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Author
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Topic: diamond viper v770 ultra?
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ToXiC
Sarge
Member # 201
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posted 05-21-2001 02:18 PM
    
i hope someone can shed some light on this topic for me.i have a diamond viper v770 ultra. i bought it something like two years ago when the tnt2 chipset first hit stores. i remember paying approx $400 for this card. ( if you want to read about this card, check out http://www.diamondmm.com/default.asp?menu=support&submenu=Legacy_Graphics&product=Viper_V770_Ultra ) anyway, off the box it reads exactly this: memory 32mb, bus agp 4x/2x, controller riva tnt2 ultra. pretty straight forward, right? i remember when i bought this card, there were two chipsets for the tnt2 series (tnt2, tnt2 ultra). now, all this time i really haven't payed attention to details... i installed refrence drivers for the tnt2 ultra chipset, everything was fine. now, about 6 months ago i upgraded my motherboard to the asus cusl2. among other things, i bought this to finally take advantage of my video cards agp 4x capability. (when i bought the card, agp 4x mobo's weren't out yet, but were due out in 6 months, so i did the research and bought a card that had the 4x capability). so, i install the new motherboard and start checking stuff. using some programs (mainly wcpuid) i noticed that my agp bus data rate was only showing 2x.
http://www.mts.net/~toxic/temp/agp.jpg i started fidling... i updated my mobo's bios, and got the option "agp 4x (enabled/disabled)". easy enough... enabled that. still no go, my agp bus is still chugging at 2x. i figured... ah well, maybe i'm doing something wrong, or don't know what i'm doing... now, on to better things. i went and downloaded the famous 3dmark2001 program and started doing some benchmarks and noticed something even more interesting. (to note, 3dmark2000 did not show this bit of info). anyway, when i viewed my results online, it showed that my 3d accelerator was a tnt2 ultra... but my graphics chipset was a tnt2/pro.
http://www.mts.net/~toxic/temp/chipset.jpg hmm... later i figured out that where it said tnt2 ultra, it was actually getting that from my video card drivers... and where it said tnt2/pro, that was comming right from the card. as you can see in the picture, on the right is when i was running tnt2 ultra refrence drivers, and on the left is when i realized i should be running tnt2/pro refrence drivers. so, wtf? right on the back of the box (and on the website) it says and i quote "get optimum performance from the newest motherboards with support for new agp 4x systems; compatible with current agp 1x and 2x motherboards" and "nvidia riva tnt2 ultra - for the ultimate in raw graphics horsepower". again, wtf? i can't run agp 4x, and it sure doesn't seem to be a tnt2 ultra chip. so i decide to email diamond tech support, and get one of those nice preprogrammed email responses. they basically told me that this card was a diamond viper v770 ULTRA and even though the name of the card is ULTRA, it doesn't mean the chipset is the tnt2 ultra but rather, just a higer performance card from the viper v770 (regular) and in fact did have the tnt2/pro chipset. one last time... wtf? the box doesn't say anthing about having a tnt2/pro chip running it. the website doesn't even say anything about a tnt2/pro either. BUT it DOES say (quote) "nvidia riva tnt2 ultra" all over the box, as well as on the website. so, now that my card is getting a little bit outdated... this tnt2/pro situation isn't making me that happy. i shelled out the cash to get the tnt2 ultra card the day it came out. now suddenly, i have a tnt2/pro. what do you guys think? is the box misleading? is the website misleading as well? did i get scammed two years ago by some crap company called diamond? or am i just stupid? fill me in, let me know what you think... -------------------- 
Posts: 53 | From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Registered: Jun 1999 | IP: Logged
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fury
Sarge
Member # 676
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posted 05-21-2001 05:12 PM
quote:
Originally posted by ToXiC:
i hope someone can shed some light on this topic for me.i have a diamond viper v770 ultra. i bought it something like two years ago when the tnt2 chipset first hit stores. i remember paying approx $400 for this card.
Want some reimbursement? here's 2 US cents  quote:
( if you want to read about this card, check out http://www.diamondmm.com/default.asp?menu=support&submenu=Legacy_Graphics&pr oduct=Viper_V770_Ultra )anyway, off the box it reads exactly this: memory 32mb, bus agp 4x/2x, controller riva tnt2 ultra. pretty straight forward, right? i remember when i bought this card, there were two chipsets for the tnt2 series (tnt2, tnt2 ultra). now, all this time i really haven't payed attention to details... i installed refrence drivers for the tnt2 ultra chipset, everything was fine. now, about 6 months ago i upgraded my motherboard to the asus cusl2. among other things, i bought this to finally take advantage of my video cards agp 4x capability. (when i bought the card, agp 4x mobo's weren't out yet, but were due out in 6 months, so i did the research and bought a card that had the 4x capability). so, i install the new motherboard and start checking stuff. using some programs (mainly wcpuid) i noticed that my agp bus data rate was only showing 2x.
http://www.mts.net/~toxic/temp/agp.jpg i started fidling... i updated my mobo's bios, and got the option "agp 4x (enabled/disabled)". easy enough... enabled that. still no go, my agp bus is still chugging at 2x. i figured... ah well, maybe i'm doing something wrong, or don't know what i'm doing...
Did you make sure to set up the latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers with the AGP driver set as Turbo? This is the 4x configuration. 2x is selected by default on the latest (4.31) quote:
now, on to better things. i went and downloaded the famous 3dmark2001 program and started doing some benchmarks and noticed something even more interesting. (to note, 3dmark2000 did not show this bit of info). anyway, when i viewed my results online, it showed that my 3d accelerator was a tnt2 ultra... but my graphics chipset was a tnt2/pro.
http://www.mts.net/~toxic/temp/chipset.jpg
This is a generic report from the nVidia unified driver architecture. Your chip is still a TNT2, the only difference between all the different variances (like pro, ultra, etc) are the clock speeds. If it's any consolation, it reports my Geforce2 GTS as a Geforce2 GTS/Pro. quote:
hmm... later i figured out that where it said tnt2 ultra, it was actually getting that from my video card drivers... and where it said tnt2/pro, that was comming right from the card. as you can see in the picture, on the right is when i was running tnt2 ultra refrence drivers, and on the left is when i realized i should be running tnt2/pro refrence drivers.so, wtf? right on the back of the box (and on the website) it says and i quote "get optimum performance from the newest motherboards with support for new agp 4x systems; compatible with current agp 1x and 2x motherboards" and "nvidia riva tnt2 ultra - for the ultimate in raw graphics horsepower".
It does support AGP 4x, but again, you probably missed configuring your VIA drivers for 4x (Turbo) AGP. quote:
again, wtf? i can't run agp 4x, and it sure doesn't seem to be a tnt2 ultra chip. so i decide to email diamond tech support, and get one of those nice preprogrammed email responses. they basically told me that this card was a diamond viper v770 ULTRA and even though the name of the card is ULTRA, it doesn't mean the chipset is the tnt2 ultra but rather, just a higer performance card from the viper v770 (regular) and in fact did have the tnt2/pro chipset.
it is still a TNT2 ultra, but again, your drivers will use a generic name to report it to whatever asks. quote:
one last time... wtf? the box doesn't say anthing about having a tnt2/pro chip running it. the website doesn't even say anything about a tnt2/pro either. BUT it DOES say (quote) "nvidia riva tnt2 ultra" all over the box, as well as on the website.
it is still a TNT2 ultra, but again, your drivers will use a generic name to report it to whatever asks. quote:
so, now that my card is getting a little bit outdated... this tnt2/pro situation isn't making me that happy. i shelled out the cash to get the tnt2 ultra card the day it came out. now suddenly, i have a tnt2/pro.
it is still a TNT2 ultra, but again, your drivers will use a generic name to report it to whatever asks. quote:
what do you guys think? is the box misleading? is the website misleading as well? did i get scammed two years ago by some crap company called diamond?or am i just stupid? fill me in, let me know what you think...
You're not stupid. The box is probably true, the web site was probably managed by some dumbass mexican technician who only read from a list of written answers to answer any questions on the product.
Posts: 842 | From: Kentucky, USA | Registered: Aug 1999 | IP: Logged
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ToXiC
Sarge
Member # 201
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posted 05-21-2001 06:16 PM
thanks for reading thru my long post and clearing some things up...1) via 4-in-1 drivers? can you link me to that? 2) if it is a tnt2 ultra chip, why when i install win2k it installs tnt2/pro drivers. now, i take say nvidia refrence drivers 7.76 and try to update to tnt2 ultra drivers, it says "may not be compatible"... yet if i choose tnt2/pro drivers, it's fine. i guess my question is, if it is a tnt2 ultra chip, why doesn't it detect that and install tnt2 ultra drivers? -ToXiC
Posts: 53 | From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Registered: Jun 1999 | IP: Logged
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AcidWarp
Sarge
Member # 997
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posted 05-21-2001 07:35 PM
Fury, I'd just like to say that the CUSL2 mobo used the Intel 815e chipset not a VIA chipset. So installing the VIA 4in1's would not help. I doubt in fact that they would do anything.Anyway, I've got family over so I can't find a fix or anything right now, but I'll check back later. -------------------- “I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” --Dr. Stephen Hawking.
Posts: 4363 | From: Waterloo, Ontario | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged
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ToXiC
Sarge
Member # 201
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posted 05-21-2001 08:42 PM
yea, so the via doesn't do anything... becuase this mobo has intel815e chipset. so anyway, i tried updaing drivers for that, and ended up corrupting a lot of stuff. had to transfer files from my winnt/system32 from another comptuer to this one to get it into windows... and now i'm missing the system device in device manager that reads something like:intel(r) 82xxx processor to agp controller it had a yellow ! beside it, and now it's gone... can't get it back, and i noticed wcpuid can't read agp info because of it... yay. -ToXiC
Posts: 53 | From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Registered: Jun 1999 | IP: Logged
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ToXiC
Sarge
Member # 201
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posted 05-21-2001 09:44 PM
chalk one up from stupid... there was jumpers on the video card, now it shows agp running in 1x 2x 4x mode...now to get my intel drivers all sorted. -ToXiC [ 05-22-2001: Message edited by: ToXiC ]
Posts: 53 | From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Registered: Jun 1999 | IP: Logged
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AcidWarp
Sarge
Member # 997
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posted 05-22-2001 12:21 AM
Hmm . . . as far as I know there never was a tnt2 pro. AFAIK it went TNT2 M64, TNT2, TNT2 Ultra. Maybe though what has happened is that it's just reporting differently, it's entirely possible, I wouldn't actually worry about it. In 3DMark2k1 it says that I have 32MB local(on card)texture memory, and 32MB local video memory. . . and 56MB total AGP memory. I in fact have 32megs on my card. I think that on average 3DMark2k1 isn't to be trusted on that kind of stuff.-------------------- “I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” --Dr. Stephen Hawking.
Posts: 4363 | From: Waterloo, Ontario | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged
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ToXiC
Sarge
Member # 201
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posted 05-22-2001 12:45 AM
well, if you look at:
http://www.nvidia.com/Products/TNT2.nsf it states that there is a tnt2 pro chip. however it looks like the 'pro' chip is just the second generation chip for the tnt2... as well, in the detonator drivers, there is a set of drivers specifically for the tnt2/pro. i don't know what to think. as i said, diamond told me via email that it did have the tnt2/pro chip in it... but how? if it's second generation, then that means when tnt2 was released, there was just tnt2 or tnt2 ultra. maybe it's just a windows thing. when you install win2k (and winxp) it installs standard drivers for tnt2/pro. probably because of that, it just always thinks that it is a tnt2/pro. who knows... blah. maybe i should take off the heatsink and fan and read what the chip says... -ToXiC
Posts: 53 | From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada | Registered: Jun 1999 | IP: Logged
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posted 05-21-2001 03:56 PM
posted 05-21-2001 10:50 PM
