Guys, I'm getting a new PC in about a month, and with it I am ordering an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb.Now, I've been reading these forums for some time now, and have noticed the posts on drivers, and seen comments like:"This is happening. Will a new driver fix it?""Download the xxv1.1 driver""No! Try this one instead, it'll fix your problem""My screen is shimmering. Could it be the driver?"********************************************************For someone who will be new to the world of decent PC ownership, can someone please explain what a driver is, what I need to be aware of to get the best out of my graphics card/PC, and when should I update it? And what does updating the driver do exactly??Yes, I will be asking my local store who will be building my machine. They can be trusted to build a PC, but I can't trust them to take the time to answer this question as knowledgeably as you folk would be able to.I can't wait to see some responses. This has always interested me, but until now has never really been relevant. Until now!CheersTim

A dirver for any hardware is the software that the operating system uses to tell it what to do; it encapsulates the knowledge of the unique features of that hardware.Updates become available when the manufacturer or driver writer (not always the same) fix bugs, add features, or find a better way to do something. Installing the update is like installing an update for any other software (although you usually have to reboot, because many drivers cannot be reloaded while the machine is running). The instructions vary for each driver, so there is no general process, although in most cases the instructions are pretty similar.When to install an update is a matter of opinion, as they don't always improve matters for any particular application. Sometimes what improves performance for one set of applications degrades it for others, hence all the discussion you see over drivers and particular applications.So, to get the best you need to decide what applications you're interested in, and read about what driver versions work best for each, then look at the results of that and decide which version will be best for you... and repeat each time a new release comes out. Until you have some experience, don't just install new releases as soon as they come out, because often going back to an old driver is quite difficult, and if the new one breaks something, you're then forced to put up with the brokenness or do something tricky to go back.When reading the discussions, remember that apparently minor changes in the name of the hardware, particularly for graphics cards, can refer to completely different hardware, and so you can't always say 'Oh, they had a foobar 1234 and saw this, I have a foobar 1234zx so I'll see the same thing'. Instead, try to understand what each name refers to; the foobar 1234zx may actually be a foobar 5432 under a different name.

Good advice. And also remember that what works on one machine is no guarantee it will work similarly on another, even apparently identical machine.The reason you see so much driver discussion is because:1: Without your own experimentation you'll never know what the best performance isand2: Without experimenting you'll always be wondering whether performance could be betterand3: Simmers are inveterate fiddlers anyway!When you get your new machine, just make sure it's got Windows XP on it, and you know how to use the System Restore function, then you can experiment and never get into trouble you can't get out of!Allcott

"3: Simmers are inveterate fiddlers anyway!"Aren't they ever! I just wonder what we all did with our time before the PC and FS were invented?Seriously - all good advice.But System restore isn't totally infallible,so.....One other precaution you can take against total disaster striking because of tweaking etc.If you are getting a modern machine it will no doubt have gigantic hard drive(s) .Creat a Partition, and using Drive Image, make a copy of your basic setup( OS plus basic FS,ISP and any other software you use a lot ) Save the image in the new partition.Do this before attempting any tweaking.If things go badly wrong ,it will take only about 20-30 mins to rewrite the entire image back to your primary drive thus giving you a clean sheet to start all over.If nothing goes wrong this time - well there's always another potential tweak just around the corner.I've used this system for years and it's saved my (PC) life on a few occasions.Dave

Andrew,Where can I get a Foobar 1234zx? They sound great. Is it worth getting the zx version? Will it work with my BIOS? Will it improve my framerates and get rid of the blurries textures? :-lolPaul

Thanks guys, appreciate your comments.Little wiser now....Tim