N Vidia Ge force 2 gts pro woes

[Tilt]

N Vidia Ge force 2 gts pro 64Mb DDR. (Chaintech)

MB Chaintech 6 ATA4
PIII 500Mhz 100Mhz
256 RAM 133Mhz (Bios set for 100Mhz)
network card (PCI)
3 com PCI modem.
SB 16

BIOS Stuff
4 x AGP is enabled
64 MB extended video mem
All bios mem share stuff disabled
display is init via AGP.

Vid settings (in either V 7.78 or 12.41)

High image quality (not best)
tried enhansed mip mapping on and off.
FSAA at 2x2 (tried others settings too.. no dif)

other wise default.

Via Gforce tweak

Enabled VIA 4 x AGP drivers (they were any way)
Enabled AGP fast write etc.

Pro view 17" with latest drivers and 770 colour palette. (set at 84.5 hz)

DT is 600 x 800 32 bit AH 1075 x 775 32 bit.

MY problem

I previously ran a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI and I  now have a far less stable system for a moderate (if hardly noticable) increase in graphics quality. There is no increase in graphics quality at 16 bit rendering (I see blue bands in the sky)

Using Ge Force tweaks "fast setting" gave worse quality than the Voodoo 3 2000 at moderate increase in FR. (have only tried this with 12.41 drivers)

However now

If I have used the 3d attributes of the card in another program AH goes to white screen.

If I alt tab out of AH on return I get white screen.

I started with the 12.41 drivers which gave no increase in AH FR over the Voodoo 3 2000 at all and introduced instability in the direct draw tests in DX8.0a.

After removing all video drivers and re installing the 7.78 WHQL stuff direct draw is now more stable but I have had at least 2 video related fatal exception errors since.

The Voodoo stuff has also been removed.

With 7.78 drivers I do have an increase in FR although I have adjusted the max FR to 45 (was unlimited). In tower I get 30 /32 and runway in a La7 20/24. Looking at clear sky I of course get 45fps.

I presently cannot escape from a white screen (I have to reset).
Based on the 7.78 drivers is their a reccommended set up for stable & robust use in AH that can be alt tabbed ad infinitum.

Tilt

[bloom25]

Ok, here's what I would recommend:

(I'm assuming that is a VIA chipset board.)

First go to www.viahardware.com  and download and install the newest AGP driver.  4.05c is the newest I think. (Install in Turbo mode.)

Now go into the bios and set AGP speed to 2x.  There is only an extremely minor decrease in performance by doing so.  (Massive increase in stability on some systems though.)  Make sure fastwrites and sidebanding are also disabled.

At this point I would also change the mip-mapping level to "high quality" rather than "best image." This can be found usually by: right click desktop > properties > settings tab > advanced button > GeForce (etc) tab > additional properties > direct 3d tab > change mip mapping level.  (Note that the exact location may differ a little.)

That should take care of it.  

[bloom25]

OH, the alt tab graphics corruption can usually be fixed by setting AH and your desktop to be at the same resolution and refresh rate.  (Refresh is very important.)

[Tilt]

Originally posted by bloom25:
Ok, here's what I would recommend:

(I'm assuming that is a VIA chipset board.)

First go to www.viahardware.com  

Yup thx installed the 4 in 1 ( except the power control stuff)

Initial impression is the system is more stable and FR's are higher with no great graphics hit. I think I have an occasional stutter (mini screen warp) will check this further.

Tilt