Nvidia admits 8800 series memory prob!

Belles_Toaster

Distinguished
Jun 5, 2007
47
0
18,530
Last week I posted some amusing observations of the evga 8800 320 gts being outperformed in certain sequences
of a 3dmark 05 test by the lowly x800 xtpe. Today I read there are problems with the memory and texture swapping the full story is in the Guru3D .com forums videocards nividia. This perhaps vindicates my befuddled observation. This helps others with disappointing framerates.
 

Heyyou27

Splendid
Jan 4, 2006
5,164
0
25,780
Perhaps you could post some links to provide more information on the situation? Does it only apply to the 8800GTS 320MB or all 8800 series cards? There were issues at the 8800GTS 320MB's release; have they still not been remedied?
 

Zorg

Splendid
May 31, 2004
6,732
0
25,790
Yeah, I love it when people refer to articles/information on another site and don't have the courtesy to post a link to make it easy to see.
 
It's been known for a while, and affects all models, it'll impact the GTS-320 sooner because it has less VRAM to deal with, but eventually it would affect even the GTX.

The funny thing is most benchmarks would never show this as they rarely run for more than a few minutes at a time.
 

Ananan

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2007
646
0
18,990
Does this affect all Games? They specifically mention BF.

I've tried a bunch of games (running some for several hours) and have yet to have this issue.
 


Well, if it only happens in some games and all I need to do is Alt-Tab twice in a row, every 15 minutes or so, then I guess I can live with it. They'll fix the driver eventually. How many of you do get 15 minutes of playing without interruptions from pets, girlfriends, wives, kids, or parents anyway?
 

Spikke

Distinguished
May 16, 2006
365
0
18,780
Interesting, I never noticed this problem on my 8800GTX, even if I game for multiple hours straight. Maybe it's because I alt+tab a lot into my browser sometimes when there is downtime in a game. That is a shitty bug, but at least they have a loose time frame on when the fix will be coming out.
 

Ninjaz7

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2006
247
0
18,680
So thats the reason I see an occasional pissed off 8800 owner(doh),glad I wasn't a part of the 8800 frenzy...I always think (IMO)its better to wait jus a lil while to have the cream move to the top,whatever the flavor may be.
 
OK, sure, but your lil while has lasted 9 months already. Have you set a limit at all? You can't wait for drivers to be 100% bug-free before you buy, because they will never be perfect. I thought about the same way as you, but after 9 months I decided what the heck and bought. Should have done it earlier....
 

Spikke

Distinguished
May 16, 2006
365
0
18,780

You are missing out, the 8800 is a superb performer. I have never experienced this bug nor do I know anyone that has, so it obviously isn't very common. Like was said, if you wait for something to have perfect drivers then you will never upgrade because the next generation of technology will be out first.
 
I experience this "bug" while playing Fable. I have a 320, and we are talking slide show when it happens. I recall alot of people talking about ATI and their drivers. While I dont use Vista, Im glad I didnt have to wait for nVidia and the slooow solution. From what Ive read, this is a bad bug, as it is really dodgy on a per game, per rig basis. this doesnt vindacate ATI, but shows that some people are fanboys and use drivers as excuses not to use a certain product. I own both camps, and have been pleased with both. The 8800320 is a nice card, and its fun having both cards (the others a 1900xt512), as I havnt owned a nVidia since my TNT M64, which by the way played WOW just fine
 

bydesign

Distinguished
Nov 2, 2006
724
0
18,980


I don't think you would see the problem in Vista because it would use system memory to compensate I have 2559MB available for video memory. Never had a problem...
 
Your DDR2 isnt the same as DDR3 and its going thru the bus, thatll slow everything down, just like turbo. No, Vista wont help this problem, its either a driver issue (Ithink it is) or a hardware problem, or a combination
 
Ive got the new 162 drivers, and I know theyve been trying to address this issue. Havnt tried Fable yet with the new drivers. When I do Ill post back and let you know if they help this game/this rig. To me it sounds so specific theyre having trouble nailing it down. Why the hardware isnt responding...who knows?
 

kpo6969

Distinguished
May 6, 2007
1,144
0
19,290
The problem is Microsoft and memory management. Here's some links:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphicsmemory.mspx

ht tp://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034

http://www.anandtech.com/c puchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3044

In a nutshell this is what I have observed:
Nvidia WHQL driver 162.22 (7/26/07) 32bit Vista 8600GT 3GB RAM
added 512mb to available graphics memory In my case from 1022mb to 1535mb (from 158.24 WHQL)
Nvidia WHQL driver 162.18 (7/26/07) 32bit XP FX5500 1GB RAM
added 5000 series cards (from 93.71 WHQL-latest WHQL driver available until 162.18)
TERRIBLE-rolled back to 93.71

In the release notes for 162.18 it states that systems with 1.5GB of ram or less may suffer performance issues.
Nvidia says it's a Microsoft issue. FYI
 

kpo6969

Distinguished
May 6, 2007
1,144
0
19,290
The problem is Microsoft and memory management. Here's some links:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphicsmemory.mspx

ht tp://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034

http://www.anandtech.com/c puchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3044

In a nutshell this is what I have observed:
Nvidia WHQL driver 162.22 (7/26/07) 32bit Vista 8600GT 3GB RAM
added 512mb to available graphics memory In my case from 1022mb to 1535mb (from 158.24 WHQL)
Nvidia WHQL driver 162.18 (7/26/07) 32bit XP FX5500 1GB RAM
added 5000 series cards (from 93.71 WHQL-latest WHQL driver available until 162.18)
TERRIBLE-rolled back to 93.71

In the release notes for 162.18 it states that systems with 1.5GB of ram or less may suffer performance issues.
Nvidia says it's a Microsoft issue. FYI