directx upgrade problem

[caldy]

i have a gainward gf2 ti xp500 card. i'm running winme. have upgraded to directx 8.1. all components of directx upgrade to 8.1 except for direct3d. it stays 7.0. i'm using gainwards latest driver v28.32 & also their latest bios v3.15.01.0400.i read a review of ti cards in tom's hardware & they were able to run 3d mark 2001 on this card. when i try it won't run because of direct3d being v7.0. i've tried getting help from microsoft & they say card won't allow update to direct3d v8.1. i've contacted madonion & they say you have to have direct3d v8.0 or better to run 3d mark 2001 but have no suggestions on how to get it to upgrade.my ? is how did tom's run 3d mark 2001 if direct3d was v7.0 or how were they able to upgrade direct3d to v8.1? any ideas how i can get direct3d to upgrade to v8.1? i've tried w/drivers from gainward & nvidia all the way back to the 21.'s. everytime i change drivers i try reinstalling directx v8.1 w/same results. any help much appreciated. thanks, caldy.

 

[amdchuck]

I would suggest not installing DX 8.1 until it is required by your system, usually this would be when installing a new game and it would be on the disk.

Prior to that you need to locate drivers for your vid card that explicitly state Microsoft DirectX 8.1 Compatible, these may not be available yet.

If you are doing all this to simply run 3DMark2001 I say STOP....WAIT.....RESEARCH....Upgrade only when required and prepared.

Previous versions of 3DMark still work very well and allow you to accurately gauge your systems capabilities

 

[caldy]

thanks for the reply. i'll heed your advice. i'm not doing this just to run 3d mark 2001 though, more or less just curious how tom's was able to run 3d mark 2001 for the review if there are no compatible drivers for direct3d 8.1 available for this board yet.thanks again, caldy.

 

[williamc]

*cough* i smell something smelly *cough cough*

Thats a windows problem if Direct 3d wont update. Your card will MOST CERTAINLY run on a system with directx 8.1 fully installed. It just wont be capable of using all of its features .

If it were my pc i'd be reformatting it right now and installing Direct x 8.1 BEFORE the graphics and sound drivers. But its not my pc...so you might prefer to try installing DX 8.1 from SAFE MODE first...

nVidiot: Message board Troll employed by nVidia to terrorize aTidiots.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by williamc on 05/02/02 01:43 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[caldy]

williamc. you the man. tried installing directx8.1 from safe mode. same problem. reformatted drive c as recommended. it's not so much of a hassle cause i just run my os from there & everything else i have on other drives. did as you suggested & reinstalled direct3d 8.1 before vid & sound. after installing vid drivers i ran test for direct3d 8.1. worked fine. reinstalled gainwards expertool overclocking utility, won't run direct3d 8.1 test. uninstalled expertool still no good. reformatted again this time w/out installing expertool & it's as it should be. problem seems to be w/expertool utility. i am going to advise gainward tech of the problem & see if they can't come up w/a fix. don't know how good that'll do. what i do lose though is my overclocking ability w/this card. it overclocks well. do you know if there are other o/c utilities i may be able to use w/this card? i really appreciate the help! thanks, caldy.

 

[amdchuck]

good job, determination is an admirable quality.

check this article, it refers to the GTS version but I think a lot will apply.....specifically PAGE 5.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1246


As far as utilities, I have heard good things about NVMAX
http://www.nvmax.com/

and you might also check out the old standby Powerstrip

 

[caldy]

thanks amdchuck. i'll read the article & also check the oc tools you listed. was away for the weekend but checked everything out mon. & still everything working fine. halve to e-mail gainward yet & make them aware of the problem. thanks again,caldy.

 

[williamc]

Glad you got your problem fixed-) that expertool probably modifies your registry in some way that conflicts with DX8.1 i'm guessing. I'd actually go look for the coolbits reg patch. It unlocks the overclock utility thats built into the Detonator drivers. You should be able to find it on www.3dguru.com i believe. It shouldn't mess anything up cause all it does is change a setting thats already there in the nvidia drivers to make that option show up. Good luck!

nVidiot: Message board Troll employed by nVidia to terrorize aTidiots.