What's the best way to update Graphic Card driver? Detonator Destroyer? DriveCleaner?

[Supa]

I have Geforce4 4200 and WinXP Pro, and are thinking of updating detonator 44.03 to 45.23. Is it really necessary to use utilities like Detonator Destroyer (1.2 the newest I can find and no XP support), or DriveCleaner? Or is the newer drivers self sufficient in uninstall cleanly? Thanks for any helpful tips.


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[Mem]

The normal way is to remove old drivers via Control panel then go to "Add or Remove" icon for "Nvidia software" after removal you`ll need to reboot then install the new drivers.

Driver Cleaner is the best way if you want the cleanest install of new drivers,not normally needed unless you change brands from Nvidia to ATi or just want the cleanest install.

You can get away with installing over the top of the old drivers with Nvidia drivers but I wouldn`t normally recommend this way unless you are feeling lazy and don`t mind taking a chance.

Your best bet is to do it by the first method I`ve listed that should work fine,if you get problems then use Driver Cleaner method.
Btw remember to DISABLE your anti-virus before install of the new Nvidia drivers.

 

[Supa]

Thank you, that was very helpful.

I installed the new detonator 45.23, found out that my 3DMark 2001 dropped from 95xx to 88xx; a drop of 700 points. Interesting the new driver is much slower on the benchmark.


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[Lonyo]

The nVidia drivers leave a heap of crap in the registry, doesn't affect anything, but makes it cluttered. Even if you do uninstall properly. But it's nothing to worry about, unless you do go ATi eventually.
Once I searched out nVidia registry entries, and it had keys for all the previous drivers I'd had on the system before updating, so I deleted all the keys.

Oh, and game performance is more important than 3D Mark scores. Is the card better in games, or worse, or no different?