Gainward GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256 MB (not golden sample) owners

I had this card installed in a new shop-built system in February. I
have generally been very happy with it. I get a good mix of gaming, TV
out, and converting old video tape to digital.
A couple of annoying things:

EXPERTool. The 3.09 version that came on the installation disc works
fine. Every time I try to update it, it behaves strangely, especially
on the "Performance" tab. I've tried 3.17, 3.181 (?), and 3.18. With
3.181 (I think), the performance tab (where you can speed up your core
and memory clock) was grayed out. With the other two, they displayed
the stock 450 & 850 core and memory speeds correctly, but the core speed
gauge was in the orange range. Always works correctly when I switch back
to version 3.09.
I have tweaked the card with this utility and improved 3dMark scores
(6167 --- 6339 with speeds maxed out in "green" range), but the
temperature went up too much for my comfort playing Doom3, I am happy at
stock speed for now. I do find the expertool utility useful for pulling
up the model numbers and driver versions on the card.
Anyone else have this problem? Or have you just ditched the EXPERTool
utility?

Here's what Gainward says:

I check our database, your card have new BIOS. V4.35.20.45.00.
And your card is not golden sample, so the performance is gray.
We suggest you use the latest version Expertool v3.18.
Thanks.

????

When I tried flashing to the new BIOS version they sent me, I got the
error message
ROM file subsystem ID (10B0.0605) doesn't match PCI subsystem ID
(10B0.0601), so I aborted the update.

White bar during video capture. This was some Macrovision copy
protection thing, it would happen intermittently on my own home videos-
solved that by going back to WDM driver version 1.0.8, but video capture
quality isn't quite as good now.

Anybody out there with any good tips or tricks for this particular model?

I'm running it with a P4 3 GHz, Win XP home, Intel D865PERL w/ 800 MHz
FSB, 1 GB RAM, 2 120 GB HDDs, Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. Using
VGA driver 6.14.10.5672. Sorry for the long post.

Why do you even bother with ExpertTool? Coolbits or RivaTuner will overclock
your card much more easily.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"Phuc Tup" wrote in message
...
I had this card installed in a new shop-built system in February. I
have generally been very happy with it. I get a good mix of gaming, TV
out, and converting old video tape to digital.
A couple of annoying things:

EXPERTool. The 3.09 version that came on the installation disc works
fine. Every time I try to update it, it behaves strangely, especially
on the "Performance" tab. I've tried 3.17, 3.181 (?), and 3.18. With
3.181 (I think), the performance tab (where you can speed up your core
and memory clock) was grayed out. With the other two, they displayed
the stock 450 & 850 core and memory speeds correctly, but the core speed
gauge was in the orange range. Always works correctly when I switch back
to version 3.09.
I have tweaked the card with this utility and improved 3dMark scores
(6167 --- 6339 with speeds maxed out in "green" range), but the
temperature went up too much for my comfort playing Doom3, I am happy at
stock speed for now. I do find the expertool utility useful for pulling
up the model numbers and driver versions on the card.
Anyone else have this problem? Or have you just ditched the EXPERTool
utility?

Here's what Gainward says:

I check our database, your card have new BIOS. V4.35.20.45.00.
And your card is not golden sample, so the performance is gray.
We suggest you use the latest version Expertool v3.18.
Thanks.

????

When I tried flashing to the new BIOS version they sent me, I got the
error message
ROM file subsystem ID (10B0.0605) doesn't match PCI subsystem ID
(10B0.0601), so I aborted the update.

White bar during video capture. This was some Macrovision copy
protection thing, it would happen intermittently on my own home videos-
solved that by going back to WDM driver version 1.0.8, but video capture
quality isn't quite as good now.

Anybody out there with any good tips or tricks for this particular model?

I'm running it with a P4 3 GHz, Win XP home, Intel D865PERL w/ 800 MHz
FSB, 1 GB RAM, 2 120 GB HDDs, Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. Using
VGA driver 6.14.10.5672. Sorry for the long post.