Nvidia "Forceware"...What is it? Help a newbie out!

[Capitalizt]

hey folks, I just got my first ever video card, a Geforce FX5200. I had previously used the crappy integrated "Extreme Graphics" from Intel, and the Nvidia card is a major improvement. I have heard the term "forceware" thrown around and I'm really not sure what it means. On the Nvidia site, they have a unified "Platform/Nforce" driver. Is this forceware, and is it compatible with my system? (Celeron 2.7ghz, 700MB of RAM. 400mhz FSB). Basically, I am hoping to turn a music/internet machine into a gaming PC with this new video card. I already have DirectX9.0c installed. Short of overclocking, is there anything else I can do to improve performance?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Bateluer]

Welcome to the forums.

Your system needs a bit of work to be considered a gaming system, the celeron isn't exactly a stellar performer, and the FX5200 is certainly no pearl. Still, its an improvement over the Integrated Intel Graphics.

Forceware is a unified driver renderer for DX9. Nvidia wrote it to reorder the lines of code that the DirectX 9 API uses in order to better run on FX series cards. Its included in all 5x.xx and 6x.xx series drivers, I believe. By default, when you DL the latest drivers from Nvidia's website, they will come with forceware, so you should already be running it.

 

[Capitalizt]

well, I know I can't compete with the major systems when it comes to gaming, but if I can get a solid 30FPS with Doom3, I'll be happy.

I do have the latest regular driver, so I guess my system is about as pimped out as it's gonna get.

thanks for the reply.

 

[PrayForDeath]

DO NOT INSTALL nFORCE DRIVER UNLESS YOU'VE GOT AN nFORCE BASED MOTHERBOARD, it's got nothing to do with your video card, you should just install the regualr forceware drivers from here if you're running Win XP:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_66.93
And here if you're running another OS:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Unfortunately, your video card isn't a "gaming" card, it's one of the weakest video cards out, so if you want some serious gaming, I recommend replacing it with a better cards (FX 5700/TI 4200/9600 Pro as a minimum, you should find any of them under 100$), your processor is mediocre for gaming still it runs most games at an acceptable level, but you can squeeze out more juice with a decent CPU overclock.
Your system RAM is enough for most games, so basically all you need to do to have a good gaming machine is to replace your current video card with a decent one. You can try playing games first with your current one and see if it's too slow for you.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Oh, I just read your second post, well that depends on the resolution you wanna game on, if I recall correctly, Doom 3 was running at 15-20 FPS on my buddy's FX 5200 at 640x480 low quality, don't even think about 800x600 or higher, so I don't think this card is good for your needs. Still, you should try it and see yourself wether it's too slow or not.

 

[SonicIce]

Your computer is by no means a gaming machine in its current state. If you were to upgrade, what would your budget be? I'm guessing this a Dell or something?

 

[Capitalizt]

well shoot, there goes my dream of Doom 3..lol
I guess Emachines systems aren't cut out for the newer games.

It seemed like a very decent card. I snagged it for 50% off ($50) in one of those 2 day thanksgiving sales. I don't have any more cash to spend to I'll make due with this for now. How do you guys think my system will handle other games like Unreal Tournament 2004? I'm sure there are many games I've missed over the past year or two that should run ok on my system...I just need to find them.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: Capitalizt
well shoot, there goes my dream of Doom 3..lol
I guess Emachines systems aren't cut out for the newer games.

It seemed like a very decent card. I snagged it for 50% off ($50) in one of those 2 day thanksgiving sales. I don't have any more cash to spend to I'll make due with this for now. How do you guys think my system will handle other games like Unreal Tournament 2004? I'm sure there are many games I've missed over the past year or two that should run ok on my system...I just need to find them.

That should run...just at low settings. I mean I could play it on an athlon 1.4ghz + geforce2 pro. So a 5200 better be able to handle it...lol. Far Cry ran on the geforce2 as well. Don't expect Doom3 to run well at all...maybe HL2 b/c valve did an awesome job optimizing the video performance even on lower-end graphics cards.

 

[SonicIce]

It should run UT2K4 fine at 800x600, maybe 1024x768. You could DL the demo and see what you think. I could play 800x600 at highish details at 30 FPS on my dads 2GHz P4 (400FSB) with a GF MX 420 with 256MB RAM. The Doom 3 demo ran really slow at minimum details though, so did Farcry. Half-Life 2 is said to be very scalable so I think you would be able to play that comfortably. Your money would have been much better invested in a 9600 PRO for about $100
Here are some benchmarks
Hope that helps.

 

[MulberryFish]

Emachines may not be the latest and geatest but they are lean and mean, at least the one I have is. I have a 2042 model Emachine and itll run quake 3 and half life 1 with the stock equipment. you can run doom 3 if you turn off all of the fancy graphics. Turn off bumpmaps and dynamic lighting and turn off shadows.
seta r_shadows "0"
seta g_muzzleFlash "0"
seta g_projectileLights "0"
seta r_skipbump "1"


the driver you want to use is this one 56.72
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=764'do not use 6x.xx series drivers as they are for the current 6800 type model cards. they won't be as efficient as the 5x series drivers for your card.

 

[NEOSOLACE]

hmm...me thinks although the ol' 5200 might not be a big gamer....but could be one heck of a PVR/tv room game card though.....just keep it for that later!

 

[MadEye2]

I'll probably get flamed for this but from many of the reviews I've read, (I can't say from personal experience, though) they say Doom3 is a very mediocre game - it may look pretty, but it's gameplay gets boring pretty fast. So you're probably not missing out on much anyway.