Nvida Drivers

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 01:25 PM

I'm very close to buying a 6800 GT (Inno3D). I have a 9800 pro wich I had for about 1 and a half year now and I'm used to the excellent driver realeses from ATI each month and they are WHQL cert.

My questions is, how is it on the Nvidia driver reales front, do they realese WHQL drivers each month as well??

And those of you who had an ATI card and went to Nvidia how do you guys feel about their drivers comparing with ATI??

**MIG-31** · Sep 16, 2004, 01:36 PM

nvidia official drivers are not released each month.when i were last on nvidia there were two in a month but were just bug fixes.they always varied within 3-6 months.

although there are a few of the makers do release there drivers perhaps a little quicker.

betas are the most common you can find on the net.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 01:37 PM

Thanks Mig, strange approach Nvidia is having with their drivers it seems.

**MIG-31** · Sep 16, 2004, 01:40 PM

did see some time ago nvidia claimed they were going to decrease the time of releases.whether this has come about i don't know.

digitalwanderer · Sep 16, 2004, 01:42 PM

Also, some nVidia card manufacturers have their own custom driver sets for their cards that you need to use to access some of their special features.

I'm playing around with a Gainward 6800 GT right now and I'm using the 61.36 set, mainly because that's the one Gainward sent me with the card.

nVidia doesn't seem to have ANY rhyme or reason to their release schedule, it's something I really don't like about 'em.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 02:00 PM

Ok, that sux really, I'm used to the fine driver realeses from ATI each month.

Too bad because the 6800 GT is really a good card, I'll decide tommorw if buying one or not.

Thanks for the input

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 16, 2004, 02:04 PM

nvidia spends more time on fixing bugs and stuff then ati, instead of, just fixing bugs that pop up they also test to find whether thier fixes have broken anything

Nvidia drivers have a better API, unless you have the ATI CCC

they are also smaller.

and there is alot less game compatibility problems with them,

im not dissing ati drivers... they have gotten alot better

but nvidia still have the better supporting drivers

dipstick · Sep 16, 2004, 02:13 PM

I maintain my bros rig which has a GT in it and I must say the nVidia drivers are just as good as ATi's. I've never had a problem with any of their beta leaks and they do show good performance increases in each set. Anyway, I don't think you should let the drivers hold you back from a nVidia card.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 02:17 PM

But the realese are so far from each other it seems.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipstick

I maintain my bros rig which has a GT in it and I must say the nVidia drivers are just as good as ATi's. I've never had a problem with any of their beta leaks and they do show good performance increases in each set. Anyway, I don't think you should let the drivers hold you back from a nVidia card.

Maybe your right, but if for example I want to bench a little i 3Dmark 03, the newest drivers from Nvida seems to betas and not WHQL, thats the thing bothering me.

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 16, 2004, 02:24 PM

its whats in the driver releases that counts....

one nv set can usually last a while as they are usually developed with indevelopment games also considered,

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 16, 2004, 02:29 PM

whql dont mean much

actually the best quality and performing drivers are sometimes not whql

and not all official releases are whql

anyway whql is just microsofts way of earning $10, 000 easily

digitalwanderer · Sep 16, 2004, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danhill

Too bad because the 6800 GT is really a good card

Y'know what? You're right, it is a good card....but so is the X800 pro VIVO and that's the one that I spent my money on.

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 16, 2004, 02:39 PM

i recommend waiting though danhill

wait for the 6900gt/ultra

coz its gunna be faster have more ram and might run cooler

Wiredzero · Sep 16, 2004, 03:16 PM

Did anyone ever stop to think that the reason they don't deliver drivers out as much is because they want to make sure they're not gonna dump out some untested garbage on the public to screw up their videocards with?

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 16, 2004, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squall Leonhart

nvidia spends more time on fixing bugs and stuff then ati, instead of, just fixing bugs that pop up they also test to find whether thier fixes have broken anything

i just sed that Wiredzero

digitalwanderer · Sep 16, 2004, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiredzero

Did anyone ever stop to think that the reason they don't deliver drivers out as much is because they want to make sure they're not gonna dump out some untested garbage on the public to screw up their videocards with?

No. That isn't it, nVidia just hates their customers.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squall Leonhart

i recommend waiting though danhill

wait for the 6900gt/ultra

coz its gunna be faster have more ram and might run cooler

No I can't do that, it tooooooo long of wait. And the price when it's realesed.....phuuu no thanks.

Paladine · Sep 16, 2004, 05:55 PM

Thought I would join the forums here at DH. Seems like some good discussions going on around here, so good in fact that they influenced my purchasing decision on my new system (see sig).

As for my experience, in case anyone cares...

I have a GF4 Ti4200 and an ATI Radeon on my server. And I have had no problems with either card or the drivers released for them. Initially ATI was an issue, but they seem to have fixed something in their releases that have made them pretty rock solid.

I do have to agree with a prior conclusion, and that being Nvidia not releasing drivers as often could actually be a good thing. I have just found it cumbersome to continually update my drivers. I work on the idea if it is not broke, don't fix it and it works for nvidia more than ATI. With regards to games anyhow.

Just my opinion.

Danhill · Sep 16, 2004, 06:39 PM

Welcome to DH, hope you will ennjoy your stay, it's a great place here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladine

Thought I would join the forums here at DH. Seems like some good discussions going on around here, so good in fact that they influenced my purchasing decision on my new system (see sig).

As for my experience, in case anyone cares...

I have a GF4 Ti4200 and an ATI Radeon on my server. And I have had no problems with either card or the drivers released for them. Initially ATI was an issue, but they seem to have fixed something in their releases that have made them pretty rock solid.

I do have to agree with a prior conclusion, and that being Nvidia not releasing drivers as often could actually be a good thing. I have just found it cumbersome to continually update my drivers. I work on the idea if it is not broke, don't fix it and it works for nvidia more than ATI. With regards to games anyhow.

Just my opinion.

Nacht · Sep 16, 2004, 10:12 PM

im not voting...i have always preferred the NV drivers over ATi's...the hardware is up for debate...but the drivers are not

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 17, 2004, 03:15 AM

yeah... also nvidia has the application profiles which i have found to work well

Danhill · Sep 17, 2004, 06:48 AM

Thanks guys for your input, today I'm going over to Nvidia. The force is strong with them..........

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 17, 2004, 09:43 AM

ahh.. fellow jedi knights we have shown danhill the light side of the force

lol

The_Neon_Cowboy · Sep 17, 2004, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squall Leonhart

nvidia spends more time on fixing bugs and stuff then ati, instead of, just fixing bugs that pop up they also test to find whether thier fixes have broken anything

[color=red]So does ati they just don't have as many devopers in thier pockets to "help them out".[/color][color=#ff0000]nvidia WHQL releases are far a few inbetween, beta's are plentyfull... the public are thier beta testers [/color]

Nvidia drivers have a better API, unless you have the ATI CCC

they are also smaller.
[color=red]So? still power by "per app software optimzation drivers". Sorry but i have to say it when you up your fps in a game by 40% with a driver relase such has CS:Sourse. Really shows how much thier running on hardware. [/color]

and there is alot less game compatibility problems with them,
[color=#ff0000]So does ati they just don't have as many devopers in thier pockets to "help them out" sure. nvidia don't have porblems in "ment to be played games" built to run on nvidia games and every single ati cardes does. Funny co-incadence isn't it? [/color]

im not dissing ati drivers... they have gotten alot better
but nvidia still have the better supporting drivers
[color=red]Thing is ati drivers are getting better & better, but still don't see then be as horrable as many nv fans seem to belive they are...[/color]

[color=#ff0000]I wouln't nessacary call nv's that much better but thier drivers are optimuzed specificlly, the games are even runing differnet acording to brand alot of stuff that make a fair ati vs nv compairiosn impossable in my eyes. [/color]

...

~~squall Leonhart~~ · Sep 17, 2004, 04:17 PM

and i ain't no nvidia fanboy...

if 3dfx reopened tomorrow id buy thier Voodoo 7 7800 for $1000 even if it sucked

mwahahahahaha

Sep 16, 2004, 01:25 PM	#1
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Nvida Drivers I'm very close to buying a 6800 GT (Inno3D). I have a 9800 pro wich I had for about 1 and a half year now and I'm used to the excellent driver realeses from ATI each month and they are WHQL cert. My questions is, how is it on the Nvidia driver reales front, do they realese WHQL drivers each month as well?? And those of you who had an ATI card and went to Nvidia how do you guys feel about their drivers comparing with ATI?? __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Sep 16, 2004, 01:36 PM	#2
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,843 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	nvidia official drivers are not released each month.when i were last on nvidia there were two in a month but were just bug fixes.they always varied within 3-6 months. although there are a few of the makers do release there drivers perhaps a little quicker. betas are the most common you can find on the net. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Sep 16, 2004, 01:37 PM	Thread Starter #3
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Thanks Mig, strange approach Nvidia is having with their drivers it seems. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Sep 16, 2004, 01:40 PM	#4
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,843 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	did see some time ago nvidia claimed they were going to decrease the time of releases.whether this has come about i don't know. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Sep 16, 2004, 01:42 PM	#5
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Also, some nVidia card manufacturers have their own custom driver sets for their cards that you need to use to access some of their special features. I'm playing around with a Gainward 6800 GT right now and I'm using the 61.36 set, mainly because that's the one Gainward sent me with the card. nVidia doesn't seem to have ANY rhyme or reason to their release schedule, it's something I really don't like about 'em. __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Sep 16, 2004, 02:00 PM	Thread Starter #6
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Ok, that sux really, I'm used to the fine driver realeses from ATI each month. Too bad because the 6800 GT is really a good card, I'll decide tommorw if buying one or not. Thanks for the input __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Sep 16, 2004, 02:04 PM	#7
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	nvidia spends more time on fixing bugs and stuff then ati, instead of, just fixing bugs that pop up they also test to find whether thier fixes have broken anything Nvidia drivers have a better API, unless you have the ATI CCC they are also smaller. and there is alot less game compatibility problems with them, im not dissing ati drivers... they have gotten alot better but nvidia still have the better supporting drivers

Sep 16, 2004, 02:13 PM	#8
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	I maintain my bros rig which has a GT in it and I must say the nVidia drivers are just as good as ATi's. I've never had a problem with any of their beta leaks and they do show good performance increases in each set. Anyway, I don't think you should let the drivers hold you back from a nVidia card.

Sep 16, 2004, 02:17 PM	Thread Starter #9
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	But the realese are so far from each other it seems. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Sep 16, 2004, 02:24 PM	#11
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	its whats in the driver releases that counts.... one nv set can usually last a while as they are usually developed with indevelopment games also considered,

Sep 16, 2004, 02:29 PM	#12
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	whql dont mean much actually the best quality and performing drivers are sometimes not whql and not all official releases are whql anyway whql is just microsofts way of earning $10, 000 easily

Sep 16, 2004, 02:39 PM	#14
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	i recommend waiting though danhill wait for the 6900gt/ultra coz its gunna be faster have more ram and might run cooler

Sep 16, 2004, 03:16 PM	#15
Wiredzero HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: The other side of the screen. Posts: 156 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Did anyone ever stop to think that the reason they don't deliver drivers out as much is because they want to make sure they're not gonna dump out some untested garbage on the public to screw up their videocards with? __________________

Sep 16, 2004, 05:55 PM	#19
Paladine DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Edmonton, Alberta Posts: 46 Rep Power: 0	Thought I would join the forums here at DH. Seems like some good discussions going on around here, so good in fact that they influenced my purchasing decision on my new system (see sig). As for my experience, in case anyone cares... I have a GF4 Ti4200 and an ATI Radeon on my server. And I have had no problems with either card or the drivers released for them. Initially ATI was an issue, but they seem to have fixed something in their releases that have made them pretty rock solid. I do have to agree with a prior conclusion, and that being Nvidia not releasing drivers as often could actually be a good thing. I have just found it cumbersome to continually update my drivers. I work on the idea if it is not broke, don't fix it and it works for nvidia more than ATI. With regards to games anyhow. Just my opinion. __________________

Sep 16, 2004, 10:12 PM	#21
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	im not voting...i have always preferred the NV drivers over ATi's...the hardware is up for debate...but the drivers are not

Sep 17, 2004, 03:15 AM	#22
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	yeah... also nvidia has the application profiles which i have found to work well

Sep 17, 2004, 06:48 AM	Thread Starter #23
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Thanks guys for your input, today I'm going over to Nvidia. The force is strong with them.......... __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Sep 17, 2004, 09:43 AM	#24
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	ahh.. fellow jedi knights we have shown danhill the light side of the force lol

Sep 17, 2004, 04:17 PM	#26
~~squall Leonhart~~ The Gunblade Master Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: um.... here Posts: 938 Rep Power: 0	and i ain't no nvidia fanboy... if 3dfx reopened tomorrow id buy thier Voodoo 7 7800 for $1000 even if it sucked mwahahahahaha