Dan :
Thanks for the info. I followed same as you are and no problem occured. But one thing : ATi control table shows it's on 8X. But when I check with 3D Mark 2003, it says that it's on 4X !! Have you checked it with other utility too ?

MYCON:
-----------
Asus P4G8X Deluxe
Intel P4 2.4 GHz
2 X 512MB Kingston PC2700 DDR RAM
Gigabyte Radeon 9700pro 128 MB
Avermedia TV/FM Studio
Pioneer 16X Slot-in DVD-ROM
Plextor 24X10X40 CDRW
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB HDD
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD
Sound Blaster Audigy DE
Sony SDM-S71 TFT LCD 17"
PSU 300W (will change it to 400W)
Siemens Santis Euro ISDN Modem

BTW, DirectX 9.0a is out. I got mine via Windows Update.

OMG!

Now the screen just blanks out (de-powers) when windows starts up! I manage to enter in safemode, but I have no clue to what the problem might be.

THE BAD: I have cursed this combination since I bought both items 3 weeks ago. System crash every 30/45 minutes. (the endless loop syndrome). Tried everything that ATI, Asus and Intel, said to try. Nothing worked!!

THE GOOD: Installed Beta bios version 1004.017 from Asus. Have not had a crash since. System now does not need any tweaks or pefromance cutting setting. Works with the full performance I expected.

THE 1/2 BAD: Am now getting some "screen" flicker at all refresh rates and resolution settings.

Any ideas anyone?

Yes, there would still be a problem with your hardware comination I should think. I am also running the same BIOS version, and there isn't much difference..still some trouble.

Wait for the final 1004 BIOS and Catalyst 3.3, this could be our final solution to our suffering.

What's the make of your Radeon, what kind is it, and of what aprox. production date (when did u buy it)?

The Radeon is ATI. Both board and Graphics card are about 3 weeks old.

how are u guys updating ur bios... for some reason the program that came w/ the asus board wont let me download the bios. I can start downloading but then it says it cant find the file.. anyone else having this problem?

AFAIK you will need to copy the bios to a floppy disk, reboot the machine, start the bios flash utility and tell it the name of the file on the disk (with the extension). You can use the asus updater for release BIOS, but I dont think that it will work for the beta BIOS. (At least when I tried, it didn't work.. plus I am not to keen on updating my bios in windows.. call it paranoia, but..)

Eric :
Try to change download server. It worked for me.

I am not sure if this is a stupid question or not but everyone seems to have pc2700 memory installed, correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the P4G8X only support paired pc2100 memory? I believe that the e7205 only supports ddr266 (pc2100). I don't know if this is the problem or not but in the in the thread about the 9700 pro some people were saying that using different configurations of memory fixed the problems.

BTW, I have a P4G8X and an AIW 9700 Pro in the mail on their way to me right now so I am very interested in how this all turns out. Of course, I will post after I build my system and let you know how I am doing.

Building (hopefully this weekend if the parts get here):
P4 2.4
Asus P4G8X
ATI AIW Radeon 9700 Pro
Allied 450W PSU
Not sure how much memory yet, depends on cost, would like at least
2 gigs (replies to above questioin will determine whether I go with
pc2100 or pc2700)

I had tried both PC2100 and PC2700 memory and have had the same results.

And incidentally, my setup is working just fine with PC2700 ram (an identical pair running in dual channel mode) -- so I doubt that's the real issue.

-d.

im glad that my pc doesnt crash or anything as u guys experienced .... im currently using ::

Asus p4g8x and gigabyte radeon 9700 (420watt PSU).....

it work fine since i bought the pc (almost 3 weeks).... the only problem is that i cannot turn "fast write" on .... it will reset back everytime i do so ..... .....

but yesterday i installed the *new* (relesed 31/03/2003) p4g8x bios version 1004 ..... it also turn out to be ok ....

but i notice a decrease in the radeon's performance ....

the system loss 300+ marks in 3Dmark2003 and more than 3000 points in 3Dmark2001 !!!!! ...... thats alot of numbers ......

so if any of u guys planning to update the bios to 1004 ..... make sure that to benchmark ur radeon 9700 first ..... then compare it after updating the bios to see whether ur system have a decrese in grafic performance also....

New ASUS BIOS release is out: 1004g.zip

http://www.asus.com

yes ... it release on 31/03/2003 and posted on 10/04/2003 at asus site

...... it was this bios release that i installed ..... and then my radeon 9700 lose many points in 3Dmark .... ...

or it was just me ? .....

So does the 1004g bios fix the problem?

I just set up my new machine this week, and I've been experiencing the problems with lockups seconds to minutes after I get into 3D games. I've found some things that helped, but I'm not sure if the problem has disappeared yet.

The thing that has seemed to improve the problem the most has been changing the Graphics Aperature. It was originally set to 64MB. I was locking almost instantly when going into games. I set it to 128MB, though all was cool, and then got another lock about 5 minutes into game (Thief 2). I then set it to 256 MB, and so far no problems, but that's only with about 20 minutes play testing time.

My machine:
P4G8X mobo
P4 2.66 MHz
2 x Kingston 512 MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM
Audigy 2 OEM

My bios settings:
AGP 8x
256 MB AGP Aperature
Caching: UC (I haven't tried USWC yet)
AGP voltage: 1.5 (I haven't tried 1.6 yet)
haven't checked bios version yet

Catalyst:
version 3.2
AGP 8x
fast writes on

Where is the 1004G release BIOS? I was unable to find it on the website under P4G8X bios downloads...

For some reason it's not in the downloads for the 'Deluxe' but it most certainly is for the regular P4B8X (but it is listed as being for both... as well it should... the boards are identical)

Sorry, type... I meant P4G8x (not P4B8x)

can download here ...http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4G8X ..


hey Michael Songy ..... ur spec is identical with mine .... the only difference is that i use p4 3.06 ...... i had not experienced any crash what so ever ...... and im a very serious gamer / programmer ......... no problem at all with the system ......

the only thing that i didn't do is switching "fast write" on ....... try to switch off for a while......then change to USWC (but even i use UC ... the system work fine) .....

......if that doesn't help .... so it leave 2 possibility ...... either ur PSU is low in power (mine 420 watt) or ur operating system is making this problem (mine win XP profesional)....

Thanks Kuman, I got it working. I'm a serious gamer & programmer too. To get it working, I had to use UC instead of USWC, and had to make the AGP Aperature 256 MB. It seems to be working ok now, with fast writes turned on. I went back to the 1003 bios rev (before I got it working), I'm going to try the 1004 bios with the same settings I have now and see if it works too.

Tyler, here's where I found the 1004 bios rev (its 1004g.zip):
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4G8X