Need Help!

[EL_BaRTO]

Hello! I am new to this site and I am brand new at this "high-end computer hardware" stuff. I just built a computer, and I have a problem that I'm hoping you would give advice on. The problem: My video card is being read wrong as 4X instead of 8X. In addition my 3D games have been freezing up lately; especially on Doom 3 and Hitman 2. I've tried low end games (not too "3D-ish" like Red Alert 2 and Revenant. They seem to be working just fine. I thought I could solve the problem through the BIOS, but BIOS can't change that. As stated before, I THINK, and that's a big "I THINK," that the problem is my mobo is reading the card wrong as 4X :confused: .

I have a 6800GT 256MB AGP (Yup, not PCI-E). The motherboard I installed this card on is a Gigabyte 7NXXP mobo. With that said, how could I make my motherboard read my card as 8X instead of 4X. AND if that doesn't solve the problem of my high end 3D games from freezing, then what other advice can you give to solve this? I really need some help on this. I know I am a noob on this, and that's why I am turning for help towards some experienced people :cool: . Thanks alot :) .

EL_BaRTO

[Quantax]

You could lower the hardware acceleration rate by at least two notches to see if this will correct it. If the freezing stops, I'd suspect a driver compatibility issue with(I'm assuming)Win XP.

[saphalline]

Ok, this sounds like a major system problem here. First of all, can you alter the AGP rate in the BIOS? Next up is the issue of drivers. Are they all updated? The two main drivers are easy because they both come from NVidia. You'll need the chipset drivers for your NForce2 Ultra 400 and you'll need the graphics drivers for your GeForce 6800 GT. Getting drivers straight from the manufacturer is always the best.

We'll also need to know about your Windows situation (XP Home? Pro? service packs? updates?), other hardware (RAM, CPU, type, speed, manufacturers & model numbers), DirectX version (do you have the latest 9.0c?), your other software, and any important BIOS settings you have.

[EL_BaRTO]

Thank you both for your help. Um, I already resolved the problem. The AGP slot was sharing an IRQ with one of my PCI components. It stated in Windows XP that there is no problems with the sharing of IRQ's between the two. BUT when I seperated my AGP and PCI to have their own IRQ's, MAGICALLY, my AGP switched to 8X (HOOORAY!!!! :) ). There is one thing you are right on though Saph, I had to update my NVIDIA drivers because there was still some instability, like my Doom3 game would slow down a lot at Ultra High settings. Thanks though for your help. I have another question reffering to memory though, but I am going to make a new topic thread for this. Thanks though for your help. For reference my computer stats are included in my sig. Thanks again.

[saphalline]

Oh... well... cool! Glad you fixed the problem! :D

It stated in Windows XP that there is no problems with the sharing of IRQ's between the two.They lie!!! Hissss! WinXP itself may not have a problem sharing IRQ's (which it sometimes does in my experience) but it also has to play nice with the BIOS. Certain BIOS/mobo's don't like certain devices in certain PCI slots. It's a fun game for the end-user to play! :p

Honestly, Southbridge I/O functions are so darned good these days that we could get rid of IRQ's right now if we wanted. But we have to maintain backwards compatibility! :rolleyes: Yeah right! Who's gonna use an ISA expansion card in a dual-core SLI machine!? I say chuck it!