First post, by tenyuhuang
They said VIA Apollo 133A is a bad idea - it is.
I know this might be discussed over a million times, my apology in advance - but I think I've got this last resort since everything I've read and tried doesn't work. 😵
Got myself an Acer S61 motherboard, which is almost an AOpen MX64 with a few differences in jumpers.
It's a VIA Apollo 133A-powered motherboard, with AGP 4x available as an advantage over ASUS P3V133.
The biggest problem I'm having is to get GeForce FX5700/Ti4200 to work in AGP 4x, since they had unusually terrible performances in 2x (3900~4200 in 3DMark 2001SE @ Pentium 3 1GHz).
At first I failed a million times trying to make FX5700 happy with 4x, but with all attempts failed - black screens, system crash, no games running, maybe that card was just too much.
So I decided to get myself a GF4 Ti4200 since I've saw people having a good score on other 133A systems with it (even in AGP2x !); but once again, with no good results whatsoever.
Things I've tried:
1) Installing a hundred versions of VIA 4in1 - 4.35, 4,43, 5.10a;
(Aida DID report the system as AGP4x capable; so I suppose I didn't get the driver wrong.)
2) Installing maybe half a thousand versions of Nvidia drivers from 28.xx to the last Win9x Forceware;
(...and told the system to trespass the border with EnableVia4x=1.)
3) Flashing the motherboard with the BIOSes from its cousins - namely, AX64 and AX64Pro; (Yes they DO boot.)
4) Tuning the super infamous AGP Driving Value with all popular choices: CC, B9, BA, EA, DA, FF;
5) Installing Windows ME instead of 98SE;
6) Installing an overkill power supply rated at 350W max;
7) Changing my ram sticks.
So far, nothing has got me near a playable AGP4x status.
That said, I'm curious if anyone have ever got a card like Ti4200 running in AGP4x on this motherboard?
Or did I just got a faulty mobo instead?
For reference, here is the rig:
AOpen MX64 (VIA Apollo 133A)
Pentium 3 Slot 1 1000/256/133 SL4BS @ 1 GHz (133x7.5)
Ramaxel SDRAM PC133 256MB x 2
Leadtek Winfast A280 (GeForce 4 Ti4200)
Thanks in advance! 😊