can I just blow it up?

[cyras21]

can I just blow it up? (screenshots ADDED)

I'm on the verge of putting a stick of dynamite into my case. I just upgraded my video card to GeForce 6600GT and my memory to 1GB PC3200. My cpu is an AMD Athlon XP 2000. The problem I'm having is playing both Halo and Far Cry, the graphics are distorted. I'm able to see through bolders and things are there that shouldn't be, like part of the walkway being suspended. I'm able to walk through it just can't see through it. Very annoying. Also, the games are locking up. I upgraded because Far Cry was sluggish on my Radon 9000. Frankly, I think even with it being sluggish it was better with the Radon. Is there something I'm missing here? Do I need to configure this card rather than just plugging it in?

Specs
MB- Asus A7S333
CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2000
VC - GeForce 6600GT
Mem - 1GB PC3200

 

[Echo_]

drivers????

www.nvidia.com

 

[4W4K3]

yes...i would reinstall my video, mobo, and sound drivers. possibly anything else that might be vital to playing your game. A reinstall of the game itself might prove to fix your problem as well. sometimes switching gfx card in the middle of a game will screw with the settings, be it DX or just the game.

 

[cyras21]

The video card has the most up to date driver. The sound card does not, but I don't understand how that could effect the display. The was a clean install on a brand new hard drive. My last one crapped out so the games are fresh and played for the first time with the new card. 4W4K3, you said to update the mobo driver. They have drivers? Didn't realize this. I'm assuming it would install like any other driver or am I wrong about this?

 

[4W4K3]

The video card has the most up to date driver. The sound card does not, but I don't understand how that could effect the display. The was a clean install on a brand new hard drive. My last one crapped out so the games are fresh and played for the first time with the new card. 4W4K3, you said to update the mobo driver. They have drivers? Didn't realize this. I'm assuming it would install like any other driver or am I wrong about this?

you have nvidia's latest drivers then? IF they are off a CD they might not be latest. Go to www.nvidia.com and see if you can find a more recent copy. If not then you must have gotten them already liek you said..

Mobo runs on Chipset drivers. What board do you have? Usually the manufacturer makes there own drivers and are free from there own site. Nvidia makes unified drivers so if you have the right chipset then those will work too. it's just like an ordinary driver install, you are correct.

 

[cyras21]

well, everything is updated and it's still locking up and distorting the graphics. I can't even use cntr alt dlt to get out of the game. I have to hold the power button and restart.

 

[4W4K3]

Your mobo's max AGP limit is 4X. that card you just bought is 8X.

Don't panic, you cna still use it. You need to set AGP to 4X in BIOS and in Windows if it doesn not read off the BIOS. that should solve all your problems.

EDIT: ALSO!!! Your board does not take PC3200 memory. the max it will run is PC2700 RAM. So in the BIOS your RAM you jsut bought is downclocked hopefully to 333MHz (or 166MHz...just half of the total speed). The only way to run that memory at PC3200 speeds is to overclock it, otherwise you should have just gotten PC2700. I do't think you wated your money if you can overclock it to 200MHz...otherwise you could have jsut gotten 1GBPC2700.

 

[Praetor]

Is there something I'm missing here? Do I need to configure this card rather than just plugging it in?

Hell ya ... "plug and play" should be called "plug and work" ... not only do you need drivers for the new card, you should get rid of drivers for the old one

They have drivers? Didn't realize this.

LOL hell ya

Your mobo's max AGP limit is 4X. that card you just bought is 8X.
Don't panic, you cna still use it. You need to set AGP to 4X in BIOS and in Windows if it doesn not read off the BIOS. that should solve all your problems.

Ive not ever even remotely heard of windows[xp] not reading the AGP spec properly....

otherwise you should have just gotten PC2700. I do't think you wated your money if you can overclock it to 200MHz...otherwise you could have jsut gotten 1GBPC2700.

True but theres not gonna be a world of difference ... not on the order of the performance we're seeing here



As for game locking up ... what settings are you playing at?

 

[cyras21]

I'm playing at the low settings. I've tried them all with Far Cry with the same results. Far Cry isn't locking up through, just distorted graphics. As far as the drivers, I've updated the drivers for the sound card twice but the old drivers still show up in device manager. I was planning on ungrading my motherboard with my tax return. Any sugestions?

 

[4W4K3]

Ive not ever even remotely heard of windows[xp] not reading the AGP spec properly....


True but theres not gonna be a world of difference ... not on the order of the performance we're seeing here

lol Windows read mine as AGP0X when i overclocked too far, it screwed up my gfx so bad. If his computer was crashing alot it could have a problem like that, but yah its unlikely...just check to make sure. In ym BIOS i can set it to 4X or 8X...so if i had a 4X card would the BIOS override the OS detection and try to run it at 8X? It might crash due to BIOS/OS trying to do 2 diff things i dunno...

True. I didn't mean a performance difference however. I meant he could have possibly saved ~$50 going with 1GB PC2700 stead of PC3200, like you said the difference isn't huge. I'd have opted for PC2700 myself if i wasn't planning on upgrading any time soon, used the extra money for sumthin else.

 

[Praetor]

lol Windows read mine as AGP0X when I overclocked too far,

LOL ok maybe I should have said "normal operating parameters" ... you and I both know when u start OCIng, dman near anything can happen

I meant he could have possibly saved ~$50 going with 1GB PC2700 stead of PC3200

Dang ... $50?? holy thats some spread

 

[4W4K3]

Dang ... $50?? holy thats some spread

well the cheapest kits are only like $8 difference lol. But you could easily make a $50 difference if you got different brands or low latency PC3200 or something. If only we could all be as lucky as you and get awesome overclocking PC2700 that would be a deal.

 

[Praetor]

well the cheapest kits are only like $8 difference lol.

LOL kits

If only we could all be as lucky as you and get awesome overclocking PC2700

Nahi find PC2700 is usually within 5 bucks of PC3200 (hence my surprise)

 

[cyras21]

and back to the topic at hand, lol any other ideas? It's getting late, so, tomorrow I'm gonna remove the sound card and see if it locks up during play. I guess it's time for basic troubleshooting.

 

[Praetor]

What settings are you playing the games at?

 

[cyras21]

low

 

[Praetor]

Ok ... at what resolution?

 

[cyras21]

screenshots so you know what I'm talking about. Sorry about them being so small, I had to crop them in order to upload them

 

[Praetor]

Wow. Did you uninstall the radeon drivers before installing FarCry?

 

[cyras21]

The radeon drivers were never installed on this hard drive. I'm currently playing on 800x600 but I've tried higher setting with the same results. any ideas?