Help me... I'm Drowning in Driver Soup...

[Caveman]

Please help a noobie...

I'm soooo confused with the video card driver scene... Here are my questions:

I'm about to build a new system (1st time)... Do I install the drivers that come with my video card (in this case, its the Leadtek GF3 Ti 500) Or... do I just use the newest, latest greatest driver set such as the Detonator 21.83 or maybe even the 22.50?

Am I mixing apples with oranges here? The CD that comes with my video card will have "drivers" specifically designed for my card, right? I assume I will lose all my card tweaking utilities if I switch to the new "Detonator" drivers right?

AND, WHAT ARE DETONATOR DRIVERS ANYWAY? Are these drivers made by the chipset manufacturer (in this case Nvidia)?

Also, it seems like changing video drivers on a computer is about like disarming a nuclear bomb -- things can get screwed up in a hurry. The problems seem to be from not removing the old Driver Residue correctly. What is the best, surefire way to remove residue? Does anyone publish a definitive guide on doing a "CLEAN" driver update process without any hassle?

 

[nippyjun]

Ok, If you are building a new system I highly recommend you use windows xp. It has a great rollback feature. If you install new drivers and they screw things up you can just roll back to the ones you previously used. And if that doesn't work there is the system restore feature that is great. As far as which drivers to use, I don't use the ones that come with the video card as these are usually a bit outdated. I would use the latest detonators that can be found on a number of sites. Nvidia makes the detonator drivers. The card companies use these drivers, but some modify them a bit.

 

[SgtZulu]

Ha Ha system restore feature in Winblows? You must be joking right?