Vision TEK GeForce 2 MX400, do all geforce2 MX suck?

[chrism101]

I have just upgraded all my equipment or so I thought. I switched from an Abit BE-6II with a 550E @803mhz, matrox marvel 400, 128MB ram and 20 gig ata 66 hd. I went to an ABIT BL4 with a 1.5ghz socket 478, Vtek GF2 Mx400 with 64mb, 640MB Micron PC133 ram and a 80 gig ata 100 hd.

Any ways. The GF2 CARD seems to be pure crap. I have the latest(VisionTeK)drivers and I have the latest powerstrip installed. I will enter a game like Deer Hunter 5, which isnt too intensive for FPS.
and when the actual environment loads and goes to full screen it flashes to windows and then back to full screen. This causes a lock up about 65% of the time, and about 20% of the time it doesnt lock up but just flashes back to the desktop and there is no indication that the game was ever started.
The rest of the time there is no indications of a problem and it plays fine. But Unreal Tournament, Falcon 4.0 and others wont even load the video and just flash back to the desk top. This is really ****ing me off. which only adds to the fact that the card wont even allow my machine to boot even if I only clock the thing to 110mhz FSB. I new it was junk when I saw passive cooling so I added a blue orb, But its terribly ****ing me off. And I would like any advice you guys have. Could Powerstrip be the problem? Any Suggested settings. My 16mb Matrox definately was overclockable and the graphics were almost as good. HELP!

 

[o770]

no, the mxs rnt crap. they r good boards and a reasonable choice instead.
u said the driver youre using is from visiontek, why dont u try installing the last official detonatorXP?
i cant help u much; actually for all u said a lot of things could be happening: there r several BIOS settings for the AGP which can dramatically affect stability and performance so r several other OS ones. btw which OS r u using?
u must give us information about all your system and most of the settings for the video card uve set.

 

[chrism101]

Vtek GF2 MX400 contd.

Sorry,
The OS is MS w98se. Bios is original PG with all default settings, and the AGP aperture set to 64MB, or 128MB at 66mhz. neither made a difference. other than that it runs on the V tek drivers default settings.

Powerstrip shows agp at 4x.

Should I dump powerstrip for some Nv GF specific utility and dump the drivers for The GF Detonator XPs? I had already thought of that but there is a mile long disclaimer for the drivers which kind of made me wonder if they were buggy.

 

[Pinky]

No, get newer drivers (even if you only use the 12.90). Powerstrip wouldn't be causing your issues. Be sure to check for any patches the game manufacturer may have released.

 

[o770]

try setting AGP to 2x before anything. pay attention to the stability issue. it will surely be more stable but we want it not to lock up anymore.
as my personal opinion id strongly recommend you to use the detonator in spite of the visiontek's. it isnt buggy, the last XP is quite good - fast and stable.
i dont like powerstrip but choosing the one you feel more comfortable using will be better perhaps; id recommend you to use rivatuner but if youre planning to overclock the video card u better stay with powerstrip.
up to now u could test AGP 2x and decrease the aperture to 64MB. change them in BIOS and let us know if it gets better. good luck chrism.

 

[Krome]

I almost got the MX 400.. now im glad I got the ATI Radeon 32MB SDR (PCI), even tho the mx 400 is 64MB I heard the ATI is still better, good DVD playback also.

 

[Yodums]

Well ..

The MX 400 is a good card..

But get the lastest drivers before the Denator XP's they will help more rather than the Visiontek ones..

If you can still return it.. See if you can and get the ATI 32ddr LE.

 

[chrism101]

Ok here is what I find, it is the main problem

The problem I found that makes a huge difference but not fully remedy to the effect that I would have liked. I found in my Powerstrip folder an app called Gx Tuner, which came with one of the 1999 versions of powerstrip. Apparently, when I deleted powerstrip this was not removed, your typical dumb uninstallation.
BUT anyways I reinstalled the latest powerstrip and I suppose it will still activate this program upon start up. This program is showing 76mhz engine clock and 166mhz memory. this is the setting even though it is properly id'ing the MX400. But If I change it to adapter default, the engine area shows 334mhz and 166 memory.
Which makes all the difference. now provided that the egnine is 200mhz and 166 mhz ram according to the box. is this thing adjusting the speed of the Ramdac-- which is supposed to be 350mhz or what?

The only thing is i can choose this over and over, hit apply, save as a new settingand what not and still never will windows start with the correct setting, it goes back to 76 and 166mhz. But if it is changed again then everything runs better. My big problem is that I cant find a way to uninstall this and even removing powerstrip doesnt. Anyways Id like to hear what you guys say and if you know what the actual program is?

 

[KILLorBE]

You could try to remove it by:
1) uninstall Powerstrip then run regedit and search for Powerstrip and Gx Tuner, remove/delete all the value's it finds (press F3 for next search), If you're not sure leave it.

2) Run MSConfig and see if there is something like Gx tuner in the Startup list then uncheck the box.

If you want to play with regedit, I suggest you make a backup of your registry first, also before you do a search click on 'my computer' in the registry editor.

BTW: try option 2 first.

 

[Maximus Nickus]

How much did you pay for your mx?
If you can I would take it back and pay a ew extra £ for a g2ti or a g3ti200. Well worth it and you will notice the difference.

 

[Pinky]

Have you tried using the final release of powerstrip 3? I have seen people with issues in beta and prior versions, but I have never heard anyone having problems with this newest one...

You can get the powerstrip app here.

Have you downloaded and tried newer drivers?

 

[o770]

is it possible something was damaged on the board when replacing the stock fan for the blue orb?
this card you got new and have never updated its BIOS right? did u test it before adding the blue orb?
that 76Hz powerstrip Gxtune thing is something i have no clue about; youre possibly dealing with an uncommon problem chrism and the more things u try installing, uninstalling, enabling and disabling with the same setup will only make things more difficult. the ideal id say was you to reformat your HD and run the machine in default frequencies for everything - all default settings: AGP aperture etc, to install the OS and all the drivers using the last official detonatorXP (not visiontek's), games and stuff but no tweak program, dont install powerstrip or whatever other u have; then u run the games and check if u still have the same problem. if so a hardware problem is a possible issue, your videocard which u must be absolutely sure the fan change was not the cause could be damaged or could have any stocking problem.
this way youll be sure about asking for trading the card later at least.

 

[Maximus Nickus]

Does the new version have the annoying thing were it pops up a message every time you load windows up till you register it?
Or whats the code......

 

[o770]

Does the new version have the annoying thing were it pops up a message every time you load windows up till you register it?
Or whats the code......

the version 3 i tested once had this sh*t.

 

[Maximus Nickus]

D'oh!
lol

 

[chrism101]

drivers and stuff

I have downloaded v 21.85 detonator xp. I will definately clean up the registry, and delete all of it, But the problem was existent since I installed the card. Which I paid far too much for at $99 @ Best Buy. since I popped of the heat sink i doubt I can take it back. And they are b@st@rds for returns
But should i go with detonator 3 drivers instead of 4 XP?
The new version of powerstrip I have has annoying tips at every start up but its a Regged Prog.

Ill give it a try when I get home.

Thx
CM