Gaming, why people use 3rd party drivers?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the use of third-party drivers for graphics cards, particularly in the context of gaming performance and stability. Participants share their experiences with different graphics cards, including the Geforce and Radeon series, and explore the implications of using third-party drivers versus official ones.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express astonishment at the performance of their graphics cards, noting significant improvements over older models.
  • Concerns are raised about the risks associated with using third-party drivers, with one participant likening it to "playing Russian roulette" due to potential system instability.
  • Others argue that third-party drivers can be beneficial, especially for older cards that no longer receive official support, suggesting that they can sometimes offer better fixes than manufacturers.
  • There is a discussion about the differences between the Geforce FX and Ti models, with some participants seeking clarification on which is superior.
  • Comparative performance analyses are presented, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of various graphics cards, particularly in relation to specific games and graphical settings.
  • Participants share personal experiences with different games and graphics cards, noting performance in titles like Quake 3 and Doom III.
  • Some mention the importance of driver quality and the historical issues faced by ATI, while others note improvements in driver stability over time.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus regarding the use of third-party drivers; some view them as risky while others see them as a necessary option for older hardware. Additionally, there are competing views on the performance of different graphics card models, particularly between Nvidia and ATI.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include varying definitions of performance metrics, the evolving nature of driver support, and the ongoing development of games like Doom III, which may affect benchmarking results.

hell18
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I've got Geforce 4 128MB graphics card and i was astonished on what it can do. I played Star Trek Elite force yesterday and the graphics on that is amazing. I had a old voodoo 4 before, very old card, only with 32MB and its ****. I was going to get a voodoo 5 but decided to get a top end good stable card, which will run a lot of games, without any problems hopefully. What i don't understand is why people use 3rd party drivers? some people say to be able to tweak their card, very true. if your a hardcore gamer then yeah. I update my drivers not very often due to that i only play games that appeal to me like everyone else has their own preference of gaming.
 
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Good buy...I have an nVidia GeForce4 Ti4600 card, 128 meg. It's awesome, plays everything fast and smooth. For now, at least

I have never met and/or heard of anyone using 3rd party drivers. I would think you would be risking the integrity of your system doing so. As many people have pointed out, Windows is not super-stable to begin with. Adding 3rd party drivers to the mix would be like playing Russian roulette. You may do okay for a while...but eventually, you're going to have problems
 
Originally posted by Considering
I have never met and/or heard of anyone using 3rd party drivers. I would think you would be risking the integrity of your system doing so.

I've mostly seen 3rd party drivers for the Voodoo cards. The reason is that nVidia bought Voodoo and terminated the support. Therefore when problems were found, nobody was around (from Voodoo/nVidia) to fix it. Luckily there are some very smart programmers around that can do it, and often better than the manufacturers.
I think I'm currently using a 3rd party driver and patch for my Voodoo. One is a font fix for some video games (i.e. Max Payne), I don't recall what the other fix is.

Adding 3rd party drivers to the mix would be like playing Russian roulette. You may do okay for a while...but eventually, you're going to have problems

Possibly, but if you get to the point of trying a 3rd party driver, you already have problems. It is definitely worth a try, and you can always reinstall your old driver.

The rule of thumb is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, if it's broke keep trying to fix it until it works.
 
Can someone tell me...

Is the Fx model higher rated than the Ti?
What is considered the current top video card/s?
 
Originally posted by J-Man
The rule of thumb is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, if it's broke keep trying to fix it until it works.

Heh, makes good sense. I can see now how they would be useful for cards with no mfc. support.

Still, this is the first time I've heard of it...I'll remember tho, maybe let some of my Voodoo using friends know.
 


Originally posted by BoulderHead
Is the Fx model higher rated than the Ti?
What is considered the current top video card/s?
The TI is a Geforce 4, the FX is newer and is basically a Geforce 5 though they just call it the Geforce FX. Its pretty good, but the fastest right now is the Radeon 9000 series cards - the 9800 is the fastest of those.
 
the 9800 is the fastest of those.

and oh is it a sweet card. Makes Quake3 seem like a new game.

I need to get some new games, haven't played on the old pc in a while.

Radeon all the way though.
 
Originally posted by megashawn
and oh is it a sweet card. Makes Quake3 seem like a new game.
I have an AIW 9700. But yeah, it flies. UT2003 is a little cpu limited though and the performance is disappointing.
 
I looked at somebenchmarks, and this is my synopsis of the results:

Without FSAA or Anisoptropic filtering, the Nvidia FX 5800 Ultra (I will just call it the FX) is faster than the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (I will just call it the Radeon) in pretty much all situations. The FX can handle higher resolutions much better, sometimes giving the Radeon a whooping in 1600x1200.

However, the Radeon handles FSAA and Anisotropic filtering much better than the FX, meaning that the Radeon takes less of a performance hit. In just about all test I saw, the Radeon takes the lead at soemwhere btween 2 and 4 samples for each, and often devastating the FX at max (although the FX's FSAA max is 8x, whereas the Radeon's is 6x). In Quake 3, however, The FX is basically neck-and-neck with the Radeon with max Anisotropic Filtering, and performs much better than the Radeon in high resolutions at 2x FSAA, but then falls way behind at higher FSAA settings.

In a Doom III comparison between the FX 5800 Ultra and the Radeon 9700, the FX just blows the 9700 away.

The Radeon 9800 Pro outscores the thee FX 5800 Ultra in benchmarking programs such as 3dMark.

If you're looking for the best performance with FSAA and/or AF, then the 9800 is probably what you're looking for. In openGL games such as Quake 3, and not too much FSAA, the the FX is faster.

The Radeon seems to have better image quality than the FX.

ATI has had driver bugs problems in the past. I have had this problem myself with my current Radeon 8500. However, I haven't had any crashes with the newest drivers. ATI is supposed to be doing a good job at steadily increasing their driver quality.
 
  • #10


Originally posted by russ_watters
The TI is a Geforce 4, the FX is newer and is basically a Geforce 5 though they just call it the Geforce FX. Its pretty good, but the fastest right now is the Radeon 9000 series cards - the 9800 is the fastest of those.
Thank you for clearing that up for me Russ. Say, my new computer parts arived a couple days ago. I believe what I have now is a fairly fast AMD powered machine, though I'm still learning how to get the onboard RAID to work for me (I want to just use them for a zip drive and maybe a CD Rom). This motherboard allows for overclocking and has many features that I will need to study up on.
 
  • #11
Originally posted by Dissident Dan
In a Doom III comparison between the FX 5800 Ultra and the Radeon 9700, the FX just blows the 9700 away.
Its important to note that Doom3 will have 3 separate rendering pipelines for different cards to utilize - and the game is still being written. So its a little early to be benchmarking Doom3. But Nvidia does tend to have better OpenGL than ATI - so it will still probably be faster on the 5800 than the 9700.
 

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