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Anyone Tried Another Graphics Card On 915g Board?

jcm279

By jcm279,
in Hardware Components and Drivers

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jcm279
jcm279
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So I've searched the forums on a couple of sites and haven't found anyone who has tried this. I tried installing OS X on a Dell GX280 that I had access to, and it works like a dream, the only non-functional hardware is the onboard ethernet, but I quickly fixed that with an Intel Pro/1000. I can watch DVD's, DivX, use Photoshop, Final Cut Pro... I've literally tested every piece of software I could find, and it all works great.

 

So my idea is this: I'd like to build a machine based on the i915g chipset, but in addition, I'd like to have a PCIe graphics card for gaming when I boot in WinXP. If anyone else has tried this, I have the following questions:

 

1. Does OS X recognize the non-onboard graphics, and if so, does that cause any problems with video acceleration?

2. Would it be possible to use both in OS X, one monitor on accelerated i915 graphics and another on non-accelerated?

3. Really I prefer AMD to Intel, but to run OS X it seems as though an Intel based box is the way to go - I have always admired OS X but the incredibly horrific Mac hardware always deterred me. Has anyone gotten OS X to run on AMD SSE3 system so that it *acceptably* will play video files, etc, at 1600x1200x32, without slowing down the whole OS to a crawl?

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en0203
en0203
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So I've searched the forums on a couple of sites and haven't found anyone who has tried this.  I tried installing OS X on a Dell GX280 that I had access to, and it works like a dream, the only non-functional hardware is the onboard ethernet, but I quickly fixed that with an Intel Pro/1000.  I can watch DVD's, DivX, use Photoshop, Final Cut Pro... I've literally tested every piece of software I could find, and it all works great. 

 

So my idea is this: I'd like to build a machine based on the i915g chipset, but in addition, I'd like to have a PCIe graphics card for gaming when I boot in WinXP.  If anyone else has tried this, I have the following questions:

 

1.  Does OS X recognize the non-onboard graphics, and if so, does that cause any problems with video acceleration?

2.  Would it be possible to use both in OS X, one monitor on accelerated i915 graphics and another on non-accelerated?

3.  Really I prefer AMD to Intel, but to run OS X it seems as though an Intel based box is the way to go - I have always admired OS X but the incredibly horrific Mac hardware always deterred me.  Has anyone gotten OS X to run on AMD SSE3 system so that it *acceptably* will play video files, etc, at 1600x1200x32, without slowing down the whole OS to a crawl?

 

Hi,

 

for me i have a 915g motherboard with PCIe gfx card.

but my motherboard bios allow me to disable and boot to onboard GMA 900 by default.

so if i need extra gfx processing power in xp, i can just enable the PCIe and boot from there, but need to manually change the VGA cable to the PCIe though unless u have 2 monitors.

 

cheers

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cyrana
cyrana
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en is correct...same situation for me. At some point if we ever get accelerated drivers for other PCI-e cards, you could just leave onboard disabled...

 

Your options for multiple displays are getting an ADD2-N (the SIIG Orion one) to enable 2ndary output via DVI-D, or to buy a PCI video card and use it to drive the 2nd display. I'm going to get a 5700FX and try it here (my case needs a low profile bracket).

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cauldron
cauldron
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acording to intel specs, the on-board GMA is disabled when you insert a PCIe card.

 

The ASRock P4Dual-915GL packaging and manual indicate that you can use the onboard video in conjunction with PCIe and AGP cards ("five monitors!", they exclaim. Presumably they're thinking dual-head AGP + dual-head PCIe + onboard).

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cyrana
cyrana
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Well, if someone wants to try, they can. But if you look at the .pdf document for GMA900 and the 915x chipsets, Intel explicitely says it is disabled when a PCI-e card is put in. I guess someone could hack around that, eh? (my 915G motherboard in this HP disables GMA900 when I put a PCI-e card in, though :)).

 

But, that intrigues me... I may have to buy one just to try it out. LOL.

 

The manual says this, which sounds intriguing:

Thanks to ASRock patented AGI8X and AGI Express Technology, this motherboard

supports Surround Display upgrade. With the internal onboard VGA and the

external add-on AGP VGA card and PCI Express VGA card, you can easily enjoy

the benefits of Surround Display feature. Please make sure to set the BIOS

onboard VGA selection into “Enabled”, and start your computer with onboard VGA

if you want this motherboard to support multi-monitors.

 

Wonder if it needs OS support as well... And the PCI-e add-on would be x4 as well, so I wonder if you could even plug that ADD2-n Card in if you simply wanted to extend your onboard GMA900 to dual displays.

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jcm279
jcm279
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Thanks for the replies. That ASROCK board is precisely why I asked the question. Although I did notice that the performance for the ASRock isn't quite as good as other 915 boards. Perhaps I'll be the one to try it!

 

Also, no one has answered my questions #3 - will a non-accelerated graphics card perform acceptably? Say a x800XL or a 6800GT?

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cyrana
cyrana
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Thanks for the replies.  That ASROCK board is precisely why I asked the question.  Although I did notice that the performance for the ASRock isn't quite as good as other 915 boards.  Perhaps I'll be the one to try it! 

 

Also, no one has answered my questions #3 - will a non-accelerated graphics card perform acceptably?  Say a x800XL or a 6800GT?

You better google for the manual for that board. Only a -small- number of AGP and PCI-e cards are able to work with it. The manual has a list in it...

 

 

If you're used to GMA900, an add-in card will feel a lot slower, at least they do for me.

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cyrana
cyrana
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BTW - Regarding the ASRock and the ADD2 card for DVI support -

I just tried my Dual-915GL ASRock board with the HP Silicon Graphics ADD-2 and no luck :-(

 

I'm going to return my mobo for the real intel 915.

Thanks for that update. I noticed the ADD2-N board mentions needing PCI-e 16x anyway. Were you able to see if it worked in Windows, though? It would be useful to know if the HP board (which has SIIG chipset) was the problem of the PCI-e slot on the mboard (I suspect the latter).

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eclipxe
eclipxe
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Thanks for that update.  I noticed the ADD2-N board mentions needing PCI-e 16x anyway.  Were you able to see if it worked in Windows, though?  It would be useful to know if the HP board (which has SIIG chipset) was the problem of the PCI-e slot on the mboard (I suspect the latter).

I believe it is just the board - even before OS X loads, my monitor gets no signal from the card. It fits perfectly and the manual for the ASRock board states that it supports some 16x Graphics Cards, but with all the "hacks" the ASRock board uses for it's A.G.I. stuff, I wasn't suprised it didn't work.

 

I haven't tried in Windows, but I should get my 915 board tomorrow and I will try the combination and report my results.

 

Wish me luck! :rolleyes:

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