GF2 = no AGP Side Banding?

[Bonehead]

Since a few days I have an ELSA GF2 GTS and noticed that Sisoft Sandra now reports that Side Banding is disabled. This is strange because with my former Diamond TNT1 and CL TNT2 Ultra it was always reported as enabled as it should. Does more of you GF2 owners have this? Changing from ELSA drivers to (newest) reference drivers didn't changed a thing.

BTW I have a BX board (BF6).

[This message has been edited by Bonehead (edited 12-21-2000).]

[RobRich]

Most vendors disable this option at the bios level of the GeForce-2 in order to limit any compatiblity problems incurred when utilizing SBA with certain chipsets (especially older VIA offerings).

To re-enable this option, check to see if Elsa offers a newer video BIOS with SBA enabled (some vendors do).

I personally utilize the latest nVidia reference BIOS with full SBA support enabled for my 3DProphet-II GTS. However, Elsa cards commonly employee a non-reference design for the BIOS architecture, thus this will not be a viable solution for you current situation.

BTW, you will notice only a minumal performance difference with SBA enabled. Most users only realize a 2-4% performance increase in high-end 3D games and applications. I recommend leaving everything "as is" sssuming your system is stable and performs within your expectations.

Robert Richmond

[This message has been edited by RobRich (edited 12-21-2000).]

[Bonehead]

Sounds convincing. It has the latest bios from ELSA (7-24-2000). BTW I don't like the idea that my system has to bleed due to some possible incompatibilitie (which I dont think is has, besides the AGP 1X problem from the past) from VIA boards. I know that a BX don't support Fast Writes but now sidebanding also hurts.

Besides that, ELSA properties states I have an Rev A GF2? Isn't this old by now?

[This message has been edited by Bonehead (edited 12-21-2000).]