Hello Forum Members,
I'm new here, so please be gentle...   I know there's a specific forum for EVGA Graphics Cards, but that forum stops at GeForce 9 Series, so I'm guessing something as old as a GeForce 6 Series card would qualify in the "all other EVGA products" category - maybe in a sub-category of "fossil".
 
I'm looking for any useful advice regarding legacy drivers for an EVGA 512-P1-N402-LR GeForce 6200 512MByte DDR2 PCI video card.
 
Up front, I'm using it in an old IBM Aptiva which has PCI slots and an AMD K6-III CPU.   Straight away, quite aside from the PCI interface, any modern card will have driver issues with the CPU's lack of SSE & SSE2 instructions (it has MMX & 3d-Now!).   That's why I'm using this GeForce 6-Series card, it's from the same era as this antique PC, and has very satisfactory 2D & 3D capabilities considering its vintage.
 
The 2D performance of this card is excellent - works a treat on a 1920x1080 LCD display.
 
But there's a problem with the card's 3D behaviour, which I think is driver related, and I suspect it has something to do with the CPU's lack of SSE support.
 
I'm using the December 2005 version of Directx 9.0c which I believe still had MMX support - I've been told Microsoft dropped MMX support from Directx sometime in 2006.
 
I've tried a bunch of generic NVIDIA Forceware drivers, as well as some customised drivers (eg, Omega, Extreme G, MSI, etc) which are all just derivatives of the same version no. of the Forceware drivers.   Regardless of the variety of Forceware driver, generic or custom, it all comes down to the version number of the Forceware driver.
 
Here's what happens (on Windows 98, Windows 2000 & Windows XP - exactly the same result for each) - [Yes, I know, but seriously, it's a Socket 7 PC, OK?]
 
Forceware 60 Series...   (eg, Forceware 66.93, Omega 66.93, Extreme G 67.66, MSI 66.72) the driver doesn't recognise the card and just won't install.
 
Forceware 70 Series... (eg, Forceware 71.84, 77.72, Extreme G 76.41, 77.62, MSI 76.45) the driver installs, 2D runs fine, OpenGL runs fine (eg, GLExcess & Serious Sam run fine), but D3D (either DxDiag or any D3D game) hangs the PC with "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" stop error, and names "nv4_disp.dll" as the culprit.
 
Forceware 80 Series... (eg, Forceware 81.98, Extreme G 81.98) the driver installs, 2D runs fine, OpenGL doesn't work (GLExcess & Serious Sam crash without hanging the PC), D3D7 does work on DxDiag but D3D8 hangs the PC with "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" stop error, again naming "nv4_disp.dll" as the villain.
 
SO very peculiar that OpenGL works & D3D doesn't with Forceware 70 Series, yet OpenGL doesn't work & D3D7 does (but D3D8 doesn't)  with Forceware 80 Series.
 
Can anyone shed some light on this?   I've read reports of other Geforce 6 Series PCI graphics cards (specifically 6200s) running successfully on K6 motherboards, using the standard NVidia Forceware drivers.   Is there something peculiar about this EVGA card which sets it apart from other brands?   Does it require a proprietary driver?
 
A related question is - is anyone familiar with the registry values "Enable3DNow", "EnableMMX", "EnableSSE" and "EnableSSE2" which are associated with NVidia Forceware drivers?   If so, can anyone advise how they are used?
 
Sorry for the rambling, and thanks for your patience.   Any useful advice would be welcomed.
 
Regards.
 
 
 

Hi Sajin, thanks for your reply.
 
I don't get "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" at all, except for when i try to run a D3D app.
The motherboard is running the CPU at 2.1v setting (actually 2.11v) because it doesn't have a 2.0v setting as spec'd for the K6-III.
I've monitored the CPU temp and it never goes above 50 degrees C.
 
The PC is running on a brand new 350 watt PS (up from the original Aptiva 95 watt PS) so I'm reasonably confident that voltages & power supplies aren't an issue.
 
Funny thing is, it runs OpenGL apps just fine - with Forceware 77.72 - Serious Sam looks spectacular and gets smooth frame rates (640x480, 16-bit, gives 20~30 fps).
But switch Serious Sam from OpenGL to D3D and "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" strikes again.    Ditto Unreal (for example) - OpenGL good, D3D bad (with PC reboot).
 
I'm inclined to believe this is an Nvidia driver vs old MMX/3D-Now CPUs issue.   Apparently, plenty of people have Radeon cards running DX9 on old K6 PCs (at least, that's what I get from trawling thru online forums).   It would be nice if Open Source drivers for Nvidia cards existed for Windows OS (like Nouveau drivers for Linux, for example) just to have another option.   Probably wishful thinking.
 
Thanks again for your thoughts.   Any other ideas would be welcomed.
 
Regards.