How have I crippled by 9700 Pro?

OT but you guys are just *so* knowledgeable :-) 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.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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> OT but you guys are just *so* knowledgeable :-) > > 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?

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?

> Did you *completely* remove the old drivers? Nope - I haven't physically changed anything, so didn't think it'd be that important. > 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. Can you shed more light on what Omega drivers are, please :) > You might want to consider it after you've cleared out all the > standard ATI drivers. Is there an ATI destroyer like detonator destroyer for nVidia?

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> 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?

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/

Maybe reinstall WinXp's own IDE driver and then this WinXP update: Q815411 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

"Mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> OT but you guys are just *so* knowledgeable :-) > > 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.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/

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

"Joachim Trensz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<b5tdr8$2ctugc$[email hidden]>...

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> Maybe reinstall WinXp's own IDE driver and then this WinXP update: Q815411 > > 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

I will give it a shot. Thanks for that. Mark Davison OVAL Deputy Admin Car #69 http://www.markdavison.clara.net/OVAL/

"AndyC" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:b5ug6c$5vo$[email hidden]... > 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 Ihad > 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 orprinter > 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. 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/