New NVIDIA Video Driver

[Guest N247BK]

I noticed a short time ago that NVIDIA has posted its new 44.03 Detonator FX driver.Anyone given it a shot yet?I'll try them when I get home in a few hours and will report back.

[Guest N247BK]

OK ... Here's the "scoop":For all of us who have considered or have purchased new video cards (that includes "yours truly"), what suckers we are.NVIDIA is back people .... !For all those counting frame rates, and 3DMark scores (and, once again, I am guilty as charged), shread your paper, forget your preconceived notions, get your heads out of the proverbial (and cyber) sand.I am a real-world weekend pilot; and, I almost forgot I was on my home desktop PC.I almost went for the ATI "rope-a-dope" after reading all the "reviews" that have been posted here and elsewhere.Forget frame rates! If mine were 2-FPS in the test I just conducted, then two (2) is very, very good!NVIDIA, I am here, baby ... dancing with the girl I brought to the dance. I will admit, NVIDIA, you look great in this new dress ...! (Sorry for the gender orientation sterotyping ... reverse all if applicable). My Box:P4-1.8AIntel D845WNLGF3-Ti200WINXP-PROViewSonic A90f+SB LiveMS FF ProWD Caviar 80 GHz 7200rpm

[Guest FPSFREAK]

Um....Yeah OK....Call the pharmacy....Your prescription has run out I think........

[Guest Max Cowgill]

>Um....Yeah OK....Call the pharmacy....Your prescription has>run out I think........LMAO! My thoughts exactly, Bobby. Gives new meaning to the term "Nvidiot." Too bad no one seems to realize that even though the NV35 may get better fps than even the 9800 Pro in many games w/even the most detailed settings (8xFSAA/8xAF) the image quality still doesn't compare to ATI's 6xAA/16xAF. If reviews started comparing the NV35 @ 8x/8x and the Radeon 9800 Pro @ 6x/16x I think we'd be seeing a different story ;) All the reviews I've seen so far show the NV35 taking a huge nose dive when running 8x/8x and Nvidia's FSAA still isn't on-par w/ATI's.Oh well, take it all with a grain of salt. ATI's coming out with the Radeon 9900 (R360) in the next couple months and that should beat the NV35 and have the same image quality the R3xx Radeons are notorious for. Edit: oh yeah, I forgot to mention... I just tried out these new drivers and they're not half-bad. I think I might just use these instead of the 31.00's I've been using since I got my Ti 4200. FPS is about the same and image quality is even better. Colors are more vibrant and textures are sharper. Granted, this is going from 31.00 to 44.03, not a 4x.xx driver so those of you using newer 4x.xx series drivers might not get the same results.I can say this though: every other driver I've tried in the past other than the 31.00's that came with my card have been pure crap. I seem to recall the earlier 4x.xx drivers providing better image quality than the 31.00's but the fps were horrible and there was constant stuttering. No more of that with the 44.03's. just my two cents,Max Cowgill

[crvm 0]

Now now fellas, you have to hand it to Nvidia, I give credit to where credit's due, and the dual use of the FX cards as a weekend leaf blower deserves our approval![h5]Best Wishes,Randy J. SmithSan Jose Ca[/h5][h3]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"[/h3] [h5]AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF3 64 MEG @ 215/545|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h5]

[Guest N247BK]

OK, OK, ....I'll take the technical and numbers pounding ... it's all in fun ...!But, my point is I am using just my eyes and real-world experience (PPL - October 1983, 770 hours since in single-engine, fixed).The othernewer, more advanced video cards may produce better numbers, but I'm challenging the notion that I would see a world closer to reality than I saw last night.I will probably invest in motherboard, CPU, and video upgrades by year end, but I may redistribute the percentages invested in each category after my experience with these drivers.I'm from a family of lawyers, so we don't typically establish allegiances (you never know who your next client might be). I'm not drawn to NVidia nor ATI ... just the best experience for money.

[Guest Lindy]

I tend to stick with what I'm familiar with - in this case, nVidia. I just bought a new FX 5600 256 mg DDR RAM video card a couple of days ago. (I simply could not afford the price being asked in my area for one of the good ATI cards). The default installation was not the most optimum, and I discovered that my BIOS AGP aperture was only set on 64 (a leftover from my older GEForce card), and that I should re-set it to 256, the amount of RAM on my new card (which I did). I played around with a couple of settings and flew one or two short flights in FS2K2. The card seems to be working well.I decided to update to the new 44.03 drivers yesterday. I like to keep my video drivers pretty much up to date when I can. But I have to admit....I almost never see any great changes with new drivers. And these 44.03's are no exception. Maybe the changes are so subtle my eyes simply do not register them. But as long as they don't degrade my simming experience, I remain a happy camper.So kudos to those of you who see great and wonderful changes for the better when switching to different drivers. Me? I just don't see them.-Lindy :-waveP. S. I'm not complaining -- just making an observation.

[Guest ha5mvo]

OK, just DLded the 44.03 and gave it a test ride.Mind you, I'm using the Ti4200, so perhaps it's not the card these drivers were tailor-made for.well, not bad, not bad at all. True, no change in FPS or visual quality for that matter. The real improvement I noticed was in stability. On my system, these are the most stable since the 30.86, no stutters during turns and the sim feels very fluid even at sub 10 FPS.Like you say Lindy, no real revolution but I feel they have an edge over my previous (43.45) drivers so they will remain om my system.regards//Mike

[Guest Bill Kunert]

The best drivers I've come across are the Omega drivers. Scores on 3D Mark are a little lower than the fastest Nvidia drivers I've used but I notice much less stuttering and pausing in FS2002 and MS Train Sim. My frame rates seem unchanged. I've tried a couple of versions of the Omega drivers and, on my particular computer at least, they work very well. They are currently at version 43.45.RegardsBill

[Guest sb55mv]

I've got a Ti4600 and used the 41.09 before I up graded to the 43.51 because of a sound issue and I hoped it would help things, but instead FS kept crashing and things were slower on the 43.51, so I wen't back to the 41.09's and things are ok now except for the sound thing, it seems to be more predominant when any smoke or clouds are present,and even flying on vatsim too, I get tripple button clicks instead of single,and the sound is sometimes distorted too, any ideas here guy's.I'm running XP Pro with 1024mb ram on a XP1900 cpu and SP1.

[Guest]

After installing the 44.03 driver today I found I was unable to adjust the screen size and resolution was locked at 600X480 on my main monitor. I am running WindowsME and a second monitor off the same computer - no problem there. I am using GEForce Ti300 card for main monitor and a PC card for second monitor.Any gurus out there with ideas of a fix?All help much appreciated.Airdog

[Guest Pardue802]

I installed it. Seems to offer pretty big improvements in framerate on my TI4200, but I still can't Alt-Tab out of Flight Simulator and come back! Ever since I've installed the TI4200, whenever I try to Alt-Tab back into Flight Sim, my 3D "breaks" and I can't see my aircraft. 2D panel works, menus all work, but anything that's 3D, nope. I have to go into Display settings and switch it from Trilinear to Bilinear (or vice versa) to fix it.Kenneth