Bad video card performance

fatsheepfatsheep
edited June 2009 in Hardware
I recently upgraded my Nvidia drivers and it doesn't seem like my computer's 3D graphics capabilities have been the same since. I really noticed it playing Medieval Total War which my comp usually doesn't have a problem running. Here are my specs:

AMD 64 3000+
Geforce 6600 GT (moderately overclocked)
2 Gb RAM

I used driver sweeper to remove my old drivers and install the latest ones for my card and the computer seems to work fine besides gaming stuff (although Age of Empires doesn't seem to be affected, perhaps because it is 2d and 10 years old ;)).

What steps should I take to fix this problem?

EDIT: I should also note that I recently added a 1 Gb stick of RAM as well. However, I'd think this would only make the computer faster, not cause problems.

Comments

  • miragemirage
    edited May 2009
    fatsheep wrote:
    I recently upgraded my Nvidia drivers and it doesn't seem like my computer's 3D graphics capabilities have been the same since. I really noticed it playing Medieval Total War which my comp usually doesn't have a problem running. Here are my specs:

    AMD 64 3000+
    Geforce 6600 GT (moderately overclocked)
    2 Gb RAM

    I used driver sweeper to remove my old drivers and install the latest ones for my card and the computer seems to work fine besides gaming stuff (although Age of Empires doesn't seem to be affected, perhaps because it is 2d and 10 years old ;)).

    What steps should I take to fix this problem?

    EDIT: I should also note that I recently added a 1 Gb stick of RAM as well. However, I'd think this would only make the computer faster, not cause problems.

    I would uninstall the latest drivers and go back to the drivers which was working better for you. The latest drivers are usually configured for better performance in the latest cards. I think 6600GT is too old to benefit from the latest optimizations. Feel free to try the new drivers in the future but also be ready to reinstall the old driver with an old card. I usually keep a database of scores of a standard benchmark (Crysis GPU test) to check the new driver's relative performance. I have reinstalled the previous drivers several times before after comparing with past the results. I also recommend reading the release notes to see if the bug fixes in the new release are relevant for your games and card.
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited May 2009
    mirage wrote:
    I would uninstall the latest drivers and go back to the drivers which was working better for you. The latest drivers are usually configured for better performance in the latest cards. I think 6600GT is too old to benefit from the latest optimizations. Feel free to try the new drivers in the future but also be ready to reinstall the old driver with an old card. I usually keep a database of scores of a standard benchmark (Crysis GPU test) to check the new driver's relative performance. I have reinstalled the previous drivers several times before after comparing with past the results. I also recommend reading the release notes to see if the bug fixes in the new release are relevant for your games and card.

    Hmm... I guess I shouldn't have assumed that newer = better. Thanks for the tip.
  • MidnightFlairMidnightFlair Washington
    edited June 2009
    Try removing the new stick of RAM. If you are using three sticks of RAM or if you have a 2GB and a 1GB stick you may lose your Dual Channel capabilities, also the timings and/or speeds may differ, slowing performance. One other method you could try would be temporarily reseting your video card to stock speeds, as the overclocking may not be compatible with the new drivers and/or game.
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