What is the best driver for you. by osama1234

Discussion in 'Links' started by osama1234, Dec 11, 2002.

  1. osama1234

    osama1234 Guest

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    GPU:
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    drivers.

    The single most frequently asked question would be this one.
    “What is the best driver for my videocard?”
    It technically is a driver board question, but often ends up in here.
    Its very easy to take all the drivers available up to date and simply go into a benchmark program and benchmark them all and see which one gives you the best score. But this isn’t the right way to select the best driver for your system.

    Benchmarks scores aren’t everything, 2d & 3d sharpness and many other things have to be taken into account, and the biggest ones would be Stability and compatibility. Many of the drivers that are leaked, are LEAKED. Meaning that they are not perfect. Even many times, many of the drivers that are NOT leaked, still have many bugs. Up till today, the newest (latest) bug-free drivers would be the Detonator 30.82’s. Also a very important point, if one driver doesn’t suit you, move on, get another one. Which also brings me to my second point, compatibility.

    Every system has its own favourite driver, I can benchmark all the drivers with my computer, but it would be useless to YOU as the same drivers that give ME the most benchmark points, may give you the least! Every system is different and every system reacts differently to drivers. The only real way of knowing which driver is best for you is to go and try them all out and see which suits your needs best.

    But for many, they simply don’t have the time, and there are other ways of finding drivers that are PROBABLY best suited for your system.

    Geforce 256 – everything below 15.xx (dets)
    Geforce 2 – everything from around 2x.xx to 30.xx (dets)
    Geforce 3 – from 2x.xx to 3x.xx (dets)
    Geforce 4 – from 3x.xx to latest ones. (dets)
    Geforce fx – probably around 3x.xx to latest ones. (dets)

    This basically points you in the direction where to look; but of course there are drivers that are specially known for their stability, lack of bugs, and ones that generally boost your benchmark score.
    These specific drivers may help you (and amaze you) in some areas, but in other areas completely disappoint you.

    MAIN IDEA: Every system has its own favorite driver, you’re simply going to have to try them out to find out which one suits your system best.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2003
  2. osama1234

    osama1234 Guest

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    just put this here for you marty, i think you may wanna include this in there(with your driver guide) , people ask quite a lot "what's the best driver"
     
  3. Martys Web

    Martys Web Don Santino Corleone

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    Yep and thanks this is good!
     
  4. Fried_Unit

    Fried_Unit New Member

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    GPU:
    gForce 4/Nvidia FX 30
    GeForce FX 30aka FX 5800-driver

    I Just recieved from a "friend" in San Mateo a new FX 30 nvidia card. Yup--I am(was) salivating. Installed it in my other system here in my geek room in place of the GForce 4(Ti 4600).
    system is :
    Athlon 2400xp
    Asus Nforce board with latest bios(A7N8X Deluxe)
    512 mbs corsair 3500 ram
    two 80 gig Cheetahs raided with a promise pci raid controller(no serial raid yet for me)
    DSL/Sound/onboard
    Logitech 5.1 speaker
    DX9 installed

    Now--the "friend" who sent the card did not send drivers or a scrap of paper saying which drivers(and he is galavanting around Canada with his fiance for the weekend)--The 42.51's had been doing great in both machines so i uninstalled the old drivers after downloading a fresh download of the 42.51's, rebooted,windows found the hardware and I installed the drivers--did not enable coolbits at this juncture--Cranked up 3DMark and aborted the bench when it became apparent that the fps were wretched-truck passed the first light pole at 50 fps instead of 200+--In short, the 42.51's dont work with the FX 30--Does anyone know which driver works for them with this card--I hate like the dickens to just start trying driver after driver if "the truth is out there"
    Can you help, Please. Will be glad to forward to you the 3dmark benches or furnish you with other "impressions" about the card.
    By the way, I went to the old 3dmark site and posted a similar request and was treated like a liar and a phony and my user name and password now show an error when I try to log back in--apparently I should have sent an email with a pic of the card and todays date to gain any credibility--a bit insulting for a site of that magnitude.
    I am a semi-retired lawyer/currently a judge/and am 60 years old--guess I am not used to that kind of treatment. I just happen to have a hobby (geeking/overclocking/gaming)
    Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
    Fried_Unit
    Hotsys@gulftel.com
     

  5. Martys Web

    Martys Web Don Santino Corleone

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    There are no good drivers for it yet. andantec did a review on one and the drivers nvidia gave them sucked.
     
  6. Fried_Unit

    Fried_Unit New Member

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    GPU:
    gForce 4/Nvidia FX 30
    FX 30 aka fx 5800 drivers

    Thanks for reply--you bet they suck--have tried the 42.86 and the 42.51--with every concievable setting---Did break 14k with them several times, and the sucker will definitively overclock to 500/1000 core and memory. Ran it there several times--full tests.
    Did hit 14,682 3dMark with the 42.86 and 14303 with the 42.51 but.....my Gforce 4 has hit 14046 before with the same FSB and ram.
    The drivers just seemed to crap out--reinstalled and got varied results with varied settings. The 42.86's have a series of settings which were designed for the GF 30(aka FX 5800) not found in the 42.51's--an "auto detect" for coolbits(i suppose for optimum settings--they were close to 500 core and 1000 memory) as well as a slider for 2d or 3d election--3d for performance. An additional 3 sliders for antialiasing, anistropic filter, and "performance"--seems nice enough--but the drivers themselves are like tissue paper--mess with them a little and they are gone! Neither do they ever yield what this card is hyped to do or capable of.
    If you hear anything or find a source for a decent driver--please post! Better yet--make it available for download.
    You guys do a great service keeping up with the vid drivers and other utilities--dont know what we would do without you--thanks.
     
  7. Cajunwolf

    Cajunwolf Guest

  8. osama1234

    osama1234 Guest

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    Re: drivers.

    when looking at that, keep this in mind.

     
  9. Grov

    Grov Guest

    Im using the 43.51's on a Geforce 2 Ti, and ive had no probs yet, gonna try the latest 44.03's, but mainly cause im geting a Geforce 4!:p
     
  10. kondik

    kondik Guest

    Re: drivers.

    Ha ha, try to use 3x.xx drivers to FX and play games silly:D The speed -> 3,5 frame per hour
     

  11. GlaciarFox

    GlaciarFox Guest

    Well i have GeForce4 MX440 128DDR, im going to have a P4 2.4Ghz and a FX5600 256DDR, i have the latest driver of Nvidia 45.23 and DirectX9.0a is it good?? Im trying to push my card to its limits. I overcloaked GPU 272Mhz to 320Mhz and Mem 512Mhz to 600Mhz. The CPU is a Celeron 2.0Ghz, i had 5162 +/- on 3DMark 2001SE. The CPU was overcloaked to 2.220Mhz, the graphic-card has GPU 343Mhz MAX and Mem 620?? MAX. I dont risc putting my card to 330Mhz, its too much high and i could damage it.:rolleyes:
     
  12. osama1234

    osama1234 Guest

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    if you need help with the drivers or overclocking, i'm sure you'll get quicker and better help in each of those forums.

    cause this section is virtually just a reference area, traffic here is much lower than thru the nvidia drivers section. or any other section probably.
     
  13. SIOC

    SIOC Member Guru

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    HI!! Would like to adress theese questions to Osama1234.

    OK. I will try to be as clear as possible.

    What is the relation between different DirectX versions and drivers? I try again.

    I heard that my GRAPH CARD is DirectX 7 and 8 compatible; according to RivaTuner . Am i wrong?)

    So wath do i miss when i play a DirectX9 compatible game? I heard that latest driver are for FX card and not TI series...Sometime drivers are good with some game while bad with other. the incompatibility is between game and driver? Or card and driver.

    Hope that guru will be able to understand my whole questionning and point out wath i don't understand .

    I think that answering theese questions will help people.


    - somebody who try to understand and live in "french". Hard to explain in english.

    Thanks for your help
     
  14. osama1234

    osama1234 Guest

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    really sorry, this thread is kinda in the "reference" board sort of area...so its hardly checked, and i haven't updated the "little guide" for a while..
    you are correct that the latest ones (today) aren't for geforce 4's...
    (back in the past when i wrote it they were :D)
    i'm going to update it soon as i'm done with my exams.

    as for your other question, i personally don't have a direct x 9 videocard, although i remember reading about it... i'm gonna look around and see if i can find out what the new features of direct x 9 are.
     
  15. Apogee7

    Apogee7 Member

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    I see this post but I differ..

    as intended by nvidia

    gforce = 1.xxx series

    gforce2 = 2.xxx series

    gforce3 = 3.xxx series

    gforce4 = 4.xxx series

    gforceFX = 5.xxx series

    simple really
     

  16. Cyberon

    Cyberon New Member

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    Easy. Supose a game have DX9-features, and all DX8 + DX7 stuff.

    Your card however is DX7 compliant (supports the full table of 3D features of Microsofts DirectX 7) and DX8 compatible (supports some/most features of Microsofts DirectX 8 *note:DirectX 8 have the full DirectX 7 features embedded + the new 3D fancy stuff of DX 8*)

    For example:

    -DX 7 supports 3D features a,b,c,d,e and f
    -DX 8 supports 3D features g,h,i,j,k and L + the full range of DX 7 (a,b,c,d,e,f)
    -DX 9 supports 3D features m,n,o,p,q and r + the full range of DX 7 and DX 8 (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k and L)

    Your card is DX 7 compliant, so all the features a,b,c,d,e and f are availible in hardware. Also your card support some DX 8 features say g,h,i and j (which is why your card is called "DX 8 compatible" instead of compliant: your card supports some DX 8 features but not all)

    Your game is Dx9 compatible and uses all DX 7 and Dx 8 features.
    DX 9 is running on your machine; it knows your card and what it can and cannot do; so the features your card DOES NOT support are totaly ignored. DX 9 only allows the game to use the features your card DOES support.

    What you miss are features that your card does not support, that is: the new fancy glimmery stuff or enhanced pixel-shaders and vertex-shaders. The gameplay stays te same, only the picture isn't as beautifull as it could be.

    If you want to know what yuo are missing, you should examine the whole DX7/8/9 feature table and compare the DX8 table to see what you miss (dx9=easy: you miss them all :D )
     
  17. Apogee7

    Apogee7 Member

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    if the card cant do it, the cpu emulates it

    if the cpu cannot emulate it, it doesnt show on the screen

    if what doesnt show is too important for the game - the game wont allow you to install it.

    its upto the developer of the software
     
  18. Cyberon

    Cyberon New Member

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    true, that too. But not everything is emulated; DX9 pixelshader 2.0 for example or other stuff. Still the game works; i play morrowind, call of duty etc. on a GF 2 Mx (temporary). Some fancy stuff are not allowed (game-engines turn them off for example) to enable because the developers know it's silly to use them with your graphics card. And not everything can be emulated. I have not seen a game yet that doesn't work on a DX7 card.
     
  19. Apogee7

    Apogee7 Member

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    what r u on about
     
  20. Murdockct

    Murdockct Guest

    i have a Geforce4 mx 440 agp 8x 128mb ram, what version of detonator should i install???
     

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