This is likely due to

- faulty component on the video card
- inability to keep reference frequencies
- driver issue

I'd suggest:

- inspect visually the card and look for missing components, bad caps or damages
- use RivaTuner or coolbits registry to lower the frequencies by 20-30% (both on GPU and RAM)
- Try the card on a clean Windows XP install with unmodified drivers

Tried earlier drivers? I've had bad luck on win9x post-61.76 on FX cards where XP's fine for example.

Hi,

I hear you man! I will try to to set up small similar system over weekend and will let you know my findings. From last time I've tried GF6600 on BX motherboard I had zero issues as far as I remember.

btw, is graphics card working correctly in other systems? Looks like GPU/MEM problems...

cheers
classicvga

I've been swapping a lot of parts lately with only one test bench. I still plan to do more testing on this soon.

Have Leadtek WinFast 6600GT card, could she be? I tried with the Asus A7V600-X, but without success: after the 3DM2k1 benchmark launch only the black screen, even when the demo starts the PC restarts. Probably some incompatibility between the motherboard and the graphics, but I'll try it on the MSI KT4AV, which I used to run it on until recently.

Edit 23.9.2021: I don't see any of your problems on the system with KT400A and GF6600GT, the driver from your link caused a PC shutdown problem (restarts instead of shutting down), but graphically everything is fine.

I ve tried quickly Biostar 6MTBA 440BX Intel 550MHz with GeForce 6200LE 256MB because it's the only card from 6series to have AGP Universal connector in my collection. And I must admit I can't get it working properly under Win98SE. Used only Forceware 81.98. Freezin, unable to boot etc,
But I am quite sure that GF6XXX series worked mostly on my Athlon s462 systems without issues. Will try over weekend if I find more time.

I've had those artifacts myself on Windows 98 with a working 6800 card.
If I remember correctly, the best driver for Win98 (when using these cards specifically) was either 77.72 or 71.84. So try those and see if the issue is solved.

Now, what people don't realize is that GeForce 6xxx support in Win98/Me is very dependent on the motherboard/platform you have, that's why it can work a bit better for some people when all the stars align. It's clear that nVIDIA didn't give a flying rat's ass about Win98/Me at that point.
For ultra overkill Win98/Me gaming I recommend the ATI Radeon X8xx series, it's much more compatible - although it also has its quirks, particularly with older titles.

It doesn't make sense to me to use this modified driver (designed to run the GeForce 7,8,9xxx series on the W98) for the GeForce 6xxx series. Latest official drivers from nVidia 81.90 work for this.

I had a similar issue with 3Dmark2001 when using a Matrox G400 MAX. I solved it by updating to the latest drivers.

I recommend using 3Dmark2000 instead, IMO it's better and less buggy than 3Dmark2001, and gives a better and faster way of knowing if the card is glitching or not.
Usually you can tell a card is faulty just by looking how it behaves in the desktop. For ex.: by moving around a few windows, changing resolution ecc...

classicvga wrote on 2021-09-24, 09:30:

I ve tried quickly Biostar 6MTBA 440BX Intel 550MHz with GeForce 6200LE 256MB because it's the only card from 6series to have AGP Universal connector in my collection. And I must admit I can't get it working properly under Win98SE. Used only Forceware 81.98. Freezin, unable to boot etc,
But I am quite sure that GF6XXX series worked mostly on my Athlon s462 systems without issues. Will try over weekend if I find more time.

The GeForce 6200 le AGP is an turbocache video card.
Turbocache based video cards are very unstable under win9x and may not work properly at all unless you denote the video card as basic display adaptor with no 3d acceleration using the hardware vga acceleration slider under display adapters option to force the driver with basic video functions.

Use non turbocache models of the Nvidia 6 & 7 series and the gpu should work without problems. I would personally use the Nvidia forceware 7x.xx
& below drivers as others stated the new one's introduced alot of bugs & issues.

You may need to inf ID mod the older drivers in order to have windows to detect and install video driver for your card.

That's interesting. How can I confirm whether my 6600 uses Turbocache?

Kahenraz wrote on 2021-09-24, 23:28:

That's interesting. How can I confirm whether my 6600 uses Turbocache?

GF6600/LE/GT was not produced with Turbo Cache, you don't have to worry. This was the domain of cheap office graphics for occasional play.

You could try the old "rename the 3Dmark executable" trick in case it's a cheat to score higher.

Tested card on xp yet? that benchmark should be compatible if only to see if its the hardware at fault.
If system BIOS allows 8x AGP selecting 4x may make it more stable.
I always have double the system ram than the GPU has as minimum.

From observation: All Nvidia card with HSI bridge (PCIe-to-AGP) have some problems with Intel 440BX and VIA chipsets (except really late ones). With 440BX it's almost certain and with VIA it's more random.

zapbuzz wrote on 2021-09-26, 13:10:

Tested card on xp yet?

Not yet. I'll update this thread when I do. I don't have XP installed on anything that can connect via IDE so I couldn't test this quickly.

I tested this card today on Windows XP with driver version 307.83 on a Socket 775 without any problems. I also tested it with Windows ME again but on this same Socket 775 motherboard and there was no graphical corruption.

I'm not sure what the problem is but it may be some interaction with these older chipsets.

What chipset did that give you trouble on?

the list is endless with the possibilities eliminating them all is a pain.
a socket 775 chipset shouldn't be old enough to be an issue unless theres a power supply or cap issue.
Or even hard disk and memory.
Even ones without bulges can be dry so if you can run a microfarad multimeter test on your capacitors at least there will be no fire.
generally power supply would be worn out if its over 10 years old i always replace mine ever 5 - 8 years. (least tollerance to spikes and line interference)
And mine are minimum 500 watts to guarantee minimum 320 watts
electromagnetic intereference is the primary concern for retro electronics if the noise suppresion wears out its gonna play up
when i recapped a motherboard in 2015 i purchased a slot in soundcard noise suppression device knowing it would be a useless piece of quackery it did stop the replaced caps from bulging by ganging up with them damn socket 478 generation .... sold it on facebook with a benchmark and the dude who bought it from me was surprised. even display cards man they need their caps checked even solid caps can be dry.
I have my dual p3 Via Apollo 133a with an Nvidia 6600GT plugged in runs happily passed all benches and test i could throw at x4 sideband speed (8x card) but i wouldn't use discrete gpu's GT's have molex connector to supply the GPU so theres no weird voltage problems.
Intermittant faults like yours can also be poorly seated system ram chips. My p3 uses a SATA 150 card so ribbon cables don't cause memory bank malfunctions in the small space.
If that is the case I'd recommend whilst verifying with memory tester (working) a dab of hot glue on the ram locks and also on anything lockless SATA cables.
Also, a thorough surface scan of your hard disk not only shows up any bad sectors but does write testing to refresh your disks platter.
I could keep going but this is turning into an entire novel!
ok a little more: power connectors become worn especially when many parts been pulled an installed a little bit of plug back in and a little pressure on the cables to ensure they are connected inside the plugs sometimes they plug in but the pins only connect half way.
Ribbon calbes are a real pain with old disks is why i now use only sata with 9x support which means any disk up to 3tb can be used without AHCI support.
Even so I recommend lockable SATA cables and if you have pci cards without lock tabs its glue gun or vibrate off.
Hot glue because its easy to peel off like a sticker.