Workshop: Peak performance

You may have spent a small fortune on your graphics card, but are you getting the best performance from it?

Most graphics cards sell on 3DMark scores, Quake III frame rates, the graphics chip, the amount of memory and, possibly, a feature like dual-monitor support or TV-out.

That covers the hardware and the basics of the drivers, but a bit of tweaking on your part will improve your graphics performance, and help you get the maximum out of your investment.

The graphics card is so fundamental to your PC that it won't even boot up if the card isn't installed. However, the card relies on layers of software and hardware to work effectively. Before you start tweaking the settings for your graphics card, it's best to get the basics sorted out first.

Checking out the chipset

At the bottom of the stack we have the motherboard chipset, which dictates whether or not your PC has an AGP bus or is restricted to a PCI graphics card.

AGP 1.0 is a relatively new technology from 1996, and there was a grey period until AGP 2.0 in 1998 when the Intel LX and VIA MVP3 chipsets simply wouldn't work with certain graphics cards.

Visit your motherboard manufacturer's website and check that you have the most appropriate BIOS and chipset drivers. Alternatively, try http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/driver.htm if your board has an Intel chipset, or www.viatech.com/drivers/ if it's based on VIA technology.

Older software might be best

You don't necessarily want the most recent software. An older release can sometimes be more stable on your particular system, depending upon the components it is built from.

Check what motherboard chipset you have, when it dates from, and what OS you are using. Then read the FAQ pages for all three.

VIA vs Intel

We've found that there are slightly more potential problems you can face with a VIA chipset in comparison to those from Intel.

To illustrate, if you have a Super Socket 7 motherboard with the MVP3 chipset and Windows 98, you'll likely find that VIA 4-in-1 driver pack version 17 is stable and performs well, even though version 25a is the current official release.

On the other hand, a KT133 motherboard and Athlon combination running Windows Me is best off with beta release 28.

It's a safe bet to get the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/directx, although this takes a while to download, as it's 11.5Mb in size.

Microsoft is adamant that DirectX cannot be uninstalled or changed back to an earlier version.

The Direct route

There is a useful download available from www.VoodooFiles.com called, confusingly, DirectX.

This is an 88Kb Control Panel Extension file that you drop into the Windows/System directory. This adds a DirectX icon to the Control Panel and saves you having to mess about with the Start/Run command line to change settings and perform diagnostics.

Ready, get set, tweak

We're now ready to think about tweaking the settings of the graphics card itself. Essentially, all graphics cards are built around the GPU (graphics processing unit). The majority of performance GPUs currently come from nVidia thanks to the success of its TNT and GeForce chips.

However, ATi, SiS, Intel and VideoLogic (as well as a recently deceased 3dfx) all play their part with their own GPU chips. The difference is that these companies make cards as well as GPUs, whereas nVidia only creates GPUs and then sells them on to other manufacturers who create their own cards based on the nVidia chips.

As a general rule, your first port of call for drivers for any graphics card is the manufacturers' website. Here, you should find the choice of supported and beta drivers.

Unless a beta driver offers a specific fix to a specific problem you're experiencing, stick with the supported driver. Uninstalling graphics drivers cleanly can be difficult, so trying a beta driver before you revert to a supported driver may not be as easy as it seems.

However, if you have a card that uses an nVidia chip, you may be better off heading straight to nVidia's website www.nvidia.com.

nVidia is responsible for the reference card design and specification, as well as the reference drivers, so it plays a major part in the product that you actually buy from a manufacturer that uses nVidia chips on its cards.

Driving with the Detonator

nVidia produces a unified driver called the Detonator. In principle, any Detonator driver will work with any nVidia-based graphics card from the TNT to the GeForce3. Naturally, some drivers work better with some hardware and software than others.

Detonator drivers have a three-digit number to identify them and start at 0.48, but we're only interested in 5.xx, 6.xx and 7.xx series. The 5.xx series supports TNT and TNT2 and stretched to the GeForce 256 era.

The 6.xx series covers the GeForce2 GTS and Ultra, while drivers marked 7.xx and above require DirectX 8.0 and are really intended for the GeForce3.

nVidia did some rather decent work in the 6.xx series that boosted performance by about 30 per cent for the GeForce series of GPUs, and driver 6.50 is definitely the obvious choice for Windows 98/Me/NT/2000.

If you have an older nVidia GPU, you're better off with an appropriate driver such as 5.32.

You may wonder why you'd stray from drivers written specifically for your graphics card and switch to a Detonator. Once answer is overclocking.

The other answer is a simple matter of testing. Detonators are used in a vast array of PCs, but mainly for gaming. The user base is huge and the drivers are frequently updated.

This results in both boosted performance and reliability. Specific OEM drivers always incline towards the cautious, low-performance end of the scale.

Other options

If you don't have an nVidia GPU, there are still options available to you for adjusting settings.

3dfx (may it rest in peace) had a very similar setup to nVidia's, but a far smaller choice of drivers. Run the Registry patch www.hardocp.com/files/cool_stuff/3dfx_oc.reg and open up Display Properties, and a slider control similar to nVidia's appears.

If you have an ATi Radeon card there is a piece of software from Radeon Tweaker that gives you the ability to adjust dozens of settings http://radeontweaker.sourceforge.net.

ATi's own drivers include most of these settings, but the Radeon Tweaker software actually explains what the settings do, so it's much easier to use.

Those of you outside the nVidia, Voodoo and Radeon fold can download Power Strip www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm to adjust GPU speed, memory speed, OpenGL and 3D settings.

OVERCLOCKING NVIDIA-BASED GRAPHICS CARDS

1. If you currently use the 'correct' graphics driver for your graphics card, first download a suitable nVidia reference driver and unzip it to a directory you can find easily.

Open Display Properties and change your current graphics adaptor to 'Standard VGA'. Reboot.

Then open Display Properties and change your adaptor again, but this time guide Windows to the Detonator directory.

2. If you now open Display Properties, you'll find it all looks a bit different. The branding for your graphics-card manufacturer will have been replaced by a rather cute spinning nVidia logo.

Functionality of the new driver screen will be very similar, but we can change that. Select the tab for your graphics card, and then the Additional Properties button.

3. Change your Registry manually (ensure it's backed up first) by downloading and installing the CoolBits file from www.hardocp.com/files/cool_stuff/GeForce_OC.reg. This is only used for overclocking nVidia reference drivers, and fooling with your Registry for no good reason is a bad idea.

4. With CoolBits enabled and Windows rebooted, re-open Display Properties, and select your graphics adaptor and Additional Properties as before.

Note that a new tab, Hardware Options, has appeared. This is what you've been working for, and you're about to reap extra performance for no expense whatsoever. Click the tab, you know you want to.

5. At the top left of the screen is a tick box to Allow Clock Frequency Adjustments. Tick it and click 'Apply'.

Read the warning from nVidia that basically says any damage you cause is your fault. This, of course, is true of any overclocking you are going to try, so if you're scared, don't do it.

6. Two sliders will have appeared that allow you to alter the core and memory clock frequencies. It's best to move these sliders in increments of no more than 10 per cent and preferably adjust both memory and GPU together.

After you've made an adjustment, the driver will perform a test. The percentage by which you can tweak your card will depend on what chip it uses. Newer chips can generally be tweaked more than older chips.

If the test is successful, click OK and go and play Quake III.

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• A full version of this article, containing screenshots and walk-through guides, is on page 215 of the July 2001 issue of Personal Computer World
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