Inel 810e problems

[Locutus]

Of course I understand you may not have much of a choice in terms of what hardware you buy, especially in a country like India. But if you have a card like that, you can't expect to be able to run each and every game on it, unfortunate as it is

What is the max onboard video memory that can be set for the onboard graphics

I did some research for you: the theoretical upper limit is 32MB, so you seem okay there (but there's no guarantee that you'll ever get that much, a lot depends on system configuration).

You may want to check with the DirectX tool dxdiag.exe how much memory your system indicates is available for memory. This number represents the current amount, not necessarily the maximum, but some games rely on this number to determine if enough memory is present to run. If this number is very low, RoN may simply not run because it doesn't realize that the system can allocate more memory if required.

How can you change your onboard memory settings ?

Basically you can't. It depends entirely on how what the driver and the OS can make available.

ANd where do you download the latest drivers for the 801e ?

Among other places here: http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...port_Intel.asp
Search for "810e", you'll find graphics drivers as the first search result (latest version is 6.7).

Is RON compatible with onboard graphics (assuming I have 32 MB video memory onboard ) ?

You'll have to ask that to Microsoft or BHG. And if it isn't, if they plan on supporting it in the future.

However, like Q Cubed said, I wouldn't be surprised if few or no onboard cards are supported though, so you're probably best off buying a seperate video card. Make sure it has at least 32MB of memory and isn't listed in the readme or anywhere else as a problematic card. Apart from that, any card will probably do (like Q Cubed said).

The readme mentions only 810 . Does that include the entire family (810e & 810e2) ?

Again a question for BHG/MS, but assume that it does (and the 815 family as well). The differences are minimal.

Additionally , how can I change the onboard graphics in BIOS ?

Differs per motherboard, but probably under the Plug & Play Settings (which are often under the Advanced menu). The option is usually called something like 'Primary Graphics Adapter' and you can often choose between 'Onboard', 'AGP' and 'PCI', depending on your hardware. Of course, you should only change this after you built in a new card, where the new setting depends on what kind of card it is. However, DON'T MESS WITH YOUR BIOS unless you know what you're doing. You could seriously screw up your PC if you mess up. If possibly, let someone with experience build in a new card and change your BIOS settings.

Hope that helps...

[monkspider]

Well, don't worry, I'm a serious gamer, just not very interested in FPS games, so this old clunker has served me well up to now.

[aneeshm]

Is the ASUS AGP v-3800 32 MB compatible with the Intel 810e ?

And does RoN have any issues with this card ? The readme says I have to download the latest drivers . I can do that .

[Q Classic]

v3800? is that an nvidia graphics chipset, an ati chipset, matrox, or something else?

pretty much any graphics card is compatible with a motherboard, so long as the connections line up. if you have an agp slot, an agp card will work on your machine. (agp slots are the ones that have a little thing at the end to lock it in, and tend to be close to the cpu/north bridge).

now, if you have onboard graphics, you'll have to go into the bios and manually turn off the onboard graphics.

one note: sometimes, you'll run into systems and bioses that don't want to work with other graphics cards. these tend to be the horrid brand-name computers, like packard bell, hewlett-packard, and compaq, among others, which seem to have tried to make everything as proprietary-shaped as possible to extract more profit from spare parts.

[aneeshm]

I've not bought the card yet , just checking if the Intel 810e has the capacity to support it .

[Locutus]

aneeshm,

Like Q Cubed said, as long as you have an AGP slot (which I expect you have, but you'll want to check your manual or the board itself to make sure) it'll work on your motherboard. As far as RoN goes, the readme says the following:

• ASUS v-3800 Ultra: Rise of Nations may not run on computers using this video board. To resolve this problem, download and install the latest drivers from http://www.asus.com.

So I assume this means it'll work as long as you use the latest drivers.

one note: sometimes, you'll run into systems and bioses that don't want to work with other graphics cards. these tend to be the horrid brand-name computers, like packard bell, hewlett-packard, and compaq, among others, which seem to have tried to make everything as proprietary-shaped as possible to extract more profit from spare parts.

Actually, I work on the customer support department of one such company and normally building in custom hardware should normally work okay. At least in the case of the company I work for, the only reason why it might cause problems is not because they try to make everything proprietary-shaped but because they always try to use the cheapest components available (while selling them at ridiculously high prices -- so yes, they're still trying to fleece their customers ). And of course, the cheaper your components are, the likelier it is they don't fully comply to standards, which can cause problems when building in 3rd party hardware (especially if this 3rd party hardware is also cheap).

[Q Classic]

yeah, in the case that the comp refuses to take in the graphics card, you'll either have to fork over money to the company who made your computer, or just return the game.

...make everything proprietary-shaped...

there are lots of reasons. my most recent experience with it was at work with a compaq whose power supply had died. we had to shell out extra, because your generic power supply wouldn't fit.
either way, i don't like most of those brand name ones in the states. dell's ok, gateway i've found has quality issues, but they're getting better...

anyway, good luck with trying to get that gfx card to work~ keep us posted?

[Locutus]

If I would ever buy a brand PC (which I'm pretty sure I never will), it would be a Dell.

All the other ones I know (including the one I work for) are crap products for rip-off prices.

[aneeshm]

Thanks for all the help . As a last request for you guys , do any of you know where I can find detailed documentation on th 810e ? This is so that I can check if it has the requisite AGP slots .

[Locutus]

The 810e is only a chipset, you need to find out exactly what motherboard you have, as different motherboards have different slots. If you don't have any manuals or anything for your PC and no dealer/helpdesk or anyone else to contact, you'll have to open the casing and look for the label on the motherboard itself (if you've never done this before it may sound a bit scary but I can assure you it's not -- you might even enjoy it ). The label should mention both a manufacturor and a type name/number. With that information you can search the Net (or post it here and I'll see what I can do). But if you're opening the casing anyway, you might as well check for the AGP slot yourself...

If you don't know what a motherboard looks like, it's pretty easy to find: it's the big board to which all other cards are connected, which houses the processor and fan and to which the cables from your various disk drives (HDD, CD-ROM, FDD, etc) lead. Below I've attached an image of what your average motherboard might look like. Note that PCI slots are always white so they usually stand out pretty clearly (unless they're all filled), making the motherboard easy to find. The AGP slot is always brown(ish) and otherwise looks a lot like a PCI slot.

Before you open your casing, make sure you disconnect the power! Also, before touching any components on the inside of your PC, touch some metal object first (e.g. the casing of the PC itself, if it's made of metal) to loose any static energy you might be carrying. The interior components of your PC are rather sensitive so static energy might damage them.

Should you want it anyway, you can find a lot of info on the Intel chipset on the Intel website (most of the info is very technical though): http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/810/810e.htm

[Locutus]

Here's a somewhat more detailed picture of a different motherboard, in case you need it (always good to have a broad basis for comparison):

[aneeshm]

The cost of getting the game to microsoft will be greater than getting the game in the first place (I live in India , I had it brought over with some friends coming form the US . )

It isn't compatible even if I get the required , non-onboard 16 MB video memory from a compatible video card ?

[Q Classic]

try the video card first. if that's not the case, then try to resell it.

[aneeshm]

Resell it ? To whom ? The serious gamers in Indore( Madhya Pradesh) are as rare as the occasions when tanks actually beat spearmen .

[Q Classic]

sorry, aneeshm. didn't know that.

hm. then save it for your next comp, if the video card doesn't work.