With regards to the installation, there isn't much new here to
note.
We didn't run into
any major issues. It basically came down to inserting the V8420 into
a vacant AGP slot. Once done, we booted into a
fresh installation of Windows XP with Service Pack 1, which
automatically installed a Microsoft approved version of NVIDIA's
reference
drivers. We removed those, and installed Version 40.41. One
re-boot later and we were up and running. If you're not
familiar with NVIDIA's Detonator XP series of drivers,
check out our recent article here. We've covered
these drivers before, so we won't go in-depth within this
article.
Checking what was available on the other CDs included with
the V8420, we found Asus DVD 2000,
Intervideo WinCoder and WinProducer, and Cyberlink VideoLive
Mail, as well as two
full versions of Aquanox and Midnight GT/Rage Rally. On the
Driver CD, there are a few interesting utilities that I
wanted to point out. Besides the Asus Enhanced drivers,
needed to use the 3D glasses, I also found Asus' Tweak
Utility, VideoSecurity and SmartDoctor. The Tweak Utility is
an overclocking tool,
which allow users to individually change the speed of the
core and memory clocks. The VideoSecurity program lets you
detect intruders or monitor a specified area using a video
camera. Basically you define the area of a video stream you
want "watched" and VideoSecurity will record the snapshot
image files from the video stream that can be viewed later.
SmartDoctor is a utility usually reserved for motherboards;
it monitors the GPU temperature, fan speed, and voltage, and
will notify the user should the fan malfunction. It also can
be used to forcibly cool down the GPU while idle, ostensibly
extending the chip's lifetime.
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Screenshots |
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An quick appetizer
before the main meal |
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THESE IMAGES ARE VERY LARGE -
MODEM USERS BEWARE
For these screen
shots we chose EA Sports' FIFA World Cup 2002, and The Thing,
by Vivendi Universal. Each game was set up for play at a
resolution of
1600x1200 with 32-bit color, and we cranked the
Anti-Aliasing settings up to 4X. Most games won't let
you utilize these settings, but what we wanted to point out here was the
benefits of turning the AA on at such a high resolution.
For example, take a look at the crossbar in the FIFA
picture. Perfectly straight, as it should be. The netting of
the goal is shown in crisp, white lines with no blurriness.
Then, check out the detail in The Thing. If you look close,
you can see individual hairs in the main character on the
left and can count the bullet holes that I put in the
helicopter. It's this level of detail that brings games
closer and closer to the graphical quality of CGI movies.
Test
Setup, Quake 3 With and Without AA and Anisotropic Filtering
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