Going from Ati Radeon to Nvidia

Hi, I am new to this forum and glad to be here!

I have a desktop PC running Windows 7 Home Premium x 64bit with an Intel i7 @860 CPU WITHOUT integrated graphics, so I bought 4 years ago an XFX AMD Radeon HD 5670 small Graphic Card which has been working fine untill now, so, after some research and according to my budget, wich BTW is pretty limited, I opted for a Nvidia Geforce GT730 card replacement.

I was wondering what will be the safest/easiest way to change drivers (and cards)?

I was thinking on doing the following procedure:

1.- UN-Install with Revo, everything ATI Radeon BUT the driver.
2.- Re-start in Safe Mode, run Display Driver Uninstaller and UN-Install ATI Radeon driver.
3.- While being in safe mode, after un-installing Radeon driver but without re-starting, proceed to Install Nvidia driver previously downloaded and then shut down the computer.
4.- Exchange the cards and re-start normally.

Is the order of the proposed steps correct? ...something missing?

Thanks a lot for any advices.


Diazruanova

 

Skip revo. Ddu will boot you to safe mode and reboot you to regular, non-safe windows. You can install nvidia driver from there. Reboot after and run "winsat formal" from a cmd. Btw put the card into the machine first.

 

i'd do it like this

- 1 Boot into safe mode and run DDU select ATI and select clean and shutdown (for installing new graphic card) wait for DDU to finish and shut down the computer

- 2 Remove ATI Card and install Nvidia Card

- 3 Reboot into windows normal mode and allow it to detect the card etc then download and install latest nvidia drivers.

 

Thank you P.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what does the command "winsat formal" do?
...and you say: "put the card into the machine first", but first of what step:
First before installing the Nvidia driver, but after restarting having un-installed the Radeon one??? ...or first of everything which will make the PC run with two cards simultaneously???

Thanks again and please be patient with me

 

Winsat formal is windows assessment tool as far as I know, it just runs a series of test and saves the info into an XML file, not sure why you'd run it after installing a new graphics card tho.

 

Thanks Stereoman, Just one question: Running DDU will un-install also the Radeon catalyst control panel, or JUST the driver?

 

If you really want to be methodical about it you could use the catalyst uninstaller first from add remove programs in windows control panel and then reboot into safemode and use ddu, then install new card and reboot into windows normal and install nvidia driver, I never had any issues just using ddu on it's own tho but either way should work.

 

Thank you very much Stereoman, you have been very helpful!

Greetings from Central Mexico.

Diazruanova

 

No worries and goodluck also remember to have a windows disc handy and backup anything important just in case anything goes wrong, not saying it will but it's always good to be prepared

 

I just moved from 2x7970 to 2x970s and I simply
- downloaded NVIDIA drivers
- uninstalled AMD drivers
- replaced 7970s with 970s
- rebooted and installed NVIDIA drivers
- rebooted again

Finished. No problem at all.

I have already switched a couple of times between AMD and NVIDIA and never did anything special besides built in uninstaller or Windows uninstall. Never had a single problem.

I also use a lot of beta drivers from AMD and NVIDIA and usually never even uninstall but just install the new one. Also never had any problem.

I am not sure why some people seem to think that custom uninstallers/cleanup programs are a must. Normally u don't need those. I would only use them if there is a problem. Otherwise, I think they create at least as many problems as they solve.

 

I suppose it's the thought that there might be some residual AMD files floating around the system that could cause issues with an Nvidia setup altho I've never experienced any problems using the standard uninstallers either but DDU gives you that extra piece of mind that there's nothing left behind.

 

Cause you can get stutter issues otherwise, you should always do this. It will run on most machines though if its idle for a couple of hours I however disable the automatic running. I'm not sure why this is, but the effect is easily noticeable.

 

Regular uninstallers used to, and still to a degree, don't remove everything when you uninstall. This seems to apply particularly to registry settings.

 

Interesting, I never noticed issues with stuttering when changing out graphics cards, I used to run windows assessment tool after a hardware change tho just to see if my score went up :nerd:

 

Well it doesn't happen each and every time you change a driver, ie that you get stuttering. I just run it each time I swap a driver, takes 3 mins while I make a cup o´ joe.

Same kind of thing happens if you change scaling type in nvidia drivers, you need to install the driver again (no clean install, no removal of drivers just install them over, rerun winsat) otherwise you get stuttering. Welcome to the world of Nvidia. It's also a turd but at least it doesn't stink as much as amd ;-) (Imho).

 

Interesting, I´ll do it! Thanx

 

Registry settings without the program which uses them (driver in this case) are just some text which won't affect anything.

I've done this thousands of time and never have I used anything but standard driver uninstall / install procedure. They work just fine.

 

ATI drivers were notorious for leaving lots of junk left over. Then nvidia started doing the same. Then you get driver conflicts. Been there, done that. Uninstall from windows add remove programs doesn't cut it. Try uninstalling the Intel driver for hd graphics. You'll still have persistence, hotkeys, and igfxtray trying to load every time you start your comp. Even DDU doesn't remove this and you end up doing it yourself. Pretty damn frustrating. But DDU is still by far the best tool available. So it's best to use it. When i first tried DDU it showed i had 2 different vid cards and 3 vid card drivers installed. No wonder i was having issues. Had DDU uninstall using the option to install a new gpu and installed the new driver and it then correctly showed as having 1 driver and 1 vid card installed. And all issues were resolved. This is why we always suggest using DDU.

Sadly i have to question the OPs choice for an upgrade as it's about equal or a slight downgrade. Apologies.

 

THIS.

I don't know what kind of research OP did to make him decide to buy a GT 730 to replace his perfectly functioning HD 5670, but he's just throwing his money away for a graphics card that won't really be any faster than his still-working HD 5670.

And if he gets the DDR3 version of the GT 730 then he's totally screwed.

 

I am the OP, your arrogant and rude comment is totally out of topic and the research or lack of it or my decision on which card I chose , are certainly not of your interest.