G400 question concerning AGP/PCI slots

[rob_b]

This is just a general question not aimed at being critical towards anyone but an attempt to understand all the help i've seen in here and the matrox forum concerning IRQ's, PCI position, AGP , etc. Why does the G400 max need to be on IRQ 9-12 ? Why does the the AGP aperature size need to be set to 256 mb ?
Why can't there be a card in the PCI slot next to the G400 MAX ? Was all this just oversight in designing the G400 or restrictions in motherboard designs. Do other video cards (recent releases) have these same limitations ? Or is all this just
driver issues that will soon be fixed ? Seems
like you should be able to just slap the card in there , install the drivers and let it rip !
rob_b

[Thundrchez]

1. Not all IRQs are created equal. The higher the IRQ, the higher priority it takes. The G400 works best if it is not waiting very long, so it is best to assign it one of the higher IRQs such as 9-12.

2. Some mobo's only work right with the AGP set to 256MB. Sorry I can't be more help than that.

3. Several mobos hardware share the same IRQ between the AGP slot and the first PCI slot. It is usually optimal if each device has its own IRQ instead of sharing. (Except for that IRQ steering, that is.)

The PC architecture has really evolved into a nightmare of a kludge. There is no good reason (IMHO) to not have 256 IRQs that can be assigned any which way we want. Plug and play is just a buzzword these days... The PC architecture needs to be overhauled.