NVIDIA Graphics Card Updates

[Uncensored2008]

I'm one of those people who tends to hang on to the old technology. My motherboard is an ASUS P5Q with DDR2 RAM. I built the PC in 2009. Yeah, I've thought about building a new one. It was a real pain to install Windows 8. I'd get to where I was almost there, and it would hang up. I then had to flash the BIOS for Windows 7, since Windows 8 wasn't around 4 years ago. After I did that, then the software loaded up quite nicely. I have noticed that if you ignore the useless metro squares, there is not much difference between Windows 7 and 8.

Your mobo has 8 SATA-2 connectors. Easy enough to through a new drive on without doing a new build.

I initially hated Windows 8, only using the desktop and command line. But I bought a Surface Pro and have grown to like the interface a bit better. I still won't put it on a desktop, but for a touch screen, it does a good job. And you're right, except for Metro/Modern - there is very little difference between 7 and 8. That's Microsoft. The real operating system is Longhorn, the Vista/7/8/8.1 are just changes in the presentation layer. Longhorn is the best operating system on the market - by a long way. Windows 8 is a good system, even if you hate the UI - it has a stable and mature core, multi-threading that puts Ubuntu and other Linux distros to shame, and can do grown up work, unlike the Cat named systems.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Oh, you'll also enjoy the fact that I am running an IOMEGA 100 megabyte zip drive on my PC. I use it as a backup for the small stuff. It sure turned out to be more reliable than my MAXTOR, alias Seagate external backup drive.

I definitely would like to upgrade, but my requirements are stringent. I have to have at least 3 PCI slots, IDE ports, and at least a Firewire slot. That's why I got the ASUS 4 years ago. I suppose I will stay with ASUS when I upgrade and probably get an I-5 processor. What do you think? I know, I'm going to cringe at your answer.

I-5 is a good choice for a home user, particularly one that does mostly gaming. Even today, most games can effectively use no more than three threads, so a massive hyperthreading I-7 4770 doesn't do much for you. Now if you're using Photoshop CS-5, Solidworks, or other computationally heavy applications, you might want the I-7. These days, you put together a decent system for under $400, with an SSD and Blueray. I have had a LOT of trouble with Asus Sabertooth motherboards, so I don't recommend them. Are you planning to overclock?

 

[XPostFacto]

Oh, you'll also enjoy the fact that I am running an IOMEGA 100 megabyte zip drive on my PC. I use it as a backup for the small stuff. It sure turned out to be more reliable than my MAXTOR, alias Seagate external backup drive.

I definitely would like to upgrade, but my requirements are stringent. I have to have at least 3 PCI slots, IDE ports, and at least a Firewire slot. That's why I got the ASUS 4 years ago. I suppose I will stay with ASUS when I upgrade and probably get an I-5 processor. What do you think? I know, I'm going to cringe at your answer.

I-5 is a good choice for a home user, particularly one that does mostly gaming. Even today, most games can effectively use no more than three threads, so a massive hyperthreading I-7 4770 doesn't do much for you. Now if you're using Photoshop CS-5, Solidworks, or other computationally heavy applications, you might want the I-7. These days, you put together a decent system for under $400, with an SSD and Blueray. I have had a LOT of trouble with Asus Sabertooth motherboards, so I don't recommend them. Are you planning to overclock?

Well, the ASUS P5Q was advertised as a good overclocking board, but I don't care about that. My system runs pretty fast now, but I'm faced with the dilemma that I'm always tweaking for more performance, and I am limited to the fact that my RAM is only DDR2.

Now, if I did upgrade, all I would need is the motherboard, processor, and memory. i would keep my power supply, hard drive and graphics card. I might even go with a Pelletier refrigeration system, but maybe not, since I am somewhat leery of having a system with liquid coolant running around near my electronics.

 

[XPostFacto]

I thought I would bring back this discussion concerning my NVIDIA graphics card. I discovered that the reason certain drivers wouldn't load was because my hard drive was corrupted. I was recently watching a newly bought DVD on my PC and then the sound would all of a sudden cut out and the movie would drop frame rates. I should have taken a hint right there and started backing up everything, but I instead uninstalled and reinstalled my DVD Ultra 13. That didn't help. Two days ago as I booted up my Windows 8 PC, it went into diagnostic mode and then eventually a repair loop. Of course the repair loop didn't work, forcing me to completely reformat my hard drive. I am now busy replacing my software that will take awhile. I lost some very important files, and to make matters worse, my external hard drive would no longer work in its case. Last night, I removed the external hard drive from its casing. It turned to be IDE vs. SATA. Fortunately, my motherboard does have an IDE port, which is being used by my old Zip drive. I hooked up the external drive and was able to retrieve a lot of my pictures and really old files that I didn't want to lose. All is not lost, but to make a long story short, when any graphics card whether it's NVIDIA or ATI, refuses to accept new drivers, figure on the fact that your hard drive is corrupted, start backing up, and then reformat the hard drive and start over. According to Zone Alarm, I didn't have any viruses, but I sure had one corrupted hard drive.

Whenever there is data/stack corruption I test memory and then drives.

How do you test your memory? Are you using some kind of bit tester that hooks up inside the system?

 

[Uncensored2008]

Well, the ASUS P5Q was advertised as a good overclocking board, but I don't care about that. My system runs pretty fast now, but I'm faced with the dilemma that I'm always tweaking for more performance, and I am limited to the fact that my RAM is only DDR2.

Now, if I did upgrade, all I would need is the motherboard, processor, and memory. i would keep my power supply, hard drive and graphics card. I might even go with a Pelletier refrigeration system, but maybe not, since I am somewhat leery of having a system with liquid coolant running around near my electronics.

You would keep the hard drive that just corrupted on you? An SSD can be the most significant performance boost to a system

Oh, and for liquid cooling, this is a solid performer for a low price.

Corsair CW-9060002-WW Hydro H70 CORE High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - Socket LGA 1155, LGA 1366, LGA 2011,AM2, AM3, FM1 at TigerDirect.com.

I'm running the H90, but can get my I7 3770K to 5.6 gHz on it.

 

[XPostFacto]

Well, this smart technology is intriguing, but whenever I install my hard drive, I repartition it, which usually wipes the drive. Is this technology contained in some hidden area of the drive, making it impossible to erase? My present hard drive was bought before Christmas and is a terrabyte in size. I must have destroyed this smart stuff, just from my partitioning the drive because I never received any kind of warning, unless it was mixed in there with all the rest of Windows nuisance messages telling me that since the software I am installing is not blessed by the Pope, I need to steer clear of it.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Well, this smart technology is intriguing, but whenever I install my hard drive, I repartition it, which usually wipes the drive. Is this technology contained in some hidden area of the drive, making it impossible to erase? My present hard drive was bought before Christmas and is a terrabyte in size. I must have destroyed this smart stuff, just from my partitioning the drive because I never received any kind of warning, unless it was mixed in there with all the rest of Windows nuisance messages telling me that since the software I am installing is not blessed by the Pope, I need to steer clear of it.

SMART is in the firmware of the drive, part of the electronics. Your BIOS has to support it, but it provides information to the the system on the health of the drive and will warn you if there is an issue. And you won't miss a SMART message, since it's usually accompanied by loud beeping and such.

 

[Ropey]

Well, this smart technology is intriguing, but whenever I install my hard drive, I repartition it, which usually wipes the drive. Is this technology contained in some hidden area of the drive, making it impossible to erase? My present hard drive was bought before Christmas and is a terrabyte in size. I must have destroyed this smart stuff, just from my partitioning the drive because I never received any kind of warning, unless it was mixed in there with all the rest of Windows nuisance messages telling me that since the software I am installing is not blessed by the Pope, I need to steer clear of it.

SMART is in the firmware of the drive, part of the electronics. Your BIOS has to support it, but it provides information to the the system on the health of the drive and will warn you if there is an issue. And you won't miss a SMART message, since it's usually accompanied by loud beeping and such.

Many bios's support the disabling of SMART technology. Some used to have it disabled by default although I'm not sure if that's the case anymore.

 

[XPostFacto]

Well, this smart technology is intriguing, but whenever I install my hard drive, I repartition it, which usually wipes the drive. Is this technology contained in some hidden area of the drive, making it impossible to erase? My present hard drive was bought before Christmas and is a terrabyte in size. I must have destroyed this smart stuff, just from my partitioning the drive because I never received any kind of warning, unless it was mixed in there with all the rest of Windows nuisance messages telling me that since the software I am installing is not blessed by the Pope, I need to steer clear of it.

SMART is in the firmware of the drive, part of the electronics. Your BIOS has to support it, but it provides information to the the system on the health of the drive and will warn you if there is an issue. And you won't miss a SMART message, since it's usually accompanied by loud beeping and such.

Many bios's support the disabling of SMART technology. Some used to have it disabled by default although I'm not sure if that's the case anymore.

Thanks for the info on that. I'll check my BIOS, but more than likely, since I had to search high and low for a BIOS flash that would keep the motherboard from having a coronary over Windows 8, I probably don't have that function. ASUS won't be sending out any updates, recognizing Windows 8, since they expect me to invest in another one of their boards. I'm thinking with all the extra slots I got, maybe I still didn't get that good of a deal. Of course, everything would have stayed cool, had I left everything in XP, but Crysis 3 wouldn't play without at least Vista. After 4 years, my LAN interface already quit, forcing me to buy an extra LAN card. That hasn't sat well with me. I never lost any part of my old Tyan motherboards, but now Tyan is out of sight in price and only makes server boards.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Just curious, and I might have missed something - why were you wanting to update it anyway?
If everything is working fine - why in the world update a video card unless there is a problem?

 

[Uncensored2008]

Well, this smart technology is intriguing, but whenever I install my hard drive, I repartition it, which usually wipes the drive. Is this technology contained in some hidden area of the drive, making it impossible to erase? My present hard drive was bought before Christmas and is a terrabyte in size. I must have destroyed this smart stuff, just from my partitioning the drive because I never received any kind of warning, unless it was mixed in there with all the rest of Windows nuisance messages telling me that since the software I am installing is not blessed by the Pope, I need to steer clear of it.

SMART is in the firmware of the drive, part of the electronics. Your BIOS has to support it, but it provides information to the the system on the health of the drive and will warn you if there is an issue. And you won't miss a SMART message, since it's usually accompanied by loud beeping and such.

Many bios's support the disabling of SMART technology. Some used to have it disabled by default although I'm not sure if that's the case anymore.

Every BIOS I know of has SMART parameters, but haven't seen it disabled by default.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Just curious, and I might have missed something - why were you wanting to update it anyway?
If everything is working fine - why in the world update a video card unless there is a problem?

Updating video cards is obvious, more frames per second.

 

[XPostFacto]

Just curious, and I might have missed something - why were you wanting to update it anyway?
If everything is working fine - why in the world update a video card unless there is a problem?

That is an excellent point, because new patches can create problems elsewhere. NVIDIA has a software program which searches for any available updates. Just for the heck of it, I decided to install update 320.18 because the update program kept nagging me to update. As a result, I discovered that it wouldn't install. I then went on a campaign to see just what would install. Everyone of the updates I tried failed to install except the 310.90, which floored me. Hence, I never looked at my hard drive being the problem. I blamed NVIDIA, even contacted them, but they ignored me as they did others. Posting my problems here did give me some useful information, one of which is the Smart technology that I had previously not heard of. I hope my experiences will be helpful to anyone else, who happens to surf in here, who is having similar problems.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Just curious, and I might have missed something - why were you wanting to update it anyway?
If everything is working fine - why in the world update a video card unless there is a problem?

Updating video cards is obvious, more frames per second.

Ah...I don't play games on a PC so I wouldn't have thought about that aspect on the ever increasing demand from games.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Ah...I don't play games on a PC so I wouldn't have thought about that aspect on the ever increasing demand from games.

It's funny, the super cards are venturing out into other areas now - don't get me wrong, I bought a Radeon 7990 for games - but when trying to crack a password the other day, the software employed the GPU, since it dwarfs the I7 in floating point processing.

 

[Bleipriester]

Few days ago, I wanted to install a NVidia Driver on a neighbor´s computer. Though the package is 218 Megs big, the installation required an internet connection. AHH. I installed the driver out of the unzipped content via the device manager. Is that normal?

 

[Ropey]

Few days ago, I wanted to install a NVidia Driver on a neighbor´s computer. Though the package is 218 Megs big, the installation required an internet connection. AHH. I installed the driver out of the unzipped content via the device manager. Is that normal?

That's how I install my video drivers as well. It's not as common as using the install/setup executable.

Some other forms of drivers won't install manually but I've never had a problem installing both ATi and Nvidia drivers manually.

 

[Bleipriester]

Few days ago, I wanted to install a NVidia Driver on a neighbor´s computer. Though the package is 218 Megs big, the installation required an internet connection. AHH. I installed the driver out of the unzipped content via the device manager. Is that normal?

That's how I install my video drivers as well. It's not as common as using the install/setup executable.

Some other forms of drivers won't install manually but I've never had a problem installing both ATi and Nvidia drivers manually.

The problem is, my neighbor hasn´t installed the Nvidia configuration software.

 

[Uncensored2008]

That's how I install my video drivers as well. It's not as common as using the install/setup executable.

Some other forms of drivers won't install manually but I've never had a problem installing both ATi and Nvidia drivers manually.

ATi does a full package install even if you install from the control panel - not sure about Nvidia.

 

[Ropey]

That's how I install my video drivers as well. It's not as common as using the install/setup executable.

Some other forms of drivers won't install manually but I've never had a problem installing both ATi and Nvidia drivers manually.

ATi does a full package install even if you install from the control panel - not sure about Nvidia.

I simply remove the old drivers and unzip and direct the seek to the drivers folder from device manager and not the control panel. I do it with both ATi and Nvidia. I didn't even know that there was an install path from the control panel.

All I have is the driver installed and no ccc, etc.