satellite 5205 screen

Not quite sure I understand what your getting at, but the screens are both the same. If thats what your asking.

The Canadian model the 5200 just doesn't say it has the CASV although it does. I'm surprised you can still find the 5200's around as I had a very very hard time tracking mine down even months ago. If I were you I'd snatch a 5200 in a heartbeat.

Hey Interfire,

I just purchased the 5205-S119 which uses the same screen, same video and same sound as the S705. That said, can you tell me how you got your video score that high? I've overclocked mine and have gotten 8407 on 3dmarks01. I still am within the 30 day return period for this laptop and I'm not too pleased with the video performance in comparison to the Radeon 9600. With the recent Gateway 505X deal for 1399 after 200 MIR at Office Depot, I'm inclined to go for that notebook if I can't squeeze more juice out of this card.

Kev

Well one BIG reason the video performance is so far off with the 9600 is because Toshiba clocked the 5600 low, very very low. Well at least in my laptop they did... But they also made it hard to update the drivers in it too since all you can use are the ones they put out.

I went and made my own custom INF file or you can get them on the net, updated to the latest drivers and installed coolbits (with the latest drivers, a modded INF you can overclock the card without problems) Then from there all I did was start cranking her up. Mind you I did install custom cooling mods here and there which helped a lot.

But also keep in mind that 3dmark and what-not programs often judge your video card on *bragging rights* more than actual useful information. I mean, I've ran every game from Quake 3 to Simcity 4 and it had no problems when the card was clocked at what it was actually suppose to.

I know it's not as fast as a 9600 straight out but then again I wouldn't trade having all the features of the 52xx for one either, not in a million.

Thanks for the response Interfire. I actually just updated the drivers by manually forcing the new drivers and it works like a charm with the 53.03 drivers. After playing around with Riva Tuner I managed to overclock it to 300/650 with no artifacts in 3dmark and yielded a score of ~8400. Now I just need to figure out a simple cooling solution as I KNOW I can get this above 9000.

Olnly 8400 after the latest 53 drivers.. hmm I really would have expected it to be more than that... weird.

I thought that the 53 drivers were supposed to be a "big jump" from the 4x... in performance (big jump = 15-25% minimum).

Nah,

The boost from the 53.03 drivers is in Dx9 performance. That said, my notebook came underclocked as well. This was documented in this line in a review at Tom's Hardware. I "overclocked" my 5600 about ten percent to get it to 8453 @ 300/660 which is right around default DX8 numbers for this mobile card. I just wish I could cool it somehow as I can run it at higher speeds but am getting artificating in the spinning horse test in 3dmark2001 when doing so.

You guys should be testing 3dmark 2k3 since 2001 will only net you so far, just updating the drivers alone boosted my 2k3 mark but the 2k1 mark pretty much stayed along those lines.

How do I force the 53.03 drivers on my 5205-S119? I've downloaded them from Nvidia, decompressed them into a folder, and pointed the driver update function to that folder, but they won't take. The current driver is date 4/11/03 v. 4.3.3.6

Can you guys help me?

there should be an executable to install the driver

After the download try finding setup.exe or install.exe or some kind of executable in that directory ... before doing any install you probably want to use system restore utility to create a backup point (accessors => system tools = system restore gui will bring up a choice of restoring from a savepoint or creating a new one).

Trying to remember if this way worked for me or if I used windows update to get more recent driver ... as long as you create restore point first you are free to try a couple of ways.

This message was on step 2 of when on the software downloads page. This is for graphics drivers. What you downloaded only works for their desktop processors.

NOTE: GeForce2 Go, GeForce4 Go and GeForce FX Go mobile processors are not supported in this driver. Please contact the notebook's manufacturer for graphics drivers for your notebook PC.

That explains it all. Thanks!

no problem ^.~ My friend had a similar problem when he was trying to update the drivers for the GeForce FX 5650 Go on his Dell.

@Jhirsche

Don't know if you got it from Sleddog but to be sure, yes you can install the 53.03 by "forcing it." In fact, these are the drivers I am currently using.

The whole "we don't support it" is to make sure that any problems, the manufacturers wash their hands, as laptops are usually more "controlled" environments by the OEM.

how do i "force them" then? please help!

Ok, here's what you do (the steps may not be 100% right but should be close enough to figure out):

#1. First things first, do a system restore point in case it doesn't work so you can revert back. Windows probably will do this for you anyway, but to be safe, do it manually.

#2. Download the forceware drivers

#3. Run the setup and "try to install them". I think at this point you reboot.

#4. The old drivers will still be in. Go to your videocard hardware driver details page (I think you can get here through the screen properties or the device manager screen) and select update driver.

#5. Windows will ask you whether you wan to install a new driver automatically or manually. CHOOSE MANUALLLY (i.e. a specific location)

#6. Click on DON'T SEARCH. I will choose the driver to install.

#7. You should see a list with the current driver you have. Choose "have disk"

#8. Browse to your system particion letter (C: usually) and look for a folder that should now have been created by the setup- an NVIDIA folder

#9. Choose the Win2kXP folder

#10. Choose the 53.03 folder

#11. Choose the nv4_disp.inf file

#12. You should now get a list of all the Nvidia chips. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. If you have the 5600 DON'T choose the 5700. Also don't pick the 5600 ultra. Pick the 5600.

#13. Do the usual ok ok ,whatever. If windows complains that the drivers are not signed/WHQL certified, just force it to continue anyway.

#14. I think after all this, you will have to reboot.

#15. Verify your properties. Click on settings on the desktop, click on advance. You should get the new nvidia driver pane to the left, click different fields, click on the first topmost "Geforce 5600 FX" category to check the driver version.

#16. The DLL's should display something like "Version 6.14.10.5303" The last 5303 is the 53.03 drivers. Do this just to verify you got the new stuff.

#17. Enjoy ! :-)

I did it differently. Because the file is an executable, I unzipped the driver into a folder and then I pointed the update to that folder.

How's the performance of Go5600 with DirectX9 games ? The latest 53.03 drivers are meant for boosting DirectX9 performance.

Warcraft/Frozen Throne (anything Blizzard ;-) seem to run fine but, what about games which require faster fps ? Has anybody tried playing 'Need for Speed - Underground' .. or .. 'Prince of Persia - Sands of Time' using the native resolution on 5205-S119 ?

No but I can tell you right now, playing native 1600x1200 will slow down even a Radeon mobility 9600. You won't be able to play half life 2 well even on the 9600 mobility at 1600x1200, I can tell you that right now.

Rather than native resolution, I would say trade for 1024x768. It's pretty good.

@Raist,

Would the 53.03 Forceware drivers on Nvidia's website work for 5205-S119 ?

Would it affect the warranty status as there might be a possibility that the thermal design of the laptop wouldn't withstand the new and improved drivers ?

TIA