Need some advice on Graphics problem

[Z]

OK, thought I'd turn to our resident skeptical tech-geeks for help.

I'm running an emachines W3052 with a 3000+ AMD Sempron processor, 120GB HD, NVidia GeForce4 MX on the motherboard, 512 MB of DDR SDRAM, running Windows XP Home, and a GForce soundcard (not sure exactly which card).

I play City of Heroes/City of Villains, which runs just fine on my set-up.

However...

In order to play CoV/CoH, I had to download the latest beta driver for the on-board card. This in and of itself is fine - without it, CoV/CoH just won't run at all. HOWEVER - With this driver, I cannot play The Sims 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, NfS: Porsche Unlimited, etc. The games will load and run, but the graphics look very much like when we used to 'peek' at memory addresses on the old Commodores and Apples...a jumble of symbols and colors that constantly flutter and change.

Roll back the driver, and I can play these other games again, but CoH/CoV is locked out for me.

I feel vaguely uncomfortable swapping drivers whenever I want to change games. So what I'm asking is, is this indicative of some problem that I can fix? Should I switch to a different graphics card? Just bear with it and decide which games I want to play more? Are there any potential problems with swapping drivers regularly?

Thanks for any advice you might could offer.

 

[Mongrel]

OK, thought I'd turn to our resident skeptical tech-geeks for help.

I'm running an emachines W3052 with a 3000+ AMD Sempron processor, 120GB HD, NVidia GeForce4 MX on the motherboard, 512 MB of DDR SDRAM, running Windows XP Home, and a GForce soundcard (not sure exactly which card).

I play City of Heroes/City of Villains, which runs just fine on my set-up.

However...

In order to play CoV/CoH, I had to download the latest beta driver for the on-board card. This in and of itself is fine - without it, CoV/CoH just won't run at all. HOWEVER - With this driver, I cannot play The Sims 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, NfS: Porsche Unlimited, etc. The games will load and run, but the graphics look very much like when we used to 'peek' at memory addresses on the old Commodores and Apples...a jumble of symbols and colors that constantly flutter and change.

Roll back the driver, and I can play these other games again, but CoH/CoV is locked out for me.

I feel vaguely uncomfortable swapping drivers whenever I want to change games. So what I'm asking is, is this indicative of some problem that I can fix? Should I switch to a different graphics card? Just bear with it and decide which games I want to play more? Are there any potential problems with swapping drivers regularly?

Thanks for any advice you might could offer.

Dude, the update from I6 will kill an onboard card, whatever make or model. However, it's still a beta driver . Unfortunately my best advice is to get an Nvidia graphics card, for whatever slot you have available (AGP or PCIe) the 6600 GT series is quite an affordable option, and just swallow the fact that an onboard graphics chipset is more pain in the long run than the fifty quid for a proper graphics card, If it wasn't for the fact that I get an excuse to buy more shiny kit I'd be horrified that my graphics card that was spanky a year and a half ago (ATI 9800XT) chokes when I team with a Thermal corruptor ( BTW - first person mode helps a lot )

BTW - If you play a hero on Infinity or a Villian on Protector give @Naaman a call

 

[Z]

Dude, the update from I6 will kill an onboard card, whatever make or model. However, it's still a beta driver . Unfortunately my best advice is to get an Nvidia graphics card, for whatever slot you have available (AGP or PCIe) the 6600 GT series is quite an affordable option, and just swallow the fact that an onboard graphics chipset is more pain in the long run than the fifty quid for a proper graphics card, If it wasn't for the fact that I get an excuse to buy more shiny kit I'd be horrified that my graphics card that was spanky a year and a half ago (ATI 9800XT) chokes when I team with a Thermal corruptor ( BTW - first person mode helps a lot )

BTW - If you play a hero on Infinity or a Villian on Protector give @Naaman a call

@zaayrdragon here But I won't get around to either server for a few weeks (I rotate characters and servers).

So far I can't complain about the onboard card - except for this flaw. But with our recent tax returns safely in the bank, I just might get that card after all.

Or wait 'til I7 and see what they screw up next.