DFI fix for 3dmark and 3d Game kick

[sjohnson]

Playing around with 8rdavcore, I noticed something I missed on this board, AGP latency. On my VIA boards, AGP latency is set to 248, this Infinity has it set to 32 according to 8rdavcore.

I haven't thoroughly tested it yet, but bumping the latency to 96 appears to have made my 3dmark runs much more reliable, even at high FSB.

If this is true, perhaps nVidia cards like owning the bus for longer periods of time than do the ATI cards.

You bet I'll be playing with this over the next few days

[Fever]

How big of s difference has it made? any screens? Very interesting.

[Below Ambient]

i can almost predict another WPCREDIT trick? anyone?

[RacerX]

LOL. I've been pulling out my hair trying to find out why nvidia owners can run 3dmark at higher FSB speeds then Radeon users. I downloaded the new 8rdavcore yesterday and noticed the exact same thing concerning the AGP latency. I increased mine to 64 and gave me a tremendous difference in running 3dmark at 244fsb. I haven't had a single kickback since yesterday. I wasn't going to say anything cause I haven't really got around to making my system stable at 244.

I thought about emailing OSkAR_WU over at the Amdmb forums to see if he could some how throw in the option of increasing the latencies in a beta bios to try. I will do just that and give full credit to sjohnson.

Great find.

[RacerX]

Well its definitely helping me. After benching and gaming stable all day yesterday at 244fsb agp set to 64, I increased it to 96 and ran my first complete 3dmark bench at 252fsb.


http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7465141

Just ignore 9600XT, should be getting my replacement 9800 pro in this week. But I will say thats not a bad score for a no OC card.

[sjohnson]

Setting the latency to 248 not only gives me greater 3dmark stability but adds 40-50 points to my runs as well

My current high, Siluro Ti4200/64M: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7464449

The nice things about that score is that I did it in one straight-through run instead of coaxing it out, it's my current highest, and *it's repeatable*, no kicking to the desktop anymore

RacerX - no credit needed, just get the word out so more folks can try this, we need more testing...

[althes]

Very nice catch.

[RacerX]

guys do the vcore mod as well even if you don't plan to run over 2.0v. I did one thinking for some reason this board is undervolting big time so in the bios when I select 1.9v=1.96v with mod.

Just something to confuse us more. I cannot get a true voltage reading of the vcore on this board cause I covered the mosfet with heatsinks. MBM still shows me a huge fluctuation pre-mod but system overall is way more stable. I do not need to raise the agp latency when running 245-250fsb in 3dmark.

[ricjax99]

More voltage helped me

Check the sig 242 FSB 1:1 publishable with a 9800 PRO . Not a bad jump from 224 before. "TOP "

[SWGalvatron]

After reading this, i downloaded 8rdaVCore, and im going to play with it today. Set AGP Controller Latency to 96, see if it wil help me at all.

I am running a Soltek 75FRN2RL, and currently hold the second highest score for a Palomino Athlon XP :P (Getting a 2500+ in a couple days) Hopefully this will help me take the highest score.

I'll post back with my findings

[lght1]

Hi

By setting the latency to 96, I am able to reach 19,798 3dmarks.

Still not breaking 20k, but more than 200 pts then pre 8rdavcore, and more than 400 pts since my NF7-S rev 2.0 days.

[ricjax99]

Eh? your at 245 x 10 with a 9800 PRO and you can't break 20K?

I got 19,870 with these settings:

Abit NF7-S V2.0 @224 MHz FSB x 10 || 2x256MB Muskin DDR3500 Level II 1:1 Dual 6/2/2/CAS2.0 || AXP2500+ "Barton" AQZFA - 2246 MHz @1.75v || Sapphire 9800 PRO @420.4/378.0

Whats your raddy at? You benchin on win95?

[MrIcee]

Great find guys

I'll give this a shot on the Infinity when I switch out the A64 test bed in the Overclocking Competition.

Randi

[buff]

I got 19500 with a 9500np at 470/335
and 11x219 with a TbredB
lght1 should be getting higher.

[sjohnson]

[Edit]I haven't yet found the register or registers set by 8rdavcore.

When I set 32, 96, 248, or any value using 8rdavcore, WPCREDIT shows offset OD as being set at F8. So I haven't found the register or registers being set by 8rdavcore.[/Edit]

[wrong]Here's a WPCREDIT for those who'd rather use it and WPCRSET.

The register in question is at offset 0D in device 0253, VGA Compatible. Not sure if the device number (0253) is the same across all Infinity boards or not. But, the VGA Compatible device is the same for any board I've ever come across, as is the offset 0D.

This SS shows my board with the AGP latency register set to 248. You'll need to think in hex to use it, but those used to H. Oda's tools already know that.[/wrong]

Cheers!

[xigfrid]

Nice job again sjohnson !

Why all theses tricks come after the enthousisame for NF7-S ?

Bad Dog 'ABIT' ! Bad Dog ! No More money ! No More Credits ! => Going to DFI soon

[XtremepH]

just ordered myself a DFI Ultra Infinity can't wait to get it seems like a very fun board to have. Nice job again sjohnson

[JAWS]

great find sjohnson If I can get my Infinity to boot (outrageous memory setting ) I give it a try.

[sjohnson]

Sigh - you can't always mix kids with your hobby. I should have double-checked my WPCREDIT finding. Sorry folks, that SS above does not show the right register - either that or 8rdavcore is setting something else.

With 8rdavcore showing 32, 96, 248, *anything*, WPCREDIT shows offset OD as being set at F8. So I haven't found the register or registers being set by 8rdavcore.

[Snoodge]

very very interesting... on my system, stock delay of 32 @ 250 x 9.5 = no go...

change to delay of 96, no go, crash first test...

change to 248, completes all tests like it was a walk in the park... I dont know what to say... this owns

[unrealneo]

Originally posted by Snoodge
very very interesting... on my system, stock delay of 32 @ 250 x 9.5 = no go...

change to delay of 96, no go, crash first test...

change to 248, completes all tests like it was a walk in the park... I dont know what to say... this owns

wow, gotta try this!!!!!!

[unrealneo]

What about Side Band Adressing?

should we try disable that? would it make it slooooow?

[sjohnson]

Heh - I tried disabling SBA as a test. My system crashed within seconds.

Generally, disabled SBA means less 3dmark anyway so no tears here.

[sjohnson]

Here's a bit more on what changing AGP latency is doing on my rig.

Using 8rdavcore to set the latency seems to have set a value or values in the CMOS register(s) that have increased 3d stability, even at a latency of 32, like after a reboot. Else, my system is "bedding in" and is simply more stable than before.

Setting a high latency hasn't eliminated kicks to the desktop. I *am* at my current CPU and memory limits so that might be the cause of kicks to desktop but overall, it just "feels" like it's better - but not *perfect* with higher latency set.

[Hasw]

Hi,

if somebody wants to know which register is set, why not asking me?