If anyone has an nVidia Quadro-series graphics chip, this utility may boost frames per second video performance in the cabinet editor, room layout, and other 3D areas by two to four times.
It appears that as the Quadro driver defaults from nVidia, it's not optimized for performance in eCabinet Systems' 3D areas. Also with this optimization, anti-aliasing can be enabled with little affect on performance.
And before anyone asks: No, I've not been able to optimize nVidia GeForce or ATI Radeon cards. I have tried, however. It appears that these drivers are tuned as best as they can be for OpenGL.
To use this Tweak Utility:
1. You must be running Windows XP (not Vista). You should not be running Windows XP 64-bit edition; it's not been checked for compatibility.
2. You must be running a late-model nVidia Quadro chip, specifically the Quadro FX series.
3. You must have 128MB or more video memory.
4. You must be running nVidia's ForceWare version 67.00 or higher.
5. You must not be using an nVidia Quadro FX Go 770 128MB; problems exist for this laptop GPU.
6. You must not be using an nVidia Quadro NVS series graphics chip. The utility has not been written to tweak this lower-end Quadro chip series.
This Tweak Utility does NOT do a conditional check for Windows XP, so it is up to each of you to ensure that you meet the criterion.
What does this "tweak" do? Well, specifically, it creates some registry keys in the video section of Windows XP registry that tells the Quadro FX driver to turn on some hardware-enable features. These registry keys should only affect the eCabinet Systems application. Thus, any other OpenGL application should be unaffected.
How do I install it? After downloading via the link below, just run the downloaded Tweak Utility. Within the Tweak Utility, just click the "Tweak My System Now!" button.
What's the anti-aliasing option? The Quadro FX series provides hardware-level image smoothing to remove "jaggies". Enabling anti-aliasing does affect performance slightly, but image quality is well improved, which makes up for the slight performance hit. We recommend you enable at least 4X anti-aliasing, if not 16X. To see the effect of anti-aliasing, view these links: Why is the 16X anti-aliasing option grayed out? If your card has less than 512MB of video memory, the driver doesn't appear to support 16X hardware anti-aliasing, so we disable that option.
Can I change the anti-aliasing after I've already run the tweak? Yes. You can run the Tweak Utility as often as you like, enabling 4X, enabling 16X (if available), or even disabling anti-aliasing.
Do I need to reboot after tweaking? No. You only have to restart the eCabinet Systems application after running the Tweak Utility.
What will I notice after installing the tweak? Within eCabinet Systems, complicated objects and jobs will rotate more smoothly, especially those with transparencies; jaggies should be reduced with 4X anti-aliasing or nearly eliminated with 16X anti-aliasing.
How do I uninstall the tweak? Just run the downloaded Tweak Utility and click the "Uninstall" button. Since we're not implementing the Windows Installer, the Tweak Utility won't appear in Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs.
If you meet the criteria above, download the Tweak Utility here.