Nvidia TNT2 32Mb Performance

b4u

Golden Member
Nov 8, 2002
1,380
2
81
Hi,

This is a simple question, really

My Rig:
PIII 600EB Coopermine
Asus P3V4X
256Mb PC133 Ram
Apolo Riva TNT2 32Mb
HD WD 120Gb 8Mb Cache
Windows XP Professional


As you can see, I have WinXP Pro on my system. I installed it over and it auto-detected all hardware with no problem. What I want to ask is:

The TNT2 drivers curently on the system are from the Microsoft Win XP Pro included ones. Will I get any improvement in speed if I install some new Detonator drivers downloaded from NVidia Site?


Thanks
 

EdipisReks

Platinum Member
Sep 30, 2000
2,722
0
0
all the current detonators are optimized for video cards that have GPU's, so i doubt that you will get much of a boost by downloading reference drivers from nvidia.com.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
put the nvidia detanators on there. i dont want to think what was included with windows.
 

Quixfire

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2001
6,892
0
0
I have installed the latest driver on my TNT2 and notice no difference in performance over the original 31.xx driver my card came with.

PII 300
Gateway MB
128MB PC133 Ram
Maxtor 6GB HD
Windows 98se

But of course my system isn't even working that card.
 

nemesismk2

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
4,810
5
76
www.ultimatehardware.net
yes

Originally posted by: b4u
Hi,

This is a simple question, really

My Rig:
PIII 600EB Coopermine
Asus P3V4X
256Mb PC133 Ram
Apolo Riva TNT2 32Mb
HD WD 120Gb 8Mb Cache
Windows XP Professional


As you can see, I have WinXP Pro on my system. I installed it over and it auto-detected all hardware with no problem. What I want to ask is:

The TNT2 drivers curently on the system are from the Microsoft Win XP Pro included ones. Will I get any improvement in speed if I install some new Detonator drivers downloaded from NVidia Site?


Thanks

 

TheCorm

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2000
4,326
0
0
Originally posted by: EdipisReks
all the current detonators are optimized for video cards that have GPU's, so i doubt that you will get much of a boost by downloading reference drivers from nvidia.com.

Is it just me or are detonators and reference drivers one and the same with nvidia?

btw...yes like many have said, update to the latest drivers.
 

vss1980

Platinum Member
Feb 29, 2000
2,944
0
76
Is it just me or are detonators and reference drivers one and the same with nvidia?

Yes, thats because they are the same...... detonator is the name given by nvidia to their driver set...... as they are provided by nvidia for their hardware regardless of card make they are hence the reference drivers. For Windows XP default driver, MS just go to the chip makers for a reference driver (usually crippled though - no special AGP features etc, guaranteed to work 99.99% of the time).

In the early days some card makers didn't use detonator for their rebadged and repacked drivers (although the core was pretty much the same) and called them something else to go with their product. Now most card companies don't care and call them detonator aswell, although they can still be rebadged, etc.

EDIT: There is actually one thing good about replacing the standard Windows XP driver with a newer one which nobody has touched upon...... the standard windows one has no OpenGL ICD hardware support, just DirectX. Upgrading to any detonator set should cure this.
 

b4u

Golden Member
Nov 8, 2002
1,380
2
81
Thanks for all the opinions :)

I'll download it right after posting this message.

Meanwhile, can anyone tell how much performance should I gain? I know it's hard, but what do you think? About 10%-20%? Give it a shot :)


Thanks ... time to download it :)
 

Guspaz

Member
Mar 14, 2003
142
0
0
You should see 2D performance increases. DetonatorXP (20.xx, I think? Post WinXP defaults at least) drivers really are a lot faster in 2D in WinXP, I notice a HUGE improvement.

As for 3D performance? No clue.