Upgrading my I8200's video card to Quadro4 700 Go GL from M9000

[Guest Mark]

Hi,

I'm thinking of upgrading my Inspiron 8200's video card to a Quadro4 700 Go GL from initially having a Mobility Radeon 9000. My video card finally kicked the bucket and started displaying all these flickering blue-shaded lines on the screen and distorted garbage in BIOS, and after much research, I found it's probably due to a video memory corruption error found in BurnInTest. What's strange is that all this started after I took apart my laptop to replace the fan, but that might be a coincidence and it may have already been on it's way out.

Anyway, I've read many different things about the Quadro, like how it isn't as efficient with cooling (reaching higher temperatures than the MR9000), plus how it might be geared more for workstation-type setups and not games (I know though it's supposedly an equivalent of the Geforce4 4200 Go). With my MR9000, I have modded Catalyst desktop drivers that push it's capabilities to run Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 decently (much more so than Dell's drivers), and I'm afraid if I upgrade to this supposedly better Quadro4, that maybe the drivers for that wouldn't allow for as good of effects that I can achieve with the ATI drivers. I've read online everywhere about how it's supposed to be the best card for this system, but I know also that ATI optimized some stuff for Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 in it's Catalyst releases (from reading their changelogs)...so what I wanna know is if the Quadro4 will give me equivalent visuals and performance (or better) for HL2, Doom 3 and Guild Wars (the games I play the most).

I've seen on this forum a modded inf for NVIDIA (ForceWare?) drivers for the Quadro4 700, so I'm assuming it's similar to how they have modded the infs for ATI drivers and it would bring out the best in this mobile NVIDIA card, but I wanted to make sure. Can anyone who has experience with these games and has a Quadro4 700 tell me if it has nice visuals (pixel-shading, bump-mapping, shininess, reflections, etc.)? I'm just afraid since like I said earlier that Quadros are meant for CAD applications that NVIDIA will not have optimized those drivers for games, and I'll get it and be disappointed. I've never owned a NVIDIA video card, and I'm not aware of how well games like HL2 (originally optimized for ATI) run on it with their older cards, like the Geforce4 (Quadro4 700). I know NVIDIA's later cards can run it just fine, just not sure about MR9000 vs Quadro4 700 Go GL.

Thanks for your help.

Mark

[Darmdorf]

Hello Mark. I can't really answer your basic question with competence, but I think the Quadros do a pretty decent job as gaming replacements for the 440 and thus the 9000. Some of our staff have quite a bit of experience on the subject. Actually, I believe our guru was Bill.

As far as your screen problems go.....I would suspect that you may have inadvertantly merely loosened the flat cable going from the graphic card to the display. It may just need to be reseated properly on the card side. Don't do anything inside however, without removing power & the battery!

Oh yes, our modded INFs work for each and every known Nvidia card. You don't really need a special INF to enjoy the card. There are however some specialized INFs listed by some of our staff/members.

[Guest Mark]

Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear from someone that they think the Quadro4 700 is suitable for games and is better than the MR9000...I was going back and forth but last night was thinking maybe I should just stick with the 9000. It would be nice though if someone who plays those three games I listed (HL2, Doom 3, GW) would come forward and answer my question about the card still achieving the effects that make those games beautiful (mainly HL2 and D3...not so much GW :) ). I know from reading the past forum topics that this subject was covered many times, but I never found a clear, definitive answer to my question. I found a good forum post on another site that someone said the Quadros not being for anything other than workstation-type stuff is false, and it's practically a Geforce4 just with added features (link: http://www.resellerratings.com/forum/tech-...-gl-gaming.html, near the bottom). But my question was: can I get drivers from NVIDIA that will make Doom 3 and HL2 run well with most effects turned up? The 9000 can do a good job of producing visuals...I can get good effects, just not always great FPS. I'll post some screenshots of what HL2 looks like on my system (click the thumbnails):

It runs at 800x600 but has most effects turned up. So, can it achieve those same effects? Prehaps I'm worrying too much and should just trust what 99.9% of the internet says: that the "Quadro4 700 Go GL is more powerful than the MR9000" and just not worry about it. I wouldn't so much if it weren't so expensive! The funny thing is that I can't find a replacement 9000 that's cheaper than what I've found for the Quadro4! :)

About the display issue, I'm sure it's not the display flex cable going into the video card...I've already tried adjusting that. It's when I press down hard on the keyboard or palm rests that the picture will sometimes clear up, or reseating the video card. Reseating it was the solution at first, but now that fixes the picture maybe 40% of the time and when it does, it just reverts back to the way it was before.

Here's a screenshot of my desktop so you can see what it looks like:

(If that link doesn't work, here's the original one: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b75/CidR...n/mydesktop.jpg. I posted that cause it seems to keep it at the original resolution.)

And here's Guild Wars messed up beyond belief:

Before:

After:

Would a loose display cable cause memory corruption errors in BurnInTest?

Oh, and by the way, thanks to the mods for adding that last bit on my topic title...I think that helps describe what I'm looking for better. :P

Mark

[Guest Mark]

I have another question: in order for my Inspiron 8200 to recognize the Quadro4 700 Go GL, would I have to install Precision M50 bios to make the computer think it's an M50 instead?

If so, does this mean when it boots up that it will say it's a Precision M50 instead of an Inspiron?

Yeah, I'm sure Bill could answer a lot of my questions...what ever happened to him?

[Guest Mark]

Darmdorf,

I don't think it's the video cable cause I've already reseated it a few times in the past and it changed nothing. If I lift off the keyboard and stick a screwdriver under part of the video card and apply pressure upwards (as if I'm gonna pry it off), it can sometimes almost completely fix the video picture (yes, I'm doing this when the computer's on :) ). The mouse still usually has a grid of lines around it, but it can almost completely fix videos and remove the lines or flickering that usually plague them. I have to keep holding it there though in order for it to stay, and as I'm doing it, I can see that the video card is bending and I don't wanna break it. :) So I don't really understand how that would fix it and what exactly the problem would be in order for that to (almost) remedy it...even though I've read online about how others will apply pressure to the palmrests or keyboard to give a temporary fix. If it's a problem with the onboard memory of the video card, for some odd reason it's changing something when I'm physically manipulating the card...it makes me wonder if something's wrong with the GPU port on the motherboard or connectors on the video card...

I'm now leaning towards the Quadro4, as I've read on several websites that it's basically a Geforce4 4200 Go, and I found a website that has a comparison between the actual 4200 Go and Mobility Radeon 9000. In all performance tests except one (which was negligible), it beats it, and the only major thing they complained about was the heat and power consumption. But they had a chart that compared the 2 GPU's specs and apparently the MR9000 has a higher Core Clock (+40 Mhz), Memory Clock (maybe...that site says +60 Mhz and another says +20, but mine is reported as the same) and Memory Bandwidth (this site puts it at an almost +1000 MB/s lead, but other sites, including this one, have it as the same, and mine is reported as being the same). What the 4200 Go/Quadro4 700 really has going for it though is a 600 MTexels/sec lead. Judging from their tests, I guess this makes a difference, even if it has at the very least a slower core clock.

I guess this forum isn't as active as it used to be regarding Inspiron 8200s and Quadro4 700's...it's an 8 year old computer, I know. :P If someone could at least provide some advice if they know about these video problems I'm experiencing, then that would be great. It would be nice if I didn't have to replace anything and it would simply be a quick fix...but I'm doubting that's the case and it probably is just getting old.

[Darmdorf]

But my question was: can I get drivers from NVIDIA that will make Doom 3 and HL2 run well with most effects turned up? The 9000 can do a good job of producing visuals...I can get good effects, just not always great FPS.

It runs at 800x600 but has most effects turned up. So, can it achieve those same effects? Prehaps I'm worrying too much and should just trust what 99.9% of the internet says: that the "Quadro4 700 Go GL is more powerful than the MR9000" and just not worry about it.

As you should have been able so see by now, LV2Go has pretty much every Nvidia driver ever seen on the planet. So if it was ever made, we should have it! You'll probably just have to do a search through the site [probably finding Bill's threads] that refer to the Quadro4. From what I recall the Quadro4 was a real shaker in its day. I've often toyed with the idea myself, but the prices are a bit high.

About the display issue, I'm sure it's not the display flex cable going into the video card...I've already tried adjusting that. It's when I press down hard on the keyboard or palm rests that the picture will sometimes clear up, or reseating the video card. Reseating it was the solution at first, but now that fixes the picture maybe 40% of the time and when it does, it just reverts back to the way it was before.

Would a loose display cable cause memory corruption errors in BurnInTest?

Oh, and by the way, thanks to the mods for adding that last bit on my topic title...I think that helps describe what I'm looking for better. :)

Mark

I wouldn't think the cable itself is in someway defective, more likely the socket side on the graphic card itself. :) That would explain to a certain degree why the pressure from the keyboard or palm rest have an affect -- they push downward on the graphic card which lies pretty much right below [in fact the metal of the keyboard is used as a heat transfer for the graphic card]. The card probably does need to be replaced.

No, cable problems wouldn't be directly reflected in a Burnin Test --- if you're speaking of memory errors.

Yea, I though a little title dress-up might help things find an answer. I was going to move the thread over to Gaming, but I saw you've done some more research

that answers your own questions pretty well from that side of things.

I have another question: in order for my Inspiron 8200 to recognize the Quadro4 700 Go GL, would I have to install Precision M50 bios to make the computer think it's an M50 instead? If so, does this mean when it boots up that it will say it's a Precision M50 instead of an Inspiron?

Yeah, I'm sure Bill could answer a lot of my questions...what ever happened to him?

I don't believe you would need the M50 bios at all, the Quadro4 should work just fine. Yes, it would report as a M50 if reflashed.

Bill seems to be deeply involved with his studies at the moment, and we rarely hear from at all, as of late. But I believe he's still doing fine.

Oh yes, how about signing up on the site so we can see all the specs and perhaps help you even better. :P

[Guest Mark]

Darmdorf,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my inquiries. I think I've gotten a very nice reassurance now of information and facts I've read from multiple websites from you and now more recently the Dell forums...jeez, I never realized just how much they covered this topic (Quadro4 700 Go GL vs. Mobility Radeon 9000) over there...many threads about it and multiple people testifying to the information and stuff I've read about online, and more (including gaming with HL2 and Doom 3! :) ). Some snippets of replies from multiple people just so you can see how in-depth they went for this topic:

Raw Performance (with Gaming)

tentonine: "Although the Radeon 9000 is also an 8.1 card, that does not mean that it runs games as well as the Quadro4 700. Everyone who has upgraded has been pleased with the performance increase. The Quadro4 runs many DirectX 9 games (such as Halo) fine if you are prepared to go with medium detail. The Radeon would not be so good. The only complaint I have seen is that the anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering performance is no better with the Quadro4 (possibly even a little worse in Battlefield 1942). However, if you don't use these, it is undoubtedly a much better card......Clearly by fine I meant at a high resolution - my computer will run Halo fine at 1400x1050 with medium detail. In my opinion, this normally results in a better picture than stretching a much lower resolution with a higher detail setting....Even aside from games, all benchmarks result in significantly higher FPS on the Quadro4 700. Take 3Dmark 2001 for example, generally 2500-3000 points quicker. I don't think that it is possible to come to any conclusion other than to say that the Quadro4 700 is definitely the superior card overall and this was the point I was attempting to get across."

"The Quadro4 and Geforce4 4200 are the same for gaming, but the geforce4 4200 is cheaper and is not available for the 8200. The Quadro features additional workstation features - this is useful for professional 3D modelling and CAD work, hence the extra price. However, these extra features make no difference to the performance of games. My benchmark scores are virtually identical to those of a similarly specified 8500 with a Geforce4 4200."

EngineNoO9: "it enables certain functions for opengl rendering and processing for cad operations and stuff like that. It performs those operations better than a normal geforce line card. With gaming it tends to run about 0 to 5 % slower than the geforce line but nothing that is noticable. so technically if you got this card it'd be a ti4200 go with the professional functions enabled."

"...also the quadro will work unnoticeably slower than a geforce while in d3d. just my 2 cents and what I've researched and learned..." (he says this to someone who says it runs

"...it still runs D3D and opengl so that isn't a problem. Only thing is that D3D isn't quite as fast as the geforce version that's comparable to it but opengl apps will be faster even if it's a game."

linuxer: "...The top end is the quadro700 go gl and you can play the game with this card. Matrix online /planetside /half life2 / Doom3 are all playable"

"...If you wanna more power buy a Quadro4 700 gogl 64MB (this is the top end for the i8XXX chassis and twice fast as a radeon 9000)"

"Quadro4 700 support directX 8.1. HL2 rocks on it"

sLaShEr_PsI: "...It is a Direct X 8 support card and will work with the newest games. This has "pixel shader" Transformation and Lighting T&L engine also need in many new games"

urantia007: "Yep the quadro700 is definetly starting to show it's muscle in these newer games, it kicks the pants of the radeon9000 in farcry, half life2 and especially doom3. And it looks alot better! i am not sure if it is to do with my different screens, but the quadro700 seems to have a nice scaling alogorithm that acts like free antialiasing. (could be the ultrashrarp screen doing this.)"

"...the card has pixel shader 1.3 if i remember correctly, takes more passes to do pixel shader effects then the m9, but is still faster. altho the m9 will probably score higher in 3dmark2k3 becauase of the different pixel shader version." <--- what the hell?!?

yaboo: "Finally got my Quadro 700 GoGL and what can I say the performance is amazing. I used to on a p4 1.7 with a gf440go mx 64mb on battlefield vietnam only got 640x480 with everything turned down. With the Quadro4 700 GoGL I can now get full detail at 1024x768."

autobahn75: "To all you gamers out there here is a response I got from Nvidia about gaming with the Quadro 700 GoGL: "Thank you for your email. The Quadro4 700 Go will offer almost the same performance in games as a Geforce4 4200 Go. However, keep in mind that the graphic cards require System BIOS support from the laptop motherboard to function correctly so it is very likely that the Quadro4 700 Go will not work with the Inspiron 8200." Disreagard the reference about the card not working in a 8200 since it has been done already. There was a guy on Ebay selling a 8200 with the card installed."

...Can't get much better than getting the info directly from Nvidia themselves! :thumbsup:

BIOS Info

vustare: "No, you don't have to flash the precision m50 bios (unless you are using one of those docking stations). I have the Quadro4 and I've been using the A11 8200 bios with no problem so far. As for drivers, I'm still using 42.57."

HercMighty: "VblueV said he runs the M50 bios for docking station use I do believe. I know he told me that flashing to the M50 was optional and I did not have to do it to get the card working."

tentonine: "I also use the M50 BIOS because of a docking station."

Driver Versions

Shoey Peachew: "(StartStormXQ & Pieter's INF)"

vustare: "...As for drivers, I'm still using 42.57."

(Didn't record the name): "(Modified 67.66)"

schaki: "Modded Detonator 60.x. Bios 4.28.20.25.13"

urantia007: "(Modified 44.10 Driver)"

psybersyde: "...i've used 44.03s on my laptop and havent had issues with the drivers, other seem to be using a 42.58 driver (or something like that)..."

linuxer: "take the 71.20 is very stable and you dont need a modded inf"

">>1) So what drivers should I get for the g4 4200go to get the best performance? for hl2 and css forceware 67.02" (This is for the 4200 Go, but this guy is answering this while using a Quadro4 700. I suppose he could mean "only use 67.02 for the 4200, not the Q4", but I got the sense it was relevant because in another question, he answers "yes" to the overclocking capability of a 4200 Go because he says he can do that with his Quadro4. His signature says he uses "Modded Detonator 71.20 Drivers" though...)

So as you can see, I've done hours of careful and painstaking searching and sifting through these threads on the Dell forums...this is pretty much all the info you'd ever need on the Quadro4 vs. MR9000 debate. A few people on that forum said the Quadro4 isn't meant for gaming and is slower than the MR9000, but I take that as irrelevant because that was in the minority. These people seem like they know what they are talking about.

This could take the record for the longest post ever. :P I could've left some posts out, but I wanted to show the sheer amount of sources I have for this info now, and this isn't even all of it! :thumbsup: And I know some of these points were answered by you, but I think I needed to see it come from many people so I could feel more confident about making my decision...and I think I've done plenty of research on this topic now, and I'm very satisfied. I'm excited now about getting this new card! :P

The only thing I'm not sure about is the driver version that I should use. I saw Bill or someone on this forum suggest 82.10, but after seeing all these other versions that people use, it seems like it doesn't really matter much what one it is, but I could be wrong. Is there one you'd suggest Darmdorf (or anyone else)? What about Omega drivers?

Even though I've gotten all this other info, I'd still like to thank you for your additional help Darmdorf! :rofl:

Mark

P.S. - If I found a thread like this while searching in Google and I was just starting my search for info on the Quadro4 700, I'd be in absolute heaven. :)

[Darmdorf]

Great post there mark! Like I said, you really should register and join us regularly -- especially after such a fantastically researched answer to your own question. We really need more people of your caliber and with a superior work ethic to join us in our support mission!

Reading 'tentonine' in your Dell quotes reminded me again of how much fun the old Dell forum days were. He helped get me on the right track with my EDID problem in my Samsung SEC3255 LCD panel and is truly a very knowledgeable gentleman. Just do a search here in the forum and you find the thread from back then. As for the perfect driver --- I have no preferences or advice -- I'm still looking too.

You've been rewarded with a very rare thread trophy -- it would seem you've been pinned by one of my mod colleagues. Great work and thanks for the kudos. Modded the title just once more too. :)

Now you've really got me rethinking a Quadro4 upgrade --- if only the buggars weren't so flipping expensive.

Let us know what new results you obtain with that new card! We'll be hearing from you....

[StealthCamo]

Wow, I never expected this topic would be pinned! :) I have put a lot of time into these posts to make them very informative, so I guess it paid off! :) Thanks to whoever did that. It's a true honor. :P

As you can see, I finally buckled down and signed up for the forum. This is my new username, StealthCamo, referring to the Stealth Camouflage you can get in MGS. Man, I really wish it would change the "Guest_Mark_*" name to this one, but oh well. Now I don't have to repeatedly input security codes every time I wanna preview or submit a post! :rofl:

It does seem like the Dell forums were flourishing with life back then based on all the posts and topics I saw there...that place had the most and best info I've ever seen on the topic...it's a shame that Google didn't pick those forum topics up in the searches I conducted a while ago. I'd have to say that tentonine probably was the best source of info there...he seemed like he knew a lot.

I know of a place that sells it for the cheapest I've seen...I can PM you the link for fear of posting it and then others quickly purchasing the little they have left.

Nice to join you guys...I know next to nothing about other nVidia cards (other than the Geforce4 4200 Go), so I'm no (semi-)guru for anything other than the Inspiron 8200's setup. I'll let you all know of my experience with the new card when I get it. :P I'll run tests, tell you how it runs in Guild Wars, HL2 and Doom 3, and come here if I have any problems.

Mark

[®®®]

Thanks for registering :) Found those posts well done, so pinned it yesterday.

Teraphy, Pieter (mobilenvidia) and i think also Larry (LSudlow) or Kamikaz007 (see his post about the Alps-to-Synaptics-touchpad-mod) all originally came from the DELL forums and tentonine's name was dropped quite a few times because of his heplful posts.

[StealthCamo]

Well guys, I ordered the video card yesterday (on Tuesday, so I guess technically 2 days ago, since it's after midnight on Wednesday), and the guy said I can expect it a week from this Friday (5 business days of processing and 3-day shipping). So, it won't be too long from now! And if I'm lucky, it'll come early. :P It was $221 total including shipping, so not too bad I guess.

®®®, I did see Kamika's post regarding the Alps-to-Synaptics touchpad mod, and I found it interesting...I guess I never thought the touchpad that came built into the Inspiron 8200 was that bad...it is kinda unresponsive sometimes when I use it, but since my laptop sees most of it's use at home with a mouse, I'm not bothered by it. If I was on the go a lot with this thing, then that would be another story. But, this being my first laptop, I kinda assumed all touchpads behaved like this one - kinda unresponsive and the cursor jumping at times...guess I never really paid much attention to it to think twice about it anyway. But yeah, that's cool that he was able to do that mod if it makes that much of a difference.

I'll keep you all posted. :) Things are gonna be very different if this new card fixes my video problem (and improves the performance)...I'm gonna realize just how much I've had to get used to flickering and distorted colors, blue lines in darker colored areas and messed up videos and games! :)

[StealthCamo]

I got my video card today! I was able to install it fine and it works perfectly...no more blue lines and distortion on the screen! :) w00t! What a sigh of relief...it feels so good to have a screen that looks nice and sharp again...wow, I've really been missing out! All of my doubts and worries about it not fixing the problem like it didn't do for some people are vanquished.

My only problem now is finding a working modded inf and driver. I installed the 82.10 version (ForceWare) driver that Bill recommended and used John's 82.10 INF, but when I rebooted the computer, everything was fine until it got past the Windows loading screen...then it showed this pixelated and multi-colored white line going across the bottom of the screen. So, assuming it was due to the new driver, I went into Safe Mode and used System Restore to revert back to the default VGA driver. Now I'm back here and don't know which version to use with which INF of all the ones that are available on this forum. Do certain INFs work with a whole series of nVidia drivers? On John's INF thread, are the numbers after the "nv4_disp_" in the names of the attached files the version number of the driver it corresponds to? If so, I tried the INF version that has been downloaded the most (82.10) like I said earlier and it didn't work for me. In the meantime, I'm using Dell's official driver (A02 I think) and it's working fine with everything, including games. It would be nice to have a modded driver though to possibly get more juice outta this new card.

P.S. - At some point, I'll run some performance tests on this thing to see how it stacks up (even though I don't have raw numbers from the M9 to compare it to...maybe I could pop in my old card and hope it still benchmarks even with all the corrupted memory problems it has :P )...it seems to run Guild Wars fine though (prehaps better than my old card). :P

Edit: I thought I'd post an "after" picture of my desktop so you can see what it normally should look like:

Compare that to this (from the earlier post):

So no, all that blue should NOT be there! :)

Edited June 13, 2008 by StealthCamo

[Andrew55]

8 years old? That must have been a hell of a computer back in the day.

[StealthCamo]

Nope, 6 years old (came out in 2002)...yes, I remember it being about $2,612 total (that very well may be the exact price lol). It was the top-of-the-line computer (I guess I should say "laptop" :) ) at that time. I wanted the best. :)

Edited June 13, 2008 by StealthCamo

[®®®]

Pretty good investment if you consider that the top of line laptops nowadays are about the same or even more expensive and they only last 2 or 3 years because of overheating components due to bad mobo&chassis&cooling design... or on purpose?!

[BDUAres]

My only problem now is finding a working modded inf and driver. I installed the 82.10 version (ForceWare) driver that Bill recommended and used John's 82.10 INF, but when I rebooted the computer, everything was fine until it got past the Windows loading screen...then it showed this pixelated and multi-colored white line going across the bottom of the screen. So, assuming it was due to the new driver, I went into Safe Mode and used System Restore to revert back to the default VGA driver.

Did you try these instructions?

Link

I run the Guru3d Dell 82.10 driver myself, modded with the Nvidia Inf Enhancer and have been happy with these

I currently run things like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Prey, F.E.A.R., Doom 3, Call of Duty 2, the Warhammer 40000 series, etc, with this laptop.

For things that require more power than my Quadro4 700 GoGL can handle I use the laptop in a C/Dock II pushing a PCI 256MB Visiontek Radeon x1300.

By the way, as you have probably already found out, simply installing the video card in an i8200 automatically makes the bios reflect that you now run a Precision M50.

Cheers!

Edited June 13, 2008 by BDUAres

[®®®]

I have to add 2 cents concerning terminology. Guru3D does not have a "special" driver or something. That#s what the name "Guru3D Dell 82.10 driver" suggests. LV2Go doesn#t have special driver. TweaksRUs didn#t have. NGO doesn#t have. Nobody has special drivers that are better or different than NVIDIA#s original driver.

(The only exception was back in the days when OMEGA released alterated/hacked/modded driver packages.)

The difference between drivers you find on other sites and our or NVIDIA's is they are packed differently and if somebody offers a modded INF.

[BDUAres]

I have to add 2 cents concerning terminology. Guru3D does not have a "special" driver or something. That#s what the name "Guru3D Dell 82.10 driver" suggests... Nobody has special drivers that are better or different than NVIDIA#s original driver...The difference between drivers you find on other sites and our or NVIDIA's is they are packed differently and if somebody offers a modded INF.

I mentioned that driver specifically because:

a) Guru3D took the original Nvidia driver and not only replaced the .inf to allow my specific laptop to use it but they also repacked it down to 18 megs from 31 megs

b) more importantly, it is the exact driver I use on the same exact machine as is being used by the person asking the question in this specific topic. As my specific driver works fine, as opposed to whether or not some other driver will work exactly the same, I pointed him to that specific driver and to that specific inf creator page which will allow his specific machine to perform in the manner he wants it to. That would be the entire point of my response to the person asking for help, and it answers his question about his machine with his specific video card.

Anyone else have this specific video card in a Dell C840/i8200/M50 with their drivers working the way this person wants his drivers to work? Feel free to add anything helpful if I missed anything.

FYI

Angel Trinidad, in Puerto Rico, still makes his "Omega" drivers both for Nvidia and Ati. The actual 'code' difference between the "drivers" offered by Guru3D/John's INF/Omega is also a matter of semantics, as their main differences are differing registry settings for the same driver code. Yet few will dispute that what Angel offers as his 'Omega' drivers are indeed 'special' drivers. They are even officially recognized as such by by the card manufacturers. As Angel says himself:

"It should be noted that the drivers are tweaked versions of those officially released by ATi and nVidia, mainly using registry tweaks and offering an alternative installer. They are not custom drivers compiled from source code. The purpose of the Omega Drivers is to provide gamers with an alternate set of drivers, ones that have more options and features than the original sets. The drivers contain optimizations, extra features (like OC capabilities), more resolutions and internal tweaks that can give them the edge in a gaming environment over the normal drivers, which are often tailored for synthetic benchmarks. All Omega driver sets are tested (unless noted) by myself in my own PC or in an alternate PC (in the case of the Nvidia drivers) to ensure maximum compatibility and reliability"

Edited June 14, 2008 by BDUAres

[Darmdorf]

BDUAres, thanks for the clarification and your stand on the reference. We pride ourselves on our 'open mindedness' here in the forum space, and welcome mannered debate and good humor.

Perhaps you haven't noticed [point a)], but all of the LV2go driver packages are nicely compressed with 7zip to sizes considerably less than original. A lot of work is required to make things especially 'useable' for our members, but we have a few very dedicated individuals with a zest for perfection.

Thanks for your contribution to this thread. As a C/Dock II owner, I for one would love to know more about the Nvidia equivalency of that Radeon X1300 you mentioned (shader capabilities, etc.). I would so love to somehow get BF2142 up and running on my Old Guy.

[®®®]

BDUAres, i certainly not meant to dispute with you and your post. If it sounded like this, i have misworded something i guess. In fact it is one of the few posts i read nowadays which actually contribute. I totally agree with you on point b )

It might be nitpicky if i go into more details about point a), so please bear with me (and my perfection :) )... and allow me to proceed :)

Guru doesn't replace the original INF with a modded INF in the actual downloadable packed driver.exe

They leave it separate... and offer a separate downloadable modded INF. It's all due to legal reasons. That's why OMEGA had problems in the past, had to stop and then again began differently to offer his modded driver. Moreover the separate INF Guru offers, is always an exact copy (or maybe slightly changed) of Pieter's INF. At least in the past that was what they did. It is not mentioned anywhere for some reasons though.

Regarding the repack from 31 to 18MB i can only repeat what Darmdorf mentioned. That's a practice we started (and perfected with pride) and now you can find this everywhere. For some reason (even though it is mentioned in each and every driver thread) this confuses people. They think our drivers are missing files or are different or whatever. That's not the case. Like i mentioned before all those driver are the same. The only difference is the packaging/compressing and if applicable a modded INF (with all its registry settings, support for all DEVIDs, better uninstallation code etc. etc.)

The drivers you find here are compressed to the very, very, very maximum saving us bandwidth and you time to download. Ok i admit the second part doesn't really count... saving 1MB or 2 compared to drivers packed on other sites doesn't really save time while downloading, but i hope you get the point. Multiply the savings by ~1000 drivers we host and the bandwidth savings is huge though.

Sorry for beeing this extreme offtopic in this quite interesting thread. I'll shut off now and let you guys more interesting stuff about your "OldGuys".

[StealthCamo]

Hey guys,

Well I've been trying to install the 82.10 drivers several times now, and can't get them to work. I tried John's INF (the nv4_disp_8210 one) and did it following the install instructions on this site, but it didn't work.

BDUAres: I tried the nVidia INF Enhancer - no luck. For both INFs, it gets past the Windows loading screen on boot up and then just shows a horizontal white bar with small colored lines in it going across the lower part of the screen, like I said in my last post.

Using the latest Dell nVidia drivers (A02 I think) games run about the same and maybe even worse in some cases, and pixel shader rendering in Guild Wars and HL2 seems to be slower than before, cause these games slow down when it's rendering water or reflections more than I remember with my Mobility Radeon 9000. So, thus far I'm not seeing the significant performance increase that has been talked about by others. Haven't tried Doom 3 yet. I'm assuming maybe if I get the desktop drivers that it will improve this a lot. I'm quite convinced that this card is capable of better performance than my old one. Can someone walk me through installing this driver or recommend another one? What about Omega drivers?

I'll run some benchmarks in the meantime.

lol at the "OldGuys" remark ®®® :)

[Guest Kenneth Johansson]

about:

"I don't think it's the video cable cause I've already reseated it a few times in the past and it changed nothing. If I lift off the keyboard and stick a screwdriver under part of the video card and apply pressure upwards (as if I'm gonna pry it off), it can sometimes almost completely fix the video picture (yes, I'm doing this when the computer's on :) ). The mouse still usually has a grid of lines around it, but it can almost completely fix videos and remove the lines or flickering that usually plague them. I have to keep holding it there though in order for it to stay, and as I'm doing it, I can see that the video card is bending and I don't wanna break it. :) So I don't really understand how that would fix it and what exactly the problem would be in order for that to (almost) remedy it...even though I've read online about how others will apply pressure to the palmrests or keyboard to give a temporary fix. If it's a problem with the onboard memory of the video card, for some odd reason it's changing something when I'm physically manipulating the card...it makes me wonder if something's wrong with the GPU port on the motherboard or connectors on the video card..."

--> I had exactly the same problem with the ATI 9000 video card in Dell Inspiron 8200 a long time ago. It is a memory chip on the bottom side of the card wich is loose. I fixed it by putting a soft eraser/rubber under the memory chip. When I screwed the video card tight, the eraser applies constant pressure up on the memory chip. This fix is still working for me.

[StealthCamo]

So does this completely fix the picture? When I applied pressure upwards on the video card, it fixed the colors and distortion, but I still saw a grid of black or blue lines around the cursor...are you saying it fixed it as if nothing ever happened? :)

I did read online somewhere where someone said something about a cracked or loose memory chip causing this problem, so I inspected mine but didn't find any cracks... So prehaps like you said, it could be a loose one.

[StealthCamo]

Did you try these instructions?

Link

I run the Guru3d Dell 82.10 driver myself, modded with the Nvidia Inf Enhancer and have been happy with these

I followed those exact instructions, except I wasn't able to create the modded inf without specifying whether it would be for Performance or Quality, so I chose Quality. The only other thing that was different from your's was I enabled Coolbits, which I thought wouldn't make any difference for whether it would work or not. I first tried just pasting the nv4_disp.inf file into the setup folder and running setup.exe to install it that way, but it didn't work. Then I followed laptopvideo2go's install directions (selecting "Update Driver..." and choosing the modified inf), but that didn't work either. In all cases, it does the "load-Windows-then-freeze-with-the-pixelated-bar" thing. I have NO idea how all these people have been able to easily find modified infs and get these desktop drivers up and running for their Q4s...it was sooo much easier to modify the inf for Radeon drivers using DriverHeaven's mod tool. :)

By the way, as you have probably already found out, simply installing the video card in an i8200 automatically makes the bios reflect that you now run a Precision M50.

My computer still thinks it's an Inspiron 8200 as far as I know, because it still has the Inspiron 8200 splash screen on boot and Everest Home Edition reports my computer as an Inspiron 8200. I don't see anything with 'Precision M50' in it.

[StealthCamo]

I know this thread has gotten off-topic/off track kinda, with the driver installation problems and all, but I was really hoping someone could help me (further) with this issue, as I have now tried 1-2 other drivers (in addition to the few I already tried) with multiple infs from this site and double-checked the installation procedure, but nothing is working for me, and I don't know how many times I've used System Restore to revert back to the Dell drivers. :P I can't even reach the desktop with these drivers. It seems that it should be working for me, but it isn't, so I'm wondering if it is a problem with my computer itself...I'm tempted to wipe my hard drive and re-install Windows, but that is such a pain in the arse that I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary. And at the rate this is going, I'll probably end up doing that at some point! :) I have looked at the FAQ threads and followed the instructions step-by-step, but my computer for some reason just doesn't want modified nVidia drivers on it. :rofl:

In the meantime, I've been playing games with these old Dell drivers and haven't been fully able to appreciate the Quadro4 700 Go GL's ability, and it sucks (although it is holding up surprisingly well).

P.S. - I haven't done any benchmarks yet because I've been so caught up in getting new drivers for this card that benchmarking is the last thing on my mind! :P

Edit: I thought it was funny that this forum changes "a certain word" into "arse", because I did NOT originally type that. :)

Edited June 30, 2008 by StealthCamo