Old Nvidia drivers on XP - which cards work?

[Anthony1]

I'm looking for a really cheap video card that can do S3D. I have Windows XP on my computer, and I'm not really loooking to play modern PC games on my computer. Basically, I'm forced to buy a video card, because my current video card only outputs VGA. No DVI or HDMI. So, I absolutely have to get another video card, because I need one with DVI or HDMI output.

I've heard that the older Nvidia drivers that work under XP, only work up to a certain Nvidia card. The newer cards don't work with this driver, and you have to get Vista instead for the new Nvidia drivers. This is actually fine with me, cause I need to get an older card anyways, cause I'm trying to find an older card used, as cheap as I possibly can.


My current computer is a Compaq Presario SR1750NX. Here are the specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor
1GB PC3200 DDR Memory
200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
16x DVD+/-RW DL with Lightscribe Burner
AC'97 Audio
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Integrated Graphics with 128MB Shared Memory
v.90 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 Ethernet
Seven USB 2.0 Ports,
Two FireWire Ports and 9-in-1 Media Card Reader
Windows XP Media Center 2005

I have an open 16x PCI Express graphics slot.



Also, another very important thing, is that my Samsung PN50A450 will only accept two resoutions when running in 3D mode (if I'm understanding the manual correctly). It will accept 1024 x 768 @ 60 Hz and 1360 x 768 @ 60 Hz. The 1360 x 768 resolution is the native resolution of the plasma. Would I be able to run any games at a decent frame rate with an older Nvidia card at 1360 x 768 (or 1024 x 768), with only a Athlon 64 3500+ and 1GB PC3200 DDR memory?

I'm not sure how much I can upgrade the memory on this Presario. Memory is pretty cheap, so I'm pretty sure I can afford some more memory, I'm just not sure how much more I can upgrade to.

[Likay]

If you could get your hands on a 7900GT or a 7900GTX that should do the job for you.
I assume you want to try the tv with shutterglasses right?

[Anthony1]

Yes, I'm going to be using shutterglasses with my Samsung PN50A450 plasma. I'm planning on getting the Samsung glasses and emitter.


My primary goal is just to "check out" the whole S3D thing. I've never seen it in person before. I have a TV that supports it (not sure how good it does but....), but my PC's video card is VGA only. So, regardless of anything else, I absolutely need to get a video card that has DVI or HDMI out, just so I can simply try this whole thing out. But I figure, if I'm going to have to get a different video card anyways, might as well get one that will help me run a few games. Obviously, with my PC not being a high end gaming rig, no need to try for anything super special.

I've looked at some 7900 cards, and it seems that they are either 256mb cards or 512mb ones. The 256mb ones appear to be dramatically cheaper, so I'm looking in that direction. If I get a 7900 card, and combine that with the Athlon 64 3500+, will that work well enough together to be able to set the output to 1360 x 768 for everything? The native resolution of my plasma is 1360 x 768, so it would be idea to output that resolution to it. I'm just wondering if I'll be able to watch S3D compatible dvd movies with my PC outputting at that resolution, as well as some older games that won't tax my system too hard.

[Neil]

I think the Plasma is handled with checkerboard technology. If that's the case, I recommend going with either the current iZ3D or updated NVIDIA drivers when they are available. There is no point in suffering with out of date technology like 7 series cards on long obsolete 3D drivers.

If you insist on XP, the iZ3D drivers are your best bet right now. If you get an AMD/ATI card, the checkerboard support is free with iZ3D.

Make sure your TV supports checkerboard, though - otherwise the old NVIDIA drivers really are your only choice.

Regards,
Neil

[Anthony1]

I think the Plasma is handled with checkerboard technology. If that's the case, I recommend going with either the current iZ3D or updated NVIDIA drivers when they are available. There is no point in suffering with out of date technology like 7 series cards on long obsolete 3D drivers.

If you insist on XP, the iZ3D drivers are your best bet right now. If you get an AMD/ATI card, the checkerboard support is free with iZ3D.

Make sure your TV supports checkerboard, though - otherwise the old NVIDIA drivers really are your only choice.

Regards,
Neil

In the owners manual, it talks about Checkerboard, but it also talks about a couple of other things, here is what it says:


Checker Board = If the output format of your graphics card or 3D software is Checkerboard, select this input format.

Horizontal = If the output format of your graphics card or 3D software is Horizontal interleaved, select this input format.

Vertical = If the output format of your graphics card or 3D software is Vertical interleaved, select this input format.



I need to stick with XP, cause basically, what I'm trying to do, is just get a basic idea of how this whole 3D thing works. Before I spend any serious money on a real deal gaming PC, I just want to see if I even enjoy the 3D or not. So, I'm trying to "sample" the 3D thing as cheaply as possible, without forking over a bunch of cash just to check it out. If I find out that I really love it, then I will probably slowly but surely start building a gaming rig. Right now, I just need to get some kind of video card, because my current video card only has a VGA output, so I can't even try any of the S3D movies.

I could try to find a super cheap video card that has DVI output for like 20 bucks used, just to be able to try the S3D movies, just to check those out, but I was thinking if I spent like $40 on a used card, I could get a decent older Nvidia card. I don't have any problem going with ATI, but have no idea what I could get for around $40 used. With Nvidia, I might be able to squeeze in a 256mb 7900 card for $40 used.

Basically, my spending limit on a video card is right around $40, and I'm stuck with XP. The rest of my money is going to the Samsung glasses and emitter kit. Later on down the line, if I find that I really like the whole 3D thing, then I'll build a new gaming rig with Vista and all that, but I don't really have the $$$ for all that at the moment. I just dropped almost a grand on the Samsung plasma.

[sharky]

you said you want to play older games.. how old? if they use dx7 or lower you need to use nvidia drivers. dx8 had some problems with iz3d in th epast but i am not informed about the actual compatibility.

for example, quake 3 arena wont work on a iz3d.. depends totally on the games you want to play.. if you can post some titles it would be better because what you get with iz3d is realllllly good..

cu

igor

[Anthony1]

you said you want to play older games.. how old? if they use dx7 or lower you need to use nvidia drivers. dx8 had some problems with iz3d in th epast but i am not informed about the actual compatibility.

for example, quake 3 arena wont work on a iz3d.. depends totally on the games you want to play.. if you can post some titles it would be better because what you get with iz3d is realllllly good..

cu

igor

It's not so much that I want to play older games, it's that I wouldn't mind playing older games. If it was up to me, I'd be playing Need for Speed Pro Street on a 3 grand gaming PC.

I honestly, don't have the slightest idea what kind of games I could play at a decent framerate in S3D on my PC. I haven't played any PC games since 1999. When the Sega Dreamcast came out on September 9th, 1999, I switched over to console gaming, and never looked back. I've been playing strictly on the consoles ever since. Mostly on the original Xbox and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I have no idea what I could run with an Athlon 64 3500+. I've only got 1 gig of ram. I could add another 2 gigs and bump it up to 3 gigs total. The thing is, I'm stuck with the Athlon 64 3500+.

I've heard that when you are running games in S3D, the frame rate drops dramatically. I might be totally mistaken by that, but I thought I heard that somewhere. For example, lets say that you had a gaming PC that could run Crysis at 50 frames per second. If you were running it in S3D, the 50 frames would drop to like 20 frames per second. Now, I'm not saying that the 60 percent drop in fps is accurate, but I thought I heard somebody talking about that, in regards to gaming in S3D. If that's the case, then I would only be able to play the games in which I could run them at 60 frames per second (when not using S3D), so they would at least be 25 frames per second when running S3D. Right?

So, if you consider it like that, and then also take into consideration that I'm stuck with a Athlon 64 3500+, and I'm stuck with 1gb ram (at the moment), and I'm using Windows XP, what could I realistically hope to play? I honestly have no idea. I'm guessing I could probably play some high end PC games from like 2003 and 2004. Maybe some stuff from 2005, but I seriously doubt I could play anything from 2006, 2007 and 2008 at anywhere near any kind of decent frame rate.


By the way, the only reason I mentioned Need For Speed: Pro Street, was because I heard that it looked really impressive when demoed on the particular Samsung plasma that I have.



Also, remember that I have to output either 1024 x 768 or 1360 x 768. Those are the only two resolutions that my Samsung will accept in 3D mode. So that affects the frame rate issue as well. Right?

[sharky]

hi!

when i started to game in 3d i was able to play unreal tournament on my 3200 mhz with a ati 700 at 60 FPS (30/eye) with the shutterglasses and teh edimensional drivers.

[Anthony1]

Well, I ended up buying a ATI Radeon x1300 256mb pci express 16x video card. Got it for $15.10 shipped off Ebay. Not exactly the card I really, really wanted, but for 15 bucks I can live with it as a temporary solution, just so I can check this 3D stuff out. Because it's ATI, I can try the iZ3D checkerboard drivers for free... right?

Now I need to find a good deal on 2 gigs of PC3200 memory.

That's about as much upgrading as I can do with this older PC. Hopefully it will be enough to check out some PC games from 2003, 2004 and 2005 in S3D. Then, if I find that I really like this stuff, I'll build a much better gaming rig from the ground up.

[Welder]

Correct, the DLP is free to Radeon Users. It also has a 30 Day trial for non-radeon owners.

As long as the game is DirectX 8 or later, it should work. But if the game demands too much, it most likely will not work. And that is a very old card, so you will be limited with what you can play.

[Anthony1]

Correct, the DLP is free to Radeon Users. It also has a 30 Day trial for non-radeon owners.

As long as the game is DirectX 8 or later, it should work. But if the game demands too much, it most likely will not work. And that is a very old card, so you will be limited with what you can play.

Any suggestions on a game I should try? Would Half-Life 2 work? Doom 3? Quake 4?

I just got that card cause it was only 15 bucks, and it has DVI out, so it should allow me to at least sample S3D before committing more $$$ to building a gaming rig.

[Welder]

I'm not sure how much luck you will have with those titles..

My only known comparison is this:

My old video card (I replaced it a year ago, and I still have laying around) was an X1600 Pro

Which, is better than the x1300. If I tried to run Team Fortress 2, which is a HL2 Engine game. on it (In 2D) with low settings, I would barely achieve 30-40 FPS

So, in 3D, With such low performance to begin with, it would probably be about a 40% performance decrease. meaning about 15 FPS in 3D I would guess. So I would think an x1300 would be much worse. But, I have not tested so I could be wrong.

[Anthony1]

I'm not sure how much luck you will have with those titles..

My only known comparison is this:

My old video card (I replaced it a year ago, and I still have laying around) was an X1600 Pro

Which, is better than the x1300. If I tried to run Team Fortress 2, which is a HL2 Engine game. on it (In 2D) with low settings, I would barely achieve 30-40 FPS

So, in 3D, With such low performance to begin with, it would probably be about a 40% performance decrease. meaning about 15 FPS in 3D I would guess. So I would think an x1300 would be much worse. But, I have not tested so I could be wrong.

Ok, then I'm thinking I just need to try an older game. Do you remember any particular games working really well with your X1600 pro back when you had it?

[Welder]

Att he time I didn't have an iZ3D for 3D, and as far as 2D, no unfortunately Not. I am a one game type of person. 1 or 2 Games keeps me busy for a year or 2 So, All I ever played on it was GTA:SA and TF2 for a short time. Neither really ran "well"