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Problems With Running N64 Roms

demon

xbox is shit
Hi,

I can't seem to get many N64 games to run of my system using PJ64. I can get Super Mario 64 to work perfectly but I have tried Banjo Kazooie, Mario Kart 64 and Jet Force Gemini.

When I run those 3 roms the game loads up and (for example in Mario Kart 64 the game starts up ok and the menus work fine) but when I start a race the game freezes and so does my desktop. My mouse can still move about the screen but I can't do anything else. My keyboard locks up and all I can do is restart my computer.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do you think I need a better graphics card or more RAM? The thing is Super Mario 64 runs file, very smooth etc.

My system Specs (not very good I know)

AMD Duron 650MHz (upgrading to 1GHz soon)
64MB RAM (Upgrading to 512)
Savage 4 Family 32MB graphics card (Do you think the games will work perfectly if I get a GeForce card 2 TI card?)
:pj64:
 
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Smiff

Emutalk Member
It's a savage4 driver flaw. possibly work-around-able by disabling AGP thingies with DirectControl (search the web).
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
demon said:
Do you think the games will work perfectly if I get a GeForce card 2 TI card?

They will look the way the developers intended if you buy a Nintendo 64. But a Geforce2 Titanium 200 is probaly the best purshace you could make. It is cheaper then the Titanium 500 and can be pursuaded to run, with proper cooling, at high core and mem speeds giving it similar or equal performance compared to the Geforce2 Titanium 500.

And regarding your computer configuration, most Durons especially the 600 and 650mhz are great overclockers. If your motherboard supports alteration of multipliers, look in your motherboard manual for instructions, you could easily increase the speed by a couple of hundred of mhz. 1000mhz is not a far fetched number, perhaps you will get even further. If you are thinking of buying a 1000mhz Duron processor you could save yourself a couple of dollars and spend it on high quality memory.
 
OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
Smiff said:
It's a savage4 driver flaw. possibly work-around-able by disabling AGP thingies with DirectControl (search the web).
Do you think that is the problem with it why the games arnt working???

So do you think by purchasing a Ge Force 2 TI card will maybe get these games working?

I can purchase a Ge Force 2 TI card pretty cheap and the same about a processor in the region of 1000MHz.

In the instruction manual of my motherboard it says it can accomodate up to 750MHz Duron and up to 1000MHz Athlon processor. I know that is just what top speeds that were out at the time when the motherboard was released. It says in the manual to check this site:-
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_1200_1202^1073^1078,00.html
To check the latest specs. But I can't find my motherboard on that site. Just about all the motherboards on that site say it can take up to 1200MHz Duron processors so you you think it will be the same for mine? I can't find a name of the motherboard in the manual. All it says is:-

663AS
200MHz F.S.B (Double Data Rate)
VIA KT133 (VT 8386) AGP set.

Has anyone a clue about what type of motherboard it is and what processors it can accomodate? If so I will be greatfull about the information given.
 
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OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
Really, you do?

So is that the name of the motherboard 663AS ??

Do the processors have to be at a certain bus speed or whatever it is? It says something about 100MHz processors only or something.

I have been looking on this site at processors:-

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/

On the AMD processors section it says things like:- "AMD Thunderbird 1.33GHz 266FSB CPU"

On the motherboard manual it only says 200MHz FSB. Does this mean I cant use the processor named above?

And what exact processors can I use please?
 

Trotterwatch

Active member
I have a Jetway 663AS Motherboard, it can use a multiplier of 14 (x 100) with Bios update.

Thus it can support upto 1.4ghz, do you know the exact make of your motherboard so we can provide further assistance? I mean, your MOBO manufacturer may not have a Bios update that allows upto 1.4ghz but I should imagine that they do.

Scroll down to the 663A entry:

http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/cpu_support.htm#socketa
 
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OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
Well this seems the same motherboard as mine. It is the same picture and features:-

http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/product/amd/663aspro/663aspro.htm

All the information I can get you about it is from the manual:-

663AS
200MHz F.S.B (Double Data Rate)
4X AGP VGA
Magic Install
Support Ultra DMA 66
On baord PCI 3D audio
PC health monitoring
VIA KT133 (VT 8386) AGP set.

It uses SDRAM it has 3 slots that can take 512MB each (so thats a max of 1.5GB)

It says it has a 100MHz front side bus and 133MHz memory interface.

The BIOS is Award 2MB Flash ROM

It says that it supports socket A (socket-462) AMD Athlon/Duron Processors.

At the back of the manual there is a tutorial on how to update the BIOS talking about getting the latest drivers from their web site.

Is that of any use to you?
 

Trotterwatch

Active member
When you come to upgrade your comp, you can get yourself a nice 1.4ghz chip :) If you don't wish to do it yourself get a friend or a shop to do it for you (the bios needs flashing also). More than likely you will need a new PSU as well.

As for your problem with Roms it is almost definately down to your graphics card, try the tweak program for now that someone suggested earlier.
 
OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
So thats correct I can get up to a 1.4GHz Athlon chip? Is the AMD Thunderbird chip the same? And whats the thing mean about the FSB? On the manual it says 200MHz but the Athlon chips I have been looking at say AMD Thunderbird 1.33GHz 266FSB CPU. Is my motherboard compatable?

When you said the bios needs flashing, does that mean updating? And do I just find the BIOS from that web site you gave me for the chipset I have?

You also said "more than likely you will need a new PSU as well" what does that mean please?
 
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Remote

Active member
Moderator
You will not be able to run all Athlons with a stock speed of 1400mhz, you should be safe with an Athlon B(200mhz FSB) with the L1 pins locked, if they are unlocked you can change the motherboards multipliers but due to how VIA designed the KT133 chipset this is not a possibility.

The KT133 chipset which indeed is a good chipset despite serious trouble with Creative sound cards, Live and Audigy series, offers very bad support for FSB(Front Side Bus) overclocking. Depending on the quality of your memory and other devices, NIC's(Network Interface Card), Video card(AGP or PCI connection does not mather since both are affected when the FSB is raised or lowered), I would be surprised it you could boot at anything higher then 115mhz(115*2=230mhz).

The next chip in the KT series, the KT133A has support for the Athlon C series which uses a FSB of 133(133*2=266mhz), both chipsets uses a DDR(Double Data Rate) FSB which effeciently works at a FSB of 200mhz(100mhz FSB) or 266mhz(133mhz), and has support for FSB speeds over 133mhz(266mhz). For the end user a higher FSB speed means better memory performance, the KT133A offers 17 % more effective memory handling compared to a KT133.

If you decide to use a locked, L1 pins unconnected, 1333mhz Ahtlon C processor your motherboard will recognize it as a 9*100mhz CPU, 900mhz, eventhough it's stock speed is 9*133mhz, 1333mhz. If you unlock it, by connecting the L1 bridges, you will be able to raise the FSB by a couple of mhz, 9*110mhz, 990mhz, but you will not be able to change the multiplier. Do not take my word for it, this could vary amongst motherboard and BIOS vendors.

Increasing the FSB to a higher level also means that you are changing the PCI and AGP speeds. The PCI divider on the KT133 is 1/3 which means that the PCI bus speed will be 33,33mhz(the speed it was designed to run at) when using a DDR or non DDR FSB of 100mhz. The AGP divider is 2/3 which means that if the FSB is 100mhz the AGP bus speed will be 66,66mhz(the speed it was designed to run at). And since the VIA KT133 chipset has support for AGP4x(4*66,66mhz=266mhz) alteration of the FSB, which affects the other busses, AGP, PCI, ISA, will cause an unstable system.

My advice to you would be to buy an locked, L1 pins unconnected, Ahtlon B(2*100mhz DDR FSB=200mhz) clocked at 1400mhz. And since your current processor consumes circus 40watts and an Ahtlon B clocked at 1400mhz probaly consumes 100watts, give or take 10watts you system will be unstable if your PSU(Power Supply Unit) can not provide you with enough watts. If your current PSU supplies you with 250w or more watts then you are safe but anything less, I am assuming that you have a atleast one HD and CD-ROM, could make your system unstable. Add a Geforce 2 Titanium 200 to your already stressed PSU and you are using it to it's fullest potential. The worst case senario is that your PSU is providing you with less wattage then all your components consumes, causing component malfuntion.

And before you go out and buy anything try to overclock your 650mhz Duron(6,5*100mhz DDR FSB=650mhz) and see at which level it fails to operate. The Duron 650mhz CPU default voltage is 1.6v, max voltage and AMD Duron and Athlon specification is 1.85v and it is very unlikely that your motherboard would support core voltage above the recomended max. If you are worried about frying your cpu because of the increased work load, set the voltage provided to the core to 1.75v, which is the default core voltage for the Athlon processor series. Read your motherboard manual for more instuctions, your motherboard should allow you to change FSB and multiplier by adjusting jumpers.
 
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OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
Hhhmmm. Seems a bit risky from what you say there.

What about if I get a Duron processor instead. Will there only be certain chips I can by with my FSB?
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
demon said:
Hhhmmm. Seems a bit risky from what you say there.

What about if I get a Duron processor instead. Will there only be certain chips I can by with my FSB?

It could be potentially dangerous to you and your computer if you have no idea of what you are doing, and if you do not feel that you have a need for it, then do not. All Duron processors use a 100mhz FSB, if you ever decide to buy a new motherboard with support for FSB speeds over 133mhz the Duron will get the job done, officially it does not support FSB speeds over 100mhz.

An Athlon processor is a better purchase then a Duron, although they are both cheap and offer great performance, with the Athlon being approxamently 10 % faster as the same clock speed, mostly due to the larger amount of cache.
 

Slougi

New member
There are athlon processors that have a 200 Mhz FSB, it's not just duron, although nowadays they are a little rare. The fastest 200 Mhz FSB athlon was 1400 Mhz (14*100)
Oh and remote, for fsb overclocking the L1 bridges do not need to be connected, that is only for changing the multiplier ;)
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
AMD(Advanced Micro Devices) offers the K7 core in three different alternatives, clock speed variations are not accounted for, the Duron, which is their budget processor, it offers good performance for little money, the Athlon B(200mhz) and the AthlonC(266). The Athlon used to be their high end processor, since the release of the XP, the Athlon processor do not longer compete at the same market segment.

And yes, Slougi, that is correct. There is no need to connect the L1 pins if all you want to do is to raise the FSB, in his case by a couple of mhz. My point was that depending on what motherboard you have you will not be able to change multiplier when using an Athlon C(266) processor, even with connected L1 bridges, since it will be wrongfully recognised as a multiplier*100mhz CPU instead of a multiplier*133mhz CPU, this only applies to motherboard which uses autodetection of multipliers, i.e you are not able to adjust the multiplier by changing jumpers or BIOS values.
 
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OP
demon

demon

xbox is shit
Well thanks to all the people who helped me out on this topic. I am not going to get a new processor just yet only a new grafiz card so that I can play more N64 roms rather than just Mario 64. Also with another grafix card I can play MOHAA (Medal of Honar Allied Assault). I am going to wait a while and get a new motherboard and processor (maybe an AMD XP).

Thanks again.
:pj64:
 

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