feipoa wrote:I have had AGP success with those based on VIA Apollo Pro 266T. The MSI-branded board is the best and can seem to handle most AGP cards I install, in 4x mode too. The other board based on the same chipset, is from SuperMicro, and on that board it seems that anything more advanced than a GeForce 4 causes some stability problems, but only if I am trying to use more than 512 MB of RAM. So for 3 GB of RAM, I stick with a GeForce 4 MX.
I'm envious of that 266T - it seems really cool for a late P3 build. Interesting that the MSI works so much better than the Supermicro.
I'm pretty happy about getting a Shuttle AV18 with the Apollo Pro 133T, but I haven't done much with it yet. I hope it's AGP works out okay. Despite VIA's reputation, I still find myself more interested in their late P3 chipsets than the i815.
For the VIA MVP3, the general consensus seems to be to stick with Voodoo cards if you are going to use the AGP slot. This advice has worked well for me. I tried to force a FIC 503+ based on the mvp3 chipset, just like I did with the CUV4X-DLS, until the board that the board said enough was enough.
I had an MVP3 Tyan S1590 when I got my first AGP card back then. It was a struggle at first, but the solution for me was 2 things.
First, the Tyan has a weird quirk that requires USB enabled in the BIOS in order for AGP to function. Without doing that, I'd just get a black screen as soon as Windows booted with the AGP drivers loaded. This was not well documented, but I finally found it in an FAQ on Tyan's web site. With USB enabled, that problem went away.
Second was instability. I needed to use an older version of the VIA 4-in-1 driver that had a "safe mode" install option which effectively forces AGP 1X mode. This made it stable, and the performance impact was practically zero. I never had any trouble with AGP after that (my card back then was a Geforce2 MX).
In recent times I've been doing some occasional testing with that motherboard, so maybe I'll run into something but I haven't yet. The Riva 128 ZX, Matrox G400, and Geforce2 MX have all worked fine. nVidia's driver performance is hilariously inconsistent between versions, but stability remains good. I've just stuck with the same VIA driver throughout.
I've never used AGP on other MVP3 boards so I don't know if I'm just lucky. Today my only other such board is an FIC VA-503+ which I've still never tested. I ought to set it up sometime.
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Before I figured out AGP on that Tyan board, returned the AGP card and decided to settle for a PCI version of the Geforce2 MX. Nobody had them in stock, so I found a web site for some new company called "eVGA" who were selling them directly through their web site. I had never heard of them, but the way they wrote about their products on their web site helped put me at ease that they were probably competent. I was close to ordering one.
But then I found that FAQ entry about quirk #1 above, so I bought another AGP card from the recognized old brand name "Hercules". No need to order from that "eVGA" outfit.. they'd probably be bankrupt in 6 months anyway.