BIOS Settings for nVidia cards...

[ZWarrior]

Found this info while I was looking for other information on the Mad Dog Multimedia website.

Q. What are the recommended BIOS settings for my nVIDIA based graphics card?
A. Fast Writes - Enabled
AGP Mode - 2x or 4x, depending on whether your motherboard supports AGP4X
AGP Driving Control - Auto
AGP Master 1 WS Write - Enabled
AGP Master 1 WS Read - Enabled
AGP Aperture - Set it to half your system RAM, or set it below or equal to the amount of RAM that you have
Assign IRQ to VGA - Enabled
Video BIOS Shadow - Disabled
Video BIOS Cacheable - Disabled
Video RAM Cacheable - Disabled
C8000 - xxxxx Shadow - Disabled
Peer Concurrency - Enabled
Concurrent PCI Host - Enabled
PCI Streaming - Enabled
VGA Palette Snoop - Disabled

Q. I am using a motherboard with a VIA or ALI chipset and games keep locking up. How can I fix this?
A. Make sure that you have the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. If you have a VIA chipset, then try downloading the 4-in-1 driver at http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 for Win9x/NT. If you are have an Ali chipset then visit http://www.ali.com.tw to check for the latest updates. If none of this helps, contact the motherboard manufacturer for more information. They may have a quick fix. Make sure that you installed the VIA AGP driver in 'Turbo' mode - otherwise you will be restricted to AGP1X only.  

Q. Why am I having problems with my system after installing my nVIDIA based graphics card?  
A. Try these following options:
Try upgrading to the latest driver for the video card. The latest DetonatorXP can be obtained from www.nvidia.com Note: Remember to uninstall all drivers and reboot your system prior to installing your new card.
Change the refresh rate of your monitor to optimal. Or set it to Adapter Default, then Optimal, 75Hz, 80Hz, or 85Hz. Also verify that your monitor is selected as plug and play.
Remove all device cards, re-install the video card - after it is working properly, then re-install the other devices one at a time installing the sound card LAST.
Reinstall you monitor's specific driver…during the install of the graphic card it may have been reverted to plug and play standard
Reduce the AGP Bus Speed in your system's BIOS from 4x to 2x or the lowest speed possible.
If your system is freezing, or your picture is lagging, try moving all other cards as far away from the graphic card in another PCI slot as far away from the video card. Also try putting a fan in the computer to cool the card down.
Try the Troubleshooting Tab of the Advanced Settings of your graphics card (Windows 2000), or System Control Panel / Performance / Graphics (Windows NT 4), and set the Hardware Acceleration slider one notch down. This change may make your system faster and more stable, but it is possible that you will not be able to overclock.
If you're running Windows 2000, the mouse pointer shadow might be enabled. Disable it in the Control Panel / Mouse / Pointer and de-activate the mouse shadow.
If you have a USB mouse that can be moved to PS/2, try using the PS/2 port instead. It may fix the problem without having to perform any of the above solutions.
Try using 16-bit color mode instead of 32-bit color mode.
Search for 'unreal' in your registry - if you find an entry under "MouseExceptions", remove it.
Verify that your power supply is providing at least 250 watts of power (180 or 200 watts most often does not supply enough power to run our cards).
Turn off "Vsync" and/or "Anti-Aliasing"
Verify that any on-board video is disabled.
If you have Sound Blaster Live™ installed - remove the card and un-install the Sound Blaster software. Then re-install the graphic card and have it set to run at optimal mode. Then reinstall the Sound Blaster Live. The sound card may be sharing IRQ's and consuming too much of the system resources.
There could also be an IRQ conflict with another device in your system. One of the following devices is usually responsible for the IRQ problem - (Ethernet Card, Sound Card, or Modem). They could be in conflict with the newly installed video card. To rule these out, remove all of them, insert the graphics card and boot up the system. After you install the graphics card, if no errors occur, reinstall each of the other devices one-at-a-time (Install the modem - then boot up. Then the Ethernet card if there is one. Then put the Sound card in last, as this one is most often the one that causes the most trouble) to let the system set the IRQ usage.
   
 
Q. What should my AGP Aperture size be set to and how can I change my AGP aperture size?  
A. It should be set to half your system RAM if possible, and if not it should be set at some point below or equal to the amount of RAM that you have. However, it is possible to experience speed advantages of 2-3 fps from setting the AGP Aperture size to 256 regardless of the amount of RAM that you have, and there are some games that may have visual problems fixed by setting the AGP Aperture size to 256.
Beware that setting the AGP Aperture size too low (below 32) will actually disable AGP which will cause a speed decrease, although stability problems may be solved - see the 'My GeForce keeps on locking up or drops me back to the desktop during 3D applications. How can I fix it?' question for more information.
There are also some programs that have problems (stuttering for example) when the aperture size is set too high. Experiment and see which setting is best for your system and programs. It's possible that if you set your AGP Aperture size to 256 you will be able to load the 64MB texture test in 3DMark2000.
You can only change this in your BIOS setup - it may be called something slightly different, so look for a setting that is measured in MB and can be set to values such as 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256. Different motherboards allow different settings.