Question about downloading drivers

The Godfather

Hello there,

I'm very new here and I was looking around on this beautiful site in order to learn a few things before asking stupid questions, but suddenly I ran into this seemingly troubling text.

Like everyone I wanna play my Max Payne- and Splinter Cell-games with the highest possible settings and quality. I used to think it was enough to download the latest NVIDIA Geforce Omega-drivers for WIN-XP, but now I read that it's also crucial to do the following ...

Always make sure you have the latest AGP chipset drivers for your MB or your laptop installed and Dx9b, this will prevent compatibility issues and other problems in games.

I know how to get the latest Omega-drivers, but how and where do I download the latest AGP chipset drivers and Dx9b? And first of all: what are they and how can I know what kind of typical AGP chipset drivers I need?

Thanks a lot ... help much appreciated!

MIG-31

you can now download direct x 9.0c from here (included in win xp sp2) this has not been out long,so the message you have received will only be based on the programing at the time.

but can't direct you to the latest chipset drivers untill you tell us what chipset you have.if you don't know tell us what motherboard you have.

welcome to DH forums.

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TwistedMetal

Welcome to DriverHeaven, if someone hasn't said it already.

It's pretty easy to do, you should have no problem doing this.

DirectX

DirectX 9.0c is the latest version and you can find it here.

Chipset Drivers

To find out what kind of Chipset drivers you have, download a program called CPU-Z. It's a single exe so you can put it anywhere you like. Run it, click on Mainboard, then under Motherboard it will have Chipset, and the of name right after that. Feel free to post what kind of chipset you have and will try to help you out. If not, do a search on yahoo or google for the chipset name, example do a search like VIA (whatever the chipset name is) Chipset Drivers, and download the latest version. Once it's downloaded boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the Windows XP boot screen appears). Now boot into safe mode and install the drivers, it's not hard to do at all. I recommend installing them in safe mode, because you can run into problems installing them in normal Windows.

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The Godfather

[color=white]Thanks for you helpful explanation, TwistedMetal! Is it a bad thing to install this thingy even though I'm NOT in Windows safe mode (Say: for example ... that I make a restore point BEFORE I start installing). Many thanks again!

I'm so stupid for not seeing that the second thing "dx9b" stood for directx9b? But what on earth are AGP chipset drivers and why the heck does one have to update his/her motherboard?

And finally: to fully enjoy playing videogames ... could you tell me very clearly what things I have to upload constantly? [/color]
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I go quite often to the NVIDIA site (or since yesterday to this even better Omega-site) to download the very best and latest video drivers for WIn-XP and I try to keep track of the latest DirectX-drivers, but I sincerely thought that was it! What else do I have to download furthermore to be able to keep on playing my videogames at their best quality, please?

Sorry for the long questions, but many thanks instead!

Bye for now[/color]

MIG-31

chipset drivers...... these controll all motherboard drivers... for example ide/agp/ram controllers along with others.

so when chipset drivers are mentioned it means what you have asked.these are needed to enable 4x/8x settings for the graphics card,just depends on the support from youre motherboard. ie.. agp 2 is a max of 4x agp transfer.agp 3.0 is a max of 8x agp transfer.the more recent the mobo has been made the more likely it will be agp 3.0.

try and find out the motherboard you have then we can help out further.

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The Godfather

Ok. I will let you know as soon as I have my computer back.

(with a brand new NVIDIA Geforce FX 5900-card no less and a cordless keyboard)

Thanks in advance and I'll see you guys ASAP with some further info!

Bye for now

TwistedMetal

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[color=white]The manual, take the case off, and read the chip on the motherboard, or just ask at the computer store. If they don't know, I wouldn't recommend taking it back to that store.

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[color=#ffffff]I'm so stupid [/color]for not seeing that the second thing "dx9b" stood for directx9b? But what on earth are AGP chipset drivers and why the heck does one have to update his/her motherboard?

Yes, 99% of the people just call it DX9b, or mainly just DX9. AGP chipset drivers improves or fixes bugs on your motherboard chipset. Chipset is what deals with the graphics on your motherboard. It's always good to update them as it can improve performance and fix bugs.

Quote:

And finally: to fully enjoy playing videogames ... could you tell me very clearly what things I have to upload constantly?

Drivers and Chipset Drivers are the main thing, there's more you can do to improve your system, mainly just tweaks to the BIOS, Video Card, and Windows XP. You just have to look around and read up on them.

Quote:

Sorry for the long questions, but many thanks instead! Bye for now

No problem at all, you got to learn about it some how, plus I enjoy doing this.

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The Godfather

Hi,

I'm back. My PC won't be finished until tomorrow or possibly even much later this week, but I do have another question though.

What videocard is better? The NVIDIA-ones or the ATI-videocards? Instead of going for Geforce FX5900 NIVIDIA-card, I'll have a ATI9800-card in my PC? Is this better and thus a wise decision or something stupid which should be reversed if possible?

Also: I can download drivers from the ATI-site, but also from this beautiful site? My question is: what is the best choice? What is the difference between the same driver from these two different driver-sites? And what does omegadrivers.net has to offer more than the original ATI-site ... ati.com, please?

Many questions ... I know, but it'll stop as soon as I have my computer back and as soon as I'll be able to watch/play another film/videogame on my PC.

Thanks to all who try to help me and I'll see you soon!

bye for now

MIG-31

i have used both cards and found the ati cards were better,not by a huge amount but it's preference.9800 fully supports dx.9.0b (hardware) where as nvidias equivalent is supported via the drivers.

as for ati drivers,these both will be the exact same drivers as those on ati drivers (not modified in any way) just hosted by a different company.

omegas are the 4.8's that have been tweaked for better quality and sometimes performance.different pc's will give different results.but with the omegas you do lose the whql signature.but ati do prefer out of all the tweaked/hacked drivers to be by omega,which is also why he is a DH admin.

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The Godfather

So, lemme get this straight (i'm sorry to keep on asking questions, but when it comes down to the technical side of computers, I'm usually lost pretty fast) ... when I choose to download a driver from this site rather than the ATI-homepage, I get the exact same driver for WINXP except that the Omega-ATI-drivers have been tweaked for better quality and performance.

So naturally, I'd go for downloading drivers on this site. But isn't there a chance that I will push my motherboard or videocard too much and as a result of that won't my PC get hotter and hotter due to the fact that I'm pushing my PC (or any of its parts) to improve and do better?
In short (and please be very honest even if it means telling me some bad news coz I just payed mega-sega-lot of money to upgrade my PC): is downloading slightly improved/changed drivers from this site com-ple-tely safe without any possible damaging of my PC (or any of its parts) as a result of pushing my videocard or motherboard to do better than they're programmed to do?

Sorry for the long question, but if I'm to do something different than usual, I gotta know for sure that it's 100% safe.

Thanks a lot (the site looks fantastic; BTW)!

Bye for now

MIG-31

thats correct.... and don't worry about questions m8....all questions asked get answered.we have a huge amount of respect for all members here at dh,newbie or expert there is no preference.

vga cards do get hotter with an overclock of stock settings,but these are made with an awareness of this.but is not supported as overclocking is at youre own risk.same goes for thre motherboard,but this is where extra cooling comes into play,case fans etc.

if youre refering to omega drivers,yes they are safe as i use these myself and they are great.but to note these are the only ones supported by DH.

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No_Style

Moved by your friendly neighbourhood Styleless Moderator

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