Intel DQ35JO On Board Graphics Problem – Really Poor Performance

One of our shop desktops has a Core 2 Duo E6850 running at 3 GHz installed on an Intel Desktop Board DQ35JO Executive Series.

The system had Windows 7 Enterprise x64 installed a while back with all of the latest driver and BIOS updates being applied along the way.

The system has two older BenQ FP931 19” 4x3 LCD monitors connected to the on board video ports.

This system has had a strange behaviour since Windows 7 64 bit has been installed on it. When dragging a window between the two monitors or even moving it from one point on the desktop to another on the same monitor the drag process would be ridiculously slow.

It was almost like the window was being pulled through the water in the way it moved across the screen or screens.

We have a few in-house projects on the go today so while our client systems were doing their thing we pulled the workbench system apart.

There are two 320GB Seagate 7200.10 drives set in a RAID 0 stripe that had no connection issues. The CPU and cooler looked to be as expected as did the optical drive.

When we got to the memory we found:

• Channel 1 slot 1: 1 GB KVR667D2N5/1G
• Channel 2 slot 1: 512 MB KVR533D2N5/512
• Channel 1 slot 2: 1 GB KVR667D2N5/1G
• Channel 2 slot 2: 512 MB KVR533D2N5/512

When checking in the BIOS we saw that the memory sticks were in the correct place as memory status showed “Dual Channel Mode”.

So, we had a look at Kingston’s memory support site for the DQ35JO.

• Kingston Intel DQ35JO Memory Configurations

Note the distinct lack of any part number beginning with KVR533. We must have had the two 533 MHz parts in the parts bin when we put this box together and tossed them in to get a full 3 GB of RAM in the box.

We dug around in the parts bin and came up with four KVR800D2N6/1G sticks of RAM. We installed them, checked in the BIOS to make sure that all four sticks were being seen and then booted up Windows 7.

Once into Windows 7 we saw the above as well. So, we knew that our now 4 GB of RAM was being seen by the operating system.

But what of the window dragging and overall graphics problem?

It was gone!

Windows would now drag between monitors or around on a monitor with no lag time or any “fluid” like motions.

Since the DQ35JO’s on board graphics uses system RAM we can see why there would be a performance hit of significant proportions when the RAM in the system was the wrong spec.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Display Flicker - Change the Refresh

With the advent of LCD monitors, image flicker has become a thing of the past ... at least relatively speaking.

For the most part, a screen set to refresh at 60 Hz will provide a clear and flicker free image.

Some LCD monitors are a little more sensitive to outside electromagnetic interference (EM) than others. It used to be that one could change the refresh rate in the video card driver to 70 Hz or even 75 Hz to eliminate any EM interference.

On the newer and larger LCD monitors this does not seem to be the case.

Electricity cycles at 60 Hz. Sometimes, when the monitor is set to refresh at 60 Hz, the image will flicker.

Some may never notice it, but for those of us with relatively sensitive eyes we pick it up immediately. In the case of CRT monitors, the refresh rate was the first thing to get adjusted due to the annoying characteristics of the CRT's image flickering.

In this case, the monitor in question is a new Acer X243w. When the ATI driver was set to refresh at 60 Hz, there was no end to the amount of flickering in the monitor's image.

But, there was no option on that monitor to bump up the refresh rate to 70+ Hz.

There was however an option to bump it down:

Acer X243W Refresh at 59 Hz

Once the setting change was made and applied, the flickering was gone.

Having the refresh rate on the monitor set to 60 Hz along with the A/C being at 60 Hz when having EM issues is a bit like having two fans, one directly behind the other, spinning at the same rate but not synchronized. One will notice the lack of synchronization in the way of a flicker.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.