A few months ago, DAPUNISHER started a thread on which CPU/video system can handle an intensive WMV HD trailer called "Step Into Liquid". At the time, I had just received my GeForce 6800 GT and there were no official drivers from nVidia and it was evident at the time that the video processor was not enabled. One of the reasons I bought the 6800 was the video processor and I'm sure some of you are in the same boat. Just a few days ago, I began wondering about the video processor and decided to browse for information on whether the video processor was finally enabled or not.
A couple reviews caught my eye when they discussed about the video processor on the 6800 series. The one at Xbitlabs showed that the video processor was working when using the 65.76 driver. I decided to test my card with the 65.76 driver and CPU utilization still hovered at 99%. So I decided to dig around and find answers to why it wasn't working. I found this article over at Hexus that showed the video processor on the 6800 was not functional with the 65.76 driver (even the 5900 was better). They said, "NVIDIA acknowledge that's the case with early NV40 (units that shouldn't have made it to retail) but insist it's working in retail samples and in NV45".
Now I need your help on whether your video processor is functioning or not. Follow these steps.
1) Download the "Step Into Liquid" trailer here. IMPORTANT: Download the 1080p version.
2) Open up in Windows Media Player (version 10 if possible) and monitor your CPU usage. You can also use the statistics in WMP to view the amount of dropped frames. Go to View > Statistics (Use Advanced).
3)While you play the video, monitor your CPU usage and report your findings. You can do it by doing this: Go to "Run" on the start bar, type "perfmon.msc" - hit the "New Counter Set" button (first one on top of the graph), right click on the graph and select "Add Counters" then press "Add" on the already highlighted option (Which sould be "Processor" - "% Processor Time") and it'll graph the CPU usage and calculate the average.
If the video processor on your GeForce 6800 GPU is working, your CPU usage should be around 20-30% and the GPU temperature should steadily climb up. Please test this with 65.76 driver or newer. Make sure HT is disabled if you have a P4 that supports it.
Unfortunately, mine doesn't work regardless of which driver I used and CPU usage was still at 99%. If you can test yours and post your results, that would be appreciated. Thanks.
UPDATE: There has been no evidence that the video processor in the GeForce 6 series is fully functional. It is unknown at this time whether it will be enabled with a driver update in the future. There is supposed to be a new official driver from nVidia within the next couple weeks and hopefully it will address this issue.
UPDATE #2:Anand just published the status of the video processor in one of his articles. You can read it here.
UPDATE #3:Apparently the miracle driver that was supposed to enable the video processor has not been delivered by the end of November as some folks have claimed. I speculate that nVidia may have run into unforseen issues and may have delayed the release OR they realized that there is actually a number of chips that are borked and the drivers cannot restore the functionality of the video processor. Stay tuned.
UPDATE #4:The VP-enabled drivers that were supposed to surface in November may actually be released on December 20. This may come at a good time for a nice Xmas bonus for current GeForce 6 series owners. Keep your fingers crossed.
UPDATE #5: Nvidia has officially announced PureVideo technology and you can find more information on their website here
UPDATE #6: Unfortunately, the video acceleration features at the time of the GeForce 6800 series launch has been greatly exaggerated. There is no WMV acceleration for the GeForce 6800 GT/Ultra, but it is available in the 6600 series and the 6800 vanilla. It appears that PureVideo is a stripped-down version of the original promise that nVidia made eight months ago. You can read Anand's article on PureVideo here. link
Contact your tech support:
BFG
Gainward
MSI
XFX
ASUS
Chaintech USA
LeadTekhere
A couple reviews caught my eye when they discussed about the video processor on the 6800 series. The one at Xbitlabs showed that the video processor was working when using the 65.76 driver. I decided to test my card with the 65.76 driver and CPU utilization still hovered at 99%. So I decided to dig around and find answers to why it wasn't working. I found this article over at Hexus that showed the video processor on the 6800 was not functional with the 65.76 driver (even the 5900 was better). They said, "NVIDIA acknowledge that's the case with early NV40 (units that shouldn't have made it to retail) but insist it's working in retail samples and in NV45".
Now I need your help on whether your video processor is functioning or not. Follow these steps.
1) Download the "Step Into Liquid" trailer here. IMPORTANT: Download the 1080p version.
2) Open up in Windows Media Player (version 10 if possible) and monitor your CPU usage. You can also use the statistics in WMP to view the amount of dropped frames. Go to View > Statistics (Use Advanced).
3)While you play the video, monitor your CPU usage and report your findings. You can do it by doing this: Go to "Run" on the start bar, type "perfmon.msc" - hit the "New Counter Set" button (first one on top of the graph), right click on the graph and select "Add Counters" then press "Add" on the already highlighted option (Which sould be "Processor" - "% Processor Time") and it'll graph the CPU usage and calculate the average.
If the video processor on your GeForce 6800 GPU is working, your CPU usage should be around 20-30% and the GPU temperature should steadily climb up. Please test this with 65.76 driver or newer. Make sure HT is disabled if you have a P4 that supports it.
Unfortunately, mine doesn't work regardless of which driver I used and CPU usage was still at 99%. If you can test yours and post your results, that would be appreciated. Thanks.
UPDATE: There has been no evidence that the video processor in the GeForce 6 series is fully functional. It is unknown at this time whether it will be enabled with a driver update in the future. There is supposed to be a new official driver from nVidia within the next couple weeks and hopefully it will address this issue.
UPDATE #2:Anand just published the status of the video processor in one of his articles. You can read it here.
UPDATE #3:Apparently the miracle driver that was supposed to enable the video processor has not been delivered by the end of November as some folks have claimed. I speculate that nVidia may have run into unforseen issues and may have delayed the release OR they realized that there is actually a number of chips that are borked and the drivers cannot restore the functionality of the video processor. Stay tuned.
UPDATE #4:The VP-enabled drivers that were supposed to surface in November may actually be released on December 20. This may come at a good time for a nice Xmas bonus for current GeForce 6 series owners. Keep your fingers crossed.
UPDATE #5: Nvidia has officially announced PureVideo technology and you can find more information on their website here
UPDATE #6: Unfortunately, the video acceleration features at the time of the GeForce 6800 series launch has been greatly exaggerated. There is no WMV acceleration for the GeForce 6800 GT/Ultra, but it is available in the 6600 series and the 6800 vanilla. It appears that PureVideo is a stripped-down version of the original promise that nVidia made eight months ago. You can read Anand's article on PureVideo here. link
Contact your tech support:
BFG
Gainward
MSI
XFX
ASUS
Chaintech USA
LeadTekhere