Msi Fx5600 D.o.t.

[Wolf03]

Hi, I had a MSI Geforce Nvidia FX5600 at 256 mb for almost a year and I just updated the drivers. In the MSI clock section I have the D.O.T. (Dynamic Over-Clocking). My question is if this type of over-clocking is reliable? I have it set on "Colonel" right now.
Also, what can I do to get the most out of my video card?
I received a new computer...P4 at 3.0 Ghz with HT, 512 mb RAM and my video card is at AGP 8X, yet the new games that are comming out don't work smoothly with detail on max. For example, the Need for Speed Underground 2 Demo laggs tremedously with full detail on and a resolution of 1024x768. To have the game working smoothyl, I have to set it at 800x600 and turn of "Light Trails" but this sort of kills the experience.
Any advice?

[TheOne]

nfsu2 is still a demo, final products usually run faster.
and you shouldn't have gotten the gfx5600 in the first place, the whole gfx line that nvidia made was bad, flawed with overheating and couple of other problems.
anywayz, go into display properties and look for things you can lower, like the AA and AF.
and software overclocking is usually not recommended.
but you can try http://www.omegadrivers.net/ this drivers which are usually better since they're optimized compared to the normal 1's.
and if am correct that 1 comes with an overclocking program also, with a program that checks for artifacts(when you overclock to much, it'll start giving you artifacts, thats what that program is for).

[Wolf03]

Thank you for the advice.
I turned off the D.O.T. and put everything back to default and didn't really notice any huge difference in performance. The new drivers have some useful things and I really like that if you want to over-clock it, you can test the card for optimal performance.
Lately I've read that the FX series has problems but I almost have a year since I have bought and it's been a conern now because the computer has been upgraded, yet some games still lag when I put maximum detail and resolution. Plus the budget was really tight and 140 Canadian dollars for the card from a show is really good value, so I couldn't let it slip. When the time comes, this cars will be replaced...but not in the near future.
And do you actually have proof or evidence that demos run slower than full games? .
Thanks anyways.

[TheOne]

not really but its a demo.......its not the real thing, it doesn't have all the bits of fine coding that is put in the actual game.(tho sometimes its the other way around, actual game lags while demo is fast. *cough* deus ex 2 *cough*).

oh and games can lag if you have 2 many programs running(IE background programs, spyware, adware, viruses, etc.)

[@wall]

hey mate, i have a 5700 and yeh had similar problems with nfsu2 demo as well. an instant fix for me and for any app really, is to tab out of the game once it is running and increase the priority of the exe file within the task manager. put simply, this gives more of the page file and cpu time to the game so it does run faster...

if your not sure how to do this let me know. also be very weary with any form of software clocks. i over-clocked my card by only 25mhz and the machine ran slower as a result (it just wasn't stable)...

[PerfAdv]

What if any advantages to having nfsu/2 or for that matter any other game on pC. My computer is a couple of years old and has the 64 MB NVIDIA Geforce2 MX, so it probably wouldn't perform like the new ones. Still, I got the PS2 for simplicity of operation, true PnP Plus @ $150 for the console it's cheaper than a lot of video cards.

[Wolf03]

Originally Posted by @wall

hey mate, i have a 5700 and yeh had similar problems with nfsu2 demo as well. an instant fix for me and for any app really, is to tab out of the game once it is running and increase the priority of the exe file within the task manager. put simply, this gives more of the page file and cpu time to the game so it does run faster...

if your not sure how to do this let me know. also be very weary with any form of software clocks. i over-clocked my card by only 25mhz and the machine ran slower as a result (it just wasn't stable)...

I never thought of setting the priority. I know where it is (right click on task bar...Task Manager...Processes and right click on the .exe demo file). And since you know this, which is the best...High, Realtime, etc.?

I over-clocked the video card by as much as 75mhz but if I go any higher and enter a game, it simply freezes in the menu and I didn't notice any major improvements, so I set it back on default.

TheOne, I know what you mean by the background programs. I had Media Player open so I can listen to my own music but when I entered the game, it had times when it lagged a little bit and it was quite annoying because it would work fine for a minute, then would start lagging. I don't have to worry about viruses and spyware, since:
1. It's a new computer, so I didn't download much off the net.
2. I have an antivirus and a firewall (in fact two...since the Windows firewall from SP2 works sometimes too).

PerfAdv, maybe you should really think about upgrading it. Plus, a console doesn't have the same advantages as a computer. I never had a single console in my entire life. My dad is a programmer so it runs in the family with the computers.

[SlickHolden]

Originally Posted by Wolf03

Hi, I had a MSI Geforce Nvidia FX5600 at 256 mb for almost a year and I just updated the drivers. In the MSI clock section I have the D.O.T. (Dynamic Over-Clocking). My question is if this type of over-clocking is reliable? I have it set on "Colonel" right now.
Also, what can I do to get the most out of my video card?
I received a new computer...P4 at 3.0 Ghz with HT, 512 mb RAM and my video card is at AGP 8X, yet the new games that are comming out don't work smoothly with detail on max. For example, the Need for Speed Underground 2 Demo laggs tremedously with full detail on and a resolution of 1024x768. To have the game working smoothyl, I have to set it at 800x600 and turn of "Light Trails" but this sort of kills the experience.
Any advice?

That is really strange, I run a AMD mobile cpu, With a old G/Force 4 and the NFSU2 runs perfect. Try your old driver again one time, I have updated myn over the year 3 times, The last one i did was perfect for games, The second was slow and i always had problems with it so went back to driver 1, Till the third one came out, Sometimes new drivers arn't all that good for your pc not all just some can expirence trouble

[Wolf03]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

That is really strange, I run a AMD mobile cpu, With a old G/Force 4 and the NFSU2 runs perfect. Try your old driver again one time, I have updated myn over the year 3 times, The last one i did was perfect for games, The second was slow and i always had problems with it so went back to driver 1, Till the third one came out, Sometimes new drivers arn't all that good for your pc not all just some can expirence trouble

It's not the drivers...in fact when I updated it to the latest, it was a little bit faster. Also, the drivers for Nvidia and MSI are all up to date but there is a later driver from "Windows Updates", yet when I try to install it, it says that downloading has failed??? Is it because of XP Media Center 2005? Troubleshooting didn't help at all (not surprised at because it's Microsoft).
Also, did you actually go into the Options menu and put every individual component at max? There is actually a difference between setting the overall details to the max and setting each individual component to the max.
Prince of Persia - Sands of time works excellent with max detail and a res. of 1024x768...same with PoP - Warrior Within Demo, NFS Underground is also at max, GTA - VC, Juiced Demo and Colin McRae Rally 2005 Demo work perfectly. I only have trouble with Doom 3, Perimeter, NFS UG 2 and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.

[SlickHolden]

Originally Posted by Wolf03

It's not the drivers...in fact when I updated it to the latest, it was a little bit faster. Also, the drivers for Nvidia and MSI are all up to date but there is a later driver from "Windows Updates", yet when I try to install it, it says that downloading has failed??? Is it because of XP Media Center 2005? Troubleshooting didn't help at all (not surprised at because it's Microsoft).
Also, did you actually go into the Options menu and put every individual component at max? There is actually a difference between setting the overall details to the max and setting each individual component to the max.
Prince of Persia - Sands of time works excellent with max detail and a res. of 1024x768...same with PoP - Warrior Within Demo, NFS Underground is also at max, GTA - VC, Juiced Demo and Colin McRae Rally 2005 Demo work perfectly. I only have trouble with Doom 3, Perimeter, NFS UG 2 and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.

I just had a look at what you said, And gave it a go, Stuck all up full it was slow, Put the world detail one click down all works fine now
To run that at full speed it looks like it might need a radeon 9800pro

[Wolf03]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

I just had a look at what you said, And gave it a go, Stuck all up full it was slow, Put the world detail one click down all works fine now
To run that at full speed it looks like it might need a radeon 9800pro

Ummm, I tried putting World Detail one less down with everything on max and with a 800x600 res and it still lags. My only option is to turn of Light Trails and everything else on max with a 800x600 res. What resolution do you use?

[@wall]

Originally Posted by Wolf03

I never thought of setting the priority. I know where it is (right click on task bar...Task Manager...Processes and right click on the .exe demo file). And since you know this, which is the best...High, Realtime, etc.?

set it to high and it should be sweet. also i always have itunes running in the background and you need to set that to high as well so the music won't lag...