Are NVIDIA drivers good?

[l Thomas l]

How are the NVIDIA drivers? I know the new ones just came out, but have they been easy to access all the features and not use too much memory or hog down performance?

I used to have an old MX 440, and the settings were okay, but there weren't many options and they were hard to find.

If they're not very good, do they at least have something like ATI Tray Tools? Right now I have just the ATI Display Driver installed, and ATI Tray Tools to change the settings, which is very easy because ATI Tray Tools puts it all in one menu.

 

[SonicIce]

temp display, overclocking, refresh rate overrides, color correction, aa/af settings, resolutions and refresh rates, multiple display setup. thats all built-in without the need for an added tool like ati tray tools.

 

[broly8877]

They also have the option to have an icon in the start bar to quickly change res/aa/af/etc settings.

 

[Sonikku]

Nvidia drivers are pretty solid. Not quite as good as ATI's, but solid none the less.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Sonikku
Nvidia drivers are pretty solid. Not quite as good as ATI's, but solid none the less.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Sonikku
Nvidia drivers are pretty solid. Not quite as good as ATI's, but solid none the less.

Strike that ... reverse it.

And this coming from the current owner of an X1900XTX... I've owned several Nvidia & ATI cards & overall Nvidia drivers are easier to tweak & easier to upgrade.
Compatibility is about equal these days with maybe a slight edge to ATI & they also get the win in image quality and features, even though CCC can be a pain.

 

[BFG10K]

ATi's CCC is bloated and slow.

nVidia's control panel is leaner and faster but its Profile Manager is clunky and buggy as hell.

You'll probably find yourself using third party utilities for both vendors. Riva Tuner + nHancer works well on nVidia cards.

 

[lopri]

Practically the only reason why I'm somewhat hesitant to ge an ATI card is their drivers/software. Their hardware is ahead of NV (at least for the design) but their drivers and software are just not consistent enough for me. Some applications run great and they have quite a few nice software feature for their hardware, but you never know when/where a surprise will pop up. My personal example: I almost picked up an X1800 when it debut'ed but thankfully the moment before I was going to make a purchase xbitlabs published a review containing Age of Empires 3. (Later I found another review at behardware.com)

Whether it's because of NV's TWIMTBP or reasons along that line (marketing) is irrevelant to an individual. As far as compatibility/stability goes, I feel more comfortable with NV card myself, and when recommending for someone else, despite ATI's more advanced/fast architecture.

 

[ForumMaster]

another must for nvidia cards is the coolbit oc reg hack. i have owned both ATI and nvidia cards and i like the Nvidia drivers better.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: lopri
Practically the only reason why I'm somewhat hesitant to ge an ATI card is their drivers/software. Their hardware is ahead of NV (at least for the design) but their drivers and software are just not consistent enough for me. Some applications run great and they have quite a few nice software feature for their hardware, but you never know when/where a surprise will pop up. My personal example: I almost picked up an X1800 when it debut'ed but thankfully the moment before I was going to make a purchase xbitlabs published a review containing Age of Empires 3. (Later I found another review at behardware.com)

Whether it's because of NV's TWIMTBP or reasons along that line (marketing) is irrevelant to an individual. As far as compatibility/stability goes, I feel more comfortable with NV card myself, and when recommending for someone else, despite ATI's more advanced/fast architecture.

I have to agree with this. (My personal view is similiar with lopri's)

 

[Sonikku]

Originally posted by: Captante

Originally posted by: Sonikku
Nvidia drivers are pretty solid. Not quite as good as ATI's, but solid none the less.

Strike that ... reverse it.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2754&p=1

Get with the times already.

 

[akugami]

ATI's CCC is bloated and slow. It's drivers are fine and about on par with nVidia's. nVidia's control panel is superior to ATI's. Only the fanboys will rant and rave about how bad ATI's drivers are. Having been through troubleshooting systems with both cards and going through various web site forums as well as reading many reviews, I can say that nVidia has a slight edge in driver quality but it's not a night and day difference. One thing I've noticed is that ATI seems to have a tendency for poorer performance in the occasional new game. The puzzling thing is that these games are high profile. Black and White 2 and Age of Empires 3 comes to mind. While they run fine now, when these two games first came out, performance was bad. Do people not test games on ATI hardware?