Video Card Direct Swap

JimmyJ65

Member
Jun 23, 2001
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I am running a GF3-t200 on a ASUS P4B 1.8 GIG and the latest WHQL Nvidia drivers. i am going to get a GF4 4200. Can I simply take out the GF 3 and stick in the GF 4? Will the drivers recognize the difference and run the new card? Thanks for your input.:)
 

AnAndAustin

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
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:eek: It tends to be pure luck. Most people find they need to destroy all traces of the previous drivers and then install the new ones followed by a reinstallation of DX8.1. You may even find you need a fresh install, my best guess is that these drivers are so tweaked to get max perf and cater for all cards that they tend to be quirky, esp when changing the gfx card. Give it a try, I found 3Dmark2001 was the most picky app when running with anything other than the default settings.
 

JimmyJ65

Member
Jun 23, 2001
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Thanks a lot, I'll give it a go. I forgot to factor in WINXP it may get upset with the switch more so than the NVIDIA drivers. Has anyone experienced a shut down of WINXP because they changed their video card?
 

AnAndAustin

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
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:eek: Well I had a few cards in and out of my system testing them for other people and WinXP didn't seem to mind this at all. However when I got my GF4TI4200 I did have probs in some games and 3Dmark2001 in particular. WinXP does not allow you to set the 'standard VGA' display adapter which is a huge pain as this was always the best way to change a card in other Windows ver and allows all drivers to be uninstalled and successfully removed. You could try pressing F8 and selecting 'VGA Mode' from the Start Menu, this acts like the good old C:\windows\system.ini (or win.ini) edit and is not safe mode, this may be the equivilent of setting 'Standard VGA' display adapter and may be worth a try. Just boot in VGA mode, uninstall the drivers (maybe try Detonator Destroyer although it doesn't totally like WinXP) then you may need to manually remove the inf file (to prevent Windows from automaticly reinstalling the drivers) and driver files (DXdiag and Dev Man show these IIRC), reboot, install the latest official drivers from either chipset or manu and then reinstall DX8.1. Other than booting in 'VGA Mode' I found this helped a little but I subsequently had to reinstall WinXP anyway (partly to set up a dual boot with Win98) and this totally solved all the odd little quirks and probs I had. Sorry this isn't breif but HTH!