e-dimension glasses: which video card? buying new video card for 3D gaming
I've got a pair of e-dimension 3D glasses and they don't work for squat on an ATI Radeon 9600..... so now I'm in the market for a new video card to make these things fly.

First, let me say the system is a P4, 2.4Ghz, 512Mb, 17" CRT on a DFI mobo w/WinXP

It's AGP 4x/8x slot (not PCI-e...) so I don't want to spend $300+ on a video card that's already behind the times. I'm looking at a Chaintech GeForce 7600GS. Does anyone know if this card is any good or if there are any glaring incompatibility problems or excessive tweaking required? Or is there another GeForce card (under $150...) that works better with the e-Dimension 3D glasses?

I also want to make sure that I get the install sequence right. From what I've gathered:

1. I have to strip the existing e-Dimension drivers ( Q: Does the unistall program work or do I have to manually strip the registry? <which keys?>).

2. Install the new card, and load the drivers (Q: Should I ignore the drivers on the disk and just use Forceware 93.71?), and grab the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers.

3. Install the e-Dimension control panel and Nvidia drivers ( Q: Does e-Dimension have the right drivers on their website or is there a better place to get the drivers?)

I know this is alot of questions, but time is short (i'm at work) so any advice or help is greatly appreciated.
I've got a pair of e-dimension 3D glasses and they don't work for squat on an ATI Radeon 9600..... so now I'm in the market for a new video card to make these things fly.



First, let me say the system is a P4, 2.4Ghz, 512Mb, 17" CRT on a DFI mobo w/WinXP



It's AGP 4x/8x slot (not PCI-e...) so I don't want to spend $300+ on a video card that's already behind the times. I'm looking at a Chaintech GeForce 7600GS. Does anyone know if this card is any good or if there are any glaring incompatibility problems or excessive tweaking required? Or is there another GeForce card (under $150...) that works better with the e-Dimension 3D glasses?



I also want to make sure that I get the install sequence right. From what I've gathered:



1. I have to strip the existing e-Dimension drivers ( Q: Does the unistall program work or do I have to manually strip the registry? <which keys?>).



2. Install the new card, and load the drivers (Q: Should I ignore the drivers on the disk and just use Forceware 93.71?), and grab the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers.



3. Install the e-Dimension control panel and Nvidia drivers ( Q: Does e-Dimension have the right drivers on their website or is there a better place to get the drivers?)



I know this is alot of questions, but time is short (i'm at work) so any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

#1
Posted 01/11/2007 11:57 AM   
Ok, right now you can't use it with an ATi card, you need nVidia. I used to be a Radeon user myself up until about 4 months ago when I couldn't get any 3D applications (stereo 3d) to run on my computer with my X850 XT.

Another thing, shutter glasses (your e-dimensional) will not work at all on an LCD monitor. You need to have a CRT monitor.

Now, nVidia cards that will work with this are all GeForce based cards... up to the new 8800. The reason why is because nVidia hasn't released the new 8800 driver yet and it shouldn't be released until February or Spring of this year.

Right now, 7900 series and lower cards will all work in stereo 3d with your shutter glasses. Just install the card and pop in the latest drivers for that card and then install the "consumer stereo 3d" drivers and then reinstall the e-dimensional drivers and BAM! Everything will work perfectly!!!! Now, just dig up that old CRT monitor that you have in your basement and you should be good to go!

***If you can't get it to work properly, uninstall all graphics display drivers and all graphics drivers that are not related to the graphics card and run a registry scanner. Registry Mechanic is a good program to use and will clean up any problems in the registry.***
Ok, right now you can't use it with an ATi card, you need nVidia. I used to be a Radeon user myself up until about 4 months ago when I couldn't get any 3D applications (stereo 3d) to run on my computer with my X850 XT.



Another thing, shutter glasses (your e-dimensional) will not work at all on an LCD monitor. You need to have a CRT monitor.



Now, nVidia cards that will work with this are all GeForce based cards... up to the new 8800. The reason why is because nVidia hasn't released the new 8800 driver yet and it shouldn't be released until February or Spring of this year.



Right now, 7900 series and lower cards will all work in stereo 3d with your shutter glasses. Just install the card and pop in the latest drivers for that card and then install the "consumer stereo 3d" drivers and then reinstall the e-dimensional drivers and BAM! Everything will work perfectly!!!! Now, just dig up that old CRT monitor that you have in your basement and you should be good to go!



***If you can't get it to work properly, uninstall all graphics display drivers and all graphics drivers that are not related to the graphics card and run a registry scanner. Registry Mechanic is a good program to use and will clean up any problems in the registry.***

Intel Quad Core Extreme QX6700
ASUS Striker Extreme motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS + ATi Sapphire Radeon X850 XT (yes, in the same computer; nVidia TV out stinks, but ATi rocks with it!!!)
4 GB GSkill DDR800
5x HDDs (three 320GB (RAID5); two 1TB; one IDE 320GB; total 3TB)
2x Cooler Master 6 HDD coolers (primary usage drives)
2x PSU's (primary 600W psu, secondary 350W psu modded solely to power the ATi card)
32-in Samsung HDTV

#2
Posted 01/11/2007 04:32 PM   
[quote] 1. I have to strip the existing e-Dimension drivers ( Q: Does the unistall program work or do I have to manually strip the registry? <which keys?>).

2. Install the new card, and load the drivers (Q: Should I ignore the drivers on the disk and just use Forceware 93.71?), and grab the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers.

3. Install the e-Dimension control panel and Nvidia drivers ( Q: Does e-Dimension have the right drivers on their website or is there a better place to get the drivers?)
[/quote]

Greetings Spacemonkey71, I too went from ATI to NVIDIA for the 3d driver about 3 years ago. One thing to keep in mind when choosing a card, the faster the card, the better the 3D. If you enjoy 3D gaming as much as I do, you will seldom play any game in flat 2D. With that in mind, I think it is a good idea to get the best NVIDIA AGP card you can afford also it takes longer for the driver team to get the bugs worked out in the 3D driver. IMO there is little or no advantage upgrading to PCI express at this time for folks who game mostly in 3D to the best of my knowledge, they still have not worked out the bugs with SLI and duel core when using the 3D driver.
1) You can simply uninstall the ED driver if you aren't using it.
2) Yes, ignore the driver's that come with the card and use the updated ones.
3) You will not need any ED driver with the NVIDIA card.
Happy hologaming /geek.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':geek:' />
1. I have to strip the existing e-Dimension drivers ( Q: Does the unistall program work or do I have to manually strip the registry? <which keys?>).



2. Install the new card, and load the drivers (Q: Should I ignore the drivers on the disk and just use Forceware 93.71?), and grab the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers.



3. Install the e-Dimension control panel and Nvidia drivers ( Q: Does e-Dimension have the right drivers on their website or is there a better place to get the drivers?)





Greetings Spacemonkey71, I too went from ATI to NVIDIA for the 3d driver about 3 years ago. One thing to keep in mind when choosing a card, the faster the card, the better the 3D. If you enjoy 3D gaming as much as I do, you will seldom play any game in flat 2D. With that in mind, I think it is a good idea to get the best NVIDIA AGP card you can afford also it takes longer for the driver team to get the bugs worked out in the 3D driver. IMO there is little or no advantage upgrading to PCI express at this time for folks who game mostly in 3D to the best of my knowledge, they still have not worked out the bugs with SLI and duel core when using the 3D driver.

1) You can simply uninstall the ED driver if you aren't using it.

2) Yes, ignore the driver's that come with the card and use the updated ones.

3) You will not need any ED driver with the NVIDIA card.

Happy hologaming /geek.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':geek:' />

#3
Posted 01/11/2007 05:14 PM   
Spacemonkey71 I hate to break it to you but it's best not to get a 3d card right now, instead wait a few monts until the dx10 chaos is over, get a new pci-e mainboard and get a dx10 card.
I remember when I went for a 6800gt agp card, which was great, instead of waiting and getting a new mainboard which allows for a pci-e card.
Now I can't make a descent VC upgrade unless I get a new mainboard and CPU, which is kind of frustrating. So it's not worth investing in AGP anymore, unless you are about to get a second completely new machine later and keep the AGP for good times sake :)
Spacemonkey71 I hate to break it to you but it's best not to get a 3d card right now, instead wait a few monts until the dx10 chaos is over, get a new pci-e mainboard and get a dx10 card.

I remember when I went for a 6800gt agp card, which was great, instead of waiting and getting a new mainboard which allows for a pci-e card.

Now I can't make a descent VC upgrade unless I get a new mainboard and CPU, which is kind of frustrating. So it's not worth investing in AGP anymore, unless you are about to get a second completely new machine later and keep the AGP for good times sake :)
#4
Posted 01/12/2007 07:00 AM   
Exactly what Artox said. If would be worth your while in a couple of months to upgrade to a better system. If your case and psu (not likeley) can handle it, you will have most of your parts already there. I mean, you are pretty much replacing 3 parts not including your psu if it is not up to specs.
Exactly what Artox said. If would be worth your while in a couple of months to upgrade to a better system. If your case and psu (not likeley) can handle it, you will have most of your parts already there. I mean, you are pretty much replacing 3 parts not including your psu if it is not up to specs.

Intel Quad Core Extreme QX6700
ASUS Striker Extreme motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS + ATi Sapphire Radeon X850 XT (yes, in the same computer; nVidia TV out stinks, but ATi rocks with it!!!)
4 GB GSkill DDR800
5x HDDs (three 320GB (RAID5); two 1TB; one IDE 320GB; total 3TB)
2x Cooler Master 6 HDD coolers (primary usage drives)
2x PSU's (primary 600W psu, secondary 350W psu modded solely to power the ATi card)
32-in Samsung HDTV

#5
Posted 01/12/2007 02:00 PM   
[quote name='NITRO1250' date='Jan 11 2007, 06:32 PM']Just install the card and pop in the latest drivers for that card and then install the "consumer stereo 3d" drivers and then reinstall the e-dimensional drivers and BAM! Everything will work perfectly!!!! Now, just dig up that old CRT monitor that you have in your basement and you should be good to go!
[/quote]

Mmmh... no.
Not everything will work perfectly right from the start. Nitro1250, don't promise too much!
@Topic starter: Stereo3d is great, I love it and I don't play games without stereo anymore. I'm stereo addicted... But for some people it has been difficult to get things started on their computers. But it's worth it! Try and see for yourself.
I don't know anything about the 7600, but I have a 7800GS (Point of view) and it's great! I got it from ebay and paid 169 Euros for it, that's about 200$, I think. The 7800GS will be good for your system specs, you'll be able to play at 1024x768 with medium or high details in games like Far cry or Half Life 2. With stereo, there's no need of a higher resolution... Oh, and do yourself a favour and install at least 1GB of RAM - you'll notice the difference, believe me.
You know, stereo gaming is different: I'm not going after the latest game any more, because if I have a game that works well in stereo (with my card and the available driver) I play it and enjoy stereo and then I go and get every expansion pack I can find. For HL2 and Far cry you can get free mods and levels on the internet that are even better than some parts of the original game - and they're free! Right now is the time when a lot of excellent mods are available. I think I have about 4GB of Far cry and HL2 single player mods on my HDD... I don't need Fear or Crysis!
I plan to keep my 7800GS for a year or something like that and until then there will be lots of possibilities to upgrade to PCI-E and get cheap hardware that works well with directx10 and vista, because it has been tested by millions of users... :D
Hope this helps,
qm
[quote name='NITRO1250' date='Jan 11 2007, 06:32 PM']Just install the card and pop in the latest drivers for that card and then install the "consumer stereo 3d" drivers and then reinstall the e-dimensional drivers and BAM! Everything will work perfectly!!!! Now, just dig up that old CRT monitor that you have in your basement and you should be good to go!





Mmmh... no.

Not everything will work perfectly right from the start. Nitro1250, don't promise too much!

@Topic starter: Stereo3d is great, I love it and I don't play games without stereo anymore. I'm stereo addicted... But for some people it has been difficult to get things started on their computers. But it's worth it! Try and see for yourself.

I don't know anything about the 7600, but I have a 7800GS (Point of view) and it's great! I got it from ebay and paid 169 Euros for it, that's about 200$, I think. The 7800GS will be good for your system specs, you'll be able to play at 1024x768 with medium or high details in games like Far cry or Half Life 2. With stereo, there's no need of a higher resolution... Oh, and do yourself a favour and install at least 1GB of RAM - you'll notice the difference, believe me.

You know, stereo gaming is different: I'm not going after the latest game any more, because if I have a game that works well in stereo (with my card and the available driver) I play it and enjoy stereo and then I go and get every expansion pack I can find. For HL2 and Far cry you can get free mods and levels on the internet that are even better than some parts of the original game - and they're free! Right now is the time when a lot of excellent mods are available. I think I have about 4GB of Far cry and HL2 single player mods on my HDD... I don't need Fear or Crysis!

I plan to keep my 7800GS for a year or something like that and until then there will be lots of possibilities to upgrade to PCI-E and get cheap hardware that works well with directx10 and vista, because it has been tested by millions of users... :D

Hope this helps,

qm

#6
Posted 01/12/2007 03:49 PM   
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