Bjoern
March 16th, 2008, 13:46
A very spontaneous idea.
This thread is intended for discussing Forceware drivers, providing a heads up and sharing experiences to help other users in deciding whether it's worth to upgrade the drivers or not.
First of all, the procedure for changing Forceware drivers in general:
1. Uninstall the old driver (Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> NVidia driver)
2. Reboot to safe mode
3. Use Driver Cleaner (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745) to remove remaints from the old driver (Simply start the tool and click "Start")
4. Reboot
5. Install the new drivers
6. Reboot
7. Set up the new drivers (via the NVidia Control Panel or NHancer)
8. Reboot
Ready to start up FSX.
The latest official drivers can be obtained here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Just select your card, OS and language and you'll get the latest stable official drivers.
If you've gained some experiences with upgrading drivers you can try your hands on unofficial drivers, which sometimes give small performance boosts. Be aware though, that those unofficial betas can be unstable and cause freeze-ups and/or blue screens or they simply refuse to run some applications. In that case, you can safely remove them with the procedure above and replace them with an older, official driver.
I for myself always store the setup files of two video card drivers on my system - the latest official one and the current one.
Permanent damage to your hardware by using bad drivers is very unlikely, so don't worry.
Alright, now for my current driver situation.
I'm running the 174.16s (XP32), which were intended for the new 9600 series, but can be installed for older cards as well after an .inf mod. I replaced the 174.12 (XP32) betas, because, despite getting good performance, I got a blue screen and a freeze-up which could have been caused by the drivers.
The 174.16s are good so far, but I recommend trying the 174.12s first. Me getting problems doesn't mean that the driver is faulty for everyone. Lots of people all over the web recommend the 174.12s as the best current inofficial drivers for their NVdia cards!
Download (172.12s):
XP 32: http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=390
XP 64:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=392
Vista 32:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=391
Vista 64:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=393
Since most of the testing of new drivers is done in current FPS games, I'd like to see some more people than me doing some driver testing in FSX and other flight sims.
It shouldn't be about frames per second, but about smoothness and image quality.
Don't be afraid of drivers. They're nothing more than 1s and 0s. ;)
This thread is intended for discussing Forceware drivers, providing a heads up and sharing experiences to help other users in deciding whether it's worth to upgrade the drivers or not.
First of all, the procedure for changing Forceware drivers in general:
1. Uninstall the old driver (Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> NVidia driver)
2. Reboot to safe mode
3. Use Driver Cleaner (http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745) to remove remaints from the old driver (Simply start the tool and click "Start")
4. Reboot
5. Install the new drivers
6. Reboot
7. Set up the new drivers (via the NVidia Control Panel or NHancer)
8. Reboot
Ready to start up FSX.
The latest official drivers can be obtained here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Just select your card, OS and language and you'll get the latest stable official drivers.
If you've gained some experiences with upgrading drivers you can try your hands on unofficial drivers, which sometimes give small performance boosts. Be aware though, that those unofficial betas can be unstable and cause freeze-ups and/or blue screens or they simply refuse to run some applications. In that case, you can safely remove them with the procedure above and replace them with an older, official driver.
I for myself always store the setup files of two video card drivers on my system - the latest official one and the current one.
Permanent damage to your hardware by using bad drivers is very unlikely, so don't worry.
Alright, now for my current driver situation.
I'm running the 174.16s (XP32), which were intended for the new 9600 series, but can be installed for older cards as well after an .inf mod. I replaced the 174.12 (XP32) betas, because, despite getting good performance, I got a blue screen and a freeze-up which could have been caused by the drivers.
The 174.16s are good so far, but I recommend trying the 174.12s first. Me getting problems doesn't mean that the driver is faulty for everyone. Lots of people all over the web recommend the 174.12s as the best current inofficial drivers for their NVdia cards!
Download (172.12s):
XP 32: http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=390
XP 64:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=392
Vista 32:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=391
Vista 64:
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=393
Since most of the testing of new drivers is done in current FPS games, I'd like to see some more people than me doing some driver testing in FSX and other flight sims.
It shouldn't be about frames per second, but about smoothness and image quality.
Don't be afraid of drivers. They're nothing more than 1s and 0s. ;)