Best way to upgrade a graphics card

[charlaph]

Advice needed!

I've bought a Radeon 9500 128Mb graphics card, and I'm hoping it'll be compatible with the softmod to convert it to 9700Pro level using RivaTuner(it has the right configuration of RAM on the board, so I'm hopeful)

However, I currently have a GeForce 440MX. I know that if I just uninstall the drivers for it, then turn off, replace the card and reboot, Windows XP will recognise the Radeon and I can go from there, but reading on the guru3d.com forums, apparently there are possible problems with traces of the old nvidia drivers can cause problems with the new install.

I know there are programs that remove all traces of old drivers available for download at guru3d - has anyone used one, and can recommend one, or should I not worry about it?

Also, I have an old version of Rivatuner on my PC at the moment. I have the latest version downloaded ready for installing, but what's the procedure for this? Should I uninstall my old RivaTuner before uninstallig the drivers for my GeForce, or the other way around?

gaaahh!!! I'm tying myself in knots. Can someone please give me a step by step in the correct order. I know (roughly) what I'm doing with installing/uninstalling and I've always built my own PCs, so I'm not scared to get stuck in, but I'd hate to do things arse about tit and end up stymying my new card.

[Chadruharazzeb]

I went from a GeForce to a Radeo 9600 without any problems at all. I merely uninstalled the old card and detonator drivers, slapped the new card in and the cat.38 drivers and it was absolutely fine and dandy. Even the "Call Of Duty does not work with .38 drivers!" problem didn't transpire.

You should be ok just doing it in the usual manner, then if you get any problems we can go from there.

[charlaph]

Laaahrverly. I'll just treat it like any other piece of hardware and hope for the best.

[Ciaran]

The best idea would be to use Detonator Destroyer before installing the ATI drivers. DD should be somewhere on Guru3d.com

This should be a bit safer than just using nVidia's unistaller.

[oracle]

or driver cleaner does both ati and nvidia

[wod]

off topic but i was wondering if you can put an agp 8x card in a 4x agp port ?

[oracle]

yeah think you should be able to

or maybe not if it doesnt it due to the power that can be shunted through the slot not being enough

but id say it would work

helpful eh?

[RobRoy]

yeh wod you can
it just wont run at full wack

if it doesnt work

/runs

[charlaph]

Got it installed seemingly without problem. I did initially flash the new ATI drivers incorrectly so the softmod didn't work, but a quick driver uninstall and reflashing made it work.

So I now have (effectively) a Radeon 9700 pro (as reported through Windows display properties and RivaTuner) for under ?60. Bargain. Only trouble is that my system has a bottleneck elsewhere (probably my mainboard) and there's no actual improvement from my MX440 - there's even a drop in performance in my Shogo benchmark.

Of course I can now finally run DX9 games, and 3DMark03, so that's a definite improvement, but overall I'm a bit disappointed with it's performance. Mind you, I haven't actually tried in 'in-game' which is all that really matters. All I've done so far is benchmarked it, so maybe tonight I'll feel a bit better about it, as image quality so far is excellent.


With regards to the enquiry about different AGP cards in different AGP slots/mainboards, if a card fits in a slot, then it will work. If a mainboard has a particular voltage output then it will have a riser in the slot. If a graphics card can accept that voltage input then it will have a cutout on it's bottom edge, to allow it to fit into the slot. If a card can't accept that voltage then it won't have the cutout, meaning that you won't physically be able to put it in the slot.

So in theory, you won't be able to fit an incompatible card in mainboard. With regards to the whole 1x 2x 4x and 8x speed thing, I'm not sure how it works. I know that some cards (like my new Radeon) can fit in any speed mainboard and will automatically adjust to the highest available speed (so when I plugged in my 8x rated Radeon into my 4x mainboard, it just automatically switched to 4x mode). Some boards are specified as (eg 8x AGP only, so I don't know what happens if you try and plug it into a 4x slot.

[charlaph]

Incidentally, if anyone's interested in buying a Radeon 9500 that's compatible with the softmod, here's where I bought mine;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2790242697&category=27387&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1

At ?58 for a Radeon 9700 Pro (well, nearly) it's a bit of a bargain for anyone with outdated kit.

[oracle]

Which did you get the 9500pro or the 9500?

because theres a lot of difference between the two, the 95p has a bigger memory bus i seem to remember

which may account for your unusual performance

[charlaph]

Stock 9500 in order to do the software mod.

The 9500 Pro has all 8 rendering pipes opened by default, but has a 128 bit memory bus, so you can't increase it. The 9500 (non-pro) has a 128 bit memory bus as well, but has only 4 rendering pipes open by default. The softmod unlocks the extra pipes to increase the memory bus to 256 bit. One this is done, it's effectively a 9700 and then the only difference from a 9700 Pro is the lower GPU and memory clock speed (which can be increased in RivaTuner anyway )

I've just been browsing the projects at Futuremark and I don't actually think it's as bad as I feared. Looking at other people who have the same processor as me, I can see that there's actually only one person who has a higher 3D03 mark registered, and he's overclocked his whole system like a motherhumper. My score of 4100 is pretty much above average for users with softmodded 9500's and Athlon 1800's.

So I'm a happy boy again. I just got disappointed with my Shogo benchmark, because it's still the game I play most and to see a 10fps drop in performance was a shock. I guess it's because it's so old it makes no call on the areas which the Radeon excels in. Mind you, the new card does mean I can turn on all effects and whack up the resolution with no dropoff in performance!

Time to buy some DX9 compatible games and see what this thing can do....

**I couldn't run 3DMark2001 SE in order to do a direct comparison with the MX440 as I have the old build that throws up an error message since I upgraded to DX9 - I'm going to try downloading the patch tonight and see if it'll work**

**EDIT - I got 3DMark2001 working again and I get more than twice the score with my new Radeon than I did with my MX440. So everything's worked out perfectly and I'll live happily ever after....**