VOGONS


HELP! - GeForce FX5600 in win98se

Topic actions

First post, by Iris4g

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi all, long time lurker here.

For years I have been trying on and off to get my father's old GeForce FX5600 256 working in my very first computer running windows 98se.

The drivers install and work, but plus 98 screen savers have white textures, and half life has the same white textures issue. I tried a few different ForceWare drivers namely 66.94, 77.??, the last official one and even the unofficial one (it doesn't work at all and can't find my native resolution)

The gpu works just fine under Windows 2000 and Windows xp so it is absolutely a driver problem.

Does anyone know the best driver for this car under win98? Or is it simply too new?

Specs:
AMD Semprom 2500+ Socket A
Creative GeForce 2 GTS 32MB
256mb SDRAM
MSI motherboard (forgot the model... Ms-6712?? It's agp 4x)
30gb pata quantum fireball

Thanks 😀

Reply 1 of 29, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

45.23 is usually the way to go for compatibility with older games. That's almost the oldest driver a 5600 can run. It is a July 2003 release to give you an idea of the games it knows about.

Newer drivers will be about optimizations for DirectX 9 and for later GPUs like NV4x. You probably know that GeForce FX is a lost cause for DirectX 9 anyway.

Reply 2 of 29, by Iris4g

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Thanks for the reply!
I haven't changed the driver yet. I tested a GeForce FX5500 today and same problem. However I also got a geforce 6600 today, same driver, no white textures! But now the plus 98 screen savers don't even start - they immediately crash. I may just use this 6600 but I need to clean it up, and test other drivers first.

Reply 4 of 29, by Iris4g

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Don't hold me to it, but I am almost positive it is 9.0b?
I remember having this issue with 9.0c games. Need for speed underground 2 and UT2004 would puke graphics all over the screen with the FX5600 under Windows 98se. Once again, worked fine in Windows xp. The plus 98 screen savers with white textures was always the case no matter what direct x version I had.

Reply 5 of 29, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Typically I only use 98SE for older hardware and games that don't work well or at all with XP. In my opinion Win9x becomes even more flaky than it inherently is once you are using DirectX 7.1 or newer.

You can run GeForce FX cards with DirectX 7.0a without issue. I do it all the time because it avoids stability problems with sound drivers.

Reply 6 of 29, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

To those searching for best drivers for FX5600 this may be of interest. I tested a few driver versions on my PIII 900, 440BX, Windows 98. The fastest driver is 53.04, however I cannot comment on game compatibility vs the well known 45.23. I tested drivers using 3D Mark 99, 3D Mark 2000, 3D Mark 2001. 53.04 may be the last usable driver for retro gaming for FX cards.

3D Mark 2000 is a DirectX 7 benchmark, 3D Mark 2001 is DirectX 8 benchmark however DirectX 8.1 was installed.

Benchmarks were run in 1024x768x32bit, 32bit textures, 24bit z-buffer and triple buffering, vertical sync always off in driver settings.

3D Mark 99

  • 45.23 - 6190
  • 53.04 - 6176
  • 56.64 - 5064
  • 61.76 - 4960
  • 81.98 - 6416

45.23 and 53.04 are neck and neck here within margin of error.

3D Mark 2000

  • 45.23 - 5805
  • 53.04 - 6151
  • 56.64 - 6200
  • 61.76 - BSOD
  • 81.98 - 5926

53.04 is clearly faster.

3D Mark 2001

  • 45.23 - 5512
  • 53.04 - 5562
  • 56.64 - 5511
  • 61.76 - 5224
  • 81.98 - 4981

45.23 and 53.04 are neck and neck here.

53.04 is clearly faster in 3D Mark 2000 while performing about the same in 3D Mark 99 and 3D Mark 2001.

56.64 - missing OpenGL settings, 50FPS cap in 3D Mark 99 (vertical sync was off) - explains low score
61.76 - same as above + BSOD in 3D Mark 2000
81.98 - too new, crashes in Fifa games using Direct3D older than 8.1

For FX5600 in Windows 98 don't waste your time with drivers newer than 53.04.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 7 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlexZ wrote on 2022-04-18, 09:55:

56.64 - missing OpenGL settings, 50FPS cap in 3D Mark 99 (vertical sync was off) - explains low score

You can use RivaTuner to get around the missing OpenGL settings in 56.64.

It's truly baffling that Nvidia released an official driver version in such a poor state.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 8 of 29, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Keep in mind that Nvidia was aggressively tweaking their driver at the time to get more speed at reduced quality, and 3DMark is their first stop because it sells cards. Trying to beat Radeon 9800 with Geforce FX must have been stressful over at Nvidia HQ.

Reply 9 of 29, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I found out 53.04 doesn't work with Thief 2. I get black screen when I mission starts. If I manage to switch back to Windows I see "direct 3d device does not accurately report texture memory usage". This is caused by 5x.xx drivers. It works fine with 45.23. Therefore don't use 5x.xx drivers.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 10 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlexZ wrote on 2022-05-08, 10:35:

I found out 53.04 doesn't work with Thief 2.

Interesting. Did you try it with 56.64?

Back when I was still using an FX5700LE, that was the earliest driver version which could recognize that card. I ran Thief 2 just fine with it, albeit I only tested two levels: the first one and the one with the fog.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 11 of 29, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-05-08, 10:47:

Interesting. Did you try it with 56.64?

I just did and I get exactly the same error: Direct3D device driver does not accurately report texture memory usage.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 12 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlexZ wrote on 2022-05-08, 11:23:

I just did and I get exactly the same error: Direct3D device driver does not accurately report texture memory usage.

Which DirectX version are you using?

When I was testing out my FX5700LE, I ran DirectX 9.0c. It could be that 5x.xx drivers need something close to that version. Or possibly, there might be something else going on with your system. In any case, I was able to run Thief 2 properly with that setup i.e. the levels loaded fine and I walked around a bit. But I didn't do any extensive testing at the time.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 13 of 29, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I'm using DirectX 8.1 on Windows 98. Thief 2 version is 1.18. Given that 45.23 driver works fine, there is definitely a compatibility issue in 5x.xx drivers.

Maybe a later unofficial Thief 2 patch solves it, or it doesn't manifest when DirectX 9 is installed.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 14 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlexZ wrote on 2022-05-08, 12:38:

Maybe a later unofficial Thief 2 patch solves it, or it doesn't manifest when DirectX 9 is installed.

In my case, I was also using the retail CD version of Thief 2 + patch 1.18, so it's more likely that the lack of DX9 is to blame.

This is not entirely unexpected, as 56.64 drivers came out in March of 2004. By that time, DX9 was around for more than a year. It is possible that contemporary Nvidia drivers relied on it, even when rendering older games.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 15 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
AlexZ wrote on 2022-05-08, 12:38:

I'm using DirectX 8.1 on Windows 98. Thief 2 version is 1.18. Given that 45.23 driver works fine, there is definitely a compatibility issue in 5x.xx drivers.

I was able to reproduce the black screen in Thief 2 with 53.04 and 56.64 drivers on my GeForce FX 5900XT. As you say, sometimes Windows will show this error: "Direct3D device driver does not accurately report texture memory usage" and other times it will just crash to desktop.

This issue is not related to (the lack of) DirectX 9.0c as I had previously thought. You are correct that it's simply a bug in Nvidia's 5x.xx driver series. I think it also occurs with 6x.xx drivers, but I haven't tested them all. I did test 77.72 and the black screen issue no longer occurs with that version. I think that might have been the driver which I had used back when I was testing my previous FX card with Thief 2.

In conclusion, I can confirm your findings that the 53.04 driver is generally the fastest one for FX cards under Win9x. However, the black screen issue with Thief 2 is unacceptable to me since it's one of my favorite games. Therefore, I will stick to the slightly slower but known good 45.23 driver.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 16 of 29, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-08-14, 15:53:

However, the black screen issue with Thief 2 is unacceptable to me since it's one of my favorite games. Therefore, I will stick to the slightly slower but known good 45.23 driver.

Same here. No driver newer than 45.23 should be used in Windows 98.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 17 of 29, by Madowax

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-08-14, 15:53:
I was able to reproduce the black screen in Thief 2 with 53.04 and 56.64 drivers on my GeForce FX 5900XT. As you say, sometimes […]
Show full quote
AlexZ wrote on 2022-05-08, 12:38:

I'm using DirectX 8.1 on Windows 98. Thief 2 version is 1.18. Given that 45.23 driver works fine, there is definitely a compatibility issue in 5x.xx drivers.

I was able to reproduce the black screen in Thief 2 with 53.04 and 56.64 drivers on my GeForce FX 5900XT. As you say, sometimes Windows will show this error: "Direct3D device driver does not accurately report texture memory usage" and other times it will just crash to desktop.

This issue is not related to (the lack of) DirectX 9.0c as I had previously thought. You are correct that it's simply a bug in Nvidia's 5x.xx driver series. I think it also occurs with 6x.xx drivers, but I haven't tested them all. I did test 77.72 and the black screen issue no longer occurs with that version. I think that might have been the driver which I had used back when I was testing my previous FX card with Thief 2.

In conclusion, I can confirm your findings that the 53.04 driver is generally the fastest one for FX cards under Win9x. However, the black screen issue with Thief 2 is unacceptable to me since it's one of my favorite games. Therefore, I will stick to the slightly slower but known good 45.23 driver.

For me 53.04 works fine with thief2, dx8.0 and my FX5900 Ultra if 'safe texture manager' in the user.cfg is active (remove the semicolon in front of it), with it disabled I get the black screen you mentioned. Give it a try.

Reply 18 of 29, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Madowax wrote on 2022-12-06, 23:23:

For me 53.04 works fine with thief2, dx8.0 and my FX5900 Ultra if 'safe texture manager' in the user.cfg is active (remove the semicolon in front of it), with it disabled I get the black screen you mentioned. Give it a try.

Can confirm, this solved the 53.04 black screen issue in Thief 2 for me as well.

Nice find!

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 19 of 29, by DoZator

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
AlexZ wrote on 2022-04-18, 09:55:
To those searching for best drivers for FX5600 this may be of interest. I tested a few driver versions on my PIII 900, 440BX, Wi […]
Show full quote

To those searching for best drivers for FX5600 this may be of interest. I tested a few driver versions on my PIII 900, 440BX, Windows 98. The fastest driver is 53.04, however I cannot comment on game compatibility vs the well known 45.23. I tested drivers using 3D Mark 99, 3D Mark 2000, 3D Mark 2001. 53.04 may be the last usable driver for retro gaming for FX cards.

3D Mark 2000 is a DirectX 7 benchmark, 3D Mark 2001 is DirectX 8 benchmark however DirectX 8.1 was installed.

Benchmarks were run in 1024x768x32bit, 32bit textures, 24bit z-buffer and triple buffering, vertical sync always off in driver settings.

3D Mark 99

  • 45.23 - 6190
  • 53.04 - 6176
  • 56.64 - 5064
  • 61.76 - 4960
  • 81.98 - 6416

45.23 and 53.04 are neck and neck here within margin of error.

3D Mark 2000

  • 45.23 - 5805
  • 53.04 - 6151
  • 56.64 - 6200
  • 61.76 - BSOD
  • 81.98 - 5926

53.04 is clearly faster.

3D Mark 2001

  • 45.23 - 5512
  • 53.04 - 5562
  • 56.64 - 5511
  • 61.76 - 5224
  • 81.98 - 4981

45.23 and 53.04 are neck and neck here.

53.04 is clearly faster in 3D Mark 2000 while performing about the same in 3D Mark 99 and 3D Mark 2001.

56.64 - missing OpenGL settings, 50FPS cap in 3D Mark 99 (vertical sync was off) - explains low score
61.76 - same as above + BSOD in 3D Mark 2000
81.98 - too new, crashes in Fifa games using Direct3D older than 8.1

For FX5600 in Windows 98 don't waste your time with drivers newer than 53.04.

Good testing, only sorry you missed many interesting driver versions. And at least two very important ones - ForceWare 56.55/56.56 for Win9x (The first versions, by the way, which already support extension limit), as well as ForceWare 60.86. In addition, 3DMark, in my opinion, is not very suitable for such thin tests, since certain optimizations were made for them and the best solution when testing drivers is to use real applications (games). So, for example, on any video card of the GeForce FX series that I tested (NV30, NV31, NV38) in Direct3D mode (DirectX 7.0), the best results were with 56.56/56.55 driver versions. And with newer video cards (NV40+), on which, unfortunately, 5X.XX driver versions cannot be installed, in the same Direct3D, in real tests (games), the 60.86 version driver showed itself best. Regarding the OpenGL mode, the picture is different - the newer the driver, the better (And the higher the version of supported OpenGL itself, up to version 2.0 in 77.72 and 2.0.1 in 8X.XX). I managed to get the fastest results in OpenGL with ForceWare 8X.XX drivers as well.

As for ForceWare 77.72 in Direct3D, it showed itself approximately at the level of 45.23 (Same in terms of buffer shadow support in SplinterCell, by the way), but significantly worse than the fastest 56.56 in old Direct3D. In general, a good increase began with version 52.16, reaching its ceiling in version 56.56. 56.64 is already a little slower and further there was a serious regression.

When testing, I think you should not focus only on official versions, since there are not so many of them released for Win9x (The earliest one that I managed to install on Nv30 (adding an identifier to INF) is Detonator 40.52), it is worth avoiding only obviously problematic or specific versions that not suitable for GeForce FX (Like 61.42 and some other 60s).