AGP & Vista

I have an AGP 64mb card. If I upgrade to, say, a 256mb AGP card will I be
able to boost the Vista rating from 1 to above 3 so all will be revealed?
TIA

--
John the West Ham fan

<><

Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current video card
since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points for support of older
cards. For example, any nVidia card in the 5xxx series will not "reveal
all" even if it has 256mb of onboard memory since these cards are not
supported for Aero under Vista.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"housetrained" <> wrote in message
news:2qHRh.738$...
>I have an AGP 64mb card. If I upgrade to, say, a 256mb AGP card will I be
>able to boost the Vista rating from 1 to above 3 so all will be revealed?
> TIA
>
> --
> John the West Ham fan
>
> <><
>

I believe the 256MB AGP card I just got from tigerdirect for $49 will, it's
a Biostar with the NVidia 6200 chip.

"Richard G. Harper" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current video
> card since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points for support of
> older cards. For example, any nVidia card in the 5xxx series will not
> "reveal all" even if it has 256mb of onboard memory since these cards are
> not supported for Aero under Vista.
>
> --
> Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
> * NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
> * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
> * The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
> * HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
> "housetrained" <> wrote in message
> news:2qHRh.738$...
>>I have an AGP 64mb card. If I upgrade to, say, a 256mb AGP card will I be
>>able to boost the Vista rating from 1 to above 3 so all will be revealed?
>> TIA
>>
>> --
>> John the West Ham fan
>>
>> <><
>>
>
>

Probably so for the individual subscore for the graphics ability. However
the overall "Experience Index" is taken from the lowest of all individual
subscores and therefore may not raise to your expectations. As an example my
overall "Windows Experience Index" is a modest 3.4 on this computer I am
typing on while the graphics subscore is a blistering 5.9. My ram speed
subscore of 3.4 dictates that my Windows Experience Index is also 3.4.

BTW We have 4 computers here on Vista Home Premium with various graphics
cards and they all handle Aero fine the cards are all Nvidia
and are
1. 6600gt/128M/agp /system ram 1G
2. 7600gs/512M/agp/system ram 1G
3.7800gs/256M/agp/system ram 2G
4. FX5500/256M/pci /system ram 1.25G

Charlie

"housetrained" <> wrote in message
news:2qHRh.738$...
>I have an AGP 64mb card. If I upgrade to, say, a 256mb AGP card will I be
>able to boost the Vista rating from 1 to above 3 so all will be revealed?
> TIA
>
> --
> John the West Ham fan
>
> <><
>

Richard G. Harper wrote:
> Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current
> video card since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points for
> support of older cards. For example, any nVidia card in the 5xxx
> series will not "reveal all" even if it has 256mb of onboard memory
> since these cards are not supported for Aero under Vista.

That's not quite true. I'm running a geforce 5200 128 and Aero runs just
fine.

"The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors include
the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies and the GeForce FX 5200 from NVIDIA."

Yes, but you are stuck using only the original Vista-supplied WDDM drivers.
Newer ones from Nvidia will not work, and if there comes a point where you
need to update them for some compatibility issue with an update or some
installed software you will be out of luck. I suspect there is more to
Nvidia's decision not to support the 5xxx cards than has been told to the
public.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"LG" <> wrote in message
news:%...
>
>
>
>
>
> Richard G. Harper wrote:
>> Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current
>> video card since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points for
>> support of older cards. For example, any nVidia card in the 5xxx
>> series will not "reveal all" even if it has 256mb of onboard memory
>> since these cards are not supported for Aero under Vista.
>
> That's not quite true. I'm running a geforce 5200 128 and Aero runs just
> fine.
>
> "The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors
> include the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies and the GeForce FX 5200 from
> NVIDIA."
>
>
>

That's wrong too. Most are using an Nvidia driver modified for the 5xxx
Vista here.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1537



Rick Rogers wrote:
> Yes, but you are stuck using only the original Vista-supplied WDDM
> drivers. Newer ones from Nvidia will not work, and if there comes a
> point where you need to update them for some compatibility issue with
> an update or some installed software you will be out of luck. I
> suspect there is more to Nvidia's decision not to support the 5xxx
> cards than has been told to the public.
>
>
> "LG" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Richard G. Harper wrote:
>>> Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current
>>> video card since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points
>>> for support of older cards. For example, any nVidia card in the
>>> 5xxx series will not "reveal all" even if it has 256mb of onboard
>>> memory since these cards are not supported for Aero under Vista.
>>
>> That's not quite true. I'm running a geforce 5200 128 and Aero runs
>> just fine.
>>
>> "The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors
>> include the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies and the GeForce FX
>> 5200 from NVIDIA."

Using a driver file that is not supported or distributed by the manufacturer
is not recommended for most users. For those that are knowledgable enough to
understand what they are working with it may be fine, but for the majority
that is not a good idea. Plus, as I stated, there is probably a reason that
a decision was made not to support that card series that may very well be
due to a physical limitation that will eventually cause issues. If Nvidia
truly wanted to just sell more cards then they would have developed a whole
new product line and not supported existing ones under Vista.

I used an older 3dfx voodoo card for several years under XP even though
support from their buyer, Nvidia, was dropped before XP ever got out of
beta. I used third party modified drivers (and even modified some myself)
for a long time, but it didn't get better. It got worse and eventually I
gave in to the inevitable and purchased an ATI that was supported. Haven't
had any problems with that system since.

For now, the WDDM drivers in Vista or from a third party may suffice, but
you may find eventually (and sooner than you think) that they will not.
Should OP decide to purchase a new Nvidia card, it would be in their best
interest to ensure they purchase a supported card.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"LG" <> wrote in message
news:...
> That's wrong too. Most are using an Nvidia driver modified for the 5xxx
> Vista here.
>
> http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1537
>
>
>
> Rick Rogers wrote:
>> Yes, but you are stuck using only the original Vista-supplied WDDM
>> drivers. Newer ones from Nvidia will not work, and if there comes a
>> point where you need to update them for some compatibility issue with
>> an update or some installed software you will be out of luck. I
>> suspect there is more to Nvidia's decision not to support the 5xxx
>> cards than has been told to the public.
>>
>>
>> "LG" <> wrote in message
>> news:%...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Richard G. Harper wrote:
>>>> Probably, but keep in mind that you need to get a fairly current
>>>> video card since all the major manufacturers put in cutoff points
>>>> for support of older cards. For example, any nVidia card in the
>>>> 5xxx series will not "reveal all" even if it has 256mb of onboard
>>>> memory since these cards are not supported for Aero under Vista.
>>>
>>> That's not quite true. I'm running a geforce 5200 128 and Aero runs
>>> just fine.
>>>
>>> "The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors
>>> include the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies and the GeForce FX
>>> 5200 from NVIDIA."
>
>

--


Rick Rogers wrote:
> Using a driver file that is not supported or distributed by the
> manufacturer is not recommended for most users. For those that are
> knowledgable enough to understand what they are working with it may
> be fine, but for the majority that is not a good idea. Plus, as I
> stated, there is probably a reason that a decision was made not to
> support that card series that may very well be due to a physical
> limitation that will eventually cause issues. If Nvidia truly wanted
> to just sell more cards then they would have developed a whole new
> product line and not supported existing ones under Vista.
> I used an older 3dfx voodoo card for several years under XP even
> though support from their buyer, Nvidia, was dropped before XP ever
> got out of beta. I used third party modified drivers (and even
> modified some myself) for a long time, but it didn't get better. It
> got worse and eventually I gave in to the inevitable and purchased an
> ATI that was supported. Haven't had any problems with that system
> since.
> For now, the WDDM drivers in Vista or from a third party may suffice,
> but you may find eventually (and sooner than you think) that they
> will not. Should OP decide to purchase a new Nvidia card, it would be
> in their best interest to ensure they purchase a supported card.

I've been running the modified Nvidia driver for an FX 5200 for 2 months now
on Ultimate without any problems. It works and sets up perfectly and it
includes the Nvidia desktop with the 3D setup.

You shouldn't be advising people unless you have experienced it and know
what you're talking about.

The fact you used it and claim no problems is absolutly irrelevent. You can
safely say that it caused no problems with your other hardware and software,
at least for the features you use, for a period of 2 months.

That is the only conclusion that could be drawn.

Sample is too small to generalise.


"LG" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
>
> --
>
>
> Rick Rogers wrote:
>> Using a driver file that is not supported or distributed by the
>> manufacturer is not recommended for most users. For those that are
>> knowledgable enough to understand what they are working with it may
>> be fine, but for the majority that is not a good idea. Plus, as I
>> stated, there is probably a reason that a decision was made not to
>> support that card series that may very well be due to a physical
>> limitation that will eventually cause issues. If Nvidia truly wanted
>> to just sell more cards then they would have developed a whole new
>> product line and not supported existing ones under Vista.
>> I used an older 3dfx voodoo card for several years under XP even
>> though support from their buyer, Nvidia, was dropped before XP ever
>> got out of beta. I used third party modified drivers (and even
>> modified some myself) for a long time, but it didn't get better. It
>> got worse and eventually I gave in to the inevitable and purchased an
>> ATI that was supported. Haven't had any problems with that system
>> since.
>> For now, the WDDM drivers in Vista or from a third party may suffice,
>> but you may find eventually (and sooner than you think) that they
>> will not. Should OP decide to purchase a new Nvidia card, it would be
>> in their best interest to ensure they purchase a supported card.
>
> I've been running the modified Nvidia driver for an FX 5200 for 2 months
> now on Ultimate without any problems. It works and sets up perfectly and
> it includes the Nvidia desktop with the 3D setup.
>
> You shouldn't be advising people unless you have experienced it and know
> what you're talking about.
>