GeForce 2 to GeForce 4

[Guest MelvinRafi]

Hi guys!Can anyone tell me why I get a 5 to 10 fps drop after upgrading from a GeForce 2 Ultra 64MB to a GeForce 4 Ti4600 128MB? I'm using the DetonatorXP 29.42 drivers.How can I fix this problem?Best regardsMELVIN RAFI

[Guest]

What kind of CPU, motherboard, type and memory (how much?), type of sound card, and hard drive are you using. Also, what kind of frames were you talking about prior to and after the card upgrade? What display (how much?) settings do you use?

[Guest]

Melvin - It could be the anisotropic filtering or the FSAA settings. If you are forcing level 8 (64-tap) anisotropic filtering and using 4xS AA, the framerate will probably be lower than the Ultra (which isn't all that slow a card). Try to set the GF4 options such that they are comparable to what was available with the GF2 and then see what the results show.TripNorthwood 2.2a at 2.72Ghz Abit TH7II-R512MB Samsung 40ns PC800Gainward GF4 64MB Ti4200 295/57029.42's DX8.1 WinXP ProInwin case / Enermax 431W PSU3DMark2001SE = 11911http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4001228

[Guest flightpro08]

Also remember that the GF4 is farily picky at BIOS settings and such. Visit www.guru3d.com for help on tweaking the most out of your card.Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer

[Guest MelvinRafi]

Thanks for the advice. My system specs are...Pentium IV 1.5 Ghz1 GB RamnVidia GeForce 4 Ti4600 128MB80GB HardDiskHow do I change the anisotropic filtering or the FSAA settings? Is there some sort of program I need to get?Thanks again.Best regardsMELVIN RAFI

[Guest]

It sounds like you haven't changed the driver settings for the anisotropic filtering of FSAA so it's less likely that that's the problem. Many of us are using RivaTuner to tweak the GF2/3/4 (the download is from http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/ ). You can get to the FSAA settings without any special program by going to the display panel at Start/Settings/Control Panel/Display and then clicking on Settings/Advanced/GeForce4 Ti4600/Additional Properties/3D Antialiasing Settings. Trip

[Guest MelvinRafi]

Thanks for the help. I've just turned on 4xS antialiasing and surprisingly have seen little to no drop in FPS. Do you know what the "number of lights" setting in the FS2002 display menu does? I haven't really seen much difference visually.:) Melvin Rafi

[Guest]

I believe the "number of lights" setting refers to the number of accelerated spotlight calculations which will be done by the video card. Spotlight calculations are among the slowest (the slowest?) of any type of light calculations done by the hardware. Framerates will theoretically increase as this number becomes smaller. The maximum number of accelerated spotlight calculations supported by most all video cards is eight. If you are not running XP, have you tried to clean out the drivers by using Detonator Destroyer and then reloading the 29.42's and then reloading DirectX 8.1? If not it may be worth a try. (See http://www.guru3d.com/files/ for Detonator Destroyer).Trip

[Guest MelvinRafi]

Yes, I've heard of Detonator Destroyer but I'm using XP Pro. Out of interest, I've also ran 3D Mark 2001 on my system and it gave me 8066 3D Marks. Is that good or bad? I've seen others get over 10000.Maybe it's just me, but I also notice that Gmax now runs a little slower than before (rendering is a little more stuttery). Just what am I doing wrong?:) Melvin Rafi

[DC10 1]

it could be due to the P4 1.5.... Cheers,Dickson

[Guest]

I don't follow the 3DMark comparisons too closely but 8000+ on a 1.5Ghz doesn't sound all that bad. Have you tried changing the AGP aperture settings in the BIOS? Try it at 64MB, 128MB, and 256MB to see if there is any change. I wouldn't expect your FS2002 framerate to go up much with the 4600 but it shouldn't drop either. I'm quickly running out of ideas though.Trip

[Guest MelvinRafi]

Trip, thanks for the valuable advice. I've found something quite intriguing. In GMax, I used the OpenGL driver instead of Direct3D, the one I've been using all along. I couldn't believe the results. Rendering in GMax is now superfluous! There are no stutters when I rotate the 40000 poly object or delays in loading whenever I select a part. It's fluid like. The strange thing is, the GeForce 2 Ultra 64 and Direct3D worked perfectly. I guess it's all down to the new card.My FS2002 framerates fluctuate with the different versions of the Detonator drivers. I find that the 28.32 and 30.30 drivers give me better performance than the 29.42 driver. Do you have any clues as to which version is the best?Thanks again.Best regardsMELVIN RAFI

[Guest]

Well...I get the best performance from the 29.42's :-) . Just goes to show how different systems react differently to the same inputs. The Direct3D problem is, indeed, a strange one. When I switched from a GF2 Ultra to the Ti4200 all the DirectX stuff seemed to work a bit better. Again, different systems and different results. The Ti4200 came with 28.32's on the Gainward CD and the results were really bad. As soon as I switched to the 29.42's things got much better and then slowed down a bit again with the 30.30's. It's a never-ending chase. Two forward and one back. Anyway, I'm glad the GMAX problem is solved. But the DirectX is still a puzzle to me.Trip