan.com/articles.php3?id=29)
8500 Volt Mod-Simple (http://www.overclockers.com/tips1010/)
9000-Pro Volt Mod (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon9000pro-overclocking.html/)
G4-4600 Volt Mod (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=363823)
G4-4400 Volt Mod (http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/visiontek-gf4ti4400/)
G4-4200 Volt Mod (http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/geforce4-vmod/index.shtml)
G3 Ti-200/Ti-500 Volt Mod (http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/titanium-overclocking/)
G3 Original Volt Mod (http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/geforce3-overclocking/)
OCforums Volt Modding section (http://www.ocforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128)

Now assuming you’ve just cleaned up your system or re-formatted your HDD, install the drivers in the following order, after each run disk defragmenter.

1. Via 4 in 1 Drivers (These are only for Via Chipset Based Motherboards)
Defragmenter
2. DirectX 9.0C (Windows XP has 8.1 pre-installed, SP has 9.0C pre-installed)
Defragmenter
3. Video Drivers
Defragmenter
4. Other drivers, once more run disk defragmenter.

The defragmenting keeps all the files in there optimal positions on the disk which means everything is loaded with precision and maximum speed, now and for later benchmarking.

When running 3DMark run your desktop at 60hz, turn of vertical synchronization (may cause artifacts) and change the OpenGL settings, Direct3D and so on to “Best performance”. (Right-click to find out what each option does in turn)
Repeat all the tests twice, as this can yield a slight performance gain, mainly due to the second run of each test being run more from the CPU's cache.
Run your AGP at 8x/4x (if you can with stability, if not try DA or FF in the driving mode value), enable AGP Fast-Writes and test all the other options for maximum speed. Video-caching produces different effects on different rigs so experiment with them on or off.

On a lot of systems nowadays people are using upwards of 512MB or RAM, if you are there’s a desirable option that can now be turned off to access more overall system performance.
This is Virtual memory, you see when Windows runs out of RAM it is forced to use Virtual memory which utilises your Hardrive’s temporary file as RAM, this is much slower than RAM and is not desirable. If you have 512MB of RAM or over then Virtual Memory can be disabled and system speed increases will result.

To do this simply:

1. Right-click on My Computer and select properties,
2. Go to Advanced Tab,
3. Click on Performance Settings,
4. Click on Advanced Tab,
5. Go to Virtual memory and click on change,
6. Select your drive, click on no paging file and then click on ‘set’.

Repeat step 6 for all of your Hardrives.


When running Benchmarking I would also recommend you close all programs running in the background, first of all close everything in your taskbar, next press Ctrl + Alt + Del and in the Dialog box that appears (Win Me and below users) close everything apart form Explorer and Systray, if you are running XP or 2000 then you will see a name next to each process, your name and the Systems name. Close everything with your name next to it apart from explorer.

I also recommend running the NTFS file system for Windows XP, to change the file system of your drives requires a re-format; this can be done in Windows with exception to your main-drive. To format your main-drive to the NTFS file system simply boot off of the Windows XP CD-ROM and choose NTFS Format.
The reason why I use NTFS is it is faster, more secure and more efficient at utilising space on larger hardrives.

Are you running any PCI cards? If you are take them out! (Unless you are running a PCI video card of course)
You see 3DMark does not use any PCI cards, but they steal CPU cycles slowing your Benchmark down, Sound Cards are especially guilty of this, you’d be surprised how much of a difference to your score this makes!
You may also (when you have your PCI cards in for normal use) want to change your PCI latencies if your Motherboards BIOS lets you, you see the latency dictates how long a particular device can hold onto the PCI bus for, if you have just one device then a higher figure is desirable (around 100) but if you have multiple devices then you don’t want one card holding up the bus too long so a lower number of around 15-30 is more desirable, I use Sisoft Sandra 2002 to test these differences in performance.

I also recommend you disable anything you are not using in the BIOS, onboard items > especially on older boards.
You may also notice how sometimes there are options such as ‘onboard Modem’ in your BIOS and yet you have no onboard Modem? Well disable them anyway, simply because they are reserving IRQ’s and wasting resources.
You can also delve into disabling IRQ’s which you don’t use, but be careful here, serious system errors can occur so remember your Default settings!!


Hardrive Performance

Most Modern drives today are coming shipped with Acoustic and Power Management features enabled for quieter operation and reduced power consumption of the drives, this works by reducing the Speed of the Head Seeks when the drive is in Normal Operation.
This may be all well except for one thing: It reduces overall data transfer rates for the drives when it is enabled.

Here you can download the Manufacturer's utilities to disable these features, resulting in improved Transfer rates of your Hardrive:

Maxtor
Acoustic Management (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/setacm.htm)
Power Management (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/setwrtvr.htm)

IBM
Acoutic and Power Management (http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/ibmftool-install.exe)

Samsung


Seagate
Power Management (http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm[/url)

There are no such utilities available at this time for:
Western Digital, Fujitsu, and Quantum Drives.

The Western Digital and Fujitsu drives do not have a publically downloadable manufacturer supported utility, however some drives may ship with such a utility, and in Fujitsu's case, the computer shipped with the drive may have its own custom utility, Toshiba is a good example.


Finally I have searched the web and found the very best Windows tweaks to get those few extra marks out of your system.

http://www.winguides.com/downloads/registry.exe
Registry guide

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=120
Windows XP optimization guide Part 1

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=145
Windows XP optimization guide Part 2

Now last but not least make sure you backup your files before editing them!


[u]Notes:

The tweaks work on all Windows versions.
Defragmenting is a lot faster with Windows XP, and it is necessary to make you system run at optimal speed, so don’t skip it!


This post is written as simply as possible, if anyone has trouble understanding or processing the information please don’t hesitate to ask me and I will decipher any technical jargon.

Good Luck and HAPPY TWEAKING!


Nick Cade-Westcombe
'Maximus Nickus'

Updated by: @md0cer 10/19/05

[jdmcnudgent]

when you do the 4 in 1, where is the via supposed to show up in your device manager? i have done this twice, and was unable to locate it in the device manager. i also did the edit, that you need to do before you run it, right click on setup.exe, go to compatibility, and choose windows 2000 pro, since xp is using the same engine. by the way, i am using xp. thanks.

[Maximus Nickus]

The Via 4 in 1 drivers don't show up in the device manager, as for the compatibilty mode i'm not really sure what you're saying, although you shouldn't need to run the program in compatibility mode.

If you are having problems installing the drivers then run them in safe-mode.

If you could explain to me your problem slightly clearer then I'll be glad to help you more!

M_N

[Maximus Nickus]

Hope this guide has been useful.
Please any questions then fire away!

If there's anything I've missed feel free to add it or PM me!

Happy Tweaking!:p
M_N

[The Overclocker]

I like your user name.

mabey i should change mine to bigus di.. perhaps not.

one thing i should mention though is that the main purpose of defrag is to group the program files from one application together and is not nessassery to perform inbetween a series of installations. the Time consumed performing a defrag can be draistily reduced by not using virtual memory (the hard is as ram) or using a seperate hard disk for virtual memory.

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by the overclocker
I like your user name.

mabey i should change mine to bigus di.. perhaps not.

one thing i should mention though is that the main purpose of defrag is to group the program files from one application together and is not nessassery to perform inbetween a series of installations. the Time consumed performing a defrag can be draistily reduced by not using virtual memory (the hard is as ram) or using a seperate hard disk for virtual memory.


lol! :D Maybe, maybe...

Now,
With regards to Disk Defragmenting it may not seem beneficial but it is neccesary when installing drivers, the reason being that the drivers will be installed more efficiently, one reason is each driver looks for parts of other drivers,

e.g. The Video Driver looks for DirectX components, by running defragmenter the effeciency of the layout of installation is increased, this in turn increases benchmark scores.
If drivers are installed efficiently then they remain that way, after all disk defragmenter doesn't re-arrange the drivers. (Not yet;))

Regarding the time it takes to defragment you are 50% correct, slower drives (5400rpm) using UDMA 66 will benefit from no paging file, but faster hardisks (7200rpm UDMA 100/133) will not benefit due to the increased transfer rates that UDMA 100/133 coupled with a faster spin-rate can offer.

Hope this clears things up.

M_N

[JAWS]

Thanks for the directing me to the XP tweaks. I always had a problem with XP shutting down slow. Not only does it shut off more quickly, XP also boots faster now! Thanks! :)

[Maximus Nickus]

My pleasure! I'm in the process of putting a Cooling guide together as well!
Happy Tweaking!:D

M_N

[Arkaine23]

Running mine at EA as suggested by some tweaking site for Geforce 2's... seems to up 3dmark by 10 or 20 points from running at DA.

What about trying AGP 2x to see if that lets the card overclock higher?

[Maximus Nickus]

You could certainly try that, however you might loose more performance than you gain.

Its like the Driving Mode Value > Every rigs is different and different settings will have different effects.


Good Luck,

Maximus Nickus

[Dracula]

There are many more tweaks for 3dmark than those ;)

[Maximus Nickus]

Like I said, contribute by adding them!
Or PM me with them so I can update the Thread, after I've tested them of course;)

Don't forget there are other Tweaks inclosed in the links I posted. So they could already be listed!


Maximus Nickus:)

[Dracula]

Are we talking about tweaking (for pure performance) for 3dmark....or only the OS and like something like that?

[rogue1979]

Thanks for the link on Radeon 8500 voltage mod, that is what I have been looking for. Gonna search for a good deal on an 8500 LE and change the resistors themselves for 1.75v and 3.80v. If I get 300/310 I will be very happy. With the price of the LE dropping like a rock, I think it is the current bang for the buck for under $150, since it significantly outperforms the Geforce 3 Ti 200.

I gotta disagree with all the 3DMark 2001 tweaks though, I am pretty soured on the results. I think most of us here are big time gamers and pursuing the ultimate 3Dmark score can actually slow down your gaming performance. For example, here is the configuration for my best 3Dmark score:

150 x 10 for the board, 310/521 for the video card with the memory timings set down a notch or two. 3Dmark score hits 5700 which is pretty good for a Geforce 2 chipset.

Best configuration for game performance:

164 x 9 for the board, 270/521 for the video card, with memory scores set at fastest. 3Dmark hits 5450, but in all my games I get better speed, as much as 8fps increase in Unreal. Also with my Sandra 2001 memory scores increasing dramatically and my fsb speed raised my system is noticably faster.

Another gripe is the length of the test. I can jack my card up to 315/535 and my cpu up to 1530MHz when my computer is stone cold in the morning and get just one successful pass before I crash like a big dog. But this doesn't accurately guage the speed of my set-up, it is a big fat cheat! The standard test should have to loop for 5 passes or so to give a valid score. Not to mention the fact that a Geforce 2 chipset is heavily penalized for not having several DirectX 8 hardware features which it can still render with software (Nature test).

It seems like without much effort Mad Onion could address these issues for a more realistic benchtest.

[Maximus Nickus]

Thats why we have "Honesty".


I always run my rigs 100% stable, one crash in a Month and its unstable for me, as for your games it obvious why there quicker even with your GPU slower.

All games are very memory hungry, when your FSB is over 160 instead of 150 the bottleneck of the RAM with be lifted slightly.

The Tweaks are designed to squeeze performance out of your rig, so that you can reach you goal without having a suicide run.


Dracula we are talking about both! Windows tweaks will improve 3DMark. Like memory caching...


Maximus Nickus:)

[Dracula]

I will do my tweak guide :D someday and I post it here ;).
Is a good guide! :D But for 3Dmark!

[Calian]

Nvidia Refresh Rate Fix

That one really helped a lot :) Thx.....

[Maximus Nickus]

Its what I'm here for!

Glad I could help.


Maximus Nickus:)

[JesseFK]

I have an All in Wonder Radeon 8500 and it seems to be differnet than the regular 8500. I tried the BIOS Flash that you posted and it wouldn't work with my video card. Also the Radeon Tweaker and R3D tweaker didn't work. I have used the Power strip and it overclocked it but it took away some features. For Example I used the 3D Mark 2000 and it said I didn't have the right hardware to run the 4th test which is the Nature test. But before I installed the tweaker it did have the right hardware features. If you could help me that would be awsome.

Jesse K.

[Maximus Nickus]

Hi JesseFK,


All-In-Wonder Radeons are almost the same but have improved picture/TV-out and quality / features and so on.

The BIOS flash won't work becuase its for OEM 8500's to flash to a Retail 8500.

It seems strange that Powerstrip would stop the Nature test from functioning....
Make sure you have the latest drivers

Here for XP (http://files.mrgaming.net/ati/winxp/Radeon-WinXP-6043.zip)
Here for Win2K (http://files.mrgaming.net/ati/win2k/Radeon-Win2K-6043.zip)
9x/Me Here! (http://www.bitchage.com/drivers/Radeon-Win9xME-4.13.9017.zip)

Once they are installed (make sure you remove the old ones entirely) re-install Powerstrip.
Also make sure you are running DirectX 8.1 (Windows Xp has this pre-installed) and you are using 3DMark 2001SE from Here (http://gamershq.madonion.com/download/?3dmark2001.shtml)

This should fix your problems, if it doesn't tell me about your system configuration and hardware and I'll rattle my brains!


Let me know how it goes.
Maximus Nickus:)

[JesseFK]

it actually was 3D mark 2001SE I just typed it in wrong, But the link that you provided to WIN XP drivers didn't work I think the site was just down. But I have gone to ATI.com and have the newest drivers. They are actually the BETA versions so I don't know if that will effect it. Anyway how can I get back to you on the configuration of my computer. And thanks for your help.

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by JesseFK
it actually was 3D mark 2001SE I just typed it in wrong, But the link that you provided to WIN XP drivers didn't work I think the site was just down. But I have gone to ATI.com and have the newest drivers. They are actually the BETA versions so I don't know if that will effect it. Anyway how can I get back to you on the configuration of my computer. And thanks for your help.

I checked the links and they seem ok, there "direct" links though, you can either post your system spec here, or PM me.

So I assume the problems are still there then....I'll rattle my brains when i have the system config!!!!


Maximus Nickus

[JesseFK]

I Personal Messaged you, but all I need to know is what I need to send you for my configuration.

[Maximus Nickus]

A reply is on its journey through the Network!:D

[ShiFtY2001]

there were a couple of win2k tweaks like using a large system cache and enabling UDMA 66 by default... these are registry entries do a google search.

As for video... disable video bios shadowing, disable video bios caching, as well as disabling system bios caching etc. These are totally unneccesary and just take up space in your mem/L2 cache.

my 0.02

[Maximus Nickus]

I've already covered all of that!
With regards to Caching, every system yields different gains/losses. So experiment with different settings and combinations.

Thanks for the contribution though!


M_N

[The Coolest]

The Power Toys are off until April. pretty soon they'll be back . M$ (?) says that they are improving 'em.

[Maximus Nickus]

They are a great source for fiddling with your configuration!

But there is always the Manual way:D

[up2Tim]

If you are in to tweaking your OS check out THIS (http://members.aol.com/axcel216/) site. This is one of the most thourough OS tweaking sites I have ever seen.


If you are looking for a tool similar to tweakUI but packed with a lot more tweaks, then check THIS (http://www.xteq.com/products/xset/) out.
XSetup is by far the Granddaddy of all the tweaking tools. You'll like it.

[Maximus Nickus]

Looks Good,
There added to the list!!!

M_N

[Slayn]

I was looking at the registry tweaker program and I have a problem with this:

"Create a new DWORD value, of modify the existing value, named "SecondLevelDataCache" and set it to equal your L2 cache size in Kb's (decimal). "

I have an Athlon T-bird 1000 how much is the L2 cache?

[Maximus Nickus]

T-Birds normally have 256kb cache, mine certainly does so nothing has to be changed.

To be sure either look in Sisoft Sandra 2002 (CPU info) or look at the BIOS boot screen, it should appear but only briefly after the memory check.

Or download AMDCPUinfo.

Good Luck,
M_N

[Pinky]

Think the name for the powrstrip file changed, sorry :(

Should be a simple matter of updating it to match the new name...

[Maximus Nickus]

Thanks for letting me know, I'm on it:)

Edit:/ Links updated, Thanks!

[Malakai]

Antialiasing: Smooths jagged edges (jaggies) in games. ATI and Nvidia have different ways of doing this. ATi and Nvidia's versions of 2xAA and 4xAA are exactly the same. the method used is alled supersampling. than Nvidia has another option they dubbed QuincunxAA. this uses a different method called multisampling. and Matrox has added in a new way with Parhelia called Fragment AA. it only smoothes the lines, not the whole scene like the other ways do. this takes a much smaller performance hit, but is incompatable with some games.
Image quality: definately gives, AA just makes gaming way better. 2xAA is less effective but takes a smaller performance hit than 4xAA. Nvidia's quincunx is in between, and looks just as good as 4x IMHO
Performance: takes away big time. order of performance hit is 2x, quincunx, 4x.

Ansiotropic filtering: filters textures to make depth blur look better from all angles. A step above tri-linear filtering.
Image quality: Improves in order best to worst 8x (64 tap), 4x (32 tap), 2x (16 tap), 1x (bilenear or trilinear).
Performance: Takes away, but not nearly as bad as aintialiasing. performance hit increases as the numbers get higher.

Dynamic lighting: causes moving light sources (weapon blasts and explosions) to cast their light and shadow all over the environment and objects in it.
Performance: Takes away, sometimes substantially. Disable on older cards.
Image quality: gives a lot. definately a good thing to keep on if you can afford to.

Light maps and Vertex lighting: Light maps allow the video card to draw light and shadoeffects on existing textures in the environment. It works to the same degree as Dynamic lighting, but with the environmental light sources and not weapons fire. Vertex lighting turns every light on in the environment on and has all of the light and shadow effects on and pre-drawn to the surfaces, so walking between a light and a wall wont cast a shadow on the wall.
Performance: Light maps takes away, a lot on older cards. GF3 or higher (and Radeon 8500) can handle this fine at most resolutions. Leave vertex enabled on older cards.
Image quality: Light maps Give. makes games exremely more realistic, and IMHO much more fun to watch your shadow on a wall as you walk past it.

Geometric detail: The higher the setting, the more round curves and arcs look in the game. The lower, the more blocky things look. The higher this is set, the more performance it takes away. The performance hit while set on high on my Ti200 is very large, i cant play many games at 1280x1024 at 60+ fps with this setting on high.

Texture detail (quality): THe higher the texture detail, the nicer and more detailed (duh!) the textures skinning all of the polygons look. The performance hit depends on how much RAm your vid card has. If you have 64megs or more, crank it, this one wont usually hurt performance. On older cards with like 16megs of RAM, this can kill performance if set to high.

Bump mapping: adds rough, shiny, or bumpy surfaces to flat textures, without making the video card draw more polygons. this cant be changed in games, a game either uses them or doesnt.

Decals: effects in a game like bullet holes or blood and guts splattered on the walls. the more the better, but in multiplayer games too many can WRECK performance. I usually just leave the games default setting for this if its a number or turn it as high as you can till u start to see lagging.

Texture compression: Uses lossless compression to fit textures into video memory.
Image quality: gives. usually makes textures sharper and letters and words in textures much easier to read.
Performance: gives again, less memory needed=more textures in video ram and less swapping to system RAM

Volumetric smoke (or fog): Makes fully 3d fog instead of flat textures of fog floating around.
Image quality: gives, 3d rolling fog is cool:cool:
Performance: Takes away, can cause lag if say a whole bunch of grenades go off and blanket the area. most newer cards are fine with it.

Particle effects: pretty well self explanitory. If you have even a remotely new card just turn it all the way up. particles are cool looking too

add in info by MospeadasDark:
AGP fast writes and sideband adressing: fast writes and agp side banding are suppose to be new techniques of the agp bus to transfer data even faster...theoretically. However in practice it does nothing other than give severe stability issues for about 1% increase in performance, if even.

Triple Buffering: Makes the game look smoother and on newer cards run faster. Triple buffer lets the card render foreground, background, and..one scene that the card is currently working on.

Z-buffer: Saves memory bandwidth. Look at every pixel from your angle, the closer one(the one you see) will be in z-buffer and drawn. For transparencies the pixel in front and behind are combined.

The background hardly moves(ex: a sky), foreground is whatevr you look at, while the next frame is drawn. As opposed to drawing the background everytime with the foreground and next frame all at once.


I hope this helps with some misterious settings in the games and drivers panel. I would like to credit my main source for the in game effects explanations as the april 2002 issue of PC gamer.
Anyone with any other info on settings feel free to add to this thread. I know i will be adding more
-Malakai

[o770]

there r even so many things... i remember have seen something similar on internet, but the guide was only about the driver settings. ill try to find it out and post here.

also, there is something about the texture compression. not all the games and other 3d applications use the same texture compression and method. there is a problem with one named DXT1-DXT5 and nvidia videocards, this one will produce horrible color distortions - or, something like 16-bit textures in a 32-bit environment.
in general the texture compressions will make the rendering faster but the img quality will be reduced.

[Pinky]

You might want to add this (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=363823) link as a volt mod for the GF4 Ti cards.

[Maximus Nickus]

Will Do, Thanks:)

Sorry about the delays, the Flu Bug got me:D

[Robbie]

Good thread man. Keep up the good work.
Rob

[bdf24]

Originally posted by Robbie
Good thread man. Keep up the good work.
Rob
This is a GREAT thread, with some good info and AWESOME link's in it. But Just remember to back up your registry before modifying your registry. Or you could end up like me. I made a few adjustment's and never backed anything up before hand. I had to reformat and reinstall!:) Oh, well gave me something to do. I will try the reg tweak's again though.

[Maximus Nickus]

Thanks for the support, I haven't much time to spread my knowledge (busy schedules) so I create threads like this which are here all the time, when I'm not.
Its a great feeling to help your fellow man.

:)
M_N

[Dragobich]

Hello, I did the volt mod for the R8500 (OEM), and I got the memory to 3.66-3.70. However the flash util and powerstrip doesn't change the memory/core speeds. I'm not sure why, I think it may be a problem with powerstrip. I would raise it and apply the new settings, but it would just go back to 250/250.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I use another program instead of Pstrip?

[Maximus Nickus]

Welcome to the Forums:)

The first thing that comes to mind is the version of Video Card drivers you are using, the Official Drivers don't always allow overclocking, but the BETA drivers (pre-release officials geared towards Performance) do so try downloading the latest Beta's.

Try downloading a newer version of powerstrip (or even an older one) to see if that makes a difference if the problem still arises.
Otherwise it could well be an old driver or BIOS setting related to the Video Card, if need be check your version of Powerstrip is compatible with the version of Windows you are currently imploying.

If you are still encountering problems make sure Powerstrip is setup correctly, i.e. The Apply current settings at startup tab is checked.
And don't forget to press Apply for the settings to take immediate effect.

Hope this helps,
M_N:)

[Dragobich]

Thanks for your help, appearantly I didn't flash properly, but now it's fixed :)

Btw, I love the site and the forums, both really helpful.

[Maximus Nickus]

Glad you got it sorted out,
Enjoy our Forums.

Its unlike any other;)

M_N

[MEMex]

[size=1] Theres such thing as burning in? lol thats a new one for me, this is something i must look into more, my entire computer education i never heard of burning in heh! Thx this is very helpful...
My moto is most like "burning out" , i sorta fry things :burn:

[MospeadasDark]

Z-buffer:
Saves memory bandwidth. Look at every pixel from your angle, the closer one(the one you see) will be in z-buffer and drawn. For transparencies the pixel in front and behind are combined.

I dunno how 16bit is better than 32bit other than efficiency.

[MospeadasDark]

Triple Buffering:
Makes the game look smoother and on newer cards run faster. Triple buffer lets the card render foreground, background, and..one scene that the card is currently working on.

The background hardly moves(ex: a sky), foreground is whatevr you look at, while the next frame is drawn. As opposed to drawing the background everytime with the foreground and next frame all at once.

[o770]

Originally posted by MospeadasDark
Could you define AGP Fast Write and Sidebanding? Also put the Win2k/WinXP refresh rate fix for good measure.

got this from reviews at Digit-Life.com:

fastwrites allows direct transfer of geometrical data from cpu to gpu omitting the system memory; the explanation for the sba below.

thats why both use to bring about huge instability.

[MospeadasDark]

Originally posted by oTTO


got this from reviews at Digit-Life.com:

fastwrites allows direct transfer of geometrical data from cpu to gpu omitting the system memory and sba works with the cpu like this: if the cpu bus frequency is 133 MHz, the 66 MHz AGP and CPU works synchronously

I don't get that part. Different bus speeds. Data transfer rates would be all messed up depending on 1X/2X/4XAGP, then there's the XP dual and P4 quad bus.

That's prolly why it causes such instability?

[o770]

Originally posted by MospeadasDark


well MospeadasDark, there is something else lacking to make that part more comprehensive, in addition to it:

"with sideband addressing, AGP uses 8 extra "sideband" address lines which allow the graphics controller to issue new addresses and requests simultaneously while data continues to move from previous requests on the main 32 data/address lines. using SBA mode improves efficiency and reduces latencies."
Intel

"Sideband Addressing introduces a separate address/command bus, the Sideband Address Port. Because the SBA and data buses are not multiplexed, the graphic controller can use the SBA to make data requests without interrupting the data bus."
RojakPot.com


as you see i had to gather some information in order to get that part explained better. then the synchronous part of the problem actually is about the 8 additional ports that SBA use to communicate with the controller/cpu synchronously. i need a cigarrete... ;)

[JokerHCG]

Originally posted by MospeadasDark
Z-buffer:
Saves memory bandwidth. Look at every pixel from your angle, the closer one(the one you see) will be in z-buffer and drawn. For transparencies the pixel in front and behind are combined.

I dunno how 16bit is better than 32bit other than efficiency.


16bit z buffers arent better :D . The use of a z buffer is to store the final coordinate value that applies to the z axis(hence the name Z buffer). A coordinate is made up of three values(regarding to 3d), the x,y, and z. The z vlaue is what gives an image depth. A 32 bit z buffer would be better than a 16 bit not only because it allows for more precise values but also more range.

Some of the main processes that heavily use z buffers are HSR, anti aliasing, texture layering, and of course isometries.

[Malakai]

but a 32bit buffer requires a bit more bandwidth i believe

[MospeadasDark]

Originally posted by JokerHCG



16bit z buffers arent better :D

Heh, I just noticed that. I meant to switch the 32 and 16bit=)

Thank for the correction.

[o770]

Originally posted by JokerHCG
(...)A 32 bit z buffer would be better than a 16 bit not only because it allows for more precise values but also more range.

this can often also to correct rendering errors in 3d applications.

[Malakai]

Originally posted by oTTO


this can often also to correct rendering errors in 3d applications.


wow, i didnt know that. coolness:cool:

[vgrigor3]

Really Interesting:
Testers said that turning On, of AA and AF must be
together and at maximum level,

or else
will receive bad SmoothVision (worse picture than initial) due to card consider AF is On.
At lower levels you can receive also worsening picture than initial.
Due to notbad results of bad approximation appears or not visible at best.(Or rarely good happens).

Example:
ATI RADEON 8500 make lover texture detalisation, with AA tiurining On relying on
Super Sampling, but results is worser became and corrects onle with AF turning On.

[garasaki]

Originally posted by vgrigor3
Really Interesting:
Testers said that turning On, of AA and AF must be
together and at maximum level,

or else
will receive bad SmoothVision (worse picture than initial) due to card consider AF is On.
At lower levels you can receive also worsening picture than initial.
Due to notbad results of bad approximation appears or not visible at best.(Or rarely good happens).

Example:
ATI RADEON 8500 make lover texture detalisation, with AA tiurining On relying on
Super Sampling, but results is worser became and corrects onle with AF turning On.

Ya know, that sounds like a helpful post, but I can't dig thru all the grammar and spelling mistakes to make any sense of most of it. Some give this guy a funk and wagnals!

[Uone]

A couple of questions:

Newbie here so please bear with me...how can I run scan disk in Win XP Home? I currently have RegClean, is that tool enough for cleaning my registry? I HAD RegCleaner(?), but after running it and rebooting, my comps settings changed and some odd things happened (start button disappeared, couldn'taccess .txt files, etc.) so I returned all settings back to normal and uninstalled it. BTW, anyone know what it means to have a motherboard described as "Trigem Computer Inc Lomita"?

[Maximus Nickus]

Hi Uone!
We were all Newbies once so don't feel bad, please if you need to know something don't hesitate to contact me.

To run scandisk:
Open My Computer > Right-Click on selected drives choose Properties > Then Scandisk > it will say it cannot run it unless you restart.
Once restarted it will run automatically.

Windows XP is reasonably ok with its registry but will need more than Regcleaner to clean it up, other than manually doing it (Start Run > Regedit > Edit/Search) you will need a program such as Norton System-Works 2002, if your not willing to spend that much money on a program such as that there are some Free programs which are mentioned within the links.

Other than that simply follow the Windows Optimization Guide to keep your registry clean.

If you need any more help please feel free to ask or PM me.
M_N

[Uone]

Hey Max, thanks for the quick response. I did what you suggested, however, I could not find an option to scan-disk in the properties menu, although there is a dis clean-up. Also, for registry cleaning, how is the program "Clean System Directory v.1.7"?

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,4143,00.asp

In conjunction with RegClean, will that help clean the registry more efficiently or will I simply be doing the same thing twice using both programs?

[Fire]

i have a gf4ti4200 128 and i don't run anything on high or even close, i play games for the gameplay and not the looks, cause looks don't do anything cept cause problems in some games ( ESPECIALLY UT2K3 :( )

[Malakai]

Originally posted by Fire
i have a gf4ti4200 128 and i don't run anything on high or even close, i play games for the gameplay and not the looks, cause looks don't do anything cept cause problems in some games ( ESPECIALLY UT2K3 :( )


start a new thread in this forum and im sure we can help you out!

[smudged]

i have a gf4ti4200 128 and i don't run anything on high or even close, i play games for the gameplay and not the looks, cause looks don't do anything cept cause problems in some games ( ESPECIALLY UT2K3 )


Looks add alot to a game. If gameplay was the only consideration then we would all still be playing Commodor 64's or something.
I totally agree that gameplay is one of the most important considerations, but balance is essential. Something interesting but thoroughly ugly is just as bad as shallow and goreous-looking. Well in my book anyway, maybe the probs you are getting stem from other than the TI4200, like Malakai said POST your prob. Someone here is bound to be able to help you!!

[quegyboe]

Interesting, now I know what everything does and I can tweak my poor little GF2 MX400 a little more....

[quegyboe]

This is a cool thread, but would u mind if I put some of these tweaks on my website? My website is a tweaking/newbie website, and it is in my profile if you wanna see it.

[Maximus Nickus]

Uone,

In the properties section of the Drive, there is a error-checking option. Basically its the new name for scandisk, sorry for not mentioning it before.

The Program is ok but like many free programs won't find everything, theres no harm in trying a few to experiment with but I've found that Regcleaner along with Norton Systemworks 2002 seems to keep everything neat.
You can never delete all the un-used keys so the best thing to do is not to install the programs in the first place! It sounds simple but make a habbit of installing them on an old/testbed machine first!
If you need any more help, feel free to ask :)


quegyboe,

Sure!
I would prefer if the whole article were to be included but thats your decision, as long as credit is given to me and its visible then go for it!.
A link to the Forums may also be a Good idea.

Good Luck with the site!
M_N

[asecmt]

Hi Maximus Nickus, i got a question.
on your link for the XP tweaks, i was unable to find the fast shutdown, but i did find the fast boot. could you please show me EXACTLY where it is, if it's not too much trouble for you.
thanks
Donnie

[asecmt]

Maximus, viewing the above links on the Nvidia refresh rate fix....
how do i know which one to use 1 or 2 ?
or do i need both ?

[Samoyed]

Here is a 3D Mark tip. For win ME and lower run only 256 ram. More than that slows the comp down. I am guessing that's because CPU cycles are wasted addressing the extra ram.

For XP run just 512. Same reason.

I dont really understand why people have 1 gig of ram. What program uses that much in a non server PC?

Last tip is to run the most agressive memory timings u can. Newer boards seem to have choices like this:

safe
normal
fast
fastest
turbo
ultra

Most comps default is "normal". Avg ram can run at least "fastest". Top notch ram can run turbo or ultra. This will make a several hundred pts difference in 3d mark.

[Taylor]

Thanks for putting this list of links together, and for your thoughts about defragmenting and the order in which to install drivers. This thread a useful resource.

I find it very helpful indeed. You've helped make OC.com what it is! Cheers to you, Maximus Nickus!

[Taylor]

Originally posted by Samoyed
for ME... run only 256 ram. More than that slows the comp down...For XP run just 512...I dont really understand why people have 1 gig of ram. What program uses that much in a non server PC?

Forgive me Samoyed, I'm struggling with that one, a little; are you sure of that? It's not what I would have expected

[OCn00b]

Would there be any way to get some links for volt modding a R9000 Pro? Actually, volt modding in general would be cool. Also, maybe some comparisons between different types of tweaks like what you can expect in general if you were to volt mod, water cool, peltier cool so people can have a better idea of which is right for them. I'm not sure that made too much sense but if not, i'll try to explain it better.

[Maximus Nickus]

Hi asecmt!,

First off I am very sorry for the late reply, I just haven't checked this Thread in a while! Please accept my apologies.
You can use either of the Nvidia Refresh Rate fix's, its simply up to you.

The Fast Shutdown how-to is Right Here! (http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=145&dPage=3)

M_N

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by OCn00b
Would there be any way to get some links for volt modding a R9000 Pro? Actually, volt modding in general would be cool. Also, maybe some comparisons between different types of tweaks like what you can expect in general if you were to volt mod, water cool, peltier cool so people can have a better idea of which is right for them. I'm not sure that made too much sense but if not, i'll try to explain it better.

I have updated the Volt Mod links, the 9000 Pro is there!
As for your suggestion it wouldn't really work, it doesn't make any difference if you Peltier/Water/Air cool as to what Volt Mods you do, hence why its how it is. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Originally posted by Samoyed
Here is a 3D Mark tip. For win ME and lower run only 256 ram. More than that slows the comp down. I am guessing that's because CPU cycles are wasted addressing the extra ram.

For XP run just 512. Same reason.

I dont really understand why people have 1 gig of ram. What program uses that much in a non server PC?

Last tip is to run the most agressive memory timings u can. Newer boards seem to have choices like this:

safe
normal
fast
fastest
turbo
ultra

Most comps default is "normal". Avg ram can run at least "fastest". Top notch ram can run turbo or ultra. This will make a several hundred pts difference in 3d mark.

Actually I disagree with this, you see it really depends on every system, like I said in my guide every system is different and therefore you adjust its settings accordingly.
I get a better score with 768MB RAM than I do with 256 or 512MB RAM in Windows XP.

Experiment with your system to find out what settings work better for you. :)

M_N

[OC Noob]

Originally posted by Maximus Nickus



I always run my rigs 100% stable, one crash in a Month and its unstable for me,...


Maximus Nickus:)

lol, you must not have a 5 year old mashing on your keyboard with his plastic hammer and removing disks while programs are running, etc...:D

[Maximus Nickus]

lol Thank Goodness :D

[angeltazman]

hello!..... we have the same videocard..... how do u overclock it?....


Originally posted by quegyboe
Interesting, now I know what everything does and I can tweak my poor little GF2 MX400 a little more....

[RuKK]

Great thread. Heres a link which I found very helpfull on GeForce 2 GTS and MX (should work for MX200/400 as well, but dont hold me to that) overclocking/volt modding. http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/geforce2-overclocking.html

I'll try to dig up some stuff on various 3dfx cards and maybe something on the Kyro II later today.

[Zerileous]

what about AGP apature? What should that be set for? What aobut for the card in my sig?

[Malakai]

For future referance, there is a search button at the upper right corner of your screen. Just use it and you can much more detailed info then what your going to get from me now.

All the AGP aperture size is is how much system (main) memory the computer will use as virtual video memory. I set mine at 128mb, I have 64mb onboard video ram and 512mb of main memory. Usually you can leave it chillin at 128 if you have more then 256m of main ram

[Xevuhtess7]

i know its a stupid question, but what are the via 4 in 1 drivers for, and where do i get them?

[Maximus Nickus]

They are drivers for Via chipset based Motherboards.
They resolve issues and can improve performance.

Its not a stupid question at all, we all have to learn somewhere!! Please feel free to ask me anything, anytime :)
M_N

[Xevuhtess7]

so would the via 4 in 1 drivers not need to be loaded if i have say.... an intel chipset? cause right now i have an 815e running a 733.

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by Xevuhtess7
so would the via 4 in 1 drivers not need to be loaded if i have say.... an intel chipset? cause right now i have an 815e running a 733.

Correct. You only need them if you have a Via Based Chipset.

M_N

[Xevuhtess7]

thanks man

[Gordon Airport]

Is there a realistic way to rank these setting in terms of performance gain from turning it off?
I know it would be difficult considdering how many card property variables ther are...It might also vary depending on the program you want the gain in.

[mundo]

just got ati retail 8500le score 6120 on 3d mark 2001se. what will flashing the bios due and how do you do it. doing the voltage mod on the card will due what to my 3d mark scores. running
dell 4300
p4 1.4
512 sdram

[GoingH2o]

Tweak #4 - Setting DMA Mode on IDE Drives

For some reason, Windows XP sometimes sets itself to use a PIO transfer mode on IDE channels instead of the DMA mode. If this is the case, you can manually set the IDE channel to DMA mode, which will reduce the amount of CPU cycles being used on that device. To set this, go to Device Manager (press Windows-Break, or right click 'My Computer' -> Properties, then go to the Hardware tab, then finally click 'Device Manager'), then open up the branch labelled 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'. Now, double click on 'Primary IDE Channel' and go to Advanced Settings.

This does not work for my system
My Primary ide channel is DMA enabled but my secondary does not want to change the setting to DMA.
And PIO mode for a dvd driver and 7200rpm hdd sucks
:(

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by mundo
just got ati retail 8500le score 6120 on 3d mark 2001se. what will flashing the bios due and how do you do it. doing the voltage mod on the card will due what to my 3d mark scores. running
dell 4300
p4 1.4
512 sdram


Hi Mundo!
I'm not sure what BIOS flash you mean so I'll answer both to make sure!

If you BIOS flash your 8500 it basically will set the card to run at a higher than Default speed, 275/275 instead of 250/250 on most OEM cards. It tricks the card into thinking its something thats its not as a lot of cards are perfectly capable of doing Retail speeds.
However this can be accomplished simply by overclocking the card in Windows, this is the less risky option however the card will only be overclocked in Windows, not when your in the BIOS for instance. (Due to the fact that the latter is software overclocking, a BIOS flash is directly overclocking the Hardware)

As for the Voltage Mod it really depends on what speed your running at now, and what speed you can run at after. It also depends on many variables, if your RAM and CPU aren't up to pushing your Video Card then they will hold it back thus limiting the performance gain.
I can't really give you a straight figure because there are so many variables but I can say that increases of 500-1000 marks aren't uncommon.

Good Luck!
M_N


Originally posted by GoingH2o
Tweak #4 - Setting DMA Mode on IDE Drives

For some reason, Windows XP sometimes sets itself to use a PIO transfer mode on IDE channels instead of the DMA mode. If this is the case, you can manually set the IDE channel to DMA mode, which will reduce the amount of CPU cycles being used on that device. To set this, go to Device Manager (press Windows-Break, or right click 'My Computer' -> Properties, then go to the Hardware tab, then finally click 'Device Manager'), then open up the branch labelled 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'. Now, double click on 'Primary IDE Channel' and go to Advanced Settings.

This does not work for my system
My Primary ide channel is DMA enabled but my secondary does not want to change the setting to DMA.
And PIO mode for a dvd driver and 7200rpm hdd sucks


Hi GoingH2o!

I'm not sure what you mean by Windows not allowing you to change it but I'm sure there is a way around it.
First try going into your BIOS and under one of the Menu's will be a HDD section where you can set your PIO Modes, set them to 4 (highest) and select the other options to enable faster transfer rates.

Is Windows simply blacking out the Box to change the PIO to DMA?
Is it happening on all devices?
Or is it just your Secondary channel?

I would also go into the individual properties tabs for your DVD and HDD and try setting the DMA mode from there, this can fix the problem sometimes.

Let me know how it goes!
Good Luck!
M_N

[Xevuhtess7]

Originally posted by Maximus Nickus



Hi Mundo!
I'm not sure what BIOS flash you mean so I'll answer both to make sure!

If you BIOS flash your 8500 it basically will set the card to run at a higher than Default speed, 275/275 instead of 250/250 on most OEM cards. It tricks the card into thinking its something thats its not as a lot of cards are perfectly capable of doing Retail speeds.
However this can be accomplished simply by overclocking the card in Windows, this is the less risky option however the card will only be overclocked in Windows, not when your in the BIOS for instance. (Due to the fact that the latter is software overclocking, a BIOS flash is directly overclocking the Hardware)

As for the Voltage Mod it really depends on what speed your running at now, and what speed you can run at after. It also depends on many variables, if your RAM and CPU aren't up to pushing your Video Card then they will hold it back thus limiting the performance gain.
I can't really give you a straight figure because there are so many variables but I can say that increases of 500-1000 marks aren't uncommon.

Good Luck!
M_N





Hi GoingH2o!

I'm not sure what you mean by Windows not allowing you to change it but I'm sure there is a way around it.
First try going into your BIOS and under one of the Menu's will be a HDD section where you can set your PIO Modes, set them to 4 (highest) and select the other options to enable faster transfer rates.

Is Windows simply blacking out the Box to change the PIO to DMA?
Is it happening on all devices?
Or is it just your Secondary channel?

I would also go into the individual properties tabs for your DVD and HDD and try setting the DMA mode from there, this can fix the problem sometimes.

Let me know how it goes!
Good Luck!
M_N

is there a gain from ocing using a bios flash rather than software ocing?

[Maximus Nickus]

No there isn't. It simply fools the card into thinking it is something else.

If your card overclocks to retail speeds for instance it can be worthwhile BIOS flashing it, simply because you don't have to worry about configuring software.

M_N

[asw7576]

Max... I have problem with my GF4 Ti4200-8x, everytime I play games ( F1 2002, GTR 2002 ) , the frame rates are inconsistent. Sometimes smooth and most of the time not smooth. You may call it stuttering / jittering for the frame rates.

Eventhough I don't overclock my VGA, the problem still there. Right now I am using Nvidia Detonator 42.01, Direct X8.1, with 1024 x 768 @ 100 Hz.

I don't notice frame rates problem when benchmarking with 3DMark 2000 SE.

Can you help Max?

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by asw7576
Max... I have problem with my GF4 Ti4200-8x, everytime I play games ( F1 2002, GTR 2002 ) , the frame rates are inconsistent. Sometimes smooth and most of the time not smooth. You may call it stuttering / jittering for the frame rates.

Eventhough I don't overclock my VGA, the problem still there. Right now I am using Nvidia Detonator 42.01, Direct X8.1, with 1024 x 768 @ 100 Hz.

I don't notice frame rates problem when benchmarking with 3DMark 2000 SE.

Can you help Max?

Hi asw7576!
Of course I can help you, however because its not a problem with one answer, I would appreciate it if you could give me some more information on your system specification.

CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Windows version would be most appreciated.
I would also recommend you download 3DMark 2001SE, 3DMark 2000 is out of date now and 3DMark 2001SE will certainly tax your system a lot more, and allow me to diagnose the problem quicker. However if you cannot download it for any reason thats ok, it may take longer to find out the problem thats all.

Let me know and I'll reply ASAP, if you wish to contact me via PM as well feel free to do so :)

Good Luck,
M_N

[asw7576]

Thanks for quick response Max buddy...

Here is my office computer's details:

Intel Celeron 1A @ 1450 (temp. 40C Max. loads)
ECS P6IPAT with Intel 815 chipset
Mushkin 512MB PC133 CL2
Generic 400 Watts PSU
Windows ME + MS Office + Norton Anti Virus
Intel LAN PCI card + TV PCI Card
Maxtor 40GB ATA 100 7200 RPM x2
PixelView GF4 Ti4200 128MB 8x @ 300/560
Nvidia Detonator 42.01 + Direct X 8.1
SONY 17" monitor CPD240 @ 1024 x 768 @ 100MHz
3 times Formatting + Clean Installed

No Stability problems (at all) during benchmarking: SiSoft Sandra 2002, 3DMark 2002SE, Vulpine GL Mark, etc.

No Heat problems since they are open casing.

The jittering / skipping problems occured after I replaced my previous card GF3 Ti200 with GF4 Ti4200.

I have two exactly the same PixelView GF4 Ti4200 128MB 8x, and I did switch over both cards between my system at home and in the office. The VGA is working fine with my comp. at home while working badly in office.

I'm almost give up.....

Sometimes the frame rates is okay and most of the time is not okay. Geezz...... anyway...... BIG thanks Max !!!

[Maximus Nickus]

Sorry you've got me a tad confused. :D

You have two identical cards and two PC's, do both cards have the problem? If not does it happen on both PC's?

Let me know and I'll see if we can solve this problem. :)

M_N

[asw7576]

Max:

Confused? I have 2 computer system: Asus P4PE + P4 at home, and ECS P6IPAT + Celeron at office. Both computers use identical VGA cards: GF4 Ti4200 8x.

What I meant: I switched over the card to see whether one of the card is bad. And both cards are actually okay, except if I use the VGA with my comp. in the office.

I don't have refresh rates / skipping problems with GF3 Ti200 before.

One thing that could interest you: If I play the game long enough, let say 20 minutes, the refresh rates / skipping problems gradually disappear. What is this maannn???

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by asw7576
Max:

Confused? I have 2 computer system: Asus P4PE + P4 at home, and ECS P6IPAT + Celeron at office. Both computers use identical VGA cards: GF4 Ti4200 8x.

What I meant: I switched over the card to see whether one of the card is bad. And both cards are actually okay, except if I use the VGA with my comp. in the office.

I don't have refresh rates / skipping problems with GF3 Ti200 before.

One thing that could interest you: If I play the game long enough, let say 20 minutes, the refresh rates / skipping problems gradually disappear. What is this maannn???

I may have an answer. go into your Display Properties tab and click on settings; advanced, and look for an item called 'Vertical Sync'.
Make sure it is enabled!
You see what it does it sync your FPS with your Monitors refresh rate, if it is off then jittering can occur at high frame rates.
If this doesn't work try setting a different refresh rate as well.

You may also wish to try the following:

Uninstall all the Graphics Drivers and load Windows PCI/VGA Adapter Default (this allows you to toally remove the old driver traces > you may also wish to use Detonator Destroyer (http://www.guru3d.com/detonator-destroyer/)), I would then recommend trying a different set of drivers to the ones you are already using and update all the other system drivers to the latest versions.

Let me know how it goes,
Good Luck
M_N

[asw7576]

Do you have a gun ? I'm going to blow up the card.....

[Maximus Nickus]

:eek:

Guess its not going to well eh?
Like I said let me know how it goes, if it works in one system there must be reason its not working in the other, I'm starting to think that you may wish to RMA the card, it could well be faulty.

Good Luck,
M_N

[Mr.Guvernment]

sweet guide

may want to add black vipers Xp tweaks to the list of sites :D

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by Mr.Guvernment
sweet guide

may want to add black vipers Xp tweaks to the list of sites :D

Do you have a link?

Thanks,
M_N

[goden99]

Maximus Nickus> just want to congradulate you on an amazing guide. Installed a new system and wanted to get some tweaks and I saw your thread. Very time saving :)

[Maximus Nickus]

Thanks :)

[Malakai]

Originally posted by Gordon Airport
Is there a realistic way to rank these setting in terms of performance gain from turning it off?
I know it would be difficult considdering how many card property variables ther are...It might also vary depending on the program you want the gain in.

Hrm, I never got an email update for this thread.

AA makes the most difference by far, followed by ansiotopic filtering (in my experience with a gf3). AA should always make the biggest difference in performance, so turning it off is the best way to boost framerates. I also find that sometimes geometry and real time shadows stress my card very heavily.

[Grande Juan]

That's wierd, I'm not even subscribed to this thread, I must have got your notification Malakai.

[Malakai]

Originally posted by Grande Juan
That's wierd, I'm not even subscribed to this thread, I must have got your notification Malakai.

It seems we figured out the problem =)

[Xevuhtess7]

maximius nickus, i have been using your guide for doing clean formats, and even the defragging goes really fast, only takes like 3 seconds because all the files are pretty much in order off a fresh install anyways. one quetsion: for service packs (winxp sp1 for my instance) should i install that before all the chipset/video drivers or after, for getting max performance? any ideas?

[Maximus Nickus]

I have personally found there not to be any difference in Performance loss after installing Service Packs, either before or after the other Drivers. Which is rather fortunate due to the frequency of new releases!

Of course if you are after an absolute maximum score you will probably not install any updates, as you are trying to keep your system as empty as possible.

M_N

[boostland]

Quote:
I also recommend running the NTFS file system for Windows XP, to change the file system of your drives requires a re-format; this can be done in Windows with exception to your main-drive. To format your main-drive to the NTFS file system simply boot off of the Windows XP CD-ROM and choose NTFS Format.

This can be done on any hard drive using the convert program.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS
This would convert the C: drive from fat to Ntfs, It will require a reboot to compleat.

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by boostland
Quote:
I also recommend running the NTFS file system for Windows XP, to change the file system of your drives requires a re-format; this can be done in Windows with exception to your main-drive. To format your main-drive to the NTFS file system simply boot off of the Windows XP CD-ROM and choose NTFS Format.

This can be done on any hard drive using the convert program.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS
This would convert the C: drive from fat to Ntfs, It will require a reboot to compleat.

Thats a great tip, one that was unknown!
Thankyou,

M_N

[arabarabian]

That was really helpful. I had my computer run at stock with Folding going all the time for about 2 months before I overclocked. I was able to get 165FSB with just a KG7! I also overclocked my video card by about 15 percent.


Thank You,
Daniel

[Maximus Nickus]

My pleasure Daniel, if you ever need any help in the future don't hesistate to ask me. :)

M_N

[Kango]

thanks

[Maximus Nickus]

My Pleasure Kango :)

[Bottomend]

Hey.....Just wondering if any 1 knows of any 256meg video cards with tv out...........I need a new card.....Bad!

[Maximus Nickus]

The only 265MB card I know for certain featuring TV-Out is the "Gainward FX PowerPack! Ultra/1600 XP 'Golden Sample' ".
Most if not all modern Video Cards have TV-Out, so I should think that most if not all of the 256MB cards will have TV-Out anyway.

[Bottomend]

thanks....do you have a link for the gainward site???I would like to buy the most recent and best card on the market....on kinda tight buget but willing to spend ....uhhhh 500-600 bucks, any thoughts ??would like to compliment my system as much as possible.........Thanx again Maximus Nickus!!

[Maximus Nickus]

The links here (http://www.gainward.com/).
For $500-$600 you should easily be able to get the top performing graphics card available.

[CrawlerZX]

tnx alot but the 900 pro volt mod link doesn't work but overall this is great

[Maximus Nickus]

Link Updated - Thanks for the headsup!

[El<(')>Maxi]

Originally posted by Maximus Nickus
The Via 4 in 1 drivers don't show up in the device manager
M_N

Actually they do, you will find them here in Device Manager

1) IDE ATA/ATPI Controllers

IDE pic (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=22211)

2) CPU to AGP Controller

System devices pic (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=22218)

3) CPU to PCI Bridge

See second image

4) PCI to ISA Bridge

See second image

After running the VIA install, check your device manager to see if all four drivers were installed correctly. Often one or two of the drivers will not be installed correctly, and you will have to do a manual/forced driver install.

http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Thnx to Ghost for the images, you can see his full guide


Here (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2383)

And if anyone has a link for a 9500nonpro volt mod.....lay it on me.

[Cyberwiz01]

thanks for the links, i was wondering what i could use to OC a video card, now thanks to your links, i can experiment on my brothers TI4200!

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by El&lt;(')&gt;Maxi


Actually they do, you will find them here in Device Manager

1) IDE ATA/ATPI Controllers

IDE pic (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=22211)

2) CPU to AGP Controller

System devices pic (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=22218)

3) CPU to PCI Bridge

See second image

4) PCI to ISA Bridge

See second image

After running the VIA install, check your device manager to see if all four drivers were installed correctly. Often one or two of the drivers will not be installed correctly, and you will have to do a manual/forced driver install.

http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Thnx to Ghost for the images, you can see his full guide


Here (http://www.leetllamas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2383)

And if anyone has a link for a 9500nonpro volt mod.....lay it on me.

You are indeed correct, Thankyou for the corrections!
I cannot find a Standard 9500 Volt Mod as of yet, but if anyone knows of one or I see one I will let you know.

Take Care,
M_N

[MooMasster716]

:D

[Papsomax]

Thanks for the post!

[Panzerknacker]

The fast writes on tweak for the geforce 3 is interesting. I tried it with my Geforce 3 Ti 500, but 3Dmark 2001 and 2003 still say: Fast Writes: supported (disabled). I have fast writes turned on in the bios. Someone know how to turn Fast writes on with my card? Or maybe it´s on but isnt 3Dmark able to detect it correctly?

[Fire58Mech]

Great info for us new to this . Thanks

[NiTCOM]

nice one! thank ya!!

:cool:

[Maximus Nickus]

Originally posted by Panzerknacker
The fast writes on tweak for the geforce 3 is interesting. I tried it with my Geforce 3 Ti 500, but 3Dmark 2001 and 2003 still say: Fast Writes: supported (disabled). I have fast writes turned on in the bios. Someone know how to turn Fast writes on with my card? Or maybe it´s on but isnt 3Dmark able to detect it correctly?

Did your score increase slightly when you did enable Fast-Writes in the bios? I've found quite often that 3DMark does not detect that you have Fast-Writes enabled.
However some cards require you to force Fast-Writes to be enabled threw a software tweaker.

M_N

[Maximus Nickus]

Thanks for the comments guys! :)

M_N

[PornStar]

alot of the links in this sticky are dead :D

[Maximus Nickus]

*Updated*

All links should now work! Thanks for the headsup Pornstar.

[CAPiTA]

I think I'm going to try that 8500 v-mod. I've been wanting to push this card a bit futher. I need to do it quick too. Only one more week until my 9800 gets back :D

[Hellion]

Absolutly Awsome...*adds to favorite folder....It helped a LOT. thanx

[Maximus Nickus]

Glad I could help mate. :)

[Natti]

excellent, tons of info...helped a ton! =)

[Hellion]

i do have a Q tho, how and were do you learn all this? experience and self teaching like me, or schooling?

[Maximus Nickus]

i do have a Q tho, how and were do you learn all this? experience and self teaching like me, or schooling?

Hi Hellion,

I taught myself all the knowledge that I know, albeit from the odd slice of information I learnt from IT classes at school - that was mostly document based information though.

M_N

[Hellion]

me too, its kinda wierd actually, i never finished high school.....yet....going back dont trip...currently. but im able to teach people in college classes its hilarious.

[Maximus Nickus]

lol You must have a laugh teaching them?

[Hellion]

well...yeah, especially because im only 18, turning 19. still a youngin but teach the old dogs new tricks :beer:

[Maximus Nickus]

Lol, good to see mate!

I think a :beer: is in order :D

[Hellion]

ahem...18...need to be 21.....but its cool, not like i havent been to the porcelain bowl a few times anways... ;) man im such an alchy sometimes lol.

[gram_vaz]

where's the page for the utility to turn off maxtor acoustic and power management? the links don't work.

[drunkn.bear]

thanks for helping out everyone w/ how to get some more juice out of their systems

[mdcomp]

Updated by @md0cer
10/19/05

Enjoy everyone! Links are fixed. Thanks so much @md0cer.

Matt

[@md0Cer]

Hey everyone, I updated some of the links to newer stuff, added some newer links, and fixed the broken old ones.

If anyone sees anything that would fit well in this sticky, please post it so it can be added! Thanks. :)

[e6600]

On a lot of systems nowadays people are using upwards of 512MB or RAM, if you are there’s a desirable option that can now be turned off to access more overall system performance.
This is Virtual memory, you see when Windows runs out of RAM it is forced to use Virtual memory which utilises your Hardrive’s temporary file as RAM, this is much slower than RAM and is not desirable. If you have 512MB of RAM or over then Virtual Memory can be disabled and system speed increases will result.
Really?? I thought disabling the paging file was a bad thing.