On Board Video

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri May 24, 2002 5:06 am

I know this sounds silly in the life of GeForce Ti 4600's and what not that i might still have a system with on board graphics but but i do. It is Nvidia TNT, with a shared capacity of 32MB (of a total 380)

I have two different computers, one AMD 1200 with GeForce DDR, my problem is that we occasionally have LAN games and my poor old mobo with onboard video just can't cope with even Tony Hawks 2....so my question is this, how does one get the most out of on board video, or am i resigned to getting a new PC due to there being no solution.

I will give the rest of the specs if need be, since this isn't a specific problem i thought i would just fire off a question.

Thanks in advance

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Fri May 24, 2002 5:36 am

Isn't it sad that what used to be a top-end grahpics solution a few years ago is now less than entry level onboard video.

The problem with using an older design graphics chip is that it simply isn't capable of perfoming the functions of newer games. The TNT chip was designed around DirectX 5 (I think) which is now rather primitive compared to DX8 which allows for some really heavy 3D effects.

I think the only way you're going to see any performance out of that system is to either disable as many special display features as possible or disable the onboard graphics and put a new card in the machine. Matrox are still producing fairly powerful PCI cards if that board doesn't have an AGP slot, some even using the G550 graphics engine.

As I have discovered (the expensive way) in order to play new games you need new hardware. It's a viscious circle from which there is no escape my friend.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri May 24, 2002 5:46 am

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
The problem with using an older design graphics chip is that it simply isn't capable of perfoming the functions of newer games. The TNT chip was designed around DirectX 5 (I think) which is now rather primitive compared to DX8 which allows for some really heavy 3D effects.

I used some Nvidia reference drivers since i don't have the driver disk, i obtained a fairly old version (6 or 7) to run it, that actually helped slightly (ergo in 3D Mark i got 3fps instead of 2

) i was running it on DX7 but that didn't make any difference.

Matrox are still producing fairly powerful PCI cards if that board doesn't have an AGP slot, some even using the G550 graphics engine.

It is a 600MHz celeron, i figured that might be the case, as you have deduced it doesn't have AGP, i am thinking about a £50 PCI Hercules 4500 prophet i can get, but i am wondering if there is any point throwing more money at this and not just scraping it.

As I have discovered (the expensive way) in order to play new games you need new hardware. It's a viscious circle from which there is no escape my friend.

So have i, i purchased a GeForce 256 DDR for 190 quid, they aren't even worth 50 now

Isn't it sad that what used to be a top-end grahpics solution a few years ago is now less than entry level onboard video.

One can get a TNT2 for 20 quid now.....sad isn't it