<p>

First, let's check the supported modes of your video cards, and see if your it

supports fast writes. Remember to replace <c>nvidia</c> with the actual name of

your device in <path>/proc/driver/nvidia/</path>.

</p>

<pre caption="Video card check">

$ <i>cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card</i>

Fast Writes:     Supported

SBA:             Not Supported

AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x

Registers:       0x1f000017:0x1f000104

</pre>

<p>

This shows that my card is capable of Fast Writes, which can noticeably improve

performance, as you will see later. However, the card does not support side

band addressing (<c>SBA</c>, a great way to make your hardware to deliver the

performance it should). However, it is capable of writing at 4x, which is the

ideal setting, and should be used by default.

</p>

<p>

Next, let's check out the capabilities of the motherboard:

</p>

<pre caption="Mmotherboard check">

$ <i>cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge</i>

Host Bridge:     Intel Corporation 82815 815 Chipset Host Bridge and Memory Controller Hub

Fast Writes:     Not Supported

SBA:             Supported

AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x

Registers:       0x1f000207:0x00000104

</pre>

<p>

Unfortunately, though my motherboard supports SBA, it does not support Fast

Writes. This means that I can use neither Fast Writes nor side band addressing,

as both components need to support them. However, your hardware may support

both. If it does, you can try out the example settings below.

</p>

<impo>

Remember, the modes and capabilities for your video card and motherboard must

match for these settings to work!

</impo>

<warn>

Note that enabling <c>AGPFastWrite</c> on a VIA chipset will very likely cause

your machine to lock up. VIA chipsets do not play nice with fast writes, so use

this setting at your own risk.

</warn>

<note>

Remember, if you want fast writes and sideband addressing to work properly, you

will have to first enable them in your BIOS.

</note>