Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Brenjen on May 24, 2006, 10:35:57 AM

Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 24, 2006, 10:35:57 AM
The 90 series BETA drivers are available for download here:

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html)

 These are BETA drivers & I make no claims as to their performance. I just felt some of you folks who are like me, might want to give them a try.

:aok
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 24, 2006, 05:40:18 PM
I've got them installed & guess what - they have introduced a totally new control panel interface! You can still use the old one if you prefer by selection after installing the new drivers. The new interface looks a little more like the windows interface, but not difficult to use so far from what I've seen. Coolbits will work with this new control panel also. I am off to try them in the MA, I'll let you folks know what I find.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 24, 2006, 05:40:33 PM
Are they gonna help us poor schmucks running 4400Tis?
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 24, 2006, 08:27:47 PM
I have no idea Krusty I didn't develop them & I'm not familiar with what a 4400Tis even is. :confused: Is it an old Nvidia card?

  I played AH with these drivers until just now & it was problem free, it seems they perform better than the EVGA 84.56 drivers I was using & I hadn't had too much trouble with them. I'm not even positive the few little glitches were because of those drivers, but I did get a little rendering lag now & then in certain situations. I experienced no frame freezes or rendering lag at all anytime during this session.  So maybe the drivers were to blame. So far I'm impressed; If I experience anything negative I will be sure to post it.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 25, 2006, 01:38:43 AM
Yes, the 4400 is one of the better "older" series nvidia cards. Mine's a Ti (like a GT, St, Ultra, it's a suffix, short for Titanium series).
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 25, 2006, 10:23:39 AM
Cool, that's what I thought but I couldn't find any information on them because of how old they are. I would venture a quess that it will not work well with these drivers, but hey, you can always change them back. Do you have a copy of the drivers your using now somewhere? Or were you just throwing out a J/K about how old your vc is?
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on May 25, 2006, 11:09:34 AM
I had a PNY TI4400 about 5 years ago , i remember that was the first card i bought that was over 300 bucks and it was an upgrade from the 1st radeon ATI made, the 64MB VIVO, that was in my machine . I also remember being mad as hell that i bought it when a month or so later  ATI released the 9700pro that blew it out of the water errr.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 25, 2006, 01:30:48 PM
Oh, no I was serious, I really have this card. It runs pretty well on most games. I can play HL2, AH2, the FEAR demo (although, THAT game needs a MUCH better card, really, I can only just barely play it), and lots of others.

I've got 61.77 drivers on it now, and was just curious if the drivers would help any. I doubt it, but I was curious.

38ruk, I have the 128MB version, AGP4x It's a great card, but it's showing its age a little. Just a little. Hell before this I had a Ge256 (not even a GeForce2!) 32MB, so this is much better than I used to have.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 25, 2006, 03:00:50 PM
It wouldn't hurt/damage anything to try it. Just go back to the old drivers if it's not solid. A lot of video cards have that "sweet" driver set that works well with it.

 With a card that old I'm sure Skuzzy knows which drivers are the "sweet" ones for it. (yes I was smiling to myself when I typed that):D
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 25, 2006, 05:19:00 PM
Oh, I know what skuzzy'd say. I asked him before. 61.77 is what you use for pre-6000 series (pre-6600? I don't know the cut-off, but I'm behind it). Newer drivers seem to hinder older cards, I'm told.

The sad thing is I got 5x the performance out of my Ge256 DDR 32MB by upgrading the drivers. From 26.xx to the 40.xx series I gained 5x the performance from the same card. Doesn't seem to be the case for the Ge 4400. Maybe the old one was just so slow that any help makes it run better ( :lol )
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 25, 2006, 06:19:25 PM
Well, like I said, you can always give it a try, if it hurts performance, change it back. I have a habit of changing drivers, I don't hesitate.

 For all you 78 & 7900 jockies out there, these have done really well so far, better than the latest EVGA drivers.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on May 25, 2006, 09:55:45 PM
I had the same krusty , 128mb 4X . I remember that it was very big for a video card , it was a tight fit in my case . The 44-4600's were very good cards , and im not suprised to see people still using them .
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Kev367th on May 27, 2006, 08:26:34 PM
Supports all nVidia based cards apart from -

TNT2
TNT2 Pro
TNT2 Ultra
TNT2 Model 64 (M64)
TNT2 Model 64 (M64) Pro
Vanta
Vanta LT
GeForce 256
GeForce DDR
GeForce2 GTS
GeForce2 Pro
GeForce2 Ti
GeForce2 Ultra
GeForce2 MX Integrated graphics
Quadro
Quadro2 Pro
Quadro2 EX

Geez I remember having a GF2 GTS, I'm getting old, lol.
Hell I can remember owning a pair of Voodoo 2 with proper SLI. (zimmer frame ordered)
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: [Sg]ShotGun on May 27, 2006, 08:52:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Kev367th
Hell I can remember owning a pair of Voodoo 2 with proper SLI. (zimmer frame ordered) [/B]


i still have both of mine...8mb ea  :O
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 27, 2006, 09:42:44 PM
Hey Kev, have you tried these drivers?

 I am interested to know if my excellent results with them are a fluke. B.T.W. I continue to have 100% perfect graphics, I am impressed.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on May 27, 2006, 10:25:32 PM
Quote
Geez I remember having a GF2 GTS, I'm getting old, lol.


HEHE , i still have a monster 3d addon around here somewhere 8)
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 28, 2006, 12:19:02 AM
I still have the GeForce 256 that I used to have in this machine, it's in win98 print station I set up on another floor of the house.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 28, 2006, 01:02:53 AM
And I thought my 6000 series AGP was old....
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 28, 2006, 12:47:23 PM
These drivers have artifacting problems on the 4400. I tested them out. While I do get a nice boost in fps (10-20fps across the board) I absolutely HATE the control panel interface, and I have issues with flame trails (i.e. you set a plane on fire) disappearing and then coming back for very short periods of time then disappearing again. I guess I'll revert to my old set of drivers.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 28, 2006, 03:26:55 PM
Well the artifacting may not be preventable in that old card...but the new control panel interface is an added interface...you don't have to use it, just click the tab at the top called "advanced control panel" or something like that & it switches back to the old style :aok  in other words, you have two control panels to choose from, the old one & the new one.

 For my 7900 & I would imagine the old 7800's I had, these drivers flat out rock.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Krusty on May 28, 2006, 06:17:00 PM
Ah, I didn't see that "use classic" option in the "View" menu. That helps a lot.

As for the artifacting, it's caused by the more modern drivers. I have to use 61.77 or before for it to work proplery. No biggy, I've got those.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on May 29, 2006, 11:12:14 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Krusty
Ah, I didn't see that "use classic" option in the "View" menu. That helps a lot.

As for the artifacting, it's caused by the more modern drivers. I have to use 61.77 or before for it to work proplery. No biggy, I've got those.


 Yeah, at least your expiramentation (sp?) with them allows others with similar setups to know the outcome, & that's helpful. A lot of people like seeing other peoples outcomes before trying it themselves.

 I really thought it would be worse than just a little artifacting to tell you the truth.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Bronk on May 30, 2006, 03:16:12 PM
Hmmm almost tempted to try on my 6600gt.
But I am figuring the drivers are to optimize 7xxx cards.


Bronk
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Skuzzy on May 30, 2006, 04:12:21 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Krusty
Are they gonna help us poor schmucks running 4400Tis?
You'd be foolish to be using any driver past the 61.77's for that video card.  NVidia stopped doing any optimization work for those old cards a long time ago.

You can make a mess of things by going to such later drivers and back to older drivers.  If you do that, be sure to use some driver cleaner between changes.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Roscoroo on May 30, 2006, 04:22:38 PM
yea but do ya still have your 2 mb "Monster" card :D
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Bronk on May 30, 2006, 04:29:02 PM
Skuzzy do you think there might be a chance this driver might help 6xxx cards?





Bronk
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on May 30, 2006, 10:18:48 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Roscoroo
yea but do ya still have your 2 mb "Monster" card :D


actually i think its an 8 meg  monster hehe
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: RedDg on May 30, 2006, 10:47:11 PM
The first Monster 3D's were a whopping 4MB apiece.  For another $400 you could get a 2nd Monster 3D card and run this new-fangled thing called SLI.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Skuzzy on May 31, 2006, 07:25:58 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Bronk
Skuzzy do you think there might be a chance this driver might help 6xxx cards?
The architecture of the GPU's did not change that much from the 6000 to 7000 series, so it is possible for newer drives to be better.

The 5000 series was NVidia's bastard child.  They were akin to Intel's Willamette/Prescott.  They could not hardly wait to get past those GPU's.  They were terrible.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Kev367th on May 31, 2006, 08:20:43 AM
Quote
Originally posted by RedDg
The first Monster 3D's were a whopping 4MB apiece.  For another $400 you could get a 2nd Monster 3D card and run this new-fangled thing called SLI.


Yup and it was PROPER SLI.
Not alternate frames or split frames like the reinvented SLI, but each card did odd or even lines on a frame.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on May 31, 2006, 09:42:46 AM
Quote
Originally posted by 38ruk
actually i think its an 8 meg  monster hehe


I ment the one i have buried in the old hardware bin .  I wasnt trying to correct anyone, it kinda looked like that after i re read it .
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Bronk on May 31, 2006, 01:26:03 PM
Well dl drivers and installed . Tested with 3dmark2001 and it is an improvement over the omega drivers I was using.


Bronk
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Grits on May 31, 2006, 02:41:03 PM
Bah! I have all of you beat. I still have my 486 DX4-100 with 8Megs of system ram and my Lightspeed ET4000W32i VLB video card with 512k video ram. Noobs.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on June 01, 2006, 11:15:42 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Bronk
Well dl drivers and installed . Tested with 3dmark2001 and it is an improvement over the omega drivers I was using.


Bronk


 Glad to hear it Bronk, using a 7800 series card correct?

 Edit: Nevermind I see where you have the 6600. Let me know how they work out for you after a little use.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: 38ruk on June 01, 2006, 11:22:28 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Bronk
Well dl drivers and installed . Tested with 3dmark2001 and it is an improvement over the omega drivers I was using.


Bronk


Thats expected thou , omegas arent supposed to be the fastest in synthetic benches, they are tweaked to  have better image quality.  I wish omega was still doing Nvidia drivers , i used his drivers for all my ATI cards , last time i looked he hadnt done an nvidia driver for a year or so .
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Bronk on June 01, 2006, 12:55:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by 38ruk
Thats expected thou , omegas arent supposed to be the fastest in synthetic benches, they are tweaked to  have better image quality.  I wish omega was still doing Nvidia drivers , i used his drivers for all my ATI cards , last time i looked he hadnt done an nvidia driver for a year or so .


Omega has 2 driver sets higher quality and performance drivers.
I was running the performance drivers.  The Omega performance series had boost over the corresponding stock driver.

See link   http://www.omegadrivers.net/


Bren flew last night in the snap shot no anomalies and was very smooth.


Bronk
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on June 06, 2006, 02:24:53 PM
Are you having the frame rate drops & the little stutters Bronk? I am & I am curious if these drivers are conflicting with the new 2.08 version.
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Bronk on June 06, 2006, 03:17:19 PM
No stutters but CVs do chew up frame rates.
Only thing that helps when around cv is to set to default. Usually i have 7/8 max.  This is at 1024x780 ,512 tex size.


Bronk
Title: new beta Nvidia forceware drivers
Post by: Brenjen on June 06, 2006, 04:09:00 PM
That's somewhat good news, thank you sir.