Those with 'AGP' + 'DOOM3', Please Help. Other opinions welcome to.

[jolancer]

(EDIT: FYI - Problem Fixed - as described in my recent last post)

Ok im looking for some info...

First Question.. [ anyone with Doom and AGP please answer this if possible, maybe intel chipset specific but doesnt matter.... If you set the AGP apature realy low or Off, does Doom run for you? or run slowly?] example lowest i can set it is 4mb, and when i do, Doom trys to load but im not shur it ever will so i crtl+alt+del out of it. Im trying to find out if this is normal behavior or maybe if the system in questions just has a Chipset driver incompatability issue with Doom.

another question...[ can you damage a Northbridge controller by upping the FSB to 215? (only conserning Northbridge nothing else, i assume not, but asking incase)

system in questions... i865pe intel chipset, skt478 2.8P4 prescott, 2x512 HyperX, 128mb 6800 AGP @ 325/750 16|6.

when i had that exact system running a 2.4P4 NO-HTT prescott 133/166 FSB stock divider, Doom3 ran perfectly.

when i put the 2.8P4 HTT-Enabled prescott 200/200 FSB stock, it booted fine and passed memtest/prime95, i didnt run any other program at this point.... so i upped the FSB to 215, and it booted fine, but Doom showed lots of artifacts at Menue screen, so i imediatly put it back to 200fsb.

Once i put it back i started Doom again, and it runs but there some artifacts, mostly in placess such as menues/PDA screen/ and Console, rarly in 3D at all. I dont know if Doom3 was like this B4 i uped the FSB with the 2.8 because i didnt run it b4 then. but it did run artifact free with the 2.4 i know that..... also no other game or program shows artifacts.. Farcry\HL2\BF2\Halo and rthdribl HDR renderer all run perfect and artifact free.

I dont know if the AGP bus is locked or not, there no option in BIOS to show me. but i do know, the GFX card is functioning properly.... i swapped the 2.8 the 1G HyperX and the 6800 over to my i875 motherboard, and Doom3 does not show any Artifacts.

It also shows no artifacts when i put the 2.4 back into the i865 motherboard.

With the 2.8 in the i865 motherboard, the only thing i found witch shows little affect on Doom3 is the AGP Apature, however there are still artifacts no matter what i set the Apature.

with the 2.8 in the i865 board, memtest pass's no erros over an hr, Prime95 pass's no errors on Max heat over half/hr with "rthdribl_HDRrenderer" running at the same time artifact free. and no other game shows artifacts, and GFX card shows no artifacts in doom on diff motherboard.

So im left with only 2 conclustions and i dont know witch is totally correct.... either Doom3 just has an imcompatability with this particular i865 Chipset board when a HTT CPU is installed... or the Northbridge i865 chipset is defective, but only shows defects in Doom3 and no other aplication when a HTT 200fsb P4 is installed?

those of you nowledgable enough, please let me know your opinions. thx.

 

[Mr. Switch]

You could be overheating. That 2.4 CPU will run cooler than the 2.8, so whatever heatsink your using with the 2.8, it must not be enough. use SpeedFan to check your CPU temps. Artifacts are usually a problem associated with overheating, and if your using the same HSF with the 2.8 as with the 2.4, than thats probably the problem. that 2.4 CPU is probably a different core too, and I know that older P4's run cooler than the presscotts.

 

[jolancer]

no its not a heat issue.

and correct me if im wrong but doesnt graphic artifacts have to do with the GPU, and nothing to do with the CPU?

i stated a lot in my first post, but ill repeat some stuff...

)doom is the only game/program that shows artificts
)if i put the 2.8 in the other motherboard doom doesnt show artifacts
)the 2.8 pass's memtest and Prime95/SuperPI with rthdribl running at the same time, error free, no heat issue.

2 things i didnt mention....
)the artifacts apear in Doom3 right off the bat at the menue screen befor the comp has time to heatup. no matter what resolution/setting doom is running at.
)i used the stock P4 HSF and also tryed an All Copper Thermaltake HSF... same resault (no Change).
)for the **** of it i also applyed AS5 to the Northbridge Heatsink just incase.... same resault (no change).

EDIT: thx for the attempted help though. apreciated.

 

[Nubius]

Well, for a game like doom especially you shouldn't be setting your AGP Aperture down to 4mb. Why are you doing that? AGP Aperture should be set to half of your graphics card memory, or sometimes even if you have a 128mb card, it's fine to set it at 128mb if you have say a gig of system RAM.

 

[jolancer]

i set the Agp Apature to as low as it could go just to see if it affected the graphic glitches in Doom3. but found out that Doom would bairly start up(Bellow Ultra settings FYI).... however with agp apature still at 4mb's, i tryed HL2 and Farcry(All High settings/1200x res) and they both ran fine even with 4mb apature.

So i was thinking that the No startup with Doom when apature is set low, may be a sign that there is a Driver conflict between Doom and this Chipset witch would explain why it seems to be artifacting for no reason.

Thats why i was asking others for how doom performs with no or low apature on there systems.
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and lol, im not retarded... i always leave apature at 128mb, since there 1Gb ram.

and Thx nubius, i got your other message to, i now understand the Apature ratio.

 

[jolancer]

bump.... theres gota be tons or millions of people who have Doom3 and are running a AGP card.

Do me a favor if you can... since it only take about a min or less... Set your Apature Low or Off whatever the mobo allows, and then try running doom3.

I just wont to find out if its normal or not for doom to not start or Lag severily with no/low Apature. at any setting, med/high, it doesnt matter.

 

[MrCoffee]

I can't alter my AGP aperture but i'm pretty sure you can specify in dooms config file what memory it uses.

Artifacts like this I would say graphics card problem, you've unlocked the extra pipelines and shader? bad move, turn them off.
If you're lucky you havent permanently damaged the card. You will find that its not just doom, if you try a wide range of games you will find others that have problems too.
Check the card temps, if its not overheating and you still get the artifacts then its new graphics card time.

 

[jolancer]

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EDIT: MrCoffe - i notice you have a Gigabyte board... I have a gigabyte in a diff system, and sometimes gigabyte hides advanced options in the BIOS, and by pressing (ctrl+F1) at the main BIOS menue will unlock them if there are any hidden.

If you are able to change apature after doing so... if your willing, then would you please test doom on High/ultra, with Low/or no apature... since your Card has 256mbs ram apposed to my 128.
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MrCoffee - Thx for the attempt... but no its not the GFX card.

I know few ppl may actually read my first post in full.. but all the info is actually in there.

I tested the GFX card on a different motherboard, and Doom shows no Artifacts... i also relocked the extra pipes on the problem motherboard, and Doom showed no change. I also tried different Driver versions on a clean re-format <-- dont now if i mentioned that 1 b4, but no change shown anyway.

I tryed all programs avaliable to me.... Doom/HL2/Farcry/Halo/BF2/rthdribl_renderer, and Doom is the only one that shows artifacts.

not a heat issue, card runs typically ~55 to ~75, no other programs show artifacts, and the artifacts in Dooms menue screen show up even befor the hardware warms up.

This is what dooms settings mean...
Ultra = 512mbs ram
High = 256mbs ram
med = 128mbs ram
low = 64mbs ram

i believe it was on /Med or /High when i lowered the Apature.

All hardware tests out fine... GFX card/cpu/ram, and Doom shows no artifacts when i put the 2.4 back in instead of the 2.8.

So it can only be.... 1) the Northbridge Chipset at fault, or 2)A strange incompatability between the Hardware and Doom.

Thats why i would like someone to test the Apature if they could, with Doom running at Med and High, and see how it acts.... cause Doom3 may just be acting funky on this system, in witch case, im going to ignore it.

EDIT again: just so your not confused, i have 2 skt478 systems here, and i swapped all parts and tested on both motherboards, thats how i know all the hardware works correctly. Doom only artifacts when the 2.8P4 HTT 800mhz FSB is installed into the i865 board... when the 2.4P4 No-HTT 533mhz FSB is installed into the i865 board doom shows NO artifacts at all.

 

[jolancer]

UPDATE - Problem Fixed.

The motherboard has 2 sets of Dual channel slots, 4 dimms total.

Becuase it didnt artifact with the 2.4 in it i didnt think this would affect it, but it did.

Once i switched the Ram over to the other 2 Dimm slots, doom stopped artifacting.

However even in the first 2 dimm slots, memtest and Prime95, never errors, and everything ran without problems.... so it of course must be the Northbridge memcontroller at fault... but the defect is only between the AGP Apature and the Primary Set of Dimm slots.

So thx for anyone who tried to help... and maybe my resolution could help any one else who see's this... who may be having artifact Issues ingame's. Not a likely resolution, but a weired one, and another free option at the very least as a last ditch effort.

 

[MrCoffee]

How odd, i've not come across a faulty northbridge before, i'll have to remember that one
does the northbridge chip run hot? i think alot of mobos have a sensor for the northbridge either as aux or mainboard. I really wouldn't of expected such a minimal OC to damage the NB or all things.

Cheers for the tip about my BIOs btw.