Graphics Drivers

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12-19-2003, 10:35 PM
lynx

As some of you may have noticed, I've just got a new graphics card.

It's an XFX fx5200. It performs fine. The graphics are great and very smooth.
However, there is supposed to be an option (after a registry tweak) to allow me to change the clock settings, but it's greyed out. I'm not particularly bothered about OC'ing the card, but I was interested to see what was available.

I did a little research and found a site which suggests that some drivers don't support the registry tweak, and directs you to the Nvidia site to download the latest drivers. I could see no harm in this, so I downloaded and installed them - no joy, the additional properties button was still greyed out. :(

I decided not to bother any further, and embarked on a quick session of PoP. Disaster, the whole thing was running like a snail. After a couple of minutes I realised it was unusable, and quit. :angry:

I've now restored the drivers which came with the card. Fortunately, everything is back to normal. I can now understand why some people give the fx5200 such a bad write-up, if they are using/have seen those drivers. Btw, the drivers in question are meant to support the whole GeForce FX range. :unsure:
12-19-2003, 10:57 PM
DWk

yah.... i still use 44.03 drivers on my card....they are the best for me :)

my card and me, that is hehe
12-19-2003, 11:08 PM
raiserblade2003

Quote:

Originally posted by DWk@19 December 2003 - 22:57
yah.... i still use 44.03 drivers on my card....they are the best for me :)

my card and me, that is hehe

i cant seem to find a driver for my mx440....always wear things happening on bf1942....it runs the game great, just the color is all screwy
12-19-2003, 11:09 PM
DWk

i cant run bf1942 well on my card.....who knows wtf it is.... bf1942 is crap engine thats one thing i know
12-20-2003, 12:54 AM
clocker

Lynx, I am disappointed.
When I saw " A Cautionary Tale" in the topic header I eagerly clicked right over, expecting to find bodice-ripping, heavy breathing, maybe ( with luck) a despoiled virgin.
Well.
There was none of that.
Instead, a dry, dispassionate commentary on video drivers.
Very misleading.

In a more on-topic vein...
Last night, whilst perusing the net for info about a DVD burner I am considering, I ran a cross a thread concerning tech problems associated with it.
Apparently, right after releasing the drive, the manufacturer put out a updated firmware release.
This flash killed the unit completely for many users.
Page after page of bitching and moaning re: upgrade.
Finally, a company tech rep responded..."The problems you are describing happen maybe once in a million flashes".
The immediate response-" Gee, imagine how special I feel being that one guy out of a million! Now, give me back my f*ckin MONEY!"

I decided against the purchase, btw.
12-20-2003, 12:56 AM
DWk

when i was a kid i pooped my pants and picked my nose....

hows that for a cautionary tale? :lol: :lol: :lol: :D :lol: :rolleyes: :)
12-20-2003, 01:02 AM
abu_has_the_power

well, back to the point. lynx, did u install the newest driver? and wat registry tweak did u use? my old gfx worked fine with the driver from nvidia.com and coolbits. it works with rage thing too. wat's up?
12-20-2003, 02:38 AM
lynx

Quote:

Originally posted by abu_has_the_power@20 December 2003 - 00:02
well, back to the point. lynx, did u install the newest driver? and wat registry tweak did u use? my old gfx worked fine with the driver from nvidia.com and coolbits. it works with rage thing too. wat's up?

Abu, you need to improve your reading skills.

The driver was from Nvidia's site, so I assume it is the latest driver.

The registry tweak (which had no effect either way) was the coolbits one.
12-20-2003, 02:51 AM
abu_has_the_power

Quote:

Originally posted by lynx+19 December 2003 - 21:38--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (lynx @ 19 December 2003 - 21:38)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-abu_has_the_power@20 December 2003 - 00:02
well, back to the point. lynx, did u install the newest driver? and wat registry tweak did u use? my old gfx worked fine with the driver from nvidia.com and coolbits. it works with rage thing too. wat's up?

Abu, you need to improve your reading skills.

The driver was from Nvidia's site, so I assume it is the latest driver.

The registry tweak (which had no effect either way) was the coolbits one. [/b][/quote]
yea, i noticed that. u might've dled an older 1 by accident. i don't know wat goes on in ur head. anyways, i don't c y it wont work. cool bits wooked fine on my AOpen card. should be the same with xfx
12-20-2003, 03:21 AM
tesco

For me the latest release is just what i needed. I was going to buy a new graphics card this christmas becuase Grand theft auto 3 and 4 (my favorite games) run pretty slowly on the card in hte haigher resolutions. When the new driver released i thought id try it out to see if there was any improvement and WOW i was just amazed at the speed i was getting, i have the game running with full draw distance, 1024*768 resolution with 32 bit color and 85hz refresh rate, 4x Anti-Aliasing and 2x antisotropic filtering. And the game feels like its running at like at least 40fp.

So the newest isnt always the best but in some cases it is, like in my case :)

btw, ive underclocked the card from 270\332 to 260\327 because it was getting too hot and i was getting all of thes4e little dots on the screen.

In the registry think for coolbits did u type in 1 or 3 for the value? its supposed to be 3 just making sure u got it right...
12-20-2003, 07:53 AM
3RA1N1AC

Quote:

Originally posted by clocker@19 December 2003 - 16:54
Apparently, right after releasing the drive, the manufacturer put out a updated firmware release.
This flash killed the unit completely for many users.
Page after page of bitching and moaning re: upgrade.
Finally, a company tech rep responded..."The problems you are describing happen maybe once in a million flashes".
The immediate response-" Gee, imagine how special I feel being that one guy out of a million! Now, give me back my f*ckin MONEY!"

well... that just affirms the idea that --if you are in the habit of updating firmware-- you should just wait a few days after each release, then go hit the forums and see what people have to say about it. let other people be the guinea pigs.

but then again, there isn't a whole lot of incentive to update the firmware on a recent model dvd writer. the last several months' worth of drives come with 4X or 8X compatible firmware (some of the older ones need to be updated for 4X writing). the only major reasons i can think of that you'd really need to do an update is if you chose a drive that initially had poor compatibility with blank media because the drive company did a rush-job on it, so now they have to go back and fix it with new firmware... or if you're trying to remove the arbitrary limit on dvd-video ripping that's included in the firmware.
12-20-2003, 08:29 AM
adamp2p

Quote:

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC+20 December 2003 - 08:53--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (3RA1N1AC @ 20 December 2003 - 08:53)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-clocker@19 December 2003 - 16:54
Apparently, right after releasing the drive, the manufacturer put out a updated firmware release.
This flash killed the unit completely for many users.
Page after page of bitching and moaning re: upgrade.
Finally, a company tech rep responded..."The problems you are describing happen maybe once in a million flashes".
The immediate response-" Gee, imagine how special I feel being that one guy out of a million! Now, give me back my f*ckin MONEY!"

well... that just affirms the idea that --if you are in the habit of updating firmware-- you should just wait a few days after each release, then go hit the forums and see what people have to say about it. let other people be the guinea pigs.

but then again, there isn't a whole lot of incentive to update the firmware on a recent model dvd writer. the last several months' worth of drives come with 4X or 8X compatible firmware (some of the older ones need to be updated for 4X writing). the only major reasons i can think of that you'd really need to do an update is if you chose a drive that initially had poor compatibility with blank media because the drive company did a rush-job on it, so now they have to go back and fix it with new firmware... or if you're trying to remove the arbitrary limit on dvd-video ripping that's included in the firmware. [/b][/quote]
Sorry to spam the thread, but its good to see you around Mr. Brain Maniac. ;)
12-20-2003, 08:30 AM
adamp2p

Quote:

Originally posted by clocker@20 December 2003 - 01:54
Lynx, I am disappointed.
When I saw " A Cautionary Tale" in the topic header I eagerly clicked right over, expecting to find bodice-ripping, heavy breathing, maybe ( with luck) a despoiled virgin.
Well.
There was none of that.
Instead, a dry, dispassionate commentary on video drivers.
Very misleading.

:lol:
12-20-2003, 09:06 AM
3RA1N1AC

Quote:

Originally posted by adamp2p+20 December 2003 - 00:29--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (adamp2p @ 20 December 2003 - 00:29)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-3RA1N1AC@20 December 2003 - 08:53
or if you're trying to remove the arbitrary limit on dvd-video ripping that's included in the firmware.

Sorry to spam the thread, but its good to see you around Mr. Brain Maniac. ;) [/b][/quote]
hey hey hey. i've been reading the forum pretty regularly, but just haven't seen much that i wanted to comment on. ;)

btw, i should've written "ripping speed." some drives will only rip at 2X, 4X, whatever, because of the firmware, when they are technically capable of going much faster with a bit of firmware hackage.
12-20-2003, 09:23 AM
Samurai

Quote:

Originally posted by clocker@20 December 2003 - 00:54
Last night, whilst perusing the net for info about a DVD burner I am considering, I ran a cross a thread concerning tech problems associated with it.
Apparently, right after releasing the drive, the manufacturer put out a updated firmware release.
This flash killed the unit completely for many users.
Page after page of bitching and moaning re: upgrade.
Finally, a company tech rep responded..."The problems you are describing happen maybe once in a million flashes".
The immediate response-" Gee, imagine how special I feel being that one guy out of a million! Now, give me back my f*ckin MONEY!"

I decided against the purchase, btw.

What make and model was this? Might prevent further people purchasing this piece of sh*t :)
12-20-2003, 12:09 PM
3RA1N1AC

Quote:

Originally posted by Samurai@20 December 2003 - 01:23
What make and model was this? Might prevent further people purchasing this piece of sh*t :)

a bad firmware release does not indicate a bad piece of hardware. it indicates... well... bad firmware.