VIA chrome9 HC IGP WDDM driver update needed

[ad270186]

I don't mind breaking the budget a bit.
Also WoW isn't too bad, it's just the icons on the menu have a habit of changing by themselves.
The only way to get rid of it is to Alt + Tab every minute or so which is annoying.
Anything to get rid of that and I'll be happy.
Thanks for your help.
Ad.

[tcsenter]

Well if WOW performs alright with the VIA graphics, then it should be even better with any of the cards I mentioned before, and all graphical features should work correctly. I was just concerned that if performance with VIA graphics was extremely low, then a graphics card that performs fully two or three times better may still not be very playable. e.g.

5 fps x 3 = 15 fps

Also sometimes people reduce resolution or details lower than they would like just to be playable, but then increase the resolution or details after an upgrade, which can eliminate some of the performance gain from a new graphics card.

I'm not confident that your PSU would not be adequate for a stronger card like Radeon X1650 PRO, I'm just more confident that your current PSU should be adequate for cards like GeForce 7300GS or 7300LE. Though, in all fairness, there is no guarantee it is adequate even for those, but the likelihood is much better.

The Radeon X1650 PRO would be a safer card from the standpoint of ensuring acceptable performance, but the other cards would be safer from the standpoint of avoiding a new PSU.

I'm not familiar with UK pricing or resellers. Price these cards out from your preferred resellers, make sure they are PCI Express cards rather than AGP. If you can give me a link to one or two preferred resellers, I'll look through the PSU selection and recommend something that should not break the bank.

[ad270186]

Thanks for your help.
I ended up buying a card from eBay.
NVIDIA GeForce 7300GS - 256 MB Graphics Card PCI-E on eBay, also Graphics Video Cards, Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 12-Nov-08 11:26:23 GMT)
The only thing is once I put it in it didn't work.
The seller had a good rating, and although it was second hand, it should work.
So it made me think it's either the wrong type or I have not installed it correctly.
Here's what my motherboard looks like.

I put the card into the lime green slot where it's meant to go.
Once I turned it on, the computer came on making it's usual humming sound.
Although it didn't beep like it usually does on start-up.
Plus the monitor didn't come on.
It just showed an orange light as an opposed to the green one it normally shows.
I even tried putting the monitor into the slot that was now available on the graphics card itself.
I also tried removing a different card I had in before in the underneath slot which allowed me to link my DV camcorder.
Is there something I havn't done like remove the intergrated graphics card, or added an extra cable somewhere like in the back of the graphics card???
Or have I got the wrong card???
Or is my computer just rubbish and won't let me add anything new to it???
Thanks.
Ad.

[Mr. Chris]

If you're not getting a beep, then I would say the card is bad. You should get a beep when the computer posts.

The green slot is the right one. The onboard graphics should automatically disable when the card is installed. And, yes, you must hook the monitor up to the connector on the card, not the board. Try booting the PC with the monitor hooked to the card.

Used cards can be defective, the seller should have some kind of exchange policy. Chris.

[ad270186]

Thanks.
Ad.

[tcsenter]

Originally Posted by ad270186

I even tried putting the monitor into the slot that was now available on the graphics card itself.

You "even" tried this, meaning this wasn't the first approach?

Try re-inserting the card, making sure it is fully inserted or that the bracket is not preventing the card from going all the way in - always attach the monitor to the graphics card. If still nothing, try clearing/resetting the CMOS using the hardware jumper. You can find how to do this in the user manual.

This will reset all BIOS options to default settings, so you'll need to enter the BIOS and return all options to the appropriate setting.

[tcsenter]

Any updates or new developments?

I was curious to know whether newer cards would work in the Foxconn board. So I picked up Radeon HD 3650 and GeForce 8400GS that had good rebate deals. I didn't consider GeForce 8400GS earlier because I mistakenly assumed it was PCI-E 2.0, but it is actually PCI-E 1.0.

I haven't put the system together yet but will try to get it working tomorrow and will report back with the results.

[tcsenter]

Both GF 8400GS and HD 3650 are working! System booted right up with both cards. Drivers installed without a problem and both ran a couple passes of 3DMark 2001SE and 2005 (I didn't note any scores).

I almost fried a CPU because the heatsink was not making contact with the CPU heatspreader. The system shutdown without warning about 20 seconds after first powering it up. But after changing the CPU cooler and resetting the CMOS, it powered up again with no apparent damage.

I updated to the latest P52 BIOS from Foxconn, which is a lot newer than the P20-something the OP is using, so I don't know what influence a newer BIOS may have had.

[tcsenter]

Will be testing GF 9400GT in a few days, found another rebate deal.

[tcsenter]

9400GT with VGA BIOS v62.94.29.00.40 works fine, but I've changed the motherboard to PC CHIPS P53G V1.0 with the latest BIOS. Same VIA P4M900 chipset as the Foxconn board.

However, the Radeon HD 3650 seems to be under-performing by at least 20% on both P4M900 boards. This little 9400GT w/DDR2 actually scores higher in 3DMark 2001SE and 2005 than the HD 3650 w/DDR2, but it shouldn't be. I'm not sure what the issue is there, maybe the ATI drivers. There are no errors or stability problems with any of the cards; GF 8400GS, GF 9400GT, and HD 3650.

I might give the Catalyst Hotfix drivers a try, though they shouldn't be required or applicable here.