Getting the most out of a Geforce FX 5700

[Cronzor]

Alrighty, so I've recently upgraded my system memory as I run a lot of
memory-intensive apps, and the clear bottleneck for gaming is my old
vidcard. I don't plan on plunking much more money into this PC, so I
intend on waiting, then buying the best AGP card available when it's
cheaper, then riding the wave til this PC is obsolete..(in other words,
I won't be going for a PCI-E card. My mobo doesn't support PCI-E and
all the upgrades will not be worth it).

That said, I'm gonna need to use this Geforce FX 5700 (ASUS V9570 TD
256MB) until the 7xxx class cards cost about half of what they do now.
I was wondering if I could get some help getting the most out of it. I
have attempted overclocking with Coolbits: Overclocking the memory a
mere 1 Mhz does not cause artifacts or instability, but makes
everything EXTREMELY SLOW. Games and benchmarks slow to a CRAWL (maybe
1/10th the normal FPS - brutal and very noticeable). I refuse to
believe that a 1 Mhz difference over stock speeds is doing this -
something is up.

Anything I'm doing wrong, and any other tips (like disabling useless
features that take too much power for my card)? Primarily looking for
those settings I can tweak that won't take too much out of my gaming
experience. Any help appreciated.

 

[JohnS]

Anything I'm doing wrong, and any other tips (like disabling useless
features that take too much power for my card)? Primarily looking for
those settings I can tweak that won't take too much out of my gaming
experience. Any help appreciated.

Your best bet is to post in the nvidia groups and post the brand
specific model you have. Your best info would come from somone who
owns one and did the OC.

In the past Ive heard they OCed well the 5700s but they always come
out with tons of variations on them from the U to the LE and also may
change the quality of the memory etc so who knows what your specific
card can do.

By HALF the cost you mean in the $100 range?

ATI is having a clearance on the 800XL for 119 refurbs I think but
they have guarantess. That and the X850Pro.

I used to have the 800XL and its a great card though it it has shader
model 2 I think.

http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39

You might even find a cheaper OEM at Newegg for another decent card.

 

[Cronzor]

Your best bet is to post in the nvidia groups and post the brand
specific model you have. Your best info would come from somone who
owns one and did the OC.

In the past Ive heard they OCed well the 5700s but they always come
out with tons of variations on them from the U to the LE and also may
change the quality of the memory etc so who knows what your specific
card can do.

By HALF the cost you mean in the $100 range?

ATI is having a clearance on the 800XL for 119 refurbs I think but
they have guarantess. That and the X850Pro.

I used to have the 800XL and its a great card though it it has shader
model 2 I think.

http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39

You might even find a cheaper OEM at Newegg for another decent card.

Hmm, yeah, I am gonna be asking around the Guru3d Forums for help on
the OCing issue. This card should have decent OC potential.

As for buying a new card: I intend for the next vidcard I buy to be the
last upgrade for this PC. I'm constrained to AGP, so it'll likely be a
7900. I'll wait til they're maybe 200-250, don't really have the money
for an intermediate atm That's why I'm looking to juice this card
for all she's worth...heh

 

[JohnS]

Hmm, yeah, I am gonna be asking around the Guru3d Forums for help on
the OCing issue. This card should have decent OC potential.

As for buying a new card: I intend for the next vidcard I buy to be the
last upgrade for this PC. I'm constrained to AGP, so it'll likely be a
7900. I'll wait til they're maybe 200-250, don't really have the money
for an intermediate atm That's why I'm looking to juice this card
for all she's worth...heh

Yeah I would wait too. It all depends on how quickly the DX10 cards
come out and fall in price. Frankly I dont think I would spend $250
for a 7900. I think it would fall too quickly in price since the claim
is the DX10 stuff is supposed to come out next year. On the other
hand I remember the 800XL and the 6800s. They seemed to stay high
FOREVER. I had to wait months and months to get a nforce4 board after
the supposed intro. Then suddenly the 6800 and 800XL took forever to
get on the mkt. I waited two months after ordering the 800XL from ATI
to get it. So who knows when the DX10s will REALLY come out and fall
to a decent level.

 

[Zdenek Sojka]

That said, I'm gonna need to use this Geforce FX 5700 (ASUS V9570 TD
256MB) until the 7xxx class cards cost about half of what they do now.
I was wondering if I could get some help getting the most out of it. I
have attempted overclocking with Coolbits: Overclocking the memory a
mere 1 Mhz does not cause artifacts or instability, but makes
everything EXTREMELY SLOW. Games and benchmarks slow to a CRAWL (maybe
1/10th the normal FPS - brutal and very noticeable). I refuse to
believe that a 1 Mhz difference over stock speeds is doing this -
something is up.

If it helps, some time ago I read about this problem. I dont remember well,
but you should know that your card's behavior is normal.
Maybe try searching on net, if anyone else helps here.

 

[Zdenek Sojka]

I found this page -
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/v...me-why-bfg-geforce-6200-oc-57979-2.html?pp=15

Maybe you could try some older drivers. (76.84 in that article)

 

[Cronzor]

I found this page -
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/v...me-why-bfg-geforce-6200-oc-57979-2.html?pp=15

Maybe you could try some older drivers. (76.84 in that article)

Thanks for the suggestions. I've reverted to 61.77, which were the best
for my card. The overclocking issue remains, using either Coolbits or
Rivatuner. This issue happens on a clean install of windows. I remember
having tried OCing right when I built the PC. It didn't work, but I
didn't care, because I could still play anything at high settings. But
now I guess it does matter. Any other ideas?