Q & A for all issues on 8600GT

[wook]

Created this topic as there are a lot of people with 8600m cards, creating a lot of questions. Post them here and together we'll answer them ALL...

Drivers are the first order of buisness. I have used over 40 drivers, have just done a format of C: and a clean install of vista 32-bit. 174.74 has been my choice for over 2 months now, but have installed 177.26 to give it a chance.

2) Overclocking using rivaTuner 2.09.

Core - 645

Shader- 1425

Mem- 834

Now, with these settings the system heats up quite a lot. I have modified my internal fan, but that didnt show as much difference as changing one setting in the BIOS.

2b) In the BIOS of your system you can DISABLE 'speed step'

- This is supposed to make your CPU run at full speed all the time, (but i have noticed it not preforming as well) it uses more battery. But as a result the fan also runs a lot more because the CPU will get hotter. This in turn cools down the CPU.

Now if you have had a look in your laptop you will notice the S bend heat sink is connected to Both the CPU & GPU. So this in turn cools the GPU a lot more also.

You will be able to overclock more than ever before.

Enabled speed step - Temp: 90 Oc (overclocked)

Disabled speed step - Temp: 68 Oc (overclocked)

Edited June 19, 2008 by wook

[Michael Marley]

Be careful with that SpeedStep setting on Dells. It actually locks the processor into the Lowest performance mode, rather than the highest.

[the_duality]

Any idea how to do that on an Acer 5920G? Can't find how to do that in my BIOS. Also, what are acceptable temps for an 8600M GT? What should I aim not to go over?

[wook]

Any idea how to do that on an Acer 5920G? Can't find how to do that in my BIOS. Also, what are acceptable temps for an 8600M GT? What should I aim not to go over?

anything over 90 is bad. So aim for a (peak) mid 80's

In my BIOS its under performance. Its where i can chang the HDD, memory and 'speed step' Umm look at powersettings?

Edited June 22, 2008 by wook

[ktadie]

Hello there, Looks like I am also one of the victims of the 8600GT :o

I recently went to the nvidia forums asking for some driver help, and they

directed me to here..

First of all, here are my laptop specc's:

Acer Aspire 5920G

Vista Ultimate 32bit

2gb Ram

Intel Core 2Duo T7100 1.8ghz <-- does that mean that I have two 1.8ghz processors, or 2x 0.9ghz ones? O_o

Here is a screen from my dxdiag about my graphics card:

And here is my intro to my post at the nvidia forum;

I have had some recent problems in the game World In Conflict, graphic problems that is. The display would go crazy, all the textures flaring with pink, green and other colours. My music in the background would go on, but then it too would start to hack and lagg, and then I had to restart my laptop manually.

Now after that incident I got worried about my lovely laptop, and wanted to try and fix it. So i tried doing a dxdiag test on my laptop, and everything seemed good.. One of my m8's suggested that I get the latest driver, because it has some heat monitoring stuff and other goodies for my nVidia 8600GT. Ontop of that, I have had other game crashes in the past where the "Windows solutions and problems" reported that there was a problem with my nVidia drivers, and I should update them.

So, my main problem is my driver. After looking through this forum, I can see that there are many different opinion on which driver is best for the 8600GT.

Before I start experimenting with the different drivers (I will try the one suggested by this thread starter) I must point out that I don't have my windows vista ultimate cd, so I cannot re-install my vista or do the repair thingy, incase sometihng goes horribly wrong..

Is 174.74 really the best out there for my card and laptop? And let me just get this right; I find the 174.74 driver, download the driver from the links which you have provided. Then I also download the moded .inf file, and I replace the .inf file from the folder with the 174.74 driver, with the moded one which I jsut downloaded. Then I go through the file and find the setup/isntaller file.. Oh, I need to un-install my old driver first?

Then comes overclocking!

I am completely new to this, so I have no idea on how to troubleshoot it to see if anything goes wrong, and this laptop has been a huge withdrawal from my budget, so I care alot for it and hope to god nothing will ruin it ;p

Therefor, I would love to know what exact programs I need to download, and what to do with them...

Will the 174.74 patch have some nvidia program that can monitor the temperature of my graphics card and processor?

And I guess I should also try overclokcing my CPU.. Do you guys also know how to do this?

Thanks a bunch guys!

[wook]

{From your original post... I have had the same issue. Display when all weird, exactly what you described. Not during a game though. I changed the driver, and has not happened since}

Yeah I’m pretty sure we can help with those questions.

Firstly Intel Core 2Duo T7100 1.8 GHz means a combined speed of 1.8 GHz. So each processor is running at 900 MHz.

Next - In my experience 174.74 is the best for vista32 and possible XP 32 bit as well. 175.80 is pretty similar, so try that if you are not happy with 174.74.

What you have mentioned is totally correct. Uninstall the current driver, and then restart. So when you install the new driver (possible 174.74) it will be using "standard VGA adapter" If.. And only if you run into problems then you will need to get software called "driver sweeper" but let’s leave that for now.

After you have installed the new driver, download an application called ‘rivaTuner’ it’s used to over clock your 8600m card, here is the link:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/downloadget.ph...4432a3976bff55a

Once you have done that install it.

1) Then in the settings area you will need to go to the tab, 'settings' and make sure it’s set to 'run when windows starts' up.

2) Then on the 'main' tab, under forceware detection click 'customize' then 'system settings' (wait for a bubble to appear when your mouse hovers over the different sub categories)

3) Then 'enable hardware driver level overclocking' select the core and memory speeds that you want.

Might sound complicated but it’s not... well, once you get used to it. : )

rivertuner can also monitor the GPU. But if you want more detailed application you can download HWMonitor from this link:

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Now.. the CPU.., as far as I know there is not software that can do it. I wouldn't recommend opening up the laptop and changing voltage settings. If anyone else has knowledge of this, then please leave a comment.

Hope this helps.. let me know if i'm not clear enough and i'll be more specific.

Edited June 23, 2008 by wook

[wook]

Try between 5-10% of factory speed for overclocking. 540 core - 830 mem is a good place to start.

(if you have DDR3 memory)

[aliveanddead86]

Firstly Intel Core 2Duo T7100 1.8 GHz means a combined speed of 1.8 GHz. So each processor is running at 900 MHz.

You sure about this?

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index...Ahr4&show=7

I've just researched this, and read in numerous places it is 2x1.8, NOT 2x900mhz. I have not found anyone stating anywhere it is 2x900mhz... correct me if I am wrong on this! Technically, it is not 2x1.8, as it is only 2 cores, not 2 processors, but thats getting to finite details on dual core processors.

Edited June 23, 2008 by aliveanddead86

[wook]

You sure about this?

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index...Ahr4&show=7

I've just researched this, and read in numerous places it is 2x1.8, NOT 2x900mhz. I have not found anyone stating anywhere it is 2x900mhz... correct me if I am wrong on this! Technically, it is not 2x1.8, as it is only 2 cores, not 2 processors, but thats getting to finite details on dual core processors.

Yeah you are quite correct... was trying to simplify it, but ended up giving a partial/ incorrect example...

(Head must have been thinking of multi processor main boards)

One physical chip, two 'cores' is essentially 1.8 GHz.

But for example, they can't be used in unison to perform one task at 3.2 GHz.

Cheers for pointing that out : )

Edited June 23, 2008 by wook

[ktadie]

{From your original post... I have had the same issue. Display when all weird, exactly what you described. Not during a game though. I changed the driver, and has not happened since}

Yeah I’m pretty sure we can help with those questions.

Firstly Intel Core 2Duo T7100 1.8 GHz means a combined speed of 1.8 GHz. So each processor is running at 900 MHz.

Next - In my experience 174.74 is the best for vista32 and possible XP 32 bit as well. 175.80 is pretty similar, so try that if you are not happy with 174.74.

What you have mentioned is totally correct. Uninstall the current driver, and then restart. So when you install the new driver (possible 174.74) it will be using "standard VGA adapter" If.. And only if you run into problems then you will need to get software called "driver sweeper" but let’s leave that for now.

After you have installed the new driver, download an application called ‘rivaTuner’ it’s used to over clock your 8600m card, here is the link:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/downloadget.ph...4432a3976bff55a

Once you have done that install it.

1) Then in the settings area you will need to go to the tab, 'settings' and make sure it’s set to 'run when windows starts' up.

2) Then on the 'main' tab, under forceware detection click 'customize' then 'system settings' (wait for a bubble to appear when your mouse hovers over the different sub categories)

3) Then 'enable hardware driver level overclocking' select the core and memory speeds that you want.

Might sound complicated but it’s not... well, once you get used to it. : )

rivertuner can also monitor the GPU. But if you want more detailed application you can download HWMonitor from this link:

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

Now.. the CPU.., as far as I know there is not software that can do it. I wouldn't recommend opening up the laptop and changing voltage settings. If anyone else has knowledge of this, then please leave a comment.

Hope this helps.. let me know if i'm not clear enough and i'll be more specific.

Great! thanks alot for the reply. Well, I have downloaded the Driver together with the .Inf file..

After extracting the driver contents, I can see that there are ALOT of files in there :o

I guess the best thing is for me just to drag that moded .inf file into the folder, and run the Setup.exe

from the file? However, I saw a zip file named Original .inf's, will that be of any importance for me?

I'll uninstall my old driver via add/remove programs from the control panel right? But what if the

174.74 driver sucks with my laptop, how can I find my old one agian so my laptop will be stable

while i look for a new one? ::o

Now, about the driver itself, will it have like a litle nVidia control panel thing, where it has a temperature

regulator and all that? =)

Oh and about my processor, it isnt equivalent to a 3.2GHz processor?

thx alot again!

Edited June 24, 2008 by ktadie

[wook]

no its not. unless you are running many applications and they all require significant CPU power at the same time, its not the same as 3.2 Ghz.

To get the old drivers, you can click 'roll back driver' under system preferences, hardware, device manager, video adapaters.

That will roll back to your previously install driver.

dont worry about the original inf's as they wont enable you to install the new driver. Esentially the new infs give your mobile GPU support for the driver. Otherwise only desktop cards will be able to have the driver installed.

what you said is fine. copy the 'modified inf' to the driver folder, run setup. then restart.

thats all there is to it.

Edited June 25, 2008 by wook

[idro]

Any idea how to do that on an Acer 5920G? Can't find how to do that in my BIOS. Also, what are acceptable temps for an 8600M GT? What should I aim not to go over?

I have the same Acer as you and I just can't find this option in BIOS, can someone help?

[Hiataby]

My issue is: Games don't work as they suppose to.

My Notebook:

Acer Aspire 5720G

T7100 (1.8 Ghz)

3 GB Ram

8600M GT (upgraded from 8400M GS) Driver: 174,93

Seller says DDR2 version but PC Wizard says DDR3 version. I don't know what to believe.

But my issue now: When I play games, CoD4. RSVegas, RSvegas 2 they all get a black screen duuring play or the fps going down ( I think because the screens goes slow).

So any one have a idea to fix this?

Thx a lot!

[ktadie]

no its not. unless you are running many applications and they all require significant CPU power at the same time, its not the same as 3.2 Ghz.

To get the old drivers, you can click 'roll back driver' under system preferences, hardware, device manager, video adapaters.

That will roll back to your previously install driver.

dont worry about the original inf's as they wont enable you to install the new driver. Esentially the new infs give your mobile GPU support for the driver. Otherwise only desktop cards will be able to have the driver installed.

what you said is fine. copy the 'modified inf' to the driver folder, run setup. then restart.

thats all there is to it.

Sorry, but the new driver is really bad for some reason!

I uninstalled the old driver from Add/Removie programs,

installed the new driver and restarted.

My computer is really slow, the resolution sucks.. how do I find the "roll back driver" ??

here are screens showing how bad my laptop now is :S

An error which occured during installation:

Original dxdiag report:

Performance reduced alot!

pls help :S

EDIT: Okay, i tried to "roll back" but I can't ... what now? :)

Edited June 26, 2008 by ktadie

[wook]

hmm... i don't think this is a driver issue, so try another driver...

i recomment the following:

Under device manager=

1) uninstall driver

2) restart into 'safe mode'

If you can not find this, do a normal restart , then when fully booted up, hold the power button down. that will turn it off, then press it again to power up, windows will start saying do you want normal, command propt, or safe mode start up. choose 'safe mode'

3) then run an application called 'driver sweep' (you will need to download this before you go into safe mode, its free!)

then clean out any and all Nvidia drivers.

4) restart

5) install a new driver with a modified INF. try 175.80

restart

This application will take any and all display driver out of oyur system, as often the driver versions conflict and stop parts working correctly.

let me know how this goes.

Edited June 26, 2008 by wook

[ktadie]

hmm... i don't think this is a driver issue, so try another driver...

i recomment the following:

Under device manager=

1) uninstall driver

2) restart into 'safe mode'

If you can not find this, do a normal restart , then when fully booted up, hold the power button down. that will turn it off, then press it again to power up, windows will start saying do you want normal, command propt, or safe mode start up. choose 'safe mode'

3) then run an application called 'driver sweep' (you will need to download this before you go into safe mode, its free!)

then clean out any and all Nvidia drivers.

4) restart

5) install a new driver with a modified INF. try 175.80

restart

This application will take any and all display driver out of oyur system, as often the driver versions conflict and stop parts working correctly.

let me know how this goes.

I did alot of playing around with drivers now :O

Somehow, I got back to where I started.. the 7.15

One thing that I noticed, was that when i extracted the zipped driver folder

of 174.74 and put in the moded .inf, it didn't ask to over-right the another file..

in otherwords, there wasn't an .inf file in it?

I'll try and re-download the 174.74 driver and then do the following steps

(which I hope are right)

make a new folder, put the moded inf file there and the zip driver file.

extract the driver file and if it is in a new folder, I drag in the moded inf file..

Can I just install it straight away? Do I have to un-install the old driver?

Cos, if the 174.74 won't work, then I'm stuck with no driver, if i uninstall the olde one..

[wook]

Sometimes it wont promt you to overwrite. Often it will be a nv4_disp.inf and not an nv_disp.inf. Thats still ok.

Not using the modified INF wont allow you to install the driver. (will get an error saying something like: 'can't find any hardware supported by this driver")

Basically the driver is for desktop cards, the modified iNF adds support for your mobile card.

You can install it straight away.. bu if you are having issues like the screen dumps suggested, then yeah... its better to uninstall and sweep out old drivers. gives a garanteed driver install. so parts of older drivers wont be used...

Uninstalling video drivers will just make the operating system use the standard vga adapter. This is fine. and is necessary to remove the older drivers.

You can try and just install a new driver, but if you get a similar issue, then use the ininstall/ driver sweep method.

Edited June 26, 2008 by wook

[ktadie]

Sometimes it wont promt you to overwrite. Often it will be a nv4_disp.inf and not an nv_disp.inf. Thats still ok.

Not using the modified INF wont allow you to install the driver. (will get an error saying something like: 'can't find any hardware supported by this driver")

Basically the driver is for desktop cards, the modified iNF adds support for your mobile card.

You can install it straight away.. bu if you are having issues like the screen dumps suggested, then yeah... its better to uninstall and sweep out old drivers. gives a garanteed driver install. so parts of older drivers wont be used...

Uninstalling video drivers will just make the operating system use the standard vga adapter. This is fine. and is necessary to remove the older drivers.

You can try and just install a new driver, but if you get a similar issue, then use the ininstall/ driver sweep method.

OK, well I tried re-installing the 174.74 driver.

This time it didn't go all wrong as before, however, I don't see any changes in:

Windows performance Information; its still 4.6

dxdiag shows the same driver; 7.15, and so does device management..

While installing, it got the same error as before, about not being able

to add some desktop icon..

I didn't un-install the old driver though..

I don't know what I'm doing wrong =(

I can run a 3dMark test, but I think the results will be the same

as it was for the prevoius driver, since the windows performance

didn't change and device managment + dxdiag couldn't find/recognize/report

that there is a new driver installed...

[wook]

don't rely on windows test, as it doesnt test all shaders. run 3dmark06 and compair it to your old driver. Mine have never changed from 5.6 & 5.9

As far as driver versions are concerned.

7.15 is just the begining of the driver version. indicating windows vista. the last 5 digits are the actual driver.

eg. 6.14.11.7580 = 175.80 (XP)

yours will be 7.15.*1.7474

Check to see if you are installing the driver with administrative rights. thats probably stopping the desktop icon adding itself.

also on a side note:

press F1 and do a search for "startup programm" it will come up with vista boot configuration options. i think its the seconds option down in the help box. click it, and click on 'selective statup options.

Here you can choose applications that you don't want to startup. will increase performance.

[wook]

My issue is: Games don't work as they suppose to.

My Notebook:

Acer Aspire 5720G

T7100 (1.8 Ghz)

3 GB Ram

8600M GT (upgraded from 8400M GS) Driver: 174,93

Seller says DDR2 version but PC Wizard says DDR3 version. I don't know what to believe.

But my issue now: When I play games, CoD4. RSVegas, RSvegas 2 they all get a black screen duuring play or the fps going down ( I think because the screens goes slow).

So any one have a idea to fix this?

Thx a lot!

You can run an application called "GPU-z" its a video card info utility. check to see if its DDR3 or not.

Black screen issue... not sure. Try another driver. If all games are doing it, then thats probably the issue.

Other than that check BIOS of the video card. Have you modified it yet?

I've read (no expert on BIOS on video cards) that when you install a new card, you also have to flash it with new BIOS also.

Check with the reseller first tho. As this gets complicated.

Also when you have installed a new driver disable powermizer. It will stop the downclocking of the GPU processor.

Follow the instructions here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=261929

Edited June 27, 2008 by wook

[wook]

I have the same Acer as you and I just can't find this option in BIOS, can someone help?

What type of processor is it? Intel or AMD? Its called umm... "*** and cool"

Sorry i can't think of at the moment : )

Other than this, i have no experience on Acer. sorry

[Hiataby]

You can run an application called "GPU-z" its a video card info utility. check to see if its DDR3 or not.

Black screen issue... not sure. Try another driver. If all games are doing it, then thats probably the issue.

Other than that check BIOS of the video card. Have you modified it yet?

I've read (no expert on BIOS on video cards) that when you install a new card, you also have to flash it with new BIOS also.

Check with the reseller first tho. As this gets complicated.

Also when you have installed a new driver disable powermizer. It will stop the downclocking of the GPU processor.

Follow the instructions here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=261929

Thx. If installed a new driver 175.80. Don't have so much problems now. Flash the card is only neccesery if you have a card from asus and a laptop of Acer. So two diffrent company's.

Thx voor powermizer link!

[ktadie]

Yo Wook, I finally got it to work! :)

Thanks to your help.

I just did about 2-3hours of non-stop driver testing!

I got 174.93 to be the best.

it ranked 5914 on 3dMark05

while 174.74 ranked 5833

check it out :)

oh btw, now for the tuning..

I got the nVidia tool where I can see the different temperatures,

however, what are the dangers of the tuning? When I use rivatuner,

which settings should i choose? And can i change it back incase something

goes wrong?

thx alot in advanced, again :P

Edited June 27, 2008 by ktadie

[idro]

What type of processor is it? Intel or AMD? Its called umm... "*** and cool"

Sorry i can't think of at the moment : )

Other than this, i have no experience on Acer. sorry

  2:28a    (@k1ck-idro) (CPU1) Intel® Core?2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz @ 2201MHz (Acer, Inc. Chapala mainboard) (RAM) 2GB, 1.03GB free (HDDs) 219GB, 94.2GB free

  2:28a    (@k1ck-idro) (VGA1) NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (512MB), 1280x800x32, 60Hz (OS) Microsoft® Windows Vista? Home Premium (SP1), 14h 22m 52s uptime, 14h 22m 52s uptime record

is this enough?

[wook]

its pretty much about temperature. Anything above 90 Oc reduces the life of your GFX card. But also, if you clock it too high the driver often stops responding. So there are two issues there.

Rivatuner has a hardware monitor that tracks the heat on a time series graph. Really good to see wat your card is doing throughout gaming. You'll see peak and averge temperatures.

start about 10% higher for overclocking.. example if your Core clock is 715, increase it by 71 to say 786. Thats a good place to start. If it seems ok, and no driver errors or heat issues increase if by 5-10 until it you see poblems. Then go back to the last speed that worked..

(EG. if 615 was stable and 620 the driver stopped responding, then i'd take it o 610 to be safe)

No problem for th help.. : )

Edited June 30, 2008 by wook