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Jay - 28 May 2005 19:20 GMT

Some time ago someone posted an advice on improving the performance of HL2.
The advice said to disable fast writes in the BIOS. Can anyone tell me more
as to where exactly find this feature? Or if it goes under a different name
sometimes?
I didn't find such term in my Bios. But I found the following ones, I
thought they might have some effect too:

1. CPU L2 Cache ECC Checking
2. Video Cacheable
3. PCI Latency Timer: 32

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,

Jay

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Lithurge - 28 May 2005 19:49 GMT

> Some time ago someone posted an advice on improving the
> performance of HL2. The advice said to disable fast writes
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Jay

Really don't think those would have any affect whatsoever, at
least not as far as HL2 is concerned.

For me fast writes are under advanced chipset features, but
where it is for you will depend on your particular motherboard.
(Mine is a Via KT400 KT4V).

If you have an ATI card it allows you to disable them in
software under the Smartgart setting.

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Civilian_Target - 28 May 2005 21:18 GMT

I think its unlikely that disabling fast writes will improve HL2. Think
about it - why would they be called fast writes? And why would you want
slow writes?

Leave your ECC checking alone, changing that could make your computer
unstable. Same with your PCI latency timer. Generally your best bet is
to select "Optomized BIOS settings" if there is such a setting - that'll
bring you pretty close to top performance from your board...

Civilian_Target

> Some time ago someone posted an advice on improving the performance of HL2.
> The advice said to disable fast writes in the BIOS. Can anyone tell me more
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Jay

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GFree - 29 May 2005 01:23 GMT

> I think its unlikely that disabling fast writes will improve HL2. Think
> about it - why would they be called fast writes? And why would you want
> slow writes?

Simple: you'd want slow writes if your have graphical issues in your
games. It's like a "safe mode" for your card; it will not run quite as
fast but it will possibly be more stable.

> Leave your ECC checking alone, changing that could make your computer
> unstable. Same with your PCI latency timer. Generally your best bet is
> to select "Optomized BIOS settings" if there is such a setting - that'll
> bring you pretty close to top performance from your board...

...but at the possible cost of stability if your components aren't
decent enough.

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Civilian_Target - 29 May 2005 02:05 GMT

>> I think its unlikely that disabling fast writes will improve HL2.
>> Think about it - why would they be called fast writes? And why would
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> ....but at the possible cost of stability if your components aren't
> decent enough.

Yes, of course. This is the whole "safe mode" thing OK. I'm assuming if
he's asking these questions - his PC's OK. I wouldn't try it on a dell
though...

Civilian_Target

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Jay - 29 May 2005 06:18 GMT

Well, this is great feedback guys, thank you so much to all of you.
The reason why I wanted to find out about it is because there had been
someone that actually was able to fix some stuttering in HL2. I remember he
had a similar set of problems as I did. And of all the things he tried only
this one fixed it for him. So I thought I should try too, I just didn't get
around to do it until now.
I had to uninstall HL2 due to my recovering of tendonitis, but for now I can
use 3DSmax for some hours a day. And I noticed the very same problem when
rotating, is like it misses a few frames of the whole motion, and after a
while it can be quite annoying. At least now (with 3dsmax) I don't have to
worry about some one surprising me around the corner while I am missing
those valuable frames ; )

Jay

>>> I think its unlikely that disabling fast writes will improve HL2. Think
>>> about it - why would they be called fast writes? And why would you want
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Civilian_Target

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Civilian_Target - 29 May 2005 12:05 GMT

> Well, this is great feedback guys, thank you so much to all of you.
> The reason why I wanted to find out about it is because there had been
> someone that actually was able to fix some stuttering in HL2. I remember he
> had a similar set of problems as I did. And of all the things he tried only
> this one fixed it for him. So I thought I should try too, I just didn't get
> around to do it until now.

Ah - now, solving that would be impressive. It seems to be quite
soundcard sensitive. Despite having quite a low end system, much slower
than yours, I've got no stuttering problems thanks to my Turtle Beach
soundcard. Have you tried reducing your graphics settings a bit to see
if it goes away?

> I had to uninstall HL2 due to my recovering of tendonitis, but for now I can
> use 3DSmax for some hours a day. And I noticed the very same problem when
> rotating, is like it misses a few frames of the whole motion, and after a
> while it can be quite annoying. At least now (with 3dsmax) I don't have to
> worry about some one surprising me around the corner while I am missing
> those valuable frames ; )

Tendonitis eh? You sound like you're fitting into the Cannon Fodder
category of games then! You've probably come to the right place.

Civilian_Target

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McGrandpa - 29 May 2005 13:32 GMT

>> Well, this is great feedback guys, thank you so much to all of you.
>> The reason why I wanted to find out about it is because there had
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Turtle Beach soundcard. Have you tried reducing your graphics
> settings a bit to see if it goes away?

After my GA8-iHXP mobo died and I installed the new GA8-IPE1000-G, I
suddenly started getting the stuttering in some of the notorious places.
I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card, uninstalling/reinstalling
its drivers didn't help, but installing the latest .INF chipset driver
from Intel DID fix my stutters, these were in the areas where Alyx does
a lot of scripted stuff. The worst one is when she locates her father
and brings his pod up to that window and talks with him. I don't know
which part of the .INF helped, but I'm thinking it was my IDE to PCI
bridge component. Helps decrease the latency between buses I'd think.
McG.

>> I had to uninstall HL2 due to my recovering of tendonitis, but for
>> now I can use 3DSmax for some hours a day. And I noticed the very
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Civilian_Target

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Jay - 29 May 2005 17:23 GMT

Ok, now that I see your responses I realize that I used the word
"stuttering" incorrectly ; )
Think of an equivalent of this word for motion (video), something like
"halting/jerky/hesitant". I guess now you'll understand better why I have
the same problem in 3DSmax too.
The sound has always been fine.

Jay

>>> Well, this is great feedback guys, thank you so much to all of you.
>>> The reason why I wanted to find out about it is because there had
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>>
>> Civilian_Target

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