Pavilion 7950 video card upgrade: questions

[Richard B]

Hi all,

Being IT support to the family ;-), my younger brother was getting a
bit frustrated with the frame rates in MS FS2002 and Train Sim
(12fps).

So for his birthday I got him an overspecified Radeon 9600 256MB
(looking to the future to when he upgrades) and installed it.

The computer still works, phew!, but there's no improvement in frame
rates. Perhaps CPU is performing the 3D work not the Radeon Card.

So his computer spec is:

* 1024MB Pavilion 7950
* WinXP with SP1 and latest patches including DirectX
* 60GB drive + 80GB drive
* Sapphire 9600 256MB Atlantis with Catalyst WinXP 4.4 drivers.
* Original power supply (omg!)
* Bios is old, pre tahi_212
* Upgraded the VIA Apollo KT133A AGP driver to Via 4in1 version 4.43
* DxDiag has no problem when running DirectDraw and Direct3D h/w
interfaces.
* BIOS has video card setting as AGP, not PCI.

Unfortunately my brother is on dial-up so I didn't have the time to
download 3dMark2003 (200MB) and see how that was performing. :-(

Downloaded AIDA32 (http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php) and that
says that AGP is running at 4x, AGPv2 (why not v3?), AGP enabled,
fast-write not supported. It can also see the Video accelerator under
Display->AGP Video.

At the moment I suspect either the Bios isn't supporting the video
card properly, but HP have no bios update for windows XP (but there is
a later 2.12 version for WinME???). Or it's some kind of
hardware/driver configuration.

Or perhaps the power supply isn't strong enough, and the video card is
refusing to enable hardware acceleration properly?

Any ideas, anyone? Buying a new custom PC is not an option, yet!

Best Regards,

Richard.

[Ben Myers]

The 1.2GHz Athlon in the 7950 may be the limiting factor here. No matter how
good the video card is at offloading the work of putting info on the screen, the
processor still has to be involved. I assume that the latest Direct X 9.0(?) is
installed?

It is likely that the Radeon 9600 needs the newer AGP hardware slot to reach its
full potential and to use the features that are shown by AIDA32 as running at
less than ATI's specs. If so, this is a hardware limitation built into the
design of the motherboard. AGP, like USB and PCI and ISA, has grown up over the
years, and any new card capable of running with an older version of motherboard
AGP hardware has to make some compromises... Ben Myers

On 13 Apr 2004 03:53:50 -0700, rutgard@hotmail.com (Richard B) wrote:
Hi all,Being IT support to the family ;-), my younger brother was getting abit frustrated with the frame rates in MS FS2002 and Train Sim(12fps).So for his birthday I got him an overspecified Radeon 9600 256MB(looking to the future to when he upgrades) and installed it.The computer still works, phew!, but there's no improvement in framerates. Perhaps CPU is performing the 3D work not the Radeon Card.So his computer spec is:* 1024MB Pavilion 7950* WinXP with SP1 and latest patches including DirectX* 60GB drive + 80GB drive* Sapphire 9600 256MB Atlantis with Catalyst WinXP 4.4 drivers.* Original power supply (omg!)* Bios is old, pre tahi_212* Upgraded the VIA Apollo KT133A AGP driver to Via 4in1 version 4.43* DxDiag has no problem when running DirectDraw and Direct3D h/winterfaces.* BIOS has video card setting as AGP, not PCI.Unfortunately my brother is on dial-up so I didn't have the time todownload 3dMark2003 (200MB) and see how that was performing. :-(Downloaded AIDA32 (http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php) and thatsays that AGP is running at 4x, AGPv2 (why not v3?), AGP enabled,fast-write not supported. It can also see the Video accelerator underDisplay->AGP Video.At the moment I suspect either the Bios isn't supporting the videocard properly, but HP have no bios update for windows XP (but there isa later 2.12 version for WinME???). Or it's some kind ofhardware/driver configuration.Or perhaps the power supply isn't strong enough, and the video card isrefusing to enable hardware acceleration properly?Any ideas, anyone? Buying a new custom PC is not an option, yet!Best Regards,Richard.

[Richard B]

Hi Ben and all,

Woah, quick reply, nice to see newsgroups still have their use after
all these years...

Yes, the system is using DirectX 9.0b.

Hmmm, since I'm no PC video card expert I was hoping that perhaps I
had forgotton to configure something. Nethertheless, I was kind of
expecting a small improvement in frame rates even though the
motherboard is old.

I think my next step is to do some tests with benchmarking, and try
the UT2003 demo and see how it matches to my Pentium 4 system.

In fact, the next time I visit him I'll bring my PC, and see if the
9600 is much different to my humble MX440. And if it's a big
improvement I'll have his birthday present! Ahhhhhh, my precioussss.

Best Regards,

Richard.



ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message news:<407bf471.5106725@news.charter.net>... The 1.2GHz Athlon in the 7950 may be the limiting factor here. No matter how good the video card is at offloading the work of putting info on the screen, the processor still has to be involved. I assume that the latest Direct X 9.0(?) is installed? It is likely that the Radeon 9600 needs the newer AGP hardware slot to reach its full potential and to use the features that are shown by AIDA32 as running at less than ATI's specs. If so, this is a hardware limitation built into the design of the motherboard. AGP, like USB and PCI and ISA, has grown up over the years, and any new card capable of running with an older version of motherboard AGP hardware has to make some compromises... Ben Myers On 13 Apr 2004 03:53:50 -0700, rutgard@hotmail.com (Richard B) wrote:Hi all,Being IT support to the family ;-), my younger brother was getting abit frustrated with the frame rates in MS FS2002 and Train Sim(12fps).So for his birthday I got him an overspecified Radeon 9600 256MB(looking to the future to when he upgrades) and installed it.The computer still works, phew!, but there's no improvement in framerates. Perhaps CPU is performing the 3D work not the Radeon Card.So his computer spec is:* 1024MB Pavilion 7950* WinXP with SP1 and latest patches including DirectX* 60GB drive + 80GB drive* Sapphire 9600 256MB Atlantis with Catalyst WinXP 4.4 drivers.* Original power supply (omg!)* Bios is old, pre tahi_212* Upgraded the VIA Apollo KT133A AGP driver to Via 4in1 version 4.43* DxDiag has no problem when running DirectDraw and Direct3D h/winterfaces.* BIOS has video card setting as AGP, not PCI.Unfortunately my brother is on dial-up so I didn't have the time todownload 3dMark2003 (200MB) and see how that was performing. :-(Downloaded AIDA32 (http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php) and thatsays that AGP is running at 4x, AGPv2 (why not v3?), AGP enabled,fast-write not supported. It can also see the Video accelerator underDisplay->AGP Video.At the moment I suspect either the Bios isn't supporting the videocard properly, but HP have no bios update for windows XP (but there isa later 2.12 version for WinME???). Or it's some kind ofhardware/driver configuration.Or perhaps the power supply isn't strong enough, and the video card isrefusing to enable hardware acceleration properly?Any ideas, anyone? Buying a new custom PC is not an option, yet!Best Regards,Richard.

[Richard B]

Hi Ben and all,

Woah, quick reply, nice to see newsgroups still have their use after
all these years...

Yes, the system is using DirectX 9.0b.

Hmmm, since I'm no PC video card expert I was hoping that perhaps I
had forgotton to configure something. Nethertheless, I was kind of
expecting a small improvement in frame rates even though the
motherboard is old.

I think my next step is to do some tests with benchmarking, and try
the UT2003 demo and see how it matches to my Pentium 4 system.

In fact, the next time I visit him I'll bring my PC, and see if the
9600 is much different to my humble MX440. And if it's a big
improvement I'll have his birthday present! Ahhhhhh, my precioussss.

Best Regards,

Richard.



ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message news:<407bf471.5106725@news.charter.net>... The 1.2GHz Athlon in the 7950 may be the limiting factor here. No matter how good the video card is at offloading the work of putting info on the screen, the processor still has to be involved. I assume that the latest Direct X 9.0(?) is installed? It is likely that the Radeon 9600 needs the newer AGP hardware slot to reach its full potential and to use the features that are shown by AIDA32 as running at less than ATI's specs. If so, this is a hardware limitation built into the design of the motherboard. AGP, like USB and PCI and ISA, has grown up over the years, and any new card capable of running with an older version of motherboard AGP hardware has to make some compromises... Ben Myers On 13 Apr 2004 03:53:50 -0700, rutgard@hotmail.com (Richard B) wrote:Hi all,Being IT support to the family ;-), my younger brother was getting abit frustrated with the frame rates in MS FS2002 and Train Sim(12fps).So for his birthday I got him an overspecified Radeon 9600 256MB(looking to the future to when he upgrades) and installed it.The computer still works, phew!, but there's no improvement in framerates. Perhaps CPU is performing the 3D work not the Radeon Card.So his computer spec is:* 1024MB Pavilion 7950* WinXP with SP1 and latest patches including DirectX* 60GB drive + 80GB drive* Sapphire 9600 256MB Atlantis with Catalyst WinXP 4.4 drivers.* Original power supply (omg!)* Bios is old, pre tahi_212* Upgraded the VIA Apollo KT133A AGP driver to Via 4in1 version 4.43* DxDiag has no problem when running DirectDraw and Direct3D h/winterfaces.* BIOS has video card setting as AGP, not PCI.Unfortunately my brother is on dial-up so I didn't have the time todownload 3dMark2003 (200MB) and see how that was performing. :-(Downloaded AIDA32 (http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php) and thatsays that AGP is running at 4x, AGPv2 (why not v3?), AGP enabled,fast-write not supported. It can also see the Video accelerator underDisplay->AGP Video.At the moment I suspect either the Bios isn't supporting the videocard properly, but HP have no bios update for windows XP (but there isa later 2.12 version for WinME???). Or it's some kind ofhardware/driver configuration.Or perhaps the power supply isn't strong enough, and the video card isrefusing to enable hardware acceleration properly?Any ideas, anyone? Buying a new custom PC is not an option, yet!Best Regards,Richard.