Best Nvidia Drivers for GF4?

[Insomniak]

There's too much BS to keep track of these days.

I'm looking for the last driver release from Nvidia that was truly good. No forced 16 bit, no broken compatability, etc.

Now, I've had good luck with 41.09 and 43.45 performance wise. Are the 44.03s any good? The 45.23s most definitely are NOT; I can tell you from personal experience.

Anyway, basically I'm looking for the best performing, most recent drivers with no funny business and all options functional. Thanks for your help.

 

[watdahel]

What's wrong with the 45s? Please do tell.

 

[MDE]

I use the 44.03s with no problems.

 

[nemesismk2]

I have a GF4 Ti4200 and I've noticed no speed increase since the 41.09 drivers.

 

[modedepe]

I use the 41.09's. I don't think any of the later drivers have any real improvments for the gf4.

 

[Mitzi]

I've got the 43.45's..not because they are the best, just because they were the ones available at the time when I could be bothered downloading them. I doubt theres been any advances on the GeForce4 driver for a fair few months.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

I always keep my drivers up to date. Geez, I'm using a 64MB Geforce 2 in my work system, and IT'S running the newest 45.23 drivers, even though nothing much has probably changed in years.

 

[Ruroni]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
There's too much BS to keep track of these days.
Now, I've had good luck with 41.09 and 43.45 performance wise. Are the 44.03s any good? The 45.23s most definitely are NOT; I can tell you from personal experience.

Please, we insist, do tell...

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: erwin1978
What's wrong with the 45s? Please do tell.

I had issues with compatibility and performance using the 45.23s. Specifically, UT2003 (latest patch) ran about 5 FPS slower, and Battlefield 1942 (1.45 patch) sometimes had graphical corruption (missing polygons, occlusion problems).

Right now, I'm personally using the 41.09s....not only did I see a VAST improvement of IQ over the 45.23s, but compatibility and speed are the best they've ever been (which was, not coincidentally, when the 41.09s were the latest driver).

Anyhoo, those are my observations. The 43.45s seemed almost as good, but were not quite as fast (I benched 2 frames less in UT2k3...boohoo, but hey, I want every ounce of perf.) and the 44.03s were slower and the IQ seemed a little less sharp.


That's just my take. I was wondering what everyone else thought....seems I was right though. There appears to be a consensus on 41.09 being the high point of drivers for the GF4 Ti line.

 

[tkistre]

 

[tkistre]

Why not try the nVidia Omega Drivers? They work GREAT for me and my friends. We play UT2k3, Battlefield 1942 and Splinter Cell. I choose the quality setting on install and it really made a noticeable difference with no performance hit. You can find them at Omega

 

[Insomniak]

I'll give their modified 43.45s a shot...but im always weary of 3rd party GPU drivers. We'll see what the benchies say.

 

[Insomniak]

I have to say, thanks for the recomendation...these drivers are top notch.

I chose their performance drivers since the default IQ was good enough for me, but I can swear there's still an IQ improvement. 2x AA looks like 4x and the colors are much more vivid...

Anyway, the UT2003 benchmark went up a bit, so a little more performance and a little more IQ is all good. Thanks for the referral. Hopefully I'll find them to be as compatible as the Dets.

 

[watdahel]

So how many frags per second did you get with the omega drivers?

 

[Insomniak]

frags per stayed the same frames per went up about 4 though, the IQ is better, and the expanded feature set is good stuff. I'm rather impressed....I've never met third party drivers I liked more than the manufacturers before.