Windows XP + Rage 128 Pro = total lack of Direct X performance/support?!

[quickclicker]

I upgraded to Windows XP over a month ago. Upon installing new XP drivers from ATi's website, I noticed that I had no Direct X Null driver support. (Running benchmarks, my primary driver worked, but now the screen resolution drops; won't display Direct X at 1024x768)

Can this be? Am I missing something? Ati's complete lack of driver support online is incredible. Want help? Well, you sure can't email them, got to call Canada.

My gaming experience - although never that great - is now horrid; and, this is after upgrading from a K6-2/500 to a TB 1.3Ghz.

Would purchasing a GF2MX-400 solve my problems?

Thanks for any input,
Matt

 

[Limey6413]

Matt,
My roommate had the same setup, and yes its true the DirectX compatibility sucks. We threw out the Rage128 and put in a ATI Raedeon7000 and it works now, well everything except Age Of Empires 2, and no one seems to be able to solve that problem. But yeah, its the 128 that sucks in XP. Sorry but you'll have to either downgrade OS or get a new card...

Limey6413

 

[quickclicker]

Thanks Limey,

I always appreciate responses to my questions.

I went ahead and bought a new GF2MX400. Circuit City has them for $79.99 - not bad.

I must say, however, that while my 2D and 3D benchmarks have improved, a lot of my games still play pretty crappy. For instance, the old Need For Speed game that came w/my Rage 128 Pro still plays about the same. This is after downloading and installing the latest video drivers from Nvidia's website.

My conclusion is that XP must stink for games - at least old games. Another problem I've found w/XP is that 98 used to have the option - under the display properities - to select optimal refresh rates for any resolution. Not so w/XP. Whenever a game changes the screen res, XP almost always goes down to 60hz refresh. This causes quite a visual problem, as the screen then begins to flicker. I thought this would be fixed w/a new video card, but I guess that's all Windows' doing.

Still, XP is a great functioning OS. It has great features, it's much more stable, but it seems to me that Microsoft has a ways to go. I'm just not all that impressed w/my computer after upgrading to XP. I do, however, love the new look. No more bland, blah, windows; finally some color. Still, is it worth it? After benchmarking my hard-drive, I've gone from 3.5MB/sec uncached transfer rate, to a whopping 0.85MB/sec transfer rate. I've been hearing that it has to do w/converting over to NTFS from FAT32 - something to do w/the cluster size.

Anyway, just my opinion. Anyone else have any suggestions?(other than re-installing 98; ugh)

Thanks again,
Matt

 

[Workin']

There's a little program floating around called nvidia refresh rate fix or something similar that will fix the 60Hz refresh problem. Try a search at Google. You can pick the refresh you want for each resolution. You might also want to get NVMAX, a tweaker program for nvidia cards. Both are free.

Regarding your HD transfer rates, have you installed all the proper drivers for your motherboard?

And if your XP install was an upgrade over another version of Windows, that could be causing problems too. You're always better off doing a fresh install rather than an upgrade.

 

[quickclicker]

Ahh, the Nvidia refresh rate fix is a great thing. Thanks "workin'" No more flickering. 😎

Matt

 

[quickclicker]

Oops, forgot one thing:

I did do an upgrade to XP from 98. I'm hesitant to format my C drive and re-install Windows. I have PhotoShop on my computer, but I don't have the CD. Can I back-up the registry somehow, and re-install XP w/out losing all my data?

I'm sure that doing a clean install of XP will cure my hard-drive performance issues, but I'm apprehensive about doing it, since I'm not that skilled in this area.

Matt

 

[Workin']

<< I have PhotoShop on my computer, but I don't have the CD. Can I back-up the registry somehow, and re-install XP w/out losing all my data? >>

You'd have to back up your data to another disk drive or partition. Unfortunately Photoshop would no longer work and there is no way to reinstall it without the CD.