I have been doing some snooping about regarding this DMA thing. I
downloaded the docs from Intel for the HX chipset and compared it
against the FX chipset. It seems that Intel removed the chipset
register for setting PCI control in the HX/VX chipset. The ones that I
think may apply are:
;**********************************************************
INDEX=50h ;PCI Control ;;Triton
;**********************************************************
BIT=765 ; CPU Inactivity Timer
xxx= ^dez (x+1) PCI-Clocks
BIT=3 ;0/1 Peer Concurrency
BIT=2 ;1/0 CPU-to-PCI Write Burst
BIT=1 ;1/0 PCI Streaming
BIT=0 ;1/0 Bus Concurrency Disable
The above is for the FX chipset. The only setting available to HX/VX
chipset is the Peer Concurrency. Both chipsets still have the Master
Latency setting. However, I've played with this via a program CTCHIPZ
released by the German magazine c't. On my motherboard altering the
value of the Master Latency Timing resulted in no difference in DMADIAG
results and no real frame rate changes either.
I am no expert, but I am beginning to see why the HX/VX boards may not
have a latency setting in their motherboards. Intel may have hardwired
these missing settings in the HX/VX chipsets. If anyone else
understands this stuff fill us in.
BTW: Intergraph Tech told me that anything in the 40 range should be
sufficient. Those with lower scores should be concerned.
Tom, what chipset is on your motherboard?
: Probably not. Many motherboards do not provide this setting. In fact, I
: think this is true with newer boards in particular - perhaps this setting
: has caused support problems. If you are getting good game performance -
: don't worry about it. I get dma scores around 75 - 78 mb and can get 30
: fps with 12-15 cars ahead and most graphics enabled and a P200 processor.
: I cannot get 30 fps with all cars and all graphics. Although you might see
: some improvement with better dma scores - the difference may not be that
: significant.
: /THansen
: > I'm running a P133 with 16MB EDO ram on an Acer AP5VM board which has
: > the 430VX chipset and an Intergraph Reactor. My test results were only
: > 38.6 Mb/sec . I saw where some of you were getting 100 + numbers. I
: > looked into my bios but I dont see anything called PCI latency in the
: > advanced, chipset or PCI setups. Is this called something else in the
: > AMI BIOs? My game performance is not bad. Im getting a solid 30FPS in
: > ICR2 rendition Version and I estimate about 26-28 FPS in Nascar2. So Why
: > are my test results so low? This a new board which I expected to perform
: > better. Are there other BIOS settings I can change. Please Help.
: >
: > AMedina
: >
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
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