mtrox, If I were in your position (and I am, non-gamer but like high resolution on large monitor) I would wait. Most of my machines have passable cards in them. My wife's machine needs an upgrade, but I will wait for <$200 DX10 and HDCP.
That is pretty much my deal. Oh, and I set up a darn nice Vista laptop the other day and couldn't help but notice that although the Core 2 duo was slower than mine (I really saw it when it calculated a checksum after I brought over a big file), it did paint a screen faster than mine. When a lappy has a better video card than your desktop and said video card is by far the lowest score on your Vista report card, ya wanna do something about it.
Mtrox, I kinow for a fact that you will be able to pick up a 8600GT in the next few months for under $200 which is going to be a DX10 card. Allowing full eye candy even outside of games and I am pretty sure these cards will score in the 5.0 range.
I'll just wait then. I've got the full aero going, but compared to that lappy I was on last week, things just don't pop like they should. Even my Pent M 1.8 XP ThinkPad just zips compared to this Vista box, though I realize that's not a fair comparison.
The verdict is in. I also had a 4 port USB PCI card to plug in so I did that and the video card that just came in the mail today. Took the cheapo USB card right back out. Doesn’t play well with Vista
But the nVidia 6200 results?
<O:p</O:p
Before:
<O:p</O:p Processor 4.8 RAM 5.4 Graphics Aero 3.2 Graphics Gaming 3.2 Hard Disk 5.4<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p <O:p
Overclock and unlock could give you another +0.7. Since it does not share system memory and memory bandwidth with CPU it can also help with overall system performance. But if you did not like it you can sell it to me for the price you bought. Since I recommended it to you, I can take its responsibility. Let me know.
Since I recommended it to you, I can take its responsibility. Let me know.
God no mirage...I took a shot, I was a bit careless about it but I also knew it was only $33. I got $33 worth of learn'n out of it and to tell the truth, by my standards this is faster. I don't know FPS from MPH but now when I click on My Computer, the window snaps right up...just like on my XP laptop.
Now, where would I learn about "unlocking" and "overclocking"? Seems like the worst I could do is learn more and screw up a $33 video card that half the people here don't even like. Let's go!
Processor 4.8 RAM 5.4 Graphics Aero 3.9 Graphics Gaming 3.6 Hard Disk 5.4
I think it's a little faster, but if I buy something I pretty much find a way to rationalize it. Oh, and it's running at 1280 x 1024.
Wow it looks as if I was right on the button if you take the avergae of Aero and Gaming I guess in gaming I was a bit to nice, but didn't think the 6200 would hit over 3.8 for Aero
I never said I don't like it, I just said it wouldn't put your performance numbers where you wanted
Your most likely seeing an improvement in graphics due to anything being better than the 950 chip you had before, especially with it supporting all the new tech in the graphics world It might not do it and manageable gaming FPS but for desktop sleekness it should show some improvement
It might not do it and manageable gaming FPS but for desktop sleekness it should show some improvement
Yea that's my uninformed gut feel too Sledge. And if you look at my numbers improvement, by Microsoft's measure the real improvement was in "Graphics Aero"....whatever that measures...but I would guess that is more indicative of the speed increase I've seen. Menus do snap open a bit more, which is what I noticed as opposed to my XP notebook.
If your running Vista Ultimate I would encourgae you to run Dreamscape, and do other tasks as doing that will put the little card to the test for dialy activities outside of gaming
First, I am glad there is improvement in your Aero experience. On the other hand, the most drastic change in Aero performance has just happened by switching from GMA950 to a GPU that does not drag the system and support all the requirements of Aero. You might not notice much difference in Aero after this point with the modifications just as Sledge suggested. Overclocking and unlocking procedure requires Rivatuner. I did a little googling around since you are using Vista and found that Rivatuner is not working on Vista yet. The other possibility is modifying the BIOS but it is not recommended to modify BIOS before testing to make sure that the card actually works unlocked and overclocked. I suggest let's wait a little, there is chance that Rivatuner or a similar tool will pop-up for Vista soon. Or, I can prepare a mildly modded BIOS to flash the card and send you, since I have the same card (see #3 in sig).
Don't sweat it Mirage. I'm doing this out of curiosity more than anything else. I have a list of Vista problems that is growing daily (why is it such a $#%^!$@ing pain to search...this is better?) and don't need more.
Just thought I'd update on this. I'm an OC noob...just never done any of that so thought this $24 video card would be a good time. First I opened up 4 more pixel pipes with RivaTuner. Once you get it to work with Vista, that's a no brainer. It took my 3D video score from 36 up to 38 now!
As for actually overclocking.....no way. Seems to be a Vista thing from what I see. I did download the nVidia n Tune thing as the Vista driver doesn't even mention overclocking. Bottom line, I can't get away from factory settings. From what I saw on Google, seems to be a Vista thing. OCing nVidia in Vista is not easy at all.
When I ran my GeForce 6600 on Vista (which I think is what you are going for) it scored 3.8 for graphics and 3.7 for gaming. My brand new GeForce 7800gt scores 5.9 graphics and 5.3 gaming. Vista ran very smoothly with my GeForce 6600 (but I needed the upgrade for summer lan parties and for when Vista gets fixed). Just letting you know.
Edit: oops..I only read the first page of this thread..but I guess my info is still somewhat relevent.
Since I do not have Vista installed here, I can only tell you what I know from others: I hear that Atitool is working in Vista and it is also good for Nvidia cards. I use Atitool-0.26 to overclock my X1950xt in XP; it is a wonderful tool. It also has separate 2d/3d settings which is very handy for my really hot running x1950xt.
Thanks Mirage. I downloaded it but won't get to it tonight. I did try your atitool idea.....didn't work at all but I don't remember why. I think it was a Vista thing. Vista....Grrrrrrr
Thanks Mirage. I downloaded it but won't get to it tonight. I did try your atitool idea.....didn't work at all but I don't remember why. I think it was a Vista thing. Vista....Grrrrrrr
You know, you should just dump this Vista thing and go back to serenity of XP
You know, you should just dump this Vista thing and go back to serenity of XP
I do......everytime I get back on my ThinkPad. I bought Vista because I have some clients on it and I need to know it. I also end up doing some phone support and it's nice to have it in front of me. Other than that, it's always nice to get back on my laptop with XP.
I also end up doing some phone support and it's nice to have it in front of me.
I am sure the complaints about Vista will diminish after about a year with the release of service packs, stabilization of drivers, and compatible releases of the applications. You and other professionals will make this possible with your sacrifice, St. Mtrox. :bigggrin:
RivaTuner 2.1 is out with better Vista compatibility. Just to let you know
Thanks Mirage. That did it. I've now got twice the pixel pipes I used to have, and have moved from 300/550 up to 405/627 and the core is about 64 C just doing Windows stuff.
On the whole, a good project. For about $30 I've taken my Vista score from 3.2 up to 4.1 now, and learned a lot in the process.
Thanks Mirage. That did it. I've now got twice the pixel pipes I used to have, and have moved from 300/550 up to 405/627 and the core is about 64 C just doing Windows stuff.
On the whole, a good project. For about $30 I've taken my Vista score from 3.2 up to 4.1 now, and learned a lot in the process.
You could replace the simple cooler on the card with Vantec CCB-A4P. With that, you could overclock even higher. Of course, without playing games, it will not make much difference in Aero after this point. Also, you can check out this post if you need to enable HDR at some point.
Yeah, the card is only $30, but the satisfaction after making it work is priceless. Cheers!
Comments
That is pretty much my deal. Oh, and I set up a darn nice Vista laptop the other day and couldn't help but notice that although the Core 2 duo was slower than mine (I really saw it when it calculated a checksum after I brought over a big file), it did paint a screen faster than mine. When a lappy has a better video card than your desktop and said video card is by far the lowest score on your Vista report card, ya wanna do something about it.
Now....back to the Sledge/Thrax rumble.
But the nVidia 6200 results?
<O:p</O:p
Before:
<O:p</O:p
Processor 4.8
RAM 5.4
Graphics Aero 3.2
Graphics Gaming 3.2
Hard Disk 5.4<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
<O:p After:
Processor 4.8
RAM 5.4
Graphics Aero 3.9
Graphics Gaming 3.6
Hard Disk 5.4
I think it's a little faster, but if I buy something I pretty much find a way to rationalize it. Oh, and it's running at 1280 x 1024.
God no mirage...I took a shot, I was a bit careless about it but I also knew it was only $33. I got $33 worth of learn'n out of it and to tell the truth, by my standards this is faster. I don't know FPS from MPH but now when I click on My Computer, the window snaps right up...just like on my XP laptop.
Now, where would I learn about "unlocking" and "overclocking"? Seems like the worst I could do is learn more and screw up a $33 video card that half the people here don't even like. Let's go!
Wow it looks as if I was right on the button if you take the avergae of Aero and Gaming
I never said I don't like it, I just said it wouldn't put your performance numbers where you wanted
Your most likely seeing an improvement in graphics due to anything being better than the 950 chip you had before, especially with it supporting all the new tech in the graphics world
Yea that's my uninformed gut feel too Sledge. And if you look at my numbers improvement, by Microsoft's measure the real improvement was in "Graphics Aero"....whatever that measures...but I would guess that is more indicative of the speed increase I've seen. Menus do snap open a bit more, which is what I noticed as opposed to my XP notebook.
As for actually overclocking.....no way. Seems to be a Vista thing from what I see. I did download the nVidia n Tune thing as the Vista driver doesn't even mention overclocking. Bottom line, I can't get away from factory settings. From what I saw on Google, seems to be a Vista thing. OCing nVidia in Vista is not easy at all.
Edit: oops..I only read the first page of this thread..but I guess my info is still somewhat relevent.
You know, you should just dump this Vista thing and go back to serenity of XP
I do......everytime I get back on my ThinkPad. I bought Vista because I have some clients on it and I need to know it. I also end up doing some phone support and it's nice to have it in front of me. Other than that, it's always nice to get back on my laptop with XP.
I am sure the complaints about Vista will diminish after about a year with the release of service packs, stabilization of drivers, and compatible releases of the applications. You and other professionals will make this possible with your sacrifice, St. Mtrox. :bigggrin:
I'm pretty sure Winston Churchill was talking about us Vista crash test dummies when he said:
Thanks Mirage. That did it. I've now got twice the pixel pipes I used to have, and have moved from 300/550 up to 405/627 and the core is about 64 C just doing Windows stuff.
On the whole, a good project. For about $30 I've taken my Vista score from 3.2 up to 4.1 now, and learned a lot in the process.
You could replace the simple cooler on the card with Vantec CCB-A4P. With that, you could overclock even higher. Of course, without playing games, it will not make much difference in Aero after this point. Also, you can check out this post if you need to enable HDR at some point.
Yeah, the card is only $30, but the satisfaction after making it work is priceless.