Graphics card problem

[Radiant]

Well, I just got a new (ish) graphics card, a NVidia GeForce 4 MX 440, to replace my much older 3dFX card, and downloaded the drivers from the nvidia website.

However, with this new card, NO game that runs in full-screen mode will work, and DXDiag reports that Direct3D acceleration is "not available" (and the button to "enable" it is grayened out).

Does anyone recognize such a problem and have suggestions? I'm running W2K in case it makes a difference.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Checklist:

1.  Make sure your older card drivers are completely removed before putting in a new card.  People ignore this rule every day, though it is an important one.  Sometimes the new drivers will not completely overwrite the old ones, and as a result, directx will have problems.  Driver Cleaner PE is one program that will help with this.

2.  Research the different Forceware drivers before downloading the newest one.  Often you will find that there are earlier versions that are more compatible with older hardware.

These are the two most important things you can do to ensure a smooth video card install.  I highly recommend removing all your video drivers with DC and then looking for an early forceware build that fully supports your card.  This can be deceptive since even newer builds will say they support it, but due to many new features/changes in the drivers since the MX 440 came out it is very likely they no longer work 100%.

[zabnat]

You could also try omega drivers if you can't easily find a forceware build that works.

[BOYD1981]

eww, MX440, such a horrible card (i have one in an old pc), don't let that GeForce4 badge fool you, it's basically a GeForce2.
but, if my memory serves me right you can get older drivers off of the nvidia site, and there are plenty of driver sites with downloads for older hardware.
personally i would have kept the 3DFX card as it's probably more compatible with games you can run on your system than the mx440 (or i would have went for a TNT2).

[Radiant]

Omega driver did the trick, thanks!

[InCreator]

Funny to think someone still uses MX 440. Can you really play ATOTK with this at acceptable framerate?
I remember this card being last in GeForce series without heating problems. From 5 series, overheating and factory overclocking becomes a standard. Especially on cheaper models.
I ripped mine apart, connected fan to a USB cable and made myself desktop fan.

It wasn't that horrible card, but incompatibility with DirectX was quite common. Expect more in the long run.

[BOYD1981]

i have mine in an Athlon 800 with 512mb ram (480 if you don't count all the ram that seems to have escaped somehow), i've managed to play UT2004 at an acceptable framerate with all graphics setting set to low, Halo ran okayish too, and i even managed to get Sims 2 running, and then i tried to run Doom 3 and got less than 1fps just standing still looking at the floor.
i can't run Sim City 4 without lots of texture corruption though. i suppose it's not a terribly bad card, it's just a very misleading one, i only bought mine because there was a GeForce4 pricing error at the time and people were getting cheap cards, i only found out after i bought it that the pricing mixup was with the Ti and the site i bought from had already fixed the pricing problem 

[Radiant]

When going for retro, do hardcore retro. I coded most of ATOTK on a 400 MHz machine, and the only marginally noticeable slowdown is when I invoke too many transparent overlays. So yep

But I suppose I'll keep the 3dfx around, just in case.

[covox]

eww, MX440, such a horrible card (i have one in an old pc), don't let that GeForce4 badge fool you, it's basically a GeForce2.

You take that BACK sir! The MX440 booted the arse of all the GF2 boards on the market, which is why it had a big fat 4 in front of it. Fantastic workhorse, that card. I have about 4.

personally i would have kept the 3DFX card as it's probably more compatible with games you can run on your system than the mx440 (or i would have went for a TNT2).

More compatible with games? Bollocks, the 3DFX doesn't even support proper OpenGL! As for the TNT2, by today's standards it's worse than Intel's integrated sandwich and slightly better than SiS's integrated turd-on-a-chip. I say "slightly" better because it isn't made of rusty staples and probably won't catch fire.

[BOYD1981]

i suggest you read the wikipedia article on the MX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MX440#GeForce4_MX

and the idea behind the 3dfx card being more compatible is that any pc that came with one is probably so old that any 3D game that can run on it will be supported by the card.
and i stand by my accusation that the MX440 has terrible compatibility with older games, you see a lot of games now listing what cards they're not compatible with and the MX440 is always on that list along with the GeForce2 and older ATi cards.

[scotch]

The Geforce 4 MX was not entirely worthy of the name, certainly, but it was also a great deal faster than a Geforce 2. It was an entirely fixed function card, no shader support, which is why anything that requires shaders can't run on it, and gamers hated it so much. But for windows apps, 2D graphics and older 3D games it's going to be less trouble than anything 3DFX survived to make, for sure. Unless you play a lot of Tomb Raider 1 on DOS.

[covox]

and the idea behind the 3dfx card being more compatible is that any pc that came with one is probably so old that any 3D game that can run on it will be supported by the card.

Indeed? Hmm, I've been reading the delightful list of titles with a native 3DFX driver, and I can honestly say I wouldn't mind if 80% of them were consigned to the exploding dustbin of history. Of course most of the devs realized that 3DFX exclusivity was a death sentence, and made DirectX/GL drivers anyway. You know, which play faster on a proper card.

and i stand by my accusation that the MX440 has terrible compatibility with OLDER games, you see a lot of games NOW listing what cards they're not compatible with and the MX440 is always on that list along with the GeForce2 and older ATi cards.

A point well made, Contradiction Jones. Of course the card isn't supported for today's titles, since it was released back in the olden days when shaders were a luxury. Today if you want a passable game experience with your Morrowinds and your Bioshocks, you're buggered unless you invest in a PCI-E capable board. But I'll say that the MX440 (still supported by a NVIDIA driver release) has a better chance at running games than the 3DFX.