Unlocking my videocards maximum potential

[FlimFlamFluggle]

I have had an ATI radeon 9800 pro 128 for about a year now. I want to make sure I am getting all I can out of it..you know accessing its full potential!!! Yes I am a gamer!!!

System:
Asus P4C 800 Deluxe
2.8 P4 Prescott
2 Gig of RAM
Duel Monitor
2 Seagate 120's stripped (RAID 0)
ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128mb


Thank you in advance for any tips and help!!!

[pam123]

It's no longer cutting edge but it's able for all the games now out.
What drivers are you using?
Have you tried the Omegas?
Are you using the CCC or ATI Tools?
You're gambling with the card if you force it but the guys over a Rage3D (It's "the" ATI forum.) are always trying things out.
Hop over and read through : http://www.rage3d.com/

[FlimFlamFluggle]

I am a total noob when it comes to tweaking my computer to improve its performance as far as games are concerned. I heard that increasing your frame rate is one way to do this. I posted here to learn all I can. As you can tell my my following questions......I really am new to this sort of thing. I know enough to get me in trouble. This computer is the first one I have ever built so I do have some knowledge.

"What drivers are you using?" Are you referring to Direct X?

"Have you tried the Omegas?" I assume these are drivers?

"Are you using the CCC or ATI Tools?" To what are you referring whaen you say tools?

Thanks for your reply Pam!!!!

[pam123]

The current drivers for ATI cards is the 6.1 (6.2 is due in another 2 weeks).
Get it here : https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...ge&folderID=27
You will need Microsofts .NET to run it as well as DX 9.
If it's been several moths since you've updated the video driver you're well out of date and you may want to get the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard as well ( at the board makers site or from the support page of who you bought the computer from).
The Omegas are altered drivers that do very well for some people.
ATI Tools (tray tools) are used by people who would rather not deal with the Catalyst Control Center and won't use an older edition of the Control Panel (on going argument).
Post your specs and we can tell you what needs doing.

[Nav_functions]

Since we're on this topic.

I have a Sony VAIO GRT160
Windows XP Home; 2.66GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go 32MB; Hitachi DK23EA-60 60GB 4,200rpm. Don't ask me why I have a Vaio.

Anyway, How can I unlock this card (NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go 32MB) to it fullest potential without burning the card?

Btw, I thought about over clocking it... but afraid to do so, because I tend go over the limit when over clocking.

Any suggestion?

[pam123]

Originally Posted by Nav_functions Since we're on this topic. I have a Sony VAIO GRT160 Windows XP Home; 2.66GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go 32MB; Hitachi DK23EA-60 60GB 4,200rpm. Don't ask me why I have a Vaio. Anyway, How can I unlock this card (NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go 32MB) to it fullest potential without burning the card? Btw, I thought about over clocking it... but afraid to do so, because I tend go over the limit when over clocking. Any suggestion?

It's a mistake to put your questions at the end of another's post, it just creates confusion.
As for your Sony notebook, overclocking a notebbok is suicidal, they're not built for it.
The general rule with notebooks is, "What you see is what you get."
Except for such things as adding another bigger hard drive or a larger stick or ram, 1 gig instead of 512mb since may notebooks only have one ram slot, you're pretty much stuck.
Go to Sony's site and see if they have any driver upgrades for your model but that's it.
If you want to game, and don't aim to play the latest there are many outstanding older games that your specs can manage. Ask in the Gaming forum.
And please remember what I said about starting your own thread.

[Nav_functions]

I didn't want to create a different thread since it's has the same concept in this thread. If I do... I might be redirect into this one or somewhere else... eh.. this is the 'gaming' forum, is it not?

Thank anyway, I'll probably leave it as it is... don't want to upgrade something that won't last long..