VOGONS


First post, by SRQ

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This is related to my other thread, but this is something I've wondered for a while and a general thread to cover this topic seems reasonable.
Often with video cards the first release is buggy, the last release is slow and targets newer products. There's a middle ground, and often odd game problems or hardware problems lead one to finding the one specific driver that works.

For example, my Tyan Tiger 133 seems to operate best with the 30.xx series of Nvidia drivers when using a Geforce 2, and the 71.XX series with a Geforce 4. Further testing being done in my spare time- now that the damn thing works.

What cards do you have, and what are you chosen specific drivers? Can we assemble a list of cards and their best available drivers? TNT - Geforce 7, and all in between, for 9x and 2k/xp? Speed and compability.

Reply 1 of 6, by PhilsComputerLab

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6 months to 1 year after a game release should sort it out. You can sift through the release note for specifics, for example I did this with Splinter Cell to find a good driver.

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Reply 2 of 6, by SRQ

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Makes sense, but what about in general? My GF2 is lagging around 10% in 3dmark 2000 (although the FPS matches a review I found, it lags 1000 3dmarks behind a very similar (1000 for my 933) pentium 3 system.
What driver did you use?

Reply 3 of 6, by PhilsComputerLab

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3DMark is the worst to use to compare machines. Driver versions can have a massive difference. So I wouldn't worry about those scores. I use them in a controlled environment, with the same driver, CPU, everything and only changing the cards.

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Reply 4 of 6, by SRQ

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Yeah, I compared the FPS from it and the review and there's no statistical difference.
The fact upgrading to a Geforce 4 didn't cause any improvement is odd though, more testing needed. So happy the fucking thing is stable though.

Windows 98 seems to prefer a 29.xx series driver, by the by.

Reply 5 of 6, by silikone

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Dropping by to show my interest in this matter.
I'm wondering about potential OpenGL quirks when using an NVIDIA driver after the introduction of OpenGL 2.0 in 2005.

Do not refrain from refusing to stop hindering yourself from the opposite of watching nothing other than that which is by no means porn.

Reply 6 of 6, by GeorgeMan

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I personally use the 44.03.
Are older drivers better for a GF2?

1. Athlon XP 3200+ | ASUS A7V600 | Radeon 9500 @ Pro | SB Audigy 2 ZS | 80GB IDE, 500GB SSD IDE2Sata, 2x1TB HDDs | Win 98SE, XP, Vista
2. Pentium MMX 266| Qdi Titanium IIIB | Hercules graphics & Amber monitor | 1 + 10GB HDDs | DOS 6.22, Win 3.1, 95C