Too many drivers

[molestedbyasus]

Is it just me, or.....

Do other people worry about the amount of drivers NVidia pushes out?

Most don't even come with a readme, something along the lines of (for example)

12.xx - stablility, AA performance, VIA chipset, GF2 optimized
23.xx - framerates, don't use with ALI chipset, GF3 optimized

something to give us an idea of whats' up with the driver, as opposed to saving every single release and installing/uninstalling/reinstalling trying to find the right one.

That, and 27 different series of driver, and they still haven't got one they liked?

27!!!!

[iiclips]

I agree.
NV's been releasing too many drivers so far... I've used most of them, and I have to say... I don't even notice anything different.
There were huge differences between different version of the detonator series, like original detonator, detonator 2, 3, and XP.
Between 5 versions, they have 27 different releases... I think that's ridiculous. They should have tested their drivers in depth and they should concentrating on perfecting their drivers. one or two releases per versions are enough... really.

(but most of them were leaked drivers that are still under development.)

[Zig Zag]

Nvidia's NOT releasing 67% of them, they're leaked by others in the field.

[Silverthornne]

Zig's right.. there ARE a ton of drivers out there, but you can't blame nvidia for that. They work on their drivers, obviously between each real revision they put out, some other little steps in between are done. Those little steps in between get leaked out and posted in every video card enthusiast site out there and people get confused with the driver issue. Now, it's actually nice they get leaked out because in some cases those drivers do work better for some folk than the stock drivers they fully release to the public, but the fact of the matter is that they are not the ones to blame for so many drivers out there. Now that they are the ones to blame for the confusing naming conventions of the Geforce 4 is another matter entirely =p

[molestedbyasus]

Can't blame NVidia?!!

They're the ones calling it 27.xx

why not have a 2.01, 2.02, .........2.99.

IT would make me feel better, especially if i didn't ever see the 2.22 release, and assumed they jumped from 2.20 to 2.30, but with 27.(whatever) it makes me aware that there is way more than 27 drivers out there.

[Silverthornne]

What? So you'd rather they not work on their drivers? Shrug.. so I checked my dxdiag and I happen to have Windows XP HE version 5.1 build 2600. Why would I care if there's a version 5.09 or a build 2200 or whatever else if it's working fine for me as is? You have an issue, you think it's the driver, you have choices to find a fix. Is it confusing for the average user? Maybe, but the average user will likely not even be aware so many drivers exist (and neither would you had ever been if they hadn't been leaked in the first place), as probably if they even care to check for a new driver, they will just head straight to the nvidia site, OR the site of the company that manufactured their card, download whatever is in there as most current, install it, and hope for the best. If that doesn't work, most common users will end up either asking a friend for help or in rare but admirable instances, they begin browsing sites such as this and different technical forums looking for answers.

And calling it different things, simplifying the driver release number does what? Run a program like WCPUID and check for your processor info. Notice all the stepping numbers and all that (I think they're displayed in there anyway). If you're seriously worried for every little detail in there, you're being a bit paranoid IMO. Heck, they could have just choose to slap on the time and date a drivers was finally tweaked as their number ID (version 2.19.2002.17:53.09) and tell me, you'd actually worry if there was an earlier number or something in between of perhaps a save that was done 5 minutes earlier and thus had a slightly lower realease number? shrug

[Zig Zag]

Originally posted by molestedbyasus
Can't blame NVidia?!!

They're the ones calling it 27.xx

why not have a 2.01, 2.02, .........2.99.

IT would make me feel better, especially if i didn't ever see the 2.22 release, and assumed they jumped from 2.20 to 2.30, but with 27.(whatever) it makes me aware that there is way more than 27 drivers out there.

27xx detonators ARE gf4 drivers & best represented in Win XP.

Get YOURSELF informed b4 you go off half cocked blaming nvidia.

Classic case of user error.

[RADEON8500]

67% of ATI drivers are leaks too,,but they dont have problems like the 27.10 series,,,,just a fact!

Later

[Sephiroth]

Whoa, I've heard of ATI leaked drivers causing data corruption and instability because they don't play nicely with other drivers, so they definitely do cause problems. ATI's driver department is a mess, mainly because they have two separate departments working on drivers. I typically back up all my important stuff before I upgrade those things, while I'm usually not as worried whenever I upgrade my NVidia drivers.

Oh well, that's just my take on the subject.

[molestedbyasus]

It's not that they've leaked drivers, or that they've made 2 quadrillion of 'em. That's what I expect a R&D department to do. I also don't currently have a problem with any GeForce cards that I'm responsible for.

If ya want to take XP build 2600 as an example, it's not billed as such, it's still billed as XP, and when whatever build XP Second Edition is, it will be billed - - SEXP - - , not build whatever. They release it as a whole product, with readme's and help files etc... not like it was a beta-tester version.

Leaks are fine, and fun, but not as the majority of available drivers.

My panties are in a bunch because of the tech side. I am getting sick of loading on a detonator, then stripping it off, comparing it to a 6 month old one, stripping it off, then to the one that seems most stable, stripping it off, then back to the new one. and on and on and on. When i'm making check list of 21.xx series + ALI AGP driver 1.80, vs 21.xx and ALI 1.82. Or loading on a new VIA 4in1, and figuring out what of the 4 series of detonators works on this version.

Stop inventing new bugs, 'till the old ones finished evolving.

[Sephiroth]

I don't think I'd be nearly as irritated with the constant stream of drivers if it didn't take so long for the A7V266-E to boot! That's one thing that I still love about my A7M266, I could switch video drivers on a whim and reboot in less than a week.

[Stang Man]

umm, fck the leaked drivers, i want more OFFICIAL drivers!!!!!

[tenax]

i dont' mind lots of driver development, but agree on the details of changes, how well they have been bug tested or not..there is not doubt some crap drivers have come through along the way..it reminds me of asus..great they issue tons of drivers, but most common complaint is..tell me what they have changed!