rec.autos.simulators

AMD XP2400+
Abit NF7-S nForce2
Powercolour 9700 Pro
1x256Mb PC2700 DDR (the other 256Mb being RMA's as of now)
XP Home
DX 9

After getting results that I thought were a little substandard in
3DMark and N2002/3 I thought I'd go about updating drivers to the
newest I could find, see if/where I was going wrong.

I know, I know - I shouldn't worry about benchmark scores, but I did
it anyway.

Updated the BOIS to latest version.  Downloaded the 2.00 unified
nForce drivers (I've only just found that there are 2.04s now).

When installing mobo drivers I'm asked if I want to install th
optional, but better performing, nForce IDE drivers.  I say yes.

Reboot, but when XP starts PC crashes, reboots, crashes, reboots ad
nauseum.  Looks like it could be a conflict with CDR software as I see
the splash screen for it before the PC dies.  Safe mode start-up.
Remove nVidia drivers.  Reboot, crash, etc.

Safe mode.  Revert to restore point.  Reboot.  XP wants me to
re-activate windows but I've made too many hardware updates.
Brilliant.  Anyway, PC starts up OK.  Install the 2.00 drivers again
this time *without* the IDE drivers and PC seems OK.

Run 3DMark2001.  Score dropped from the low to mid 12Ks down to just
over 10K.

Crap.

Reinstall 3.2 Cats.  No change.

Other than suggesting a complete reformat etc, anyone help?

Cheers,

Mark Davison
OVAL Deputy Admin
Car #69
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Did you *completely* remove the old drivers?

I use Omega drivers because the readme specifically states that I
don't have to remove the old drivers in order to update to a newer
version.

You might want to consider it after you've cleared out all the
standard ATI drivers.

Another item of note - with the Omega drivers, he recommends NOT
using any tweakers since he's already taken care of the necessary
stuff for you.  I'm running Cat 3.2 and I've noticed about a 10fps
increase in NR2K3.

FWIW, I don't run any of the benchmarking tools.  Actual game
performance is the best indication of the card's abilities.  How
doews NR2K3 run with your current setup?

Nope - I haven't physically changed anything, so didn't think it'd be that
important.

Can you shed more light on what Omega drivers are, please :)

Is there an ATI destroyer like detonator destroyer for nVidia?

Below par.  This is why I've been digging.

N2002 findings:

D3D (opengl is worthless on 9700Pro) on 2400XP/nForce2/9700Pro
gives about a 20-25% improvement over D3D on on 1800/SiS735/Ti4200

Bout what you'd expect?  Probably.

But

OpenGL on slow system runs 20-25% better than D3D so in real terms the new
system is actually no better than the old for N2002...

Regards,

Mark Davison
OVAL Deputy Admin
Car #69
http://www.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/

Apparently, the new IDE drivers increase the CPU utilisation. I don't think
they'd do so without disk access, but I guess it can't hurt to install the
fix.

At http://www.warp2search.net/index.php you can read more about it (go there
quickly, the posting will scroll off within a few hours) and look for this
posting:

Windows XP SP1 Hotfix Q815411 Fixes High nForce 2 CPU Utilization

Achim

Some time ago I decided to update my BIOS and in doing so it reset
everything in there back to default.
On reboot the system kept crashing out unless I went in on safe mode. I
ended up rebuilding the system twice before I realised it was because I had
all the serial ports, printer ports, USB and other resources back on, it
meant that I was low on IRQ's etc. So, as I don't use the serial or printer
ports (I'm all USB) I disabled them. Instant fine boot and a system that
runs as sweet as a nut now.
So, don't overlook the obvious if you've flashed your BIOS.

Regards,
AndyC

Thanks for that.

Mark Davison
OVAL Deputy Admin
Car #69
http://www.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/

I've been through once but I'll have another scour...

Cheers, mate.

Mark Davison
OVAL Deputy Admin
Car #69
http://www.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/