You could try to set the AGP to 2x mode. The MX440 should run fine on Apollo Pro 133A motherboards but AGP 4x is sometimes more wishful thinking than reality. That is a Geforce 4 btw, not a Geforce 2, but it is a budget GF4 model based on the older Gf2 at release.

I would like to emphasize that the card ix AGP 8x variant. I don't think it will be compatible with AGP 2x. According to Nvidia, all of their 8x card should work in 4x motherboards. However the Tyan S1854 is one of the first boards to support AGP 4x so I wonder if it's simply incompatible. I have successfully run TNT2 Pro and Geforce 2 Pro in AGP 4x mode but this is the first time I'm trying 8x card.

A Leadtek GeForce 4 MX440 AGP 8x that I have here runs without problems in 2x mode on an ASUS 440bx board.
My limited experience with AGP 4x on Apollo Pro 133A is that it either does not work properly or does not make any difference and in one case in which it worked it was slower than 2x mode.

Re your Tyan board, a similar problem is described here:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=816035
in the 5th post from the top.

It seems to be a board specific issue here. I run a MX440 AGP8x on a KinetiZ 7E (in AGP4x mode), as the board states it supports up to that. And I have not run into any problems. It scores a tad higher in benchmarks than a normal MX440 and (ofc,) a MX4000, so I guess the 4x mode is working.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/556/4

I'll try messing with the driving value more and then try to use AGP 2X. Or maybe the other way around. I'll let you know if there is any progress.

Setting to AGP 2x is meant as a diagnostic test. If it does not work that way you may have another (hardware) problem. Trying to show AGP 4x on a Via Apollo Pro 133A having any advantage over 2x proved to be a very big waste of time in my experience.

So yesterday I tested the AGP 2x mode and everything worked fine. Well, the 3DMark2000 benchmark did freeze but setting the driving value to DA fixed the issue. Unfortunately I couldn't get it work in 4x mode, even when trying different settings in BIOS. The card is nice and fast even in 2x mode so I'm okay with it.

> I have heard that this is fundamentaly the greatest Geforce 2 you can find

What about the mx460?

kolderman wrote:

> I have heard that this is fundamentaly the greatest Geforce 2 you can find

What about the mx460?

Yeah, that is faster card but quite rare.

Paar wrote:

So yesterday I tested the AGP 2x mode and everything worked fine. Well, the 3DMark2000 benchmark did freeze but setting the driving value to DA fixed the issue. Unfortunately I couldn't get it work in 4x mode, even when trying different settings in BIOS. The card is nice and fast even in 2x mode so I'm okay with it.

Nice, good for you. What is the 3DMark 2000 score on what cpu ?

These are my specs:

Pentium III Coppermine 866 MHz (thefastest CPU my mobo supports)
Samsung 512 MB SDRAM PC133 CL3 (2x 256 MB)
Tyan S1854 (Trinity 400) motherboard with Apollo 133A Pro chipset
Geforce 4 MX440 8x (with factory underclocked memory to 300 MHz) @ AGP 2x
Windows 98 SE with unofficial service pack

I got roughly 6000 points in 3DMark2000. Got 6300 with my Inno3D Geforce 2 Pro which has higher clocked memory and runs @ AGP 4x. That card is not passively cooled though.