some graphics questions

grassapa

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Jun 16, 2002
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some of my parts:
-RADEON8500LE 128mb catalyst 2.2 driver
-monitor is a Dell M780
-Celeron 1400mhz
-intel SE440BX-3 mobo
-win2k pro, service pack 3

i have a few questions involving graphics:

1)what is AGP APETURE SIZE? i can set 64 mb and 256 mb in the bios, but what is it? should i set it at 256mb or 64mb? the default is 64mb.
2)what refresh rate should i run my screen on? the default is 60hz but im running at 75hz (75hz thats the limit when i check the box "hide modes that the monitor cannot display") should i go higher than 75hz? should i leave it at 75hz? should i lower it to 60hz?
3)is there anything i can do to (except overclocking) increase performance? any tweaks? any checkboxes that i need to check? i have the ATI control panel installed.

your help would be greatly appreciated, im a gamer and it means a lot to me.

real philosophy of life: "do onto others what you dont want them do onto you"
 

10GHZ

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Jan 21, 2002
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1. i set my to 128mb, and you should try this setting as well.. if u experience instability, then set it to 64mb, not much difference between the 2 setting.

2. i set my to 75hz, but usually, you should set it no less then 70hz

3. if u want PURE performance, then set eveything to High Performance under direct 3d and OpenGL seeting in catalyst, and also disable vsync. i set mine on balance, but u get more fps out of the card if u put eveything on low. Also u should force 16bit z buffer in openGL , in direct 3d u need 2 change the registry setting, so run regedit and serch for "Zformats" and set it to 1, so 16bit z buffer is enabled.

other tweaks to improve general sytem performance would be some basic ram tweaks in bios, do u know how?
 

Black_Cat

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Jan 11, 2002
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1. <A HREF="http://erado.totalwar.org/tech/solutions/perf_agp.htm" target="_new">http://erado.totalwar.org/tech/solutions/perf_agp.htm</A>

2. If you are slowly going insane because your monitor is blinking and making your eyes pop out of your head, then increase the refresh rate. :smile: Actually get the specs on your monitor and see how high it can go at each available resolution. <A HREF="http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/monitors/m780/Eng/index.htm" target="_new">http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/monitors/m780/Eng/index.htm</A>

3. <A HREF="http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/" target="_new">http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/</A> Any other setting is your preference. You could play around with Smoothvision and all that. With each different game you play, you may prefer a different setting.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.
 

AMD_Man

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Jul 3, 2001
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3. if u want PURE performance, then set eveything to High Performance under direct 3d and OpenGL seeting in catalyst, and also disable vsync. i set mine on balance, but u get more fps out of the card if u put eveything on low. Also u should force 16bit z buffer in openGL , in direct 3d u need 2 change the registry setting, so run regedit and serch for "Zformats" and set it to 1, so 16bit z buffer is enabled.
I somewhat disagree there. High Performance (rather than Optimal Performance) has very little effect on IQ. Setting the z-buffer to 16-bit will hurt IQ far more. You may start seeing some weird artifacting or object layering problem. For example, say you have a vase on a table. 16-bit Zbuffer may make the table appear on the vase. It'll really screw up the 3D perspective in a few games (not all, but a few). Now, I prefer to have V-Sync on all the time. Since I won't be able to see more than 100fps anyway (my monitor's refresh rate is set on 100), there's no point to have it off. With V-Sync on, you may get tearing in some games. Besides, you really bypass VSync from the control panel. You only tell it to look at Application Preference so you can still turn off Vsync in individual games if you which. Turning off VSync in the control panel will force it to always be off in all games.

:wink: <b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b> :wink:
 

10GHZ

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what's IQ? and ye i agree with what u've said, but as i was saying, the highest performance setting isn't necessarily the best setting. i leave vsync off and perofmrance on balance with 16bit z buffer and i'm pretty happy with my setting, no artifacts so far.
but if he just wants raw framrates in his game, then leave it on high performance will boost more fps.
 

grassapa

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1) my mobo can only set agp apertures of 64 and 256mb only, i have a 128mb video card and 384 mb of sdram. so where should i set the agp aperture size to get the most of our card? i now understand what agp aperture size is, but i need to know where should I set it. i know that the advantage i get from setting a higher AGP aperture size is that i have more memory to store video files if i ever need it, but whats the advantage if i lower it? i think my card could handle all the video files that needs storage so 64mb of apg aperture size is enuff?

2) i will leave my refresh rate at 75hz unless any of you gives me a reason to change it

3) i read your comments but im still not sure what to do. should i maybe leave it on the default settings (a balance between performance and quality). what i was asking was, what could i do to the card so i could increase the performance while still keeping the maximum quality possible (what could i do to increase 3DMARKS?)

real philosophy of life: "do onto others what you dont want them do onto you"