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Video cards and drivers - Jarulf - 10-23-2006
Hi again,
Me again on computers, this with questions regarding the graphical part of the computer (perhaps I should have one big "help me with the computer thread instead...). Having got my computer, I found that the video card I got was the Gigabyte GeForce 7900 GTX, not the Asus one I had said I would have prefered (typically one simply order the graphic processor type). Does anyone know of any site comparing various GeForce 7900 GTX cards? Performance? Other things? (Not interested in price differences). Or do anyone know if there is a significant difference between those two cards? Is Gigabyte good on videocards? Does it matter who actually makes the card?
Drivers, which one should one go for? Should I go for the one from nVidias home page or the one from the cards home page? Is there any difference really? Are they actually the same (assuming same version number)?
Again, thanks in advance.
Video cards and drivers - Zippyy - 10-23-2006
Ahoy Jarulf,
The 7900 GTX is a beast of a card, and Gigabyte is, in my experience, a very good company. As far as video cards go, Asus doesn't have a very good reputation (in my circles at least). Still, one 7900 GTX is much like another. Different companies will have different warranty policies, though.
There probably isn't much difference between nVidia's driver and Gigabyte's. I use a third party driver myself, but that's because my middle name is Danger!
Video cards and drivers - DeeBye - 10-25-2006
Asus and Gigabyte both offer 3 year warranties on their video cards, and they both seem to manufacture a 7900GTX with identical specifications. I wouldn't be dissatisfied with either card.
As far as drivers go, I'd suggest using the nVidia drivers. Ignore the Gigabyte drivers, unless they also include some extra utilities of worth.
My 7600GS slouches limply in the face of your mighty upright 7900GTX :(
Video cards and drivers - Jarulf - 10-25-2006
Hi, and thanks to both of you.
Seems I will stick with what I allready got then. Since it was impossible to download any driver from Gigabyte (it was a horribly slow site and when I finally managed to start downloading it hung after 8%) I went with nVidia's instead. Haven't had time to a actually test it with any game yet though:(
The warranty is not an issue really since I have a "home" computer here in Sweden which is basically a rent for three year so I have both full support and warranty during that time. Any problem, just bring it in and they fix it or replace it or whatever so that it works again. Quite handy. Sure, the new goverment added a new tax making it slightly more expensive but I will still come out over all cheaper than buying it form some other place (and on top of that I get the support and warranty on everything). The real question though is if I actually need such a somputer and videocard to start with:)
Video cards and drivers - DeeBye - 10-26-2006
Quote:The real question though is if I actually need such a somputer and videocard to start with:)
Of course you do. Ignore everyone who tells you otherwise.
Video cards and drivers - Drasca - 10-26-2006
Quote:Does anyone know of any site comparing various GeForce 7900 GTX cards? Performance? Other things? (Not interested in price differences). Or do anyone know if there is a significant difference between those two cards? Is Gigabyte good on videocards? Does it matter who actually makes the card?
www.anandtech.com does comparisons every so often. In general however, I've heard good things about Gigabyte's performance. I'm not even sure I see asus in the running that often. The brands do matter, in how much it is overclocked from their stock and how much you can OC safely above that--and actual fan design. So all that results in higher or lower stock and final overclock performance. Gigabyte's usually a solid performer among the brands.
Drivers: Just use the Nvidia.com's site. They're all based from Nvidia's stock card anyhow. It is almost foolish to think the individual brand's tweaks would be that much better.
Video cards and drivers - Zippyy - 10-26-2006
Quote:Drivers: Just use the Nvidia.com's site. They're all based from Nvidia's stock card anyhow. It is almost foolish to think the individual brand's tweaks would be that much better.Probably true. However, some third party drivers get much better performance than the official ones. I've been using the Omega Drivers for my ATI cards for a few years. I adopted them when I was getting sub-par performance in Far Cry. After switching from Catalyst to Omega, my average framerate went from 30 to 50. The difference is probably not that drastic in other games, but they've treated me well. I also don't want to install .NET just so I can use the newer ugly bloated Catalyst control panel thing.
Video cards and drivers - Jarulf - 10-26-2006
Quote: I also don't want to install .NET just so I can use the newer ugly bloated Catalyst control panel thing.
Hmm, don one ned .Net for the latest drievr from nVidia? Any way arround it? Or can one still have the old control system? After all, one can switch to it now. Can one get older drivers from nVidia or is it just the latest available?
Video cards and drivers - DeeBye - 10-27-2006
Quote:Hmm, don one ned .Net for the latest drievr from nVidia? Any way arround it? Or can one still have the old control system? After all, one can switch to it now. Can one get older drivers from nVidia or is it just the latest available?
Catalyst drivers are for ATi cards, and they require the .NET framework (at least the Catalyst Control Panel does). NVidia's ForceWare drivers do not, as far as I can tell.
I'm sure you could get older drivers, but you really don't want to unless you are having problems. Newest drivers are almost always superior to old ones, especially when it comes to newer hardware and games. Do yourself a favour and use the latest nVidia drivers, and don't even think about using older ones unless you are having real problems.
Video cards and drivers - Jarulf - 10-27-2006
Quote:Catalyst drivers are for ATi cards, and they require the .NET framework (at least the Catalyst Control Panel does). NVidia's ForceWare drivers do not, as far as I can tell.
I'm sure you could get older drivers, but you really don't want to unless you are having problems. Newest drivers are almost always superior to old ones, especially when it comes to newer hardware and games. Do yourself a favour and use the latest nVidia drivers, and don't even think about using older ones unless you are having real problems.
Ahh, OK, I missunderstood you, I thought you refered to the new nVidia drivers who has moved their controls to the control panel instead of under display properties (right click on desktop and so on).
The question about older drivers was more if I decided to go without .Net, then I could stick with the almost latest drivers which hadn't moved the control functions to the the control panle. but that was just a missunderstanding to me:)