Newbie question on installing nvidia drivers

[ghart999]

I am receiving a new 6800nu in a few days. I plan on installing the latest 61.77 drivers on it. My question is, can I just install this on my PC to run the video card, or is there anything on the Install disc that I will need to install as well? I am getting eVGA version of the card. Thanks alot.

 

[PsharkJF]

All things being equal, use the vendor's drivers. However, if they don't update them a lot, or they cause problems, use the standard nVidia ones - I believe they are only meant for people with nVidia-made cards and for OEM cards they are just reference drivers. They will work, though.

I remember the days of having a Diamond Voodoo2 and Diamond never updated the drivers, so I had to use 3dfx's reference drivers.

 

[nitromullet]

nVidia doesn't sell cards directly to retail. You should be able to use the drivers from nVidia's site for any of their cards. I have never installed anyhting that came on the cd for any video card I have owned. I simply download them from nVidia and don't have any problems. Chances are the drivers that come with your card will be outdated compared to the ones on nVidia's site.

 

[jrphoenix]

Just an FYI (I'm a noob too). I have an EVGA GT. You shouldn't need anything from the CD. The drivers they have are older than what you can download. As of yesterday EVGA's website only offered the 61.76 for download. I downloaded the drivers from Nvidia and everything is good.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: ghart999
I am receiving a new 6800nu in a few days. I plan on installing the latest 61.77 drivers on it. My question is, can I just install this on my PC to run the video card, or is there anything on the Install disc that I will need to install as well? I am getting eVGA version of the card. Thanks alot.

If you currently have an nVidia card and the drivers are up-to-date, you can just install it. Won't really need anything off the cd.

If you currently have another brand of vid card in your pc, then you must uninstall it's drivers. Plus, you should run DriverCleaner or Driver Detonator (free proggies for d/l) before you install the nVidia drivers. These proggies will clear-out old hidden driver fragments that can cause probs.

If you haven't already, you should make sure your motherboard (chipset) drivers are up-to-date also.

Enjoy ur new card,

Fern

 

[PhoenixOrion]

It's always a good rule to download the latest forceware from nvidia site since the contents in the retail cd are already outdated by the time the consumer gets it.

Same goes with any component: motherboard install cd's and such.

 

[DarkKnight]

I always used the reference drivers for my nvidia cards and had no problems. Don't worry about the eVGA drivers, their the same as the nvidia drivers except with different packaging (card may have new name in device manager, installer may look slightly different).

 

[ghart999]

Thanks all. I appreciate the responses.

 

[ghart999]

Originally posted by: Fern
If you haven't already, you should make sure your motherboard (chipset) drivers are up-to-date also.

I have the Asus P4p800-E Deluxe. Their website does not look like there are any updated chipset driver for this mainboard. Does that sound right?

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: ghart999

Originally posted by: Fern
If you haven't already, you should make sure your motherboard (chipset) drivers are up-to-date also.

I have the Asus P4p800-E Deluxe. Their website does not look like there are any updated chipset driver for this mainboard. Does that sound right?

Yup, all they got is stuff from April.