OK, the games up - X800XL and hitching

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peasant
  • Start date Start date
P

Peasant

I've been living with this hitching issue ever since I went to an X800XL
AGP , AMD634 and Asrock Dual939 mb. When I had a 9800pro, P4 and Abit
IC7 mb I never got any hitching at all. The frame rate may be better on
an X800XL but the hitching is really bugging me. I've seen it mentioned
before in regards to the X800XL in this news group so I know it's not
just me. I realize it's an older card now but the X800XL should have
been a better card than the 9800pro and IMO it's no, purely because of
this hitching issue. Hitching is when the 3D graphics have a micro pause
every so often. Looking for others that have had the same issue and how
you resolved it. Probably bought a new video card is my guess. Maybe I
should take it up with ATI?
 
I've been living with this hitching issue ever since I went to an X800XL
AGP , AMD634 and Asrock Dual939 mb. When I had a 9800pro, P4 and Abit IC7
mb I never got any hitching at all. The frame rate may be better on an
X800XL but the hitching is really bugging me. I've seen it mentioned
before in regards to the X800XL in this news group so I know it's not just
me. I realize it's an older card now but the X800XL should have been a
better card than the 9800pro and IMO it's no, purely because of this
hitching issue. Hitching is when the 3D graphics have a micro pause every
so often. Looking for others that have had the same issue and how you
resolved it. Probably bought a new video card is my guess. Maybe I should
take it up with ATI?
Click to expand...

What game is doing this? What card did you have that ran that game OK? I
have seen stuttering in WoW. When I went to 1 GB of RAM, the problem was
fixed. I bet same thing is happening with you.
 
I have that issue only with an older game like MOH Spearhead..Pacific
Assault,COD2 and Farcry are fine.Have considered taking this back and
getting the X800XL AIW that has the 800XT core.
 
Don't have any problem like that with my x800xl
replaced a 9800Pro and have never been sorry that I did.
I run rFactor, HL2, Doom3, IL2-PF, etc. - no issues.

I use the Omega drivers - should also note that I have 1.5 gb dual channel
PC3200

==--==
 
Maybe it is the same problem all ATI AGP cards have ...
you need to set AGP to 4x, and Fast Writes to OFF.
Do it under SmartGart ... and be sure to do it 2x because
sometimes Fast Writes resets on ON.

johns
 
You switched from an Intel-chipset motherboard to an ULi-chipset one; that's
the biggest difference. A few things to do:
1. Install the latest motherboard chipset drivers, if you haven't done so.
2. Try turning down hardware acceleration for *audio* a couple of notches in
Windows.

Does the hitching show up in benchmarks? There have been cases where the
reported framerate number was in line with expectations, but the hitching
made the game completely unplayable.
 
FWIW - I run my x800xl with fast writes on and AGPx8

** Could NOT do that with the 9800Pro - it had to be off and 4x - as you
said.

==--==
 
Kent_Diego said:
What game is doing this? What card did you have that ran that game OK? I
have seen stuttering in WoW. When I went to 1 GB of RAM, the problem was
fixed. I bet same thing is happening with you.
Click to expand...

A good example would be Novalogic's Joint Ops. I used to play that game
on the 9800pro and never got any hitching. I get the occasional hitching
on the X800XL. I've seen it in Quake4 and you may be right that I need
another gig of ram but that doesn't explain the Joint Ops difference.
 
==--== said:
Don't have any problem like that with my x800xl
replaced a 9800Pro and have never been sorry that I did.
I run rFactor, HL2, Doom3, IL2-PF, etc. - no issues.

I use the Omega drivers - should also note that I have 1.5 gb dual channel
PC3200
Click to expand...

I use the Omega drivers too, your extra .5gb of ram might be the
difference. Or it might be something to do with the AGP implementation
on the Asrock mb. I should up the ram first but I'm leery of getting
another 2 sticks of 512mb ram as it might drop me out of dual channel mode.
 
johns said:
Maybe it is the same problem all ATI AGP cards have ...
you need to set AGP to 4x, and Fast Writes to OFF.
Do it under SmartGart ... and be sure to do it 2x because
sometimes Fast Writes resets on ON.

johns
Click to expand...
I have fastwrites off but I never tried setting AGP to 4X. I'll give it
a go though. It's not all ATI cards either. I ran the 9800pro with fast
writes on and AGP8X and it was flawless. Problem is I sold the 9800pro,
otherwise, I could stick it in and see if it is indeed the video card
causing it or not.
 
==--== said:
FWIW - I run my x800xl with fast writes on and AGPx8

** Could NOT do that with the 9800Pro - it had to be off and 4x - as you
said.
Click to expand...

This must be an issue with certain mb's because on an Abit IC7 mb I
could run the 9800pro with fast writes and 8X with no issues.
 
First said:
You switched from an Intel-chipset motherboard to an ULi-chipset one; that's
the biggest difference.
Click to expand...

Yea, I really liked my premium quality Abit IC7 mb. Asrock is good but
it is a budget board after all.

A few things to do:
1. Install the latest motherboard chipset drivers, if you haven't done so.
Click to expand...

That's done already, I did a clean install of XP when I switched cards
and the first thing I always do is install the chipset drivers. Only
thing is that I'm using the Asrock provided AGP driver and I've seen
others recommend using the Uli unified drivers. I don't think that's it
though as I see in device manager it is indeed the Uli AGP v3.0
Controller which is the same as the Uli unified drivers provide.
2. Try turning down hardware acceleration for *audio* a couple of notches in
Windows.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll give that a shot and also using AGP4X. Of course I'll test each
independently.
Does the hitching show up in benchmarks? There have been cases where the
reported framerate number was in line with expectations, but the hitching
made the game completely unplayable.
Click to expand...

That's something I should do. I don't have one installed right now but I
have the Aquanox benchmark prog around here somewhere.
 
A good example would be Novalogic's Joint Ops. I used to play that game on
the 9800pro and never got any hitching. I get the occasional hitching on
the X800XL. I've seen it in Quake4 and you may be right that I need
another gig of ram but that doesn't explain the Joint Ops difference.
Click to expand...

Maybe increacing the AGP Aperture Size in BIOS will help? Any backround
programs running or in systray? Experiment with killing off a few with
msconfig or Task Manager. I went between 9800 amd X800 Pro a few times and
never had problem. The real place to get ATI info is the forums at
Rage3d.com
 
Kent_Diego said:
Maybe increacing the AGP Aperture Size in BIOS will help? Any backround
programs running or in systray? Experiment with killing off a few with
msconfig or Task Manager. I went between 9800 amd X800 Pro a few times and
never had problem. The real place to get ATI info is the forums at
Rage3d.com
Click to expand...

I run with no background apps when I play games so that's not it and
I've already messed around with AGP aperture settings, no dif.
 
Peasant said:
That's done already, I did a clean install of XP when I switched cards and
the first thing I always do is install the chipset drivers. Only thing is
that I'm using the Asrock provided AGP driver and I've seen others
recommend using the Uli unified drivers. I don't think that's it though as
I see in device manager it is indeed the Uli AGP v3.0 Controller which is
the same as the Uli unified drivers provide.
Click to expand...

The AGP controller will always show up with that name regardless of which
driver you use. Try the ULi driver for the chance it fixes this bug.
OK, I'll give that a shot and also using AGP4X. Of course I'll test each
independently.
Click to expand...

Other things to try are toggling Fast Writes in both BIOS and SmartGART, and
toggling write-combining.

If you have a USB mouse, plug it to the PS/2 port with an adapter, or use a
PS/2 mouse, for testing. It could be something as stupid as an IRQ conflict
between the USB controller and the video card, though this happens more
often with PCI USB cards than with ones integrated into the southbridge.
 
First said:
The AGP controller will always show up with that name regardless of which
driver you use. Try the ULi driver for the chance it fixes this bug.
Click to expand...
Other things to try are toggling Fast Writes in both BIOS and SmartGART, and
toggling write-combining.

If you have a USB mouse, plug it to the PS/2 port with an adapter, or use a
PS/2 mouse, for testing. It could be something as stupid as an IRQ conflict
between the USB controller and the video card, though this happens more
often with PCI USB cards than with ones integrated into the southbridge.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try all of your suggestions.
 
First said:
The AGP controller will always show up with that name regardless of which
driver you use. Try the ULi driver for the chance it fixes this bug.
Click to expand...

I extracted the files from the Uli 2.13 unified drivers with WinRar and
the .sys file Uli provides is exactly the same one as Asrock provides.
It's even the same version number. This driver hasn't been updated since
2005 sometime.
 
I have found out that USB and my soundcard are sharing an IRQ but that
is not supposed to cause issues on XP because XP uses memory address
space for devices and not IRQ's. IRQ's are shown for legacy reasons.
I'll disable my USB and use PS2 mouse and keyboard to see if it makes
any difference. I can't permanently disable the USB though and I only
have one open PCI slot I could move the soundcard to, and I don't want
to use that slot as it is right next to the video card which has a
massive HSF on it. My mb has only three PCI slots.
 
Check this problem on the Far Cry Discussion board. Guy had it
there, and found that it was caused by multiple installs of keybd
and mouse drivers. He deleted them, and the hitching stopped.

johns
 
johns said:
Check this problem on the Far Cry Discussion board. Guy had it
there, and found that it was caused by multiple installs of keybd
and mouse drivers. He deleted them, and the hitching stopped.

johns
Click to expand...
I do see in device manager that I have multiple entries for both mouse
and keyboard. My keyboard is the Saitek Eclipse and it is detected in
some games as a gaming device and is always listed four times. I'll try
your suggestion, thx.
 
Back
Top