[ben101]

Helloo,

I have this 7900GTO card, with brilliant specs and it had an excellent price tag. However it is not running the way it should. It will run the games with what is says is full graphics but when i see the same game on another PC which has lower specs than mine, the graphics are blatently better.

I thought it might be the driver i had so i went to the CD that came with the card and i clicked on the download driver button and the nvidia setup loads and then says:
"The NVIDIA setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your hardware. The setup will now exit."
I have also tried the MSI website and tried drivers that it says are for my card and drivers that it says are for the 7900gt and 7900gtx because it seems close enough, but both have the same problem.

I have just checked what driver i have at the moment and it says 9.1.4.7, which i presume is the same as 91.47 which is the one that is for my card.

Would uninstalling and then reinstalling the driver help, or maybe getting an older driver...
I am puzzled.

My other specs are:
AMD Dual Core 4800+
2GB RAM
600W PSU

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Jones]

Okay, first thing to do is download the drivers from nVidia's site. Always always always download the drivers from the GPU mfg, not the card mfg. Here's the link to the nVidia download page:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

 

[ben101]

OK i click on Geforce and TNT Series but i have never heard of TNT. Should i be clicking Geforce 7 Go Series???

 

[griffinspc]

And I'll add to completely uninstall all previous drivers using Add/Remove and the device manager before installing the new set/software.

 

[ben101]

Add/Remove AND the device manager... which one???

 

[Jones]

OK i click on Geforce and TNT Series but i have never heard of TNT. Should i be clicking Geforce 7 Go Series???

No. The Go series are mobile cards. You want the GeForce and TNT section. The drivers are the same for both products. Then choose your operating system.

 

[griffinspc]

Add/Remove AND the device manager... which one???

You should have a listing in the Add/Remove programs that's named Nvidia or MSI graphics. It's hard to say but there should be something. In the device manager you'll want to go to Device Manage / Display Adapter and open the listing under that and go to the driver tab and choose "Uninstall".

Both Nvidia and ATI are very picky about clean installs. They hate being install over old drivers / software.

 

[ben101]

Yes, i have an NVIDIA Drivers in Add/Remove Programs... should i uninstall via device manager first, or through Add/Remove Programs?? Does it even make any difference?

 

[griffinspc]

I always do the Add/Remove first. After both are uninstalled you'll reboot in VGA mode. The card will be recognized by Windows on boot and ask you if you want to install it. Choose cancel all the way through until Windows is fully loaded and then install the drivers you've downloaded per Jones and then reboot and let it install the card.

 

[ben101]

Cheers. will do it now...

 

[ben101]

OK, the new driver has been installed successfully, however, i am not seeing any difference in graphics or 3D Mark score. In fact, my 3D Mark Score in 3D Mark 05 has go0ne down from 9500 to 8500 roughly. For my specs, my computer isnt performing how it should and its very annoying.

Any other ideas?

 

[Jones]

Do you have any background applications running? Is windows up-to-date?

Also, do a full spyware scan/virus scan, defrag, and disk cleanup.

 

[ben101]

okee dokee... windows is up to date, but ill do the rest of the stuff you mentioned.. cheers

 

[griffinspc]

Is your rig reporting the right processor speed, amount of memory, etc.?

 

[griffinspc]

Done it myself, worked so hard to fix something, maybe reseating a card, forgot to plug the power connector back in. Any chance here ?

 

[ben101]

Definately no chance in that... and it is reporting the right specs.

Good news though, i found 3D settings in the NVIDIA control panel, because i didnt realise there was a standard and advanced view. In here i changed the setting all to their best. They were application controlled before. For some reason this made battlefield 2142 looks a whole lot nicer, which is wicked.

I think for now the problem has been sorted, thanks anyway, and cheers for the fast response.

 

[ben101]

OK, the graphics on battlefield may be better, but on 3D Mark 2001 SE i am getting 19,200 which is definately not right for a machine like mine, and that was with my graphics card overclocked slightly.

It dont make no sense!!!

 

[Skivvywaver]

I think when you were getting 9500 in 05 you were maybe a little slow, maybe. If you were slow it is not by much...possibly 500 points.

I am running dual cards with my processor OC'd to 2500 mhz and my score is 13171. Granted, I didn't set up to bench or I may have scored a few hundred higher. Here is a screenie, my specs are in the drop down on my fancy little computer next to my name.

 

[ben101]

Yes, i see. OK, and i suppose its not important what 3D Mark score you get, as long as it will play the games you want it to play, then everything is ok.

Well thanks....

 

[Skivvywaver]

Yes, i see. OK, and i suppose its not important what 3D Mark score you get, as long as it will play the games you want it to play, then everything is ok.

Well thanks....

Exactly. Being king of the hill in benchmarks will get you two things.

1. Bragging rights.

And

2. An empty bank account.

I have been at the top and I have been mid range and while I am at the moment still in the top 75%-85% or better, think of this. 6 months ago I was crushing people.

Never again. A grand or better in video cards. I was stupid.(actually, I was trying to buy happiness after a traumatic event in my life but still.....)