What's the ATI's recommended agp aperture size???

wolfran

Hi people,

I have been doing some testing with agp aperture size set to 64mb, 128mb, and 256mb. Basically 128 and 256mb gives me almost the same results in benchmarks (like 3dmark2001se and aquamark3). The 64mb gives a bit lower result. The main question though, is lowering the agp aperture size to 64 mb say gives smoother gameplay than 128 mb / 256mb. I mean I can tolerate a very small average fps loss for a smoother gameplay.


EDIT: This is by the way an ATI card, I think the catalyst maker should know their recommendation on the agp aperture size. At least they should know what they use the most for their testings. It would be great if the catalyst maker could share this information because agp aperture size does affect gameplay.

mkk

I suggest leaving it at the default value of the motherboard BIOS, wich is typically either 128 or 256 these days. You shouldn't worrry about differences in 3DMark2001 when it comes to the aperture either, because it runs some tests using the AGP aperture for texturing, wich is a feature that games typically never not uses. Simply because using RAM for texturing through the AGP bus is so much slower than limiting the texture sizes to what can be fit inside the graphics card memory. Wich makes that type of testing totally uninteresting for a gaming benchmark. Compare with actual games and you won't see any difference at all between 128 or 256MB AGP aperture. Using very low values can lead to odd things happening on some systems, like 3D effectively being turned off. So just leave it at motherboard default and be happy. Make some time to uninstall 3DMark instead.

The_Neon_Cowboy

use 128

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swimtech

I think I remember recently reading that it is good to set the aperture size to your card's ram size for 64M and above cards of late. Can't remember why tho... I'll look some for the reason soon as I can.

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

No_Style

Check that site out. It has a lot of info on stuff like this. I used to use 128 MB, but I've changed it to 64 MB and Disabled Fast Writes. I'm finding my RTCW much smoother~..

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wolfran

I was using 128MB for a long time and someone here (crash override I think) mentioned about using 64MB for smoother gameplay. So I give it a try. After benching with 3dmark2001se and aquamark3, I found that with 64MB I lost around 100 points in 3dmark2001se while gaining a little in aquamark3. As mkk mentioned, I probably should ignore the 3dmark2001se score.

I also feel that games (on jedi academy) are a bit smoother with the 64 MB. Not too sure here but it seems No_style agreed. I'll try on some other games as well. Maybe someone else can give it a try as well and give their feedbacks.

wolfran

I don't think anyone knows the definite answer yet but what I found is that if I use 256MB I get a little hitchup (sudden slow down and back up again) in some games. If you don't have any hitchups, I think leave it as it is. Otherwise try 128MB and 64 MB and compare them in games.

The_Neon_Cowboy

I do, to answer you must understand what that seting controls.
(the best/most common setting is 128 )

http://www.pc-extreme.com/artikel/tuning/agp/index.html check these benches its in german but the charts are readable....

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swimtech

I can't understand the German, but the charts speak for themselves. Interesting...

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

No_Style

Don't mean to be a spoil sport, but isn't that signature pic a little over the PG13 mark?

@ it though!

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No_Style

Yeah... Screw 3DMark? I haven't benchmarked using 3DMark in ages. When people ask me my 3DMark, I just give them an estimate of 155XX +/- 100 Marks. Which is accurate in my book. PCMark2002 on the hand, I care about more. (Just CPU and Memory bench)

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No_Style

Yes, that's true. Most common setting people "recommend" is 128 MB, but mobos have a lot default of 64 MB. My P4PE and P4P800 Deluxe, both Default 64 MB, I've set them both at that now. It's a good move if you want smooth gameplay. FPS is life, but what's FPS with it jumping all over the place? (Just from my experiences)

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Crash Override

thats why mines set to 64MB

even though the average frames are slightly lower they are also more stable

I dont get huge frame jumps with the lower Aperature setting.

However at higher ones while I get better scores it tends to jump

I smell a new article possibility here if I get the time :P

No_Style

Go for it.

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wolfran

So what does the setting control?? I thought that it reserves some of the main memory only for video card but if needed by the os, it can claim those memories. I am not sure though so someone can correct me.

Hmm.....I think ATI should give their recommendation on agp aperture size. I believe that they said that they did a lot of testings on each of the card so they should know what is the recommended agp aperture size. At least they should know what aperture size that they use for their testings. Then we all know that this aperture size is the best one for ATI card because it's the one that has been throughly tested with.

mkk

It does not actually reserve any amount of RAM, but sets a maximum limit to how much RAM could be used.

I do not think that an official recommendation is necessary, since the default values work fine with games. It is really a non-issue as far as real world applications goes. The behavior of certain benchmarking suites is evidently a separate story. That people care too much about the numerical results in those benchmarks is a problem in itself.

Crash Override

ahem evidently you didnt read the posts very carefuly

What we have said is that while increasing the aperature may increase our benchmark scores it tends to make frame rates in games jump which is what causes the famous stutter experienced in games

mkk

I chose to ignore it because I didn't think there is anything to it, but meant no disrespect in doing so. By all means, carry out an investigation and see if you can find a couple of situations where stuttering in a game is reproduceably related to having the AGP aperture size set on the default value of a certain motherboard. I'm sure that many would be eager to compare results on their systems to help out in the investigation.
Go for it.

Judas

.....i've found it smoother to play at 256mb apature.... but i should give 4mb up to 1gb apatures a try.... (if i have 2gb of ram... i'd give teh 1.5 and 2gb apatures to...)

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wolfran

Hmm.....I've also been testing agp aperture size with need for speed underground. I noticed that if I use 256MB in this game, I get a smoother gameplay. This one is definite. You all can try it in the atlantica circuit. Then try to run over a water and making a splash. With 128 and 64 MB, I get stuttering but with 256MB it's much smoother.

It seems that the best aperture size depends on the game. Some games runs smoother with low aperture size and some smoother with higher aperture size.


EDIT: Try it with AA/AF set to 4x/8x (Quality)