What the heck is going on with Vista?

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Chai

Most Nvidia cards do not show BIOS screen these days.

Actually, most of the VGA BIOSes are blocked by OEM screens or some motherboard BIOS (with Quiet Boot or something similar).

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by zy

if windows detects it as nvidia 7500, why worry ?.

i doubt that ati 7500 driver will run a nvidia 7500 card.

if you are using windows wddm drivers, you wont have the nvidia icon.

there is no nvidua 7-series stickers provided as far as i'm concern.
even my laptop has a nvidia 7400 but there is no nvidia sticker.

Yes, that's a very valid point. You cannot install an ATI Catalyst driver with an NVIDIA card.

[bluesman737]

Thanks for all the interest.

To answer the questions raised. Why should I be concerned? As said I am a gamer that wants to optimize graphics capability. that means keeping and up to date driver, if possible.

That's obviously going to be difficult if it's an OEM and I need to to take the Acer version... however, assume that's the safest route.

I stillt hink it's dodgy for tow major card manufacturers to have precisely the same model numbers and can't think either ATI or NVidia would want it.

One further question - you say the Catalyst software is useless - however would that be the case it could be used on the X300 chip within the PCI Chipset? Could the X300 operate independently as a VPU if the NVidia card was not there - in which case I can understand it being loaded but not properly configured. Or is it of use to the X200 chipset alone.... I don't know.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by bluesman737

Thanks for all the interest.

To answer the questions raised. Why should I be concerned? As said I am a gamer that wants to optimize graphics capability. that means keeping and up to date driver, if possible.

That's obviously going to be difficult if it's an OEM and I need to to take the Acer version... however, assume that's the safest route.

I stillt hink it's dodgy for tow major card manufacturers to have precisely the same model numbers and can't think either ATI or NVidia would want it.

One further question - you say the Catalyst software is useless - however would that be the case it could be used on the X300 chip within the PCI Chipset? Could the X300 operate independently as a VPU if the NVidia card was not there - in which case I can understand it being loaded but not properly configured. Or is it of use to the X200 chipset alone.... I don't know.

Well, there's nothing wrong with using the same model number. It's even more confusing when one company decides that a particular postfix (GT, Pro, etc.) means faster while another decides the same postfix should mean cheaper.

Anyway, it's really no big deal whether they use the same model number. Their drivers will NOT install if you are not using the right card.

I did not say that the Catalyst driver is useless. I said it will NOT install if your card is an NVIDIA card (or in other words, you do not have an ATI card in your system).

If your motherboard chipset has an integrated X300 graphics chip, yes, the Catalyst will install if it's active. But the minute you plug in a separate NVIDIA/ATI card, it will be disabled.

[bluesman737]

Thanks Dr Wong

When I checked the ATI Catalyst software it tells me that the Card is an NVidia 7500LE - so suppose QED.

I've checked the Acer website and the graphics drivers firstly don't say whether they are NVidia or ATI and secondly are two years old minimum. Not terribly impressed as Vista has come out since! Which is why I guess the Microsoft drivers are being used.

Is there much risk to trying the drivers on the NVidia Website? If I do, do I need to delete the current drivers first, revert to standard VGA and then load the new drivers? Also, guess if they don't work should be able to use the roll back facility?

One final thing regarding X200 chipset. Read the AMD techie stuff and got the impression that PCI Express is just about graphics and replacing AGP.

However have seen other stuff on the web that suggests that the X200 chipset handles everything, much as the Intel 945 does etc. Can you confirm whether X200 handles everything or is there another chipset handling disk drivers , DMA, comms etc?

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by bluesman737

Thanks Dr Wong

When I checked the ATI Catalyst software it tells me that the Card is an NVidia 7500LE - so suppose QED.

I've checked the Acer website and the graphics drivers firstly don't say whether they are NVidia or ATI and secondly are two years old minimum. Not terribly impressed as Vista has come out since! Which is why I guess the Microsoft drivers are being used.

Is there much risk to trying the drivers on the NVidia Website? If I do, do I need to delete the current drivers first, revert to standard VGA and then load the new drivers? Also, guess if they don't work should be able to use the roll back facility?

One final thing regarding X200 chipset. Read the AMD techie stuff and got the impression that PCI Express is just about graphics and replacing AGP.

However have seen other stuff on the web that suggests that the X200 chipset handles everything, much as the Intel 945 does etc. Can you confirm whether X200 handles everything or is there another chipset handling disk drivers , DMA, comms etc?

There are usually the northbridge and the southbridge chipsets cooperating together. The X200 handles also almost everything just like the Intel ones.

Thankfully, you are not using the VIA chipset for Intel platforms - apparently they have severely lack of features, like only 2 SATA ports. However, they are very backward compatible, even handles DDR and DDR2 (not together of course) and even work together with AGP and PCIE.

[Adrian Wong]

No harm trying the NVIDIA generic drivers, although they intentionally do not support mobile GPUs and certain OEM-only graphics cards. So, if you fail to get them to install, you need to fall back on the vendor - Acer.

[bluesman737]

Originally Posted by The_YongGrand

Hi there,

To simplify things up:

1.) ATi Radeon Express 200 is a chipset's brand in the motherboard. Just like the Intel 945, 965,...

2.) The nVidia Geforce 7500LE w/ 512mb is a seperate graphics card inside your comp. You have that graphics card for sure.

3.) I a 7500LE is based on a newer technology compared to a 9600pro Radeon.

4.) Yes, it'll beat everything of course.

5.) It is PCI-E card certainly.

hope that helps.

Hi

Tried first game on new seto up (COD2) and not terrribly impressed - see new thread Graphics - unimpressed...

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by bluesman737

Hi

Tried first game on new seto up (COD2) and not terrribly impressed - see new thread Graphics - unimpressed...

Well, if you ask me, Windows Vista isn't the ideal OS to run COD2. If you do not intend to play DX10 games anytime soon, it would still be better to stick with Windows XP. Not only are the graphics drivers more mature, the games will run better on Windows XP... at least right now.

[bluesman737]

Thanks for that! As said in the separate thread - which now ralise was a mistake - should have caried on this one, installed 1.3 patch and set compatibility mode to XP SP2, as recommended by the Activision tech support site. It is better, but not blindingly so. Game plays ok, but lacks the real pace to justify the atmosphere it is trying to create.

Interesting point about DX10, was not aware it was about. Is there real evidence to say Vista is that much of a hinderance to older games? I don't mean that in a challenging way. It's just I'm getting back to computing having taken a break since the P4, so am not up to pace with Vista, PCI Express etc.

One other thing, though. if you look at that the GCard - i.e. a low middle range OEM, would it be worth trying to play any of the up to date games that possibly demand more grunt from the GPU??