Going from V3 3000 to Radeon LE in Windows2k, do I REALLY need to reformat? :`(

[Shudder]

I just did a month ago, honest.. And I think I have things ok to where I want them, but if old registry and drivers REALLY cause that many problems I guess I'll do it.

I'm scared of all this new video card stuff.. How do you tell your friend of 1 1/2 years that you're sorry, but he's no longer needed? I'd be lying if I told him they're both welcome in my system, but I've only one AGP slot..

Anyway, if you think it'll be less hassle to just scrap the OS, I will.. I already have a fresh install of 98 and haven't put in my voodoo drivers yet, so that's cool.

Convince me.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

You dont need to but it's recomended. If you install it and have no problems that it's ok. 3dfx cards are not that bad when it comes to changing them.

 

[Taz4158]

3DFX is notoriously difficult to get rid of all remnants of. I would highly recommend a fresh start for getting the full potential out of your new card.

 

[arod324]

I took me a while, but I removed all of the 3dfx stuff from my harddrive. You hvae to check the inf files, the windows folder, windows/system folder, registry, etc. But I thought it saved me a lot of time compared to reformatting and reinstalling everything.

 

[RobsTV]

If you just did a reformat a month ago, that helps, as everything you had to do will still be fresh in your mind, and everything should be handy for you to do it again. On the other hand, if you plan on reformatting anyway, it won't hurt to NOT reformat to see what happens. If all works well, why bother.

A video card is probably the #1 piece of hardware that requires finicky software, and affects every aspect of your system. Nothing else matters as much to visual stability, speed, and quality. That alone should be reason enough to always reformat and reinstall O.S. with any video card upgrade. Because you had a V3 just compounds the potential problems, as it drivers and files can be like a virus that is hard to get rid of.

 

[Shudder]

Hmm.. guess I'll reformat the ah heck and hopefully not have to worry about it for a while. Aside from a different processor speed, I think I'm set for a while with upgrades.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I'd say give it a shot first, if you run into issues then format.