Q: I just bought a game called Empire total war. I have 2GB of RAM and a Q6600 nvidia quad core and a 9300 GTX graphics card and I just wanted to know what would make my game run smoother? RAM or processor?
Q: Can I replace my graphics card in my Toshiba Satellite® L505-S6959 laptop (with a NVidia G-Force 9800)?
Q: I recently installed two GPU’s in my computer running 64 bit Windows XP and was hoping to run them in SLI configuration. One is a GeForce 8600GT 512MB manufactured by KFA2 and the other is a GeForce 8600GT manufactured by Nvidia. After hooking everything up I found there were no SLI options or multi-GPU settings at all in the Nvidia control panel.
My computer has detected both GPU’s so there is no discernible hardware problem. All the latest drivers have been installed. After digging around for hours in the control panel I found the system information, which told me that my two cards have slightly different clock speeds and various other technical differences. Is this the reason I am not able to enable SLI? Is there any way around this?
A: After reviewing your link to GPU-Z data we can determine that the ram does not match in the cards. So while the card has the correct GPU for an 8600GT card it does is a 128MB card. It is a very stripped down model and is the reason you cannot enable SLI.
This should be a warning for anyone wanting to enable SLI. Make sure you double check all the information related to your graphic cards to make sure that they are identical.
Read Question HereQ: I have a P4 Computer 1.8 GHz, 1 GB Ram, FX5500 Geforce Video Card running Windows XP Home. I also have DX9.0c installed.
My problem is loading the video drivers for the nVidia Geforce fx5500. I get the cursed yellow exclamation mark on the device manager for the nVidia. I tried everything to get the drivers to re-install. I removed the card and re-installed. I tried uninstalling the drivers manually too and it still did not work.
It always gives me an error that the video drivers didnt install properly. I play world of warcraft and when I click on the game I get to the play window and click play then I get the error failed to find suitable video display device. So I searched online at Blizzard (W.O.W. Site) and Nvidia site to get answers and still nothing.
I tried downloading the drivers and extracting them from the EXE file to try to manually update the drivers too. and again that didn’t work. The World of Warcraft site says to go to bios and re-assign the IRQ to VGA option. My computer doesn’t have that option.
Still I can get on the computer. I have a high resolution display just not from the nVidia but the monitors plugged into the nVidia card. So I cant play World of warcraft because the video drivers don’t appear to load. Is there anyway to fix this?
Q: Hello, recently my ACER laptop started having problems shutting down. I’m using Windows Vista Home Premium with an Nvidia GeForce 8600GT.
It first occurred after my laptop automatically shutdown because my power was running low. Since then when I go to shutdown it freezes of the “Logging Off Screen”.
I’ve recently installed Norton 360, 2 days prior to he problem arising.
I’d also like to note that FireFox was running when my Laptop shut itself down and now takes 5-10mins to load up. Windows explorer also wont load full stop. I’ve also noticed my internet connection icon in the bottom left of the desktop screen constantly has a red cross through it even though the internet is connected.
This, along with information in your forums led me to believe that is was the Nvidia Display Driver Problem. Therefore I tied disabling the driver following the guidelines at http://askthegeek.kennyhart.com/2005/11/my-computer-wont-shut-down.html
This unfortunately did not work. I decided next to uninstall Norton, but that also freezers at the end of the uninstall process.
I was able to uninstall FireFox but that has not helped either.
I’m really not sure what the problem could be and its now beginning to effect more then just my shutting down process, as my laptop is generally running slow and some programs just wont load or freeze up.
Thanks in advance will.
Q: I am buying a new PC and my son and I game a lot. Would I see a performance difference with 2 nVidia 8800GT cards instead of just 1? We will be running Windows Vista on the new computer.
A: The nVidia 8800GT is a great video card. I’m running one myself right now, it’s a wonderful balance of price and performance for the enthusiast PC gaming market. One of these cards hooked into a nice system can run just about anything with max detail and great performance. Adding a second card will give a boost to your frames per second (FPS), however for most games you’ll probably already getting 30 to 70 FPS with just one card and you won’t be able to notice the difference.
If you’re still on the fence about getting a second card you can always add it down the road. You’ll just need to make sure that the motherboard has SLI support. If it does, you can buy an identical card (~$260 right now) add it into the computer and you’ll be all set.
Just remember as you plot for the future that video card technology moves at breakneck speed, and that very often one brand new card is dramatically faster and cheaper than two of last years video card.
Here are two nice big reviews of the nVidia 8800GT, they also include benchmarks showing the performance difference between running one or two 8800GT’s.
Q: I am having issues with my brand new NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT AGP 256ram memory card. I am trying to play The Sims 2 (my game has all expansions and all stuff packs) and the game simply crashes to a black screen after 20 minutes. If playing in a windowed mode, it crashes to a blue screen and the game can be heard still playing though the graphics are gone and no actions are available. My previous card, an NVIDIA 5600 LE played the game without need for driver updates or any issues. This one has been a nightmare. How do I fix it?
A: Let’s begin with a possible explanation for why the 5600 works but the 7600 does not. By looking at the Minimum System Requirements for The Sims 2, you can see that the 5600 is officially supported while the 7600 is not supported. But due to the fact that help articles for The Sims 2 are undated, it is difficult to know if the current capabilities of the game are actually listed in the system requirements article or not.
Don’t despair! There are still a few ideas worth exploring. First, you should visit The Sims 2 Update Page and install all of the updates pertaining to you. Then navigate to the NVIDIA Driver Downloads page an install the latest 7600 drivers. As of this writing the latest set of official drivers for the 7600 on Windows XP appears to be 163.71 (September 28, 2007). Additionally, you might want to consider installing optional NVIDIA GeForce software, which will give you greater control over you graphics card.
If none of the above fix your problems, it might help to uninstall the Open for Business Expansion Pack and the Family Fun Stuff Pack, due to a known issue listed in The Sims 2 support documentation entitled Crashing or graphical corruption, using an NVIDIA graphics chipset, after installing Open for Business or Family Fun Stuff. You may also wish to contact The Sims 2 Technical Support for more ideas.
