Tweaking a Video Card
 

My primary system:

2.8GHz
WXP SP2
512MB RAM (PC2100--yes, I know I need to upgrade, just don't have the cash now)
Abit IS7 MoBo
GeForce 5700 LE video card (256 MB).

Anyway, I don't feel like I am getting the most out of my card and I was wondering if anybody was familiar with the settings for an nVidia graphics card. Sometimes my games are really, really jumpy. I don't really play "new" games, so I figured I may need to adjust my settings. I haven't as of yet out of fear for screwing the whole thing up.

Here are the games I play: BF1942 (and DC mods 7 and 8), CoD and occasionally I go back and play MOHAA (because I enjoyed it so much)--I inherit games, hence the fact that there is nothing really new here. Why pay for a game when I can get it after someone in the family is done with it?

I also do a lot of CAD work.

Oddly enough, BF1942 seems to have more problems than the other games, especially the new DC mod "DCX 8.1".

All of my drivers, for most of the stuff on my 'puter are new and updated.

I went through the settings for the graphics card, but I didn't know what most of it meant, so I didn't change anything.

Oh yeah, I run my games in 800 x 640.

Suggestions???

Thanks,

I remember a Geforce modding app that you could increase the voltage, memory speed, and GPU clock speed in. I lost it when I reformatted but it did work well for my card (geforce 3 Ti 200)

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com
http://www.guru3d.com

The forums on those sites are helpful for what you want. Rivatuner is a good overclocking program for NVidia cards. Faster memory that is 1gb or larger would do more for you than overclocking your VC, you might not even get a gain if your memory is the bottleneck. Just download Rivatuner from Guru3D and read some tutorials.

I know for a fact that BF1942 runs way better with more ram. 1 gig is better than 512, in that the loading times are dramatically lower, for example. I also know that the AI takes a lot of processor time, which can ruin your framerates - have you tried reducing the number of bots in single player mode? That tends to improve performance dramatically.

google for coolbits and follow the registry change guide...

the end all be all of video card tweaking programs:

http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

Check out RivaTuner, it allows you to tweak your video card to your heart's content. You can get it off of http://www.guru3d.com/.

Well, I started socking some money away so that I can get RAM. Rather than just get what I can afford right now, I figure I will save up and get a good matched pair of 512MB.

You know how Christmas works, the kids come first, I can wait.

Anyway, I downloaded and installed RivaTuner. Looked at it.....looks Greek. I went through the forum and FAQ and that didn't help much. I'm not comfortable changing things unless I know exactly what I am doing.

Side question: The "databases" that are included with the program in the "nvidia" folder, what are those for? I see a tab that allows me to import "presets" and I am guessing it is referring to that "nvidia" folder and the subfolder inside it.

i wish video cards were cheaper. there aren't alot of people in stores who ask for radeon or nvidia specifically.

thanks for the advice.

I did coolbits and was able to overclock my card quite a bit (apparently the card I bought is severly underclocked).

Anyway, it did help a little, but I think you guys are right about the memory.

I have been checking newegg and will buy a gig of PC3200 hopefully soon.

Thanks again.

Yeah, the Battlefield games are RAM <I>WHORES</I>. You'll notice a MASSIVE increase even going from 512 MB to 768 MB of RAM. Those games rely on RAM to the max. Going from 256 MB of RAM to 512 MB of RAM almost <I>doubled</I> the framerate of my girlfriend's computer in Battlefield 1942.

-Lasereth