Poor OpenGL performance (old PC, but still..)

mh114

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Hi, this is my first post here! :) I have a problem with OpenGL, read on.

So, I saw that Windows 7 RTM had appeared on MSDN (AA), decided to install the x86-version just for the kicks, as I haven't seen W7 in action before.

It worked, surprisingly well considering this PC is originally from 2004: AMD Athlon XP 2600+, nForce2 board, 1.75 GB and Geforce 7600 GS (AGP). I don't think there is Vista drivers for nForce2, so it was nice to see that network, sound and all worked right after installing. Even Direct3D worked fine, but there was no hardware OpenGL support.

No problem, I thought, and installed the latest W7 drivers from nVidia (190.38 IIRC). D3D ran equally nicely, and I tested one old OpenGL game of mine, no problem.

Then I installed Eclipse, set up my workspace and tried my ongoing LWJGL (OpenGL binding for Java) game project. It was running slowly, barely going 40-50 fps, sometimes more, sometimes less. :cry: It shouldn't do that and this hardware, hell it runs solid 60 fps (it's capped there) even on Linux, not to mention Win XP. On Linux it starts to stutter when I do 4x AA, on W7 it stutters the same when I disable AA (I normally have 2x).

So I thought it must be the shiny Aero desktop effects, turned them off: same results. :( I tried older driver version, no difference.

Now I expect it to run slower than in Win XP, but that much slower? Shouldn't be, the game is not that complicated (there is shaders going on but they make no difference, it's slow even at the minimum settings).. :confused:

What can I do? I'm starting to like this new Windows, I could probably use it as my main OS, but only if I get OpenGL going correctly. My tv-tuner (Terratec Cinergy C PCI) doesn't seem to work either, cannot find any signal, but the OpenGL is much more important to me (as a cross-platform game developer). Previously I was 90% of the time in Ubuntu, 10% in Win XP, for about a year now. Would be shame to switch back, as I formatted the whole HD (yes I took backups at least).

Anyone aware of some magic nVidia driver version that works really well in Vista? I could try some older Vista drivers.. Or is it just that my system is too old and crappy for W7? Might be, but I'd expect it to run little OpenGL games just fine.

Any help is highly appreciated, otherwise I'll have to start over with Win XP and Ubuntu. I will install Ubuntu as a dual boot in any case, but I'd rather not constantly switch between OSs when developing my game. Thanks. :)
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7
CPU
Athlon XP 2600+
Motherboard
EpoX 8rda-3i
Memory
1.75 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Geforce 7600 GS (AGP)
mh114

any idea what version of opengl your vid card supports?

Ken
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Pavillion dv-7 1005 Tx
OS
Win 8 Release candidate 8400
CPU
[email protected]
Memory
4 gigs
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia 9600M
Sound Card
HD built-in
Monitor(s) Displays
17" Wxga
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Cooling
none
Internet Speed
45Mb down 5Mb up
any idea what version of opengl your vid card supports?

At least OpenGL 2.1, I think. The problem is slowness of OpenGL in W7, which is much slower than it was in XP or Ubuntu Linux.
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
Windows 7
CPU
Athlon XP 2600+
Motherboard
EpoX 8rda-3i
Memory
1.75 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Geforce 7600 GS (AGP)
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