updating my graphics card (I think!)

[pellet]

I have downloaded what appears to be the latest version of my graphics card from the NVIDIA website (as I want to replace my useless TurboCache one)

But every time I think I have installed it (double clicked on it, installed etc from its current location in My Docs), but when it is 'installed', I check, and TurboCache is still listed


Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

 

[collinsl]

Do you mean graphics card driver? If so, then you need to uninstall the old one first, then reboot and install the new one. The card will work fine with basic graphics (desktop, word processing etc) in the mean time, but the driver will get the best out of your card.

I know this sounds obvious, but are you sure that the driver is right for the card?

 

[pellet]

I don't know

I don't know anything about computers!

how do I find out whether it is compatible?

 

[collinsl]

What card have you got?

When you downloaded the driver, the nVIDIA website should have asked you for the model of your card to download the correct driver. If you put in the correct info, then it will have given you the right driver.

Anyway, if you are on XP, then follow these steps:

To uninstall the original driver, go to start -> control panel (may be via settings) ->then click on add/remove programs -> then scroll through the list until you find the nVIDIA uninstall wizard (I think there is one, if not then the nVIDIA graphics utility) -> then click on change/remove, or just the remove button if there is one.

Then follow the wizard steps to uninstall the driver. If it asks you to restart, then say yes. when it restarts, it may look a bit weird, but don't worry.

Once you have restarted, XP may run the found new hardware wizard. cancel it (IMPORTANT), and then run the driver that you have downloaded.

Follow the wizard's instructions, and then restart the computer once it has finished.

Then open up the nVIDIA control panel, have a good browse through everything, and set all of the options to 'let the application decide', or to their default levels. This may require some tweaking to get the right balance between performance and speed,, and the best way to sort this out is to run Trainz using the same settings as you used to, and then tweak the graphics card options until you have a good balance.

If you need any more help, then don't hesitate to put up another post.

Hope this helps!

 

[pellet]

No, the NVIDIA website did not give me an option for this


how do I find out my card? I think the turbocache is the card


Thanks for the help so far

 

[collinsl]

Who was the computer made by, and do you know the model? (It may be on a sticker on it somewhere)

 

[pellet]

HP Pavillion 061

I have (on dxdiag), under teh display options I have name and chip type, both seem relevant


Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)
Chip type: GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6375 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/4/2007 17:14:00, 5783424 bytes


any of them help the situation?

 

[collinsl]

Most definitely!

I will have a look on the nVIDIA website, and give you the name of the most up-to-date driver for your card.

Back in a mo...

 

[collinsl]

The driver you seek is on this page:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/winxp_169.21_whql_uk.html

It is listed as being compatible with your card, so it should be fine.

If this is the one you have downloaded, then sorry for wasting your time.

 

[pellet]

Thanks for that!


But one question, how will actually affect the performance?

 

[collinsl]

The driver may well 'talk' to directX9 and openGL better than the previous ones, as well as doing other graphics operations more efficiently, making the card seem to run faster. It's like comparing a steam train to a diesel. They both do the same thing, it's just that one is more efficient than the other. (Notice how I'm being very vague on which one is better...:hehe

Hope this all helps!

 

[pellet]

there is nothing on the list but NVIDIA drivers, should I 'delete' this?

 

[collinsl]

That's the one you want. Sorry about the others! Click on change/remove for that one, and then in the list, choose the bottom option: remove only these drivers, and then choose the nVIDIA display driver one.

 

[pellet]

So, I just click yes on this one?

 

[johnwhelan]

I have downloaded what appears to be the latest version of my graphics card from the NVIDIA website (as I want to replace my useless TurboCache one)

But every time I think I have installed it (double clicked on it, installed etc from its current location in My Docs), but when it is 'installed', I check, and TurboCache is still listed


Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

The 6200 is an entry level graphics card and is a bit light for Trainz you may wish to move to a faster physical card.

www.ebuyer.co.uk and search nVidia cards with agp in the search terms. My suggestion would be Nvidia GF 7950GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI AGP Graphics Card but it may require a bigger power supply. You can compare performance at www.tomshardware.com

Cheerio John

 

[pellet]

how much will it cost?

 

[johnwhelan]

how much will it cost?

Have a look on ebuyer.co.uk at what they have putting AGP in the search, cross reference that with the performance in tomshardware.com.

Cheerio John

 

[sethmcs]

Interupt this thead for important announcement

The 6200 is an entry level graphics card and is a bit light for Trainz you may wish to move to a faster physical card.

www.ebuyer.co.uk and search nVidia cards with agp in the search terms. My suggestion would be Nvidia GF 7950GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI AGP Graphics Card but it may require a bigger power supply. You can compare performance at www.tomshardware.com

Cheerio John

Interupt this thead for important announcement

John,

I took your advice and ordered 7950GT as it appeared to be the best card available for AGP board. Let you know how it goes.:wave: Got mine for $305.68 USD delivered. Hope they got some left. AGP video cards are almost gone and nobody is making new ones.

Now back to regular scheduled discussion.

 

[johnwhelan]

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John,

I took your advice and ordered 7950GT as it appeared to be the best card available for AGP board. Let you know how it goes.:wave: Got mine for $305.68 USD delivered. Hope they got some left. AGP video cards are almost gone and nobody is making new ones.

Now back to regular scheduled discussion.

It depends on what you had to start with and where you are located. There are rumours of a new ATI 3870 AGP card due out by the way. The 7950 was the best that ebuyer.co.uk had, that did not require a changing from nVidia to ATI for a non technical person.

In the states there are a wider range of video cards available and I highly recommend checking with tomshardware.com about their recommendations. I don't recall their top recommendation being that expensive.

Cheerio John

 

[Magicland]

Interupt this thead for important announcement

John,

I took your advice and ordered 7950GT as it appeared to be the best card available for AGP board. Let you know how it goes.:wave: Got mine for $305.68 USD delivered. Hope they got some left. AGP video cards are almost gone and nobody is making new ones.

Now back to regular scheduled discussion.

WOOF! That's a lot of dough for a soon to be 2 generation old card, but if you're stuck with AGP, there isn't a lot of choices and they do seem to be charging a premium. Before I upgraded my mobo, I was considering an ATI x1950Pro (actually bought one, but I had artifacting issues, and returned it). They seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth though.

Just got a nice MSI GeForce 8800GT (factory OC'd to 660 Mhz) for $200, but that's a PCI-E card (and, of course, I had to upgrade the mobo, processor and memory to go from AGP to PCI-E).