Drivers/ect for my old workhorse: GeForce 6800

[OOZ662]

I've still got myself a rig with an XFX GeForce 6800. Using the RivaTuner program, I can unlock a few new pipelines that are normally cut off. Here's the first question; with those pipelines unlocked, should I use RivaTuner's ability to "fake the system" into thinking it's a 6800 Ultra? It seems like otherwise the driver might not utilize the unlocked pipelines.

In the past, the recommended driver for the 6800 was ForceWare 61.77 IIRC. Is this still the case? I have one game (Spore) that used to garble up running Omega's 61.77, so I'm currently using ForceWare 169.21. However, I just started playing EVE Online and now that game has begun to garble and eventually crash in a pink/green mess that requires restart. Is this a case of incorrect drivers or simply dated hardware?

I know I ought to bring up these questions on their relevant boards, but AH has such a mixed community that I hope the knowledge is all here. Cheers.

[eagl]

That actually sounds a bit like overheating to me.  Also, if you unlocked the disabled pipelines at any point then you might be running parts of the cpu that were disabled because they were known defective.

You might consider making sure the heatsink is clean, fan is turning at the right speed, and heatsink has not come loose.  Ensuring suitable case airflow is of course a good idea.

[OOZ662]

I feel retarded for not thinking of that, honestly. Since it has a freakin' plastic coated heatsink (I mean, seriously...makes me depressed to call myself an engineer next to whoever thought that up) I wouldn't put it past it. Suppose it's past time to rip the side off this goliath.

From what I was reading around the time of buying this card many years ago, the point in locking off pipelines in some companies was to allow for the same physical card to be sold under all three labels (vanilla, GT, Ultra) with the vanilla being the one actually set to the decent price. Hence, you could unlock the pipelines supposedly without issue. Thing is only within the last six months did I discover RivaTuner's ability to mask the card as an Ultra, so I'm curious if the unlocked pipelines were even in effect while the system still saw it as a vanilla.

[OOZ662]

After cleaning, it seems to be topping out at 64 degrees C in game. I'd like to get a real heatsink for the thing (the Zalmans look nice), I just don't feel like dropping $50 into this machine.