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Opinions please on Nvidia MB drivers

H

Hawkbit

Member
I just built a new Athlon 64 3200+ system using a Chaintech vnf4/ultra. During the initial install I installed the Nvidia drivers that came with the MB. It included not just drivers, but programs like Ntune and Forceware.

At first, I thought those programs were only the drivers. But then I realized that the stupid Nvidia firewall was causing issues with the ethernet driver. So finally I just ripped all those programs out and installed the drivers individually through device manager.

Am I missing anything by not having those programs installed?

The system does seem to be acting much better without them installed, although I can't seem to connect to the WoW servers for more than a few minutes at a time before it disconnects me. A tracert to their servers indicates that the line breaks down around hop 13 at a .att server, and after that it times out.

Is it possible that there is a server down somewhere on the same day I just built my system?

This has me stumped.
 
i installed the firewall too and it screwed my connection. I ended up reformatting. I'd get the latest nf4 drivers from nvidia, and install them. (IDE/ethernet/sound) over the ones from the CDs

don't uninstall the drivers.
 
I assume that to get these nf4 drivers I need to go to

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

and click on Platform/nforce drivers ---> nforce standalone kit ---> xp

But by doing so, I end up dling a 30 mb file that reinstalls the firewall and the rest of that garbage back up again. how can I get just the specific drivers needed for the IDE/Eth/Sound?

 
Another question... what is the difference between the Realtek AC'97 codec drivers that came with my MB and the Nvidia Audio driver 4.60 (WHQL) + Audio utilities 4.51 that are offered at Nvidia's site?

I don't understand their functions, i suppose. Are these two drivers for the same thing but only from different companies, or do they have 2 seperate functions?

The Realtek drivers installed some cd-playing program that is a bit annoying, not sure if I can rip that out and just leave the driver.
 
Yeah, I know that I can turn it off, but if I am never going to use it, I don't even want it there in the first place. Is there any way around installing it?
 
I personally prefer nvidia's audio drivers to the ones from realtek. From what I've heard, nvidia's are better for gaming, but there is a bit more background noise, so if you're an audiophile, maybe the realtek will be better (although you'd likely have bought a PCI card if you were).

As for the firewall, I've had all kinds of problems with it. I just ended up uninstalling it and using windows firewall. With my CPU at 2.5GHz, I think a few lost CPU cycles won't be a huge deal, lol. Also, the new 6.37 drivers are pretty good, just make sure you uninstall the nvidia firewall before you unstall new drivers - windows got corrupted because I didn't.

Also, make sure you get the newest BIOS drivers for that mobo. The default BIOS blows big time.
 
I am going to catch hell for this, but how do I update the BIOS? I dl the .bin file, but how do I apply it?

Be gentle with me, please.
 
I can't find a flash utility from Chaintech to install the BIOS update from a floppy... how the heck do I install the .bin file?
 
Just cause some software comes with the hardware does not mean you have to install it. The ForceWares ask you if you want to install the firewall and network access manager, just click no and problem solved. These are just programs, they have nothing to do with drivers that run the hardware and as such you aren't missing anything. Personally I think that a third party firewall would be better anyways. And are you using the onboard sound? If you have an add in card there is no point in even loading the drivers for the onboard, they may end up messing with the functionality of the add-in. You can even turn the onboard sound off in the BIOS so Windows won't even know its there.
 
NV's drivers are ok. But yeah the NV Firewall makes your interent slower than crap. Either don't install it or just turn it off.
 
That sounds good, thanks for the info.

Any idea how to install this BIOS update from chaintech? They have no listing for this board on their website under support.
 
go here and click the link" how can I update the bios."

top of the page in the green box, read and follow the instructions
 
dunno if this helps... but check the BIOS too

I had a bios on an nf3 pro 250 motherboard and there was an option to disable the firewall feature in the bios
 
For a detailed guide on how to update the vnf4 BIOS: http://forums.pcper.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46

See Sticky#3 for BIOS, including links to download. Current buzz is the 2/3 is the best.

I'm using the NVIDIA firewall and it works fine for me, no slowdown that I notice and minimal processor load during downloads.

I'd like to update to the NVIDIA 6.39 release but I trashed XP twice trying to remove NAM and replace the drivers. The NVIDIA release notes for 6.39 aren't helpful, they seem like they were borrowed from a video driver release and don't really pertain to the NF4.
 
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