There are three components needed, for a gaming video card.
You need the chipset drivers for the main chips on the motherboard.
One job these do, is help with the enumeration. For example, my
current motherboard has an AGP slot, and chipset drivers are available
to hobble it, by running it in a PCI mode, or to run it properly in
an AGP mode. Sometimes these drivers are included in Windows, so
you might not need to do anything. The motherboard manufacturer may
have an early set of chipset drivers on their website. And the companies
making the chipsets themselves, generally also offer drivers. For
Intel, it would be downloadfinder.intel.com . For VIA, it would be
www.viaarena.com . Nvidia is on the main nvidia.com site. Same idea
for ATI or SIS etc.
Once the chipset drivers are installed, and you've rebooted, you are
on to the next step. In some cases, the video card driver package may
insist that DirectX be installed first. You can get DirectX 9c or later
from the Microsoft site. Sometimes the video card CD also has the
minimum version of DirectX, suitable for install. DirectX versioning
is unidirectional, so if you install DirectX 7, and then install
DirectX 8, you cannot go back to 7 again. DirectX can be installed over
and over again, as far as I know, and no harm done.
So you either install video driver and DirectX, or DirectX and then
video driver. Whatever makes the video driver happy. More reboots
await you.
Once this is done, go to Start:Run and type "dxdiag". Run that program,
which is part of the DirectX installed package. There are some test
buttons you can use, and you should see a spinning cube, if the
3D capability is there and working. A tool like Powerstrip
(entechtaiwan.com
shareware), can be used to review basic capabilities, via the toolbar
Options menu item.
*******
As for cooling, a fan is only half of the possible solution. A fan
can be used to pull more cool air into the computer case. A fan
can blow case air over the CPU heatsink. But the size and design of
the CPU heatsink also makes a difference.
Something huge like this, can help bring the CPU temperature down.
Since you didn't say what CPU/motherboard and other hardware you
were using, this may not fit your system, but it gives an idea
of what a big aftermarket cooler looks like.
Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835154001
Fans come in different speeds, and for some of the larger product
lines (like Panasonic Panaflo), they would be classed in low,
medium, high, and ultra. The Low and Medium would be quiet, but
not move a lot of air. The High and Ultra would be suited for
someone who keeps their stereo dialed to 11
But the
High or the Ultra can also bring down the temperature of a
computer case, especially if there are enough vent holes on
the case, so the air can get in. I had to make more holes
available in the front of my computer case, so my fan could
do its job better. If not, you'll hear the "vacuum cleaner effect",
where, if you take the side off the computer case, while the
fan is running, the fan noise frequency will drop as the side
comes off. That means the fan is having trouble getting enough
air through the available intake vent holes.
Paul
