Quick question, do I want to install nVidia's firewall and NAM or no?

[archcommus]

Installing the drivers for my new 9NPA+ Ultra, do I want it?

It's sitting at the prompt right now, I'll wait to say yes or no until someone responds.

 

[archcommus]

Need a response very quickly.

 

[The Sly Syl]

I personally have had nothing but HORRIBLE experience with the nvidia firewall.

I suggest against it.

 

[archcommus]

And NAM?

 

[GadgetBuilder]

Installing NAM immediately following a clean install of XP-SP2 gives you the best chance of success.

Installing nVidia's drivers remains chancy - they seem to work fine on most NF3/NF4 systems but produce a variety of problems which bedevil other systems.

I use NAM and it works but has "issues" in my system, chiefly that it flogs my hard disk multiple times per second. This is an uncommonly reported problem, I am only aware of 2 other owners with this symptom.

NAM seems to be the most troublesome part of the 6.53 driver set but there are many problems reported with other drivers in that set. Visit the nVidia mobo forum to get a feel for the situation:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?s=f3...ead353326152f9b12af806c46&showforum=34

 

[archcommus]

I didn't install either. With some of the problems being discussed, and with my hardware firewall and Sygate running, I didn't really see the need.

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

I am using the 9NPA+ Ultra with 6.53 drivers and am using the nVidia Firewall and NAM. No issues at all. Very fast and efficient. I think you can go ahead and use it!

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: ChicagoPCGuy
I am using the 9NPA+ Ultra with 6.53 drivers and am using the nVidia Firewall and NAM. No issues at all. Very fast and efficient. I think you can go ahead and use it!

Thanks for the advice, but you're a day late, unfortunately!

I didn't install it. Will it offer me anything at all over my router firewall and Sygate?

 

[the cobbler]

Less CPU usage running Active Armor versus a software firewall.

I don't run it only because I already have ZoneAlarm Suite.

Ideal security would be Active Armor/NAM running with Kaspersky AntiVirus and one of the Giant-based anti-spyware programs like Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta or Webroot Spy Sweeper.

Sygate is probably redundant in your case, by the way, running behind a hardware firewall. You should scrap it and get some good anti-virus software like Kaspersky or Trend Micro.

 

[archcommus]

Already use Kaspersky, but I've heard that having a software firewall is still good even with a hardware one.

 

[the cobbler]

Makes sense. I am also a member of the Department of Redundancy Department. I am using ZA Suite behind a wireless gateway/router with a built-in NAT as well as a fully-configured hardware firewall on the network side. Uh, can you say overkill? well, better safe than sorry...

 

[akugami]

I kinda liked how nVidia's firewall operated but the bugs in it causing my system to crash meant going back to Zonealarm. Maybe when they fix all the crappy bugs.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

As I noted earlier, installing nVidia's 6.53 driver set is a crapshoot. The majority of NF4 owners are successful but there is a minority who experience problems of varying severity. Whether you run into problems may be a matter of luck or perhaps depend on something which isn't obvious, such as a conflict between NAM and the IDE drivers:
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/4370/

According to this article, if you install NAM and IDE you may get a conflict which causes the processor load to be higher than expected. Of course, there might be other conflicts and problems due to this IRQ conflict -- or this might not be the only problem in the driver set...

But, hang in there - help may be on the way. nVidia has been ignoring the 6.53 driver problems for several months while they work on the Intel NF4 drivers. Turns out that some desperate AMD owners are trying the Intel 7.12 Beta release and initial reports are that it works better on AMD's than 6.53, see:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?show...50&mode=threaded&show=&st=&#entry37350

 

[Bar81]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Edited for clarity

 

[bhazard451]

I found a way to stop all the crashing with the nvidia firewall. Disable the SSDP service (Right Click My Computer/manage/services) and uninstall Windows Media Connect and the crashing will magically stop. The IDE driver works fine with it. I'm able to use P2P without crashing every two minutes now, and the speed difference instead of using a fully software firewall like zone alarm is incredible.

 

[the cobbler]

Originally posted by: GadgetBuilder

But, hang in there - help may be on the way. nVidia has been ignoring the 6.53 driver problems for several months while they work on the Intel NF4 drivers. Turns out that some desperate AMD owners are trying the Intel 7.12 Beta release and initial reports are that it works better on AMD's than 6.53, see:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?show...50&mode=threaded&show=&st=&#entry37350

LOL! I'm hawkeyefan on most of the other forums (nvidia/guru3d/hardocp,etc., 'blackngold' on PCPer. That post was me learning for the first time that the 7.12s are 'officially' Intel SLi Edition.

The 7.12s are still running fine and, as I posted on (i think) the OC.com forums, the annoying nvatabus errors are gone.

So yeah, there is no question that they work on AMD single-core systems. I have a 3200 winnie @2.4ghz on a VNF4 Ultra. Better PCMarks and 3DMarks, these are nice drivers and it's about fracken' time, IMHO.

Good thing I (accidentally) installed these. They were linked at guru3d.com without any mention of them being SLI Intel Edition, they were simply titled "NForce standalone driver 7.12" or something to that effect.

 

[Waylay00]

Wait, excuse me for this stupid question, but what is NAM?

 

[GadgetBuilder]

Originally posted by: Waylay00
Wait, excuse me for this stupid question, but what is NAM?

NAM = Network Access Manager == the nVidia firewall and the Apache based interface used to control it.

The nVidia installer for 6.53 allows selecting or omitting NAM installation, earlier nVidia installers may have installed NAM automatically (not sure of that).