GTX 460 not antialiasing??

[Aussie Allan]

     Well just to get the driver out of the loop ....can you drop 280.xx and go back two releases and see if it's the same.....then we have Nvidia drives out of the lets fix it equation

  Aussie Allan

[VenomX]

Sure, I did a clean reinstall of new drivers, two versions back this time which means the results are now the same with the following versions:
258.96, 270.61, 275.33 and 280.26

So that's four different drivers producing identical results as far as I can tell, and I've changed every setting imaginable in the NVidia control panel too without any real results besides that very ugly rough smoothing effect I get if I force the card to "reinforce the programs settings" or whatever that option was called for the antialias setting. I feel like I'm running out of things to try software-wise.

I've google around a bit and I've managed to find about 5 other people now on different forums with GTX 460 (or at least 4xx) cards who refuse to antialias edges in pretty much any and all 3d games. None of the threads however lead up to any solution, but they do have in common that the suggestions for trying different drivers etc don't seem to help any.

I dunno, maybe this card just isn't compatible with certain motherboards and I simply got an unlucky match or something? 

[Aussie Allan]

  I think you've exhausted all your option with your machine..........it needs to go into another machine to confirm whether it's the card or your Dell rig.........if it does it in another machine.........you have solid ground to go the RMA path.

  Aussie Allan

[VenomX]

Well, the plot just thickened by a large degree. I agree that you're right in that I need a second (machines) opinion and I just realized we DO have a more modern computer than the clunky old P4 - my wifes computer, I just never use it so it didn't spring to mind before.

I unplugged the GTX 460 and slipped it back in its anti-static bag and at the same time I plugged the old GTS 240 back in because even though its fan sounds like an eight motor propeller bomber on the runway I still wanted the computer somewhat operational while I was tinkering with the other one. So, I booted up the computer with the GTS 240, reinstalled one of the nvidia drivers for it, and out of curiousity decided to have a look at the games again before moving on.

The result: Same antialias problem, regardless of game, regardless of settings, now using the old card.

So basically it now seems safe to say this isn't a hardware issue of the Gigabyte card because now the disease seems to have spread to my GTS 240 as well. The strange thing is though, I absolutely KNOW the Gigabyte installation caused this issue because I was playing Crysis with beautiful antialiased graphics ealier that very same day (and since over a year back) on the GTS 240, then I shut down the computer and installed the GTX 460 only to have the antialias function suddenly be broken at the end of the installation process - and permanently broken it seems  

I realize this is a longshot to even ask but, does anybody know if there's ANYTHING that might have gotten installed from the Gigabyte installer CD that could be causing this conflict? Something that might have managed to stay on the computer even through all my nvidia uninstalls and reinstalls?

For example, when I just now glanced down at the CD I noticed "Yahoo companion Toolbar" on the cover. Being severely allergic to all kinds of toolbars and particularly Yahoos malwarian sh*t I would have never wanted this installed, but when I looked in the programs list - there it was! After a quick delete of Yahoo I also looked for another suspicious "GIGABYTE Easy Boost software" noted on the CD cover, but that on the other hand seems to NOT be installed - at least I can't find anything by that name.

Since the only clues I have now are that A) it seems to be a software issue after all and B) it started when I installed the Gigabyte card, I can't imagine what else the cause could be besides the CD. Well, unless the card installation somehow physically broke something on my motherboard that just happened to result in no more antialias in any games but that sounds a bit too unlikely to consider.

Any last wild guesses?  

[Aussie Allan]

 
    Excellent!

  Now the Video card is finally out of the loop.........Mmmmmmm!.......Wild guess!..........you've been targeted by SAPO for steeling parts out of the wifes computer !

  No not logical enough!..........how about downloading a trial version of Revo-Uninstaller Pro........this software allows you to UN-install any given program and is customizable with easy"Just follow the prompts" to rip out even sub folder applicable to that program only (yes it's very safe)

 Then I would target every Gigabyte program you can sniff out.......Revo will find even link program/folder and sub folders that might be hiding on C:

  Failing this.........you could be up for a fresh install....sorry

  Failing this.........there's a hardware problem I have never heard of before or know how to fault find.........Unfortunately, 20/20 hind sight is not a publication I have in the bookcase.........please keep me informed.....would love to know what's been causing you (and me ) this much grief

  Up to now ..... 2 of the worst cases I have ever had were DELL..... I throughly enjoyed shooting one

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

OK time for some drastic action. Backup all your important data and do a fresh install of Windows. Add nothing that isn't necessary and use your old card for the GPU. Next install Crysis and see if it is displaying properly. if it is then the next job is to swap cards. Don't change the software but try with the Gigabyte card to see if it is behaving. Then post back.

[VenomX]

Welp, Revo didn't find anything Gigabyte-related or any of the other words on the CD cover so I guess it's down to a fresh reinstall if I want a decent chance of ever getting this computer to work properly again graphics-wise.

This is going to take time however, because being self employed and using this Dell can as my main work computer, I currently have more user data in need of backup on the main drive than I have other drives to backup it to, so I guess I need to go shopping for a large external drive of some sort to drag everything over to before I can start the reinstall. I suppose I should have probably taken up the habit years ago to not keep work files on the main bootable (Windows-infected) drive to begin with, so I guess this might be a healthy lesson in a way.

Assuming that the reinstall of the factory supplied Dell CDs, Win7 etc work as expected (I'm allowing for some doubts there all things considered)  I'll make sure to drop by here and leave an update once I've backuped and reinstalled the drive and graphics cards.

Thanks a lot for your help and time guys!

[Aussie Allan]

 If you want to save some bucks..........look at (ebay) usb/sata/firewire docking stations....you can get a pretty good one for about $40us...this way you can buy cheaper internal 2.5 or 3.5 H-Drives for all your back up need ........you could then have a separate "Work" drive that you could plug-in when needed

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

If it is for work use as well you should reallly have a dedicated drive just for backups as well as a dedicated work drive. You can't afford to lose work related data as that's your livelyhood.

[anti_aliasing]

hehe nice to finally find someone with the same problem that i have

i got asus laptop G53 and it has GTX 460M
i have tried many games one of them is crysis and i couldnt use anti aliasing except for farcry 2
i dont know why or how does anti aliasing work for farcry 2
i'll tell you some of the games i tried
crysis
crysis warhead
mirror's edge
flight simulator x
lara croft and the guardian of light
left 4 dead 2
the witcher 2

plz let me know if you find any solutions

[Wonderwrench]

Have you tried enabling antialiasing transparency in NV control panel?

[anti_aliasing]

i have tried it before but it didnt work
this time i played crysis to see if it works or not and omg it works but it doesnt work for some parts of the game and then i tried it with other games and it didnt work
but at least crysis looks waaaaaaaay better now thank you wonderwrench for your help