Newbie question on Open GL with old card

I've got a Nvidia Geforce FX 5600XT which I understand is now seriously
dated.

I have the latest drivers according to Windows XP Update but various games
and progs tell me I lack Open GL support.

Is there just another set of drivers I need to load, or am I missing
something within existing software settings?

Thanks for any help,

H

In article , H Mole says...
I've got a Nvidia Geforce FX 5600XT which I understand is now seriously
dated.

I have the latest drivers according to Windows XP Update but various games
and progs tell me I lack Open GL support.

Is there just another set of drivers I need to load, or am I missing
something within existing software settings?

Get the drivers from nVidia, not Windows Update.


--
Conor

-You wanted an argument? Oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room
K5, just along the corridor. Stupid git. (Monty Python)

"H Mole" wrote in message
...
I've got a Nvidia Geforce FX 5600XT which I understand is now seriously
dated.

I have the latest drivers according to Windows XP Update but various games
and progs tell me I lack Open GL support.

Is there just another set of drivers I need to load, or am I missing
something within existing software settings?

My card is a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and is from the same family of cards as
yours. The FX 5600XT definately does support OpenGL. The three essential
items of software to be installed are, 1) chipset (or motherboard / system )
drivers, 2) video card drivers (
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_77.72.html ) , and 3) DirectX. It is
the first two items I think you're lacking.

BTW, our cards are only about two years old. I know a guy who owns a
GeForce 4 Ti 4800, and just about all of today's games run happily on it,
albeit at a lower resolution.

Tony.

You made the mistake of downloading hardware drivers listed by Windows
Update. Those drivers possess basic 2D functionality only.

Uninstall those drivers and use the "correct" drivers off nVidia.com. Latest
is 77.72, though some users report the beta 77.76s to be less buggy.

BTW, the 5600XT is not old or outdated. It was designed from the onset to be
an inexpensive card, with performance commensurate with the price. But yeah,
it definitely supports OpenGL.

--
"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."


"H Mole" wrote in message
...
I have the latest drivers according to Windows XP Update but various games
and progs tell me I lack Open GL support.

The Black Wibble wrote:


BTW, our cards are only about two years old. I know a guy who owns a
GeForce 4 Ti 4800, and just about all of today's games run happily on it,
albeit at a lower resolution.

Tony.

Now you know (virtually) another. I resurrected my G4ti4800 by adding a
heatsink/fan from an old AMD K6III-550. Runs doom3 pretty well (AMD64
3000+, 512MB). Any higher quality and the game would be too scary to
play! Nvidia has always had excellent OPENGL support - MS never did and
pushes dx exclusively.

With the prices for new cards, many of us just can't afford to jump on
the next BIG THING until the price comes down. Game publishers know
this and will make sure the game runs ok on "older" cards. Otherwse the
game just won't sell enough. Besides, I'm still working my way through
the "older" games - only have a few hours a week to game.

"The Black Wibble" wrote in message
...
"H Mole" wrote in message
...
I've got a Nvidia Geforce FX 5600XT which I understand is now seriously
dated.

I have the latest drivers according to Windows XP Update but various
games and progs tell me I lack Open GL support.

Is there just another set of drivers I need to load, or am I missing
something within existing software settings?

My card is a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and is from the same family of cards as
yours. The FX 5600XT definately does support OpenGL. The three essential
items of software to be installed are, 1) chipset (or motherboard /
system ) drivers, 2) video card drivers (
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_77.72.html ) , and 3) DirectX. It
is the first two items I think you're lacking.

BTW, our cards are only about two years old. I know a guy who owns a
GeForce 4 Ti 4800, and just about all of today's games run happily on it,
albeit at a lower resolution.

Tony.



speaking of old cards, updated drivers for my fx5900xt to 77.72 and now
can't play half life 2; keeps telling me I'm not directx 7.0 compatible
hardware [played fine before I updated].

"tooly" wrote in message
...

"The Black Wibble" wrote in message
[...]
BTW, our cards are only about two years old. I know a guy who owns a
GeForce 4 Ti 4800, and just about all of today's games run happily on it,
albeit at a lower resolution.

Tony.

speaking of old cards, updated drivers for my fx5900xt to 77.72 and now
can't play half life 2; keeps telling me I'm not directx 7.0 compatible
hardware [played fine before I updated].

I've just reinstalled HL2 and ended up getting the same error.

The solution I googled was to download and install nHancer
http://www.nhancer.com which is an nVidia profile handler, but first you
will need FrameWork 1.1 installed because nHancer needs it. Then go to
Start - Progams - nHancer - Profiles - Import standard 71.84 profiles,
click "none" to clear the list, then tick the Half-Life 2 entry, and click
OK.

Tony.

"The Black Wibble" wrote in message
...
"tooly" wrote in message
...

"The Black Wibble" wrote in message
[...]
BTW, our cards are only about two years old. I know a guy who owns a
GeForce 4 Ti 4800, and just about all of today's games run happily on
it,
albeit at a lower resolution.


I agree, using a TI4800SE here and don't seem to having any problems playing
just about everything at 1280x1024 (16 bit) with all in game settings up
high (but no AA etc.) on a with 2x512 Ram.

Tony.

speaking of old cards, updated drivers for my fx5900xt to 77.72 and now
can't play half life 2; keeps telling me I'm not directx 7.0 compatible
hardware [played fine before I updated].

I've just reinstalled HL2 and ended up getting the same error.

The solution I googled was to download and install nHancer
http://www.nhancer.com which is an nVidia profile handler, but first you
will need FrameWork 1.1 installed because nHancer needs it. Then go to
Start - Progams - nHancer - Profiles - Import standard 71.84 profiles,
click "none" to clear the list, then tick the Half-Life 2 entry, and click
OK.

Tony.