NVidia Detonator Drivers

Was wondering if anyone has downloaded and used these drivers? Detonator Drivers at Nvidia's site worth downloading? I have a Asus AGP-7700 GeForce 2 GTS 32mg. Thanks in advance.

"Harry Mailahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3GWB6.2333$[email hidden]... > Was wondering if anyone has downloaded and used these drivers? Detonator > Drivers at Nvidia's site worth downloading? I have a Asus AGP-7700GeForce > 2 GTS 32mg. Thanks in advance. >My Geforce runs most reliable with the Asus 5.33a drivers. I have tried higher versions, but experienced hangs with them, and GP3 fails to show certain bitmaps on them. This is in combination with an Asus A7V motherboard, Bios rev is 1007. Bioses below 1005 gave me hangups. 1005+ seems to handle 4x AGP with fast writes ok. Bart Westra

Mine too (runs most reliably with the 5.33a), although it is outrageous that Asus hasn't updated their drivers to the Detonator 3 level. I already avoided their motherboards and now I will surely never buy another video card from them. I use the 6.50 nVIDEA drivers anyway, as they are better for everything I run except GPL--I get corruption in the menu screens but the in-game graphics are fine. No lock-ups or problems with anything else here. The increased performance is worth a bit of menu problems in GPL for me, but there is no need for it to be there if Asus would get off their behinds. Marc. "Bart Westra" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3ad860f4$0$99937$[email hidden]... > > "Harry Mailahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:3GWB6.2333$[email hidden]... > > Was wondering if anyone has downloaded and used these drivers?Detonator

Quoted text (15 lines)

> > Drivers at Nvidia's site worth downloading? I have a Asus AGP-7700 > GeForce > > 2 GTS 32mg. Thanks in advance. > > > My Geforce runs most reliable with the Asus 5.33a drivers. I have tried > higher versions, but experienced hangs with them, and GP3 fails to show > certain bitmaps on them. > This is in combination with an Asus A7V motherboard, Bios rev is 1007. > Bioses below 1005 gave me hangups. 1005+ seems to handle 4x AGP with fast > writes ok. > > Bart Westra > > >

This reply is actually addressed to all three posts below (above).....Bart, Harry and Marc: Here are some things you might consider.....these don't necessarily apply to all three of you....but in some cases they do.... ** Asus GF drivers: Asus is probably not upgrading their drivers because few people actually use them. Most GF2 owners (or GF)...use the Nvidia reference drivers.....ranging from the 5.xx series all the way up to the 10.xx series (last I checked). Creative, Elsa...do similarly. ** What Drivers To Use: This is not so much an issue of "choice" but one of necessity. The driver choice is first dependent upon what version of DX you have installed on your computer. That, in turn....is dependent upon what "racing sims" you run...or have installed. If you have (for example).... NASCAR 4 installed........then it **REQUIRES**....DX 8.0. Not all of the Nvidia drivers will work properly with DX 8.0 (you get screen artifacts, UI screen corruption, mouse weirdness....slow frames rates, hangs....etc., etc.).....so using the Nvidia reference drivers appropriate for the DX version you have installed is the paramount "key" to smooth operation of your video card(s). ** GF Video Cards...and your Motherboard: Of course...you should always attempt to have the latest system BIOS installed on your motherboard. But.....BUT....that is not the paramount thing you must watch and update on your motherboard when referencing the video card. What is far more important than your system BIOS...is the drivers for the "chip set" used by your motherboard. Example: On an Asus A7V (Bart...this would apply to you).....the VIA 4in1 Drivers...particularly important because of the northbridge chip on that mobo....must be updated to the latest version from VIATek. If you do not use the latest version......it doesn't matter what BIOS version you use...you will have hangs and problems...and your GF card will run slow. Other mobo's have similar issues. So....today, you need to watch and update for BOTH system BIOS revisions....and chipset driver revisions....staying current with both! Further as an example Bart....I run the BIOS 1005 version on the A7V....but with the final release VIA "4 in 1" drivers......my mobo/video card combo screams....with 3DMark2000 scores in the low 9,000 range (top 1% of all computers in pure speed)...with no system hangs...no "in-game" hangs at all. Its the chipset drivers that count most...not the BIOS. ** Get a Reliable Benchmark....and Stick To It: I would suggest you find a reliable 3D benchmarking system (I recommend the 3DMark2000 or 3DMark2001....if you have a GF3 card)....and install it and check it carefully regularly. I run mine on my primary "racing box" computer once every week. I do this to make sure that something hasn't changed inadvertently...that has slowed down my system. Additionally, this becomes an excellent "test bed" for checking out how new drivers (video, chipset, mobo BIOS, etc) is working on my system......because all of these will have effects on my computers speed in running 3D games! It is really important for you to have something of a "nominal" benchmarking system so you can evaluate changes you make to your computer......numerically. Relying on plain "intuition"....just isn't very reliable. Also, within this context....keep in mind that some video driver/mobo BIOS/chipset driver versions......may run some "3D applications" better than others....and this must be accounted for based on the primary "racing sim" or game you play. For example....this is only an example......the Nvidia reference drivers 7.15 version worked really well...speed wise....but GPL didn't run as well (slower, more screen artifacts). When I upgraded to the 7.19 drivers...my 3DMark2000 score dropped about 7%....but GPL ran better! So....GPL being my primary racing sim at the time.......meant I kept the 7.19 drivers even though technically, they were slower! See my point? For all of you.....it might be useful to go through this check list below......and make sure you have these items set as indicated. This setup is for running NASCAR 4 on a GF2 video card...but the general principals apply to many other types of GF cards (and some 3dfx cards too)...and other racing sims. You might want to go get 3DMark2000 from MadOnion at: http://www.madonion.com/entry.shtml (you won't need the newer version, 3DMark2001.....its for DX 8.0 and a GF-3 card)....and install it...run the benchmark test in "default" mode....before making any changes below. Run it a couple of times....average your score....and that serves as your starting point. Then....make the BIOS changes....run the benchmark and check your score.....make the video card "Advance" settings....run the benchmark....etc., etc. I have gotten replies from some r.a.s. sim racers who saw their benchmark scores double...or triple....from the original base benchmark! That is not only remarkable....its better than buying a new computer, huh? GeForce 2 (MX, GTS, ULTRA) Tweaks and Settings for N4 Desktop Color: Set to 16-bit color for N4 and all games. DirectX: Make sure you are using a DX 8.0 compatible driver (Nvidia Ref drivers versions 7.0 or higher) For N4: Run OpenGL (not D3D) in "XXXX"x16 (you must use a screen res compatible with your CPU speed and ram). Monitor: Make sure you have downloaded the latest drivers for your monitor...DO NOT USE "Plug and Play" Monitor drivers! Set your refresh rate at the highest setting you are allowed for your monitor at the specific screen res you want to run N4 at. Advanced Settings Tab For OpenGL: In The Scroll Down Box: Enable Buffer Region Extension (checked) Allow the dual planes extension to us local video memory (checked) Use fast linear-mipmap-linear filtering (checked) ****all others are unchecked**** Default Color Depth for Textures: Always Use 16 bpp Buffer Flipping Mode: Use page flip Vertical sync: Always off Full Scene Antialiasing Method: Always off Use up to [62] MB of system memory for textures in PCI mode Mother Board BIOS Settings: Video BIOS Shadow = "Disabled" Video BIOS Cache = "Disabled" Palette Snoop = "Disabled" AGP Turbo (or x4) = "Enabled" (if your mobo supports it....disabled or 2x or 1x if it does not) PnP Aware OS = "Yes" AGP Aperture Size = 128 mb (only if you have 128 mb or more...which you should) Resources Controlled by = "Auto" Assign IRQ to VGA = "Yes" Good luck.....have fun with benchmarking and tweaking your systems. Good racing, Tom Pabst Pabst-Racing

I have tried out pretty much every driver version on my GeForce DDR and found that although6.50 is the fastest 7.58 (in Win2K and 98) work the best with GPL (and a host load of other stuff). For a start FSAA actually works porprly even at 1280x1024. Benchmarking wise they are only such a tiny fraction slower that 6.50 that you'll never notice while playing. -- Some Call Me Tim

On Sat, 14 Apr 2001 21:30:49 GMT, "Marc Collins" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (12 lines)

>Mine too (runs most reliably with the 5.33a), although it is outrageous that >Asus hasn't updated their drivers to the Detonator 3 level. I already >avoided their motherboards and now I will surely never buy another video >card from them. > >I use the 6.50 nVIDEA drivers anyway, as they are better for everything I >run except GPL--I get corruption in the menu screens but the in-game >graphics are fine. No lock-ups or problems with anything else here. The >increased performance is worth a bit of menu problems in GPL for me, but >there is no need for it to be there if Asus would get off their behinds. > >Marc.

You might want to try this guys hacked drivers. v10.80 Detonators with other stuff from the Asus drivers. I haven't tried them, but I'm about to in a minute. I'm using the Asus 6.31c drivers right now and GP3 is fine on them. Get the hacked ones here. http://www.m3dzone.com/files.php?directory=Videocards/ASUS/Detonator/

On Sun, 15 Apr 2001 00:08:07 GMT, "Tom Pabst" <[email hidden]> wrote: >** Get a Reliable Benchmark....and Stick To It: I would suggest you find a >reliable 3D benchmarking system (I recommend the 3DMark2000 or >3DMark2001....if you have a GF3 card)....and install it and check it >carefully regularly. Nascar Heat has a great benchmark util included in the game.

5.33a is the newest driver available for the GTS...unless I am missing something. Thanks for the tip about the special 10.80's. I may give that a try. Marc. "Nos v7.0000001" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Sat, 14 Apr 2001 21:30:49 GMT, "Marc Collins" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Mine too (runs most reliably with the 5.33a), although it is outrageousthat

Quoted text (18 lines)

> >Asus hasn't updated their drivers to the Detonator 3 level. I already > >avoided their motherboards and now I will surely never buy another video > >card from them. > > > >I use the 6.50 nVIDEA drivers anyway, as they are better for everything I > >run except GPL--I get corruption in the menu screens but the in-game > >graphics are fine. No lock-ups or problems with anything else here. The > >increased performance is worth a bit of menu problems in GPL for me, but > >there is no need for it to be there if Asus would get off their behinds. > > > >Marc. > > You might want to try this guys hacked drivers. v10.80 Detonators with > other stuff from the Asus drivers. I haven't tried them, but I'm about > to in a minute. I'm using the Asus 6.31c drivers right now and GP3 is > fine on them. Get the hacked ones here. > > http://www.m3dzone.com/files.php?directory=Videocards/ASUS/Detonator/

Hi Tom Thanks for your very elaborate answer :) I ran 3DMark and got 5985. No idea if that is fast for an Athlon 800 / Geforce2 GTS, but my games run fine, so I guess it's fast enough :) This is with the latest 4in1 drivers from Via, AMD A7v bios 1007 and the Asus 533a drivers for the V7700 GTS, W98 first edition and DX8a. I noticed Asus withdrew their 6.31 drivers again from their site (at least for the V7700 GTS). I have gotten a little conservative as I had many problems with my system. To name a few: - could not run AGP 4x or fast writes - system would boot twice in a row on occasion - system would hang after boot showing little green lines at the top of the screen - lockups in 3D games (GPL and GP3) - flashing menu's in GPL The biggest improvement i noticed was when I changed the bios from 1004d to 1005. Must admit that I was a little behind with the Via drivers, I had used the ones Asus had for download I think. The other improvement was to go away from the NVidia reference driver to the Asus driver. That got rid of the flashing menu's. I just tried the 10.80 ref drivers, but then GP3 won't display the bitmaps while loading a track, nor the closeby starting lights. Since I did not see many improvements in other respects, I'm back at the 533 drivers for now. The system is completely stable this way. And I run DX8 without problems. So I'll stick with it for a while probably :) Bart Westra "Tom Pabst" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:HD5C6.2682$[email hidden]... > This reply is actually addressed to all three posts below(above).....Bart, > Harry and Marc: > > Here are some things you might consider.....these don't necessarily applyto

Quoted text (8 lines)

> all three of you....but in some cases they do.... > > ** Asus GF drivers: Asus is probably not upgrading their drivers because > few people actually use them. Most GF2 owners (or GF)...use the Nvidia > reference drivers.....ranging from the 5.xx series all the way up to the > 10.xx series (last I checked). Creative, Elsa...do similarly. > > ** What Drivers To Use: This is not so much an issue of "choice" but one

of > necessity. The driver choice is first dependent upon what version of DXyou > have installed on your computer. That, in turn....is dependent upon what > "racing sims" you run...or have installed. If you have (for example).... > NASCAR 4 installed........then it **REQUIRES**....DX 8.0. Not all of the > Nvidia drivers will work properly with DX 8.0 (you get screen artifacts,UI

Quoted text (8 lines)

> screen corruption, mouse weirdness....slow frames rates, hangs....etc., > etc.).....so using the Nvidia reference drivers appropriate for the DX > version you have installed is the paramount "key" to smooth operation of > your video card(s). > > ** GF Video Cards...and your Motherboard: Of course...you should always > attempt to have the latest system BIOS installed on your motherboard. > But.....BUT....that is not the paramount thing you must watch and update

on > your motherboard when referencing the video card. What is far more > important than your system BIOS...is the drivers for the "chip set" usedby > your motherboard. Example: On an Asus A7V (Bart...this would apply to > you).....the VIA 4in1 Drivers...particularly important because of the > northbridge chip on that mobo....must be updated to the latest versionfrom > VIATek. If you do not use the latest version......it doesn't matter what > BIOS version you use...you will have hangs and problems...and your GF card > will run slow. Other mobo's have similar issues. So....today, you needto > watch and update for BOTH system BIOS revisions....and chipset driver > revisions....staying current with both! Further as an example Bart....Irun > the BIOS 1005 version on the A7V....but with the final release VIA "4 in1" > drivers......my mobo/video card combo screams....with 3DMark2000 scores in > the low 9,000 range (top 1% of all computers in pure speed)...with nosystem > hangs...no "in-game" hangs at all. Its the chipset drivers that count > most...not the BIOS. > > ** Get a Reliable Benchmark....and Stick To It: I would suggest you finda > reliable 3D benchmarking system (I recommend the 3DMark2000 or > 3DMark2001....if you have a GF3 card)....and install it and check it > carefully regularly. I run mine on my primary "racing box" computer once > every week. I do this to make sure that something hasn't changed > inadvertently...that has slowed down my system. Additionally, thisbecomes > an excellent "test bed" for checking out how new drivers (video, chipset, > mobo BIOS, etc) is working on my system......because all of these willhave > effects on my computers speed in running 3D games! It is really important > for you to have something of a "nominal" benchmarking system so you can > evaluate changes you make to your computer......numerically. Relying on > plain "intuition"....just isn't very reliable. Also, within this > context....keep in mind that some video driver/mobo BIOS/chipset driver > versions......may run some "3D applications" better than others....andthis > must be accounted for based on the primary "racing sim" or game you play. > For example....this is only an example......the Nvidia reference drivers > 7.15 version worked really well...speed wise....but GPL didn't run as well > (slower, more screen artifacts). When I upgraded to the 7.19 drivers...my > 3DMark2000 score dropped about 7%....but GPL ran better! So....GPL beingmy > primary racing sim at the time.......meant I kept the 7.19 drivers even > though technically, they were slower! See my point? > > For all of you.....it might be useful to go through this check list > below......and make sure you have these items set as indicated. Thissetup > is for running NASCAR 4 on a GF2 video card...but the general principals > apply to many other types of GF cards (and some 3dfx cards too)...andother > racing sims. You might want to go get 3DMark2000 from MadOnion at: > http://www.madonion.com/entry.shtml (you won't need the newer version, > 3DMark2001.....its for DX 8.0 and a GF-3 card)....and install it...run the > benchmark test in "default" mode....before making any changes below. Runit > a couple of times....average your score....and that serves as yourstarting > point. Then....make the BIOS changes....run the benchmark and check your > score.....make the video card "Advance" settings....run the > benchmark....etc., etc. I have gotten replies from some r.a.s. sim racers > who saw their benchmark scores double...or triple....from the originalbase

Quoted text (15 lines)

> benchmark! That is not only remarkable....its better than buying a new > computer, huh? > > GeForce 2 (MX, GTS, ULTRA) Tweaks and Settings for N4 > > Desktop Color: Set to 16-bit color for N4 and all games. > > DirectX: Make sure you are using a DX 8.0 compatible driver (Nvidia Ref > drivers versions 7.0 or higher) > > For N4: Run OpenGL (not D3D) in "XXXX"x16 (you must use a screen res > compatible with your CPU speed and ram). > > Monitor: Make sure you have downloaded the latest drivers for your > monitor...DO NOT USE "Plug and Play" Monitor drivers! Set your refresh

rate

Quoted text (43 lines)

> at the highest setting you are allowed for your monitor at the specific > screen res you want to run N4 at. > > Advanced Settings Tab For OpenGL: > In The Scroll Down Box: > Enable Buffer Region Extension (checked) > Allow the dual planes extension to us local video memory > (checked) > Use fast linear-mipmap-linear filtering (checked) > ****all others are unchecked**** > > Default Color Depth for Textures: Always Use 16 bpp > Buffer Flipping Mode: Use page flip > Vertical sync: Always off > Full Scene Antialiasing Method: Always off > > Use up to [62] MB of system memory for textures in PCI mode > > > Mother Board BIOS Settings: > Video BIOS Shadow = "Disabled" > Video BIOS Cache = "Disabled" > Palette Snoop = "Disabled" > AGP Turbo (or x4) = "Enabled" (if your mobo supports > it....disabled or 2x or 1x if it does not) > PnP Aware OS = "Yes" > AGP Aperture Size = 128 mb (only if you have 128 mb or > more...which you should) > Resources Controlled by = "Auto" > Assign IRQ to VGA = "Yes" > > > Good luck.....have fun with benchmarking and tweaking your systems. > > Good racing, > > Tom Pabst > Pabst-Racing > > > > >

On Wed, 18 Apr 2001 00:00:32 +0200, "Bart Westra" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (10 lines)

>The biggest improvement i noticed was when I changed the bios from 1004d to >1005. Must admit that I was a little behind with the Via drivers, I had used >the ones Asus had for download I think. The other improvement was to go away >from the NVidia reference driver to the Asus driver. That got rid of the >flashing menu's. >I just tried the 10.80 ref drivers, but then GP3 won't display the bitmaps >while loading a track, nor the closeby starting lights. Since I did not see >many improvements in other respects, I'm back at the 533 drivers for now. >The system is completely stable this way. And I run DX8 without problems. So >I'll stick with it for a while probably :)

Latest Detonator 12 drivers work fine in GP3.

"Nos v7.0000001" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Wed, 18 Apr 2001 00:00:32 +0200, "Bart Westra" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > > >The biggest improvement i noticed was when I changed the bios from 1004dto > >1005. Must admit that I was a little behind with the Via drivers, I hadused > >the ones Asus had for download I think. The other improvement was to goaway > >from the NVidia reference driver to the Asus driver. That got rid of the > >flashing menu's. > >I just tried the 10.80 ref drivers, but then GP3 won't display thebitmaps > >while loading a track, nor the closeby starting lights. Since I did notsee > >many improvements in other respects, I'm back at the 533 drivers for now. > >The system is completely stable this way. And I run DX8 without problems.So > >I'll stick with it for a while probably :) > > Latest Detonator 12 drivers work fine in GP3. Confirmed, loading bitmaps and near by starting lights are back in GP3 :) However, I get the flashing menu screens in GPL every now and then. (Goes away when calling another screen.) The standard 3DMark with det. 12 is 6208 on my system, as opposed to 5985 with 5.33a. I estimate that the processor occupancy in GP3 is about 5% lower (cannot be exact here as GP3 only displays multiples of 10% on my system -- 25.6 fps and everything on). Bart Westra url for anyone who wants to try det 12: http://www.m3dzone.com/files.php?directory=Videocards/NVIDIA/Drivers/

I always use the official Detonators from nvidia.com. The drivers your video card manufacturer (asus, creative etc) issues are built from the nvidia drivers and are basically the same thing, just a few versions behind. "Harry Mailahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3GWB6.2333$[email hidden]... > Was wondering if anyone has downloaded and used these drivers? Detonator > Drivers at Nvidia's site worth downloading? I have a Asus AGP-7700GeForce > 2 GTS 32mg. Thanks in advance. > >

>"Harry Mailahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:3GWB6.2333$[email hidden]... >> Was wondering if anyone has downloaded and used these drivers? Detonator >> Drivers at Nvidia's site worth downloading? I have a Asus AGP-7700 >GeForce >> 2 GTS 32mg. Thanks in advance. I have the same card and found the Asus 6.31c drivers the best. Most stable, best support for the 3d glasses, you need them for TV out support, and the Det 6.50 drivers were only slightly faster. This only showed in benchmarks, in games I couldn't notice any difference in speed at all between these drivers. Keep an eye out for those Detonator 10.xx drivers. I tried the 10.50 drivers some time ago. Again slightly faster than the Asus drivers, but the 10.50 drivers include 3d glasses support, allthough in a very clumsy way. But as soon as the 3d glasses options of the 10.50 drivers will be improved, these drivers could be the winner. Andre

On Mon, 23 Apr 2001 09:03:54 GMT, [email hidden] (Andre Warringa) wrote: >I have the same card and found the Asus 6.31c drivers the best. Most >stable, best support for the 3d glasses, you need them for TV out >support, and the Det 6.50 drivers were only slightly faster. This only >showed in benchmarks, in games I couldn't notice any difference in >speed at all between these drivers. You should try the Generic Elsa Revelator drivers. More functionality for the 3D glasses. Can configure a game on the fly and save the settings. You can also load Detonator drivers first and have the Elsa drivers archive them so you can switch back and forth between sets. They are about as fast as Asus drivers. Asus should have new drivers out soon that are based on Reference 6.72. I tried the beta version of them but couldn't get the glasses working with them. http://www2.elsa.de/Internet/Elsafilearea.nsf/allfiles?SearchView&Query=FIELD+SearchProduct+=+ELSA+3D+REVELATOR~e file is: RVL_W9X.EXE

On Tue, 24 Apr 2001 03:10:47 GMT, Nos v7.0000001 <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (12 lines)

>You should try the Generic Elsa Revelator drivers. More functionality >for the 3D glasses. Can configure a game on the fly and save the >settings. You can also load Detonator drivers first and have the Elsa >drivers archive them so you can switch back and forth between sets. >They are about as fast as Asus drivers. Asus should have new drivers >out soon that are based on Reference 6.72. I tried the beta version of >them but couldn't get the glasses working with them. > > >http://www2.elsa.de/Internet/Elsafilearea.nsf/allfiles?SearchView&Query=FIELD+SearchProduct+=+ELSA+3D+REVELATOR~e > >file is: RVL_W9X.EXE

Will do, thanks for the tip! Andre