Graphics Adapter question: Side Band

[Prof.Wizard]

I was browsing the information (on screen) of my G3 and I show that although the AGP BUS was working @ 4x, the side band was off...

What is the side band doing exactly? Should I activate it and if yes how?
(I've seen many saying that it doesn't worth much of hassle...)

 

[Prof.Wizard]

show=saw

 

[Mercutio]

IIRC side-band is a method for AGP cards to access main memory for additional texture storage etc.

Again, IIRC, this was mostly a "feature on the box". 3dfx cards never had it, nvidia's did, ATI's did. I seem to recall the 3dfx response about why it wasn't implemented (back in the TNT2/V3000 era) as "It's a performance hit compared to using onboard memory, and nothing needs to use it anyway".

I don't know if that's still the case. So it would seem if your icky geforce doesn't even have it enabled. Also I'm the last person to ask about the minute details of doing anything with your card.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

So, after 2 days... nobody knows how to activate the AGP Side Band of my G3 on a VIA KT266A chipset? :-?

 

[Cliptin]

So, after 2 days... nobody knows how to activate the AGP Side Band of my G3 on a VIA KT266A chipset? :-?

There should have been a software tool included with your card besides the drivers. If there was not one, search google for nvidia tweaker. I have been using nvmax but they have recently discontinued new development.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Thanks Cliptin. I did a search. I don't want to sound too "newbie", but it didn't give me any clear results. I also entered the words "asus", "geforce", "ti 200", etc...

I found this Slovak site... and it has a page: http://www.cody.sk/gf/tweak_utility.htm with some utilities for tweaking (slovak instructions, of course )...

Could you (someone) be more specific? Or send me a better link?

 

[Cliptin]

Could you (someone) be more specific? Or send me a better link?

Take your pick.
http://www.voodoofiles.com/type.asp?cat_id=33

I would probably try rivatuner if I had to switch. Keep in mind that I have not tried it yet.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Thanks Cliptin. I think RivaTuner is indeed the right one. And seems pretty successful... has many downloads in respect to other tweaking tools. And a nice UI.

I hope I find the setting for Side Band somewhere in the tabs and change it without compromising my system's stability in the process... :-?

 

[Prof.Wizard]

RivaTuner runs great. Had 50 registry settings to play with. Unfortunately, none regarding the Side Band... maybe this setting is not available with Detonator XP or on VIA chipsets... need to do a better search or try an alternative progie.

Strange cause RivaTuner is supposed to be the most powerful... however, great tool indeed!

 

[timwhit]

I'm pretty sure that it is not a software option but rather something that has to be changed in the bios. Have you checked in the bios yet?

 

[Mercutio]

... Or just accept that sideband exists primarily as a marketing buzzword and not real performance-enhancing feature of a 3D video card, and be happy that you don't need it.

I know which I'd do.

 

[Prof.Wizard]

... Or just accept that sideband exists primarily as a marketing buzzword and not real performance-enhancing feature of a 3D video card, and be happy that you don't need it.

Whatever. If anyone else has a G3 on a KT266A please tell me what's the situation on your system.

A BIOS setting? Already searched there. In the beginning I thought it was the same with the AGP Fast Writes setting. Enabled it but nothing changed in the report screen... hmm, perhaps because I enabled it after installing the drivers... sometimes infos are not updated, I remember this happenning in the Windows System Information screen after flashing a new BIOS... the BIOS version had remained that of the moment I installed the Windows...