Nvidia Dropping Driver Support for Older Graphics Cards

[Christopher Shaffer]

Just to let you smart guys know, monkey and Chris, I bought my unit in 2008. If you add 5 years to that date I should enjoy driver support until 2013...not so. When Dell bought Alienware the next year, they did not support the drivers of the older units. In fact, the Dell website does NOT support the older version. As far as the comments go, here is my reply:
1. 2013 would be the 5th year of driver support, so your comment is not valid.
2. The only driver available was Vista driver (after 2009) so your statement is untrue. Also, I used the computer to do CAD work and teach so I needed it portable, thank you very much.
3. OK, just try to use a computer without updated drivers. I guess you don't know that new driver support comes out practically every month for most computer CPUs and GPUs.
4. OH, who is the "shill" for AMD???
5. Dell did not own Alienware when I bought mine, they were getting their buts kicked by Alienware and decided to buy the company when they could not compete. FACT. Also, your comment about finding driver support back to 2010 on Dell's site under minds your statement about "5 year driver support"

Conclusion, you are misleading and you are inaccurate, not us who bought an expensive laptop and ended up with an expensive boat anchor. Never, buy an expensive computer in the hopes of avoiding upgrades. You will find out that that reasoning is pure folly with the state of computer development today.

The drivers on the Alienware site are as NEW as 2010, meaning that's when they were posted and are for Win 7 x64/x86.

But again, what you're describing comes back to the OEM supporting their product, not Nvidia.

Nvidia has mobile driver support going back far enough that you can find drivers for Windows 7 for every mobile product they've made since ~2007.

If you're so adamant about this, why don't you tell us the exact model of GPU that your laptop had?

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

Oh, and monkey, just for the record...my current system

ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe
Intel i5-3570K CPU 3.4 GHz (OC to 4.2 GHz)
16 Gigs of 1800+ Ram
NVidia GeForce GTX 770 4 Gigs VRAM times 2 in SLI
Windows 7 Ultimate 64
So much for the "AMD shill" comment. BTW, I built it myself and have been building my own desktops since 1992.

I'm assuming your laptop, if Alienware and built in 2008 at the cost of ~$8000 w/Nvidia mobile, would had the 9800GT SLI GPU.

In this case, there is a Windows 7 x64 or x86 driver available NOW, release THIS MONTH:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/73783

In fact, there's even legacy drivers for nForce and other chipsets still up there that are Win7 compatible.

 

[cfcgreg]

Just to let you smart guys know, monkey and Chris, I bought my unit in 2008. If you add 5 years to that date I should enjoy driver support until 2013...not so. When Dell bought Alienware the next year, they did not support the drivers of the older units. In fact, the Dell website does NOT support the older version. As far as the comments go, here is my reply:
1. 2013 would be the 5th year of driver support, so your comment is not valid.
2. The only driver available was Vista driver (after 2009) so your statement is untrue. Also, I used the computer to do CAD work and teach so I needed it portable, thank you very much.
3. OK, just try to use a computer without updated drivers. I guess you don't know that new driver support comes out practically every month for most computer CPUs and GPUs.
4. OH, who is the "shill" for AMD???
5. Dell did not own Alienware when I bought mine, they were getting their buts kicked by Alienware and decided to buy the company when they could not compete. FACT. Also, your comment about finding driver support back to 2010 on Dell's site under minds your statement about "5 year driver support"

Conclusion, you are misleading and you are inaccurate, not us who bought an expensive laptop and ended up with an expensive boat anchor. Never, buy an expensive computer in the hopes of avoiding upgrades. You will find out that that reasoning is pure folly with the state of computer development today.

The drivers on the Alienware site are as NEW as 2010, meaning that's when they were posted and are for Win 7 x64/x86.

But again, what you're describing comes back to the OEM supporting their product, not Nvidia.

Nvidia has mobile driver support going back far enough that you can find drivers for Windows 7 for every mobile product they've made since ~2007.

If you're so adamant about this, why don't you tell us the exact model of GPU that your laptop had?

 

[cfcgreg]

No, it came with dual 7900gs in SLI.

 

[cklaubur]

No, it came with dual 7900gs in SLI.

Cards that came out in 2005-2006, and driver support ended in 2013. That's a lot more than 5 years.

I hate to say this, but your GPUs were getting old when you bought the laptop.

Casey

 

[Mousemonkey]

No, it came with dual 7900gs in SLI.

Cards that came out in 2005-2006, and driver support ended in 2013. That's a lot more than 5 years.

I hate to say this, but your GPUs were getting old when you bought the laptop.

Casey

And he claims to have spent 8K on it! That's just sad. :lol:

 

[cfcgreg]

Yes. You could make the argument that the cards were "getting old", but since when do you buy a product that the company conspires to make you unable to use it; not because it will not run any program, but because they simply want you to fork out for a new card. I used those cards for 3 years to run CAD and CAM software. Those cards ran those expensive programs better than most desktops, and still would, had the drivers been available. With drivers, those cards would run most programs today better than some current cards...bet on it!

This kind of control over the marketplace is the reason why there are only two companies producing graphics cards today. That kind of monopoly is not good for the consumer, nor the industry. Anti-trust law suits are in order here. Believe me, if their were several companies producing cards (not putting fans on them and labeling them differently), these two companies would be supporting their products more than the time they gave to me and others.

You praise these monopolists, I don't have to cater to them. I, and those affected by their tactics, should not accept their attempts to monopolize the marketplace. And it can be done...just ask AT&T.

 

[cfcgreg]

I didn't use it to play mindless games, sport. I had many accessories that make the computer work for use, on the road. I ordered it with the latest capture card, remote, Windows Media edition, connections for projections, wireless everything, backup solutions, hard case and added $10,000.00 of software, including complete Autodesk suites (which I taught) and other engineering software. To make kind of investment and find that the computer manufacturer, not the programs or ability of the computer run them is NOT laughable to me.; but then, you were still probably having your mommy clean your dirty diapers when I was using this technology

 

[Deuce65]

Yes. You could make the argument that the cards were "getting old", but since when do you buy a product that the company conspires to make you unable to use it; not because it will not run any program, but because they simply want you to fork out for a new card. I used those cards for 3 years to run CAD and CAM software. Those cards ran those expensive programs better than most desktops, and still would, had the drivers been available. With drivers, those cards would run most programs today better than some current cards...bet on it!

This kind of control over the marketplace is the reason why there are only two companies producing graphics cards today. That kind of monopoly is not good for the consumer, nor the industry. Anti-trust law suits are in order here. Believe me, if their were several companies producing cards (not putting fans on them and labeling them differently), these two companies would be supporting their products more than the time they gave to me and others.

You praise these monopolists, I don't have to cater to them. I, and those affected by their tactics, should not accept their attempts to monopolize the marketplace. And it can be done...just ask AT&T.

You people keep saying this garbage. Your product did not suddenly stop working. It works exactly as well today as it did yesterday. And will continue to do so tomorrow. Nothing has changed for you. You can continue to use your hopelessly outdated graphics card just as well now as it ever was. Seriously some people will complain about anything!

 

[cklaubur]

Yes. You could make the argument that the cards were "getting old", but since when do you buy a product that the company conspires to make you unable to use it; not because it will not run any program, but because they simply want you to fork out for a new card. I used those cards for 3 years to run CAD and CAM software. Those cards ran those expensive programs better than most desktops, and still would, had the drivers been available. With drivers, those cards would run most programs today better than some current cards...bet on it!

This kind of control over the marketplace is the reason why there are only two companies producing graphics cards today. That kind of monopoly is not good for the consumer, nor the industry. Anti-trust law suits are in order here. Believe me, if their were several companies producing cards (not putting fans on them and labeling them differently), these two companies would be supporting their products more than the time they gave to me and others.

You praise these monopolists, I don't have to cater to them. I, and those affected by their tactics, should not accept their attempts to monopolize the marketplace. And it can be done...just ask AT&T.

So, if it works well enough for you, just use the most recent drivers available. The cards will still work. The drivers are likely as optimized as possible for your cards anyway, so there would be no increase in performance.

I have a Dell Latitude D830 with a Quadro NVS 140M that will be affected by this round of dropped support, and I was more surprised that drivers were STILL available for it!

Casey

 

[cfcgreg]

Yeah, it will sure work well using Windows XP. It will not work with windows 7 because the drivers do not support the new program. That means that any software that requires windows 7 will not work properly. I guess you don't know much about driver updates or else wouldn't have made such an ridiculous statement. But then, most people do not understand the nature of drivers so you are not alone.

 

[cklaubur]

Yeah, it will sure work well using Windows XP. It will not work with windows 7 because the drivers do not support the new program. That means that any software that requires windows 7 will not work properly. I guess you don't know much about driver updates or else wouldn't have made such an ridiculous statement. But then, most people do not understand the nature of drivers so you are not alone.

I'm running Windows 7 and games on that laptop just fine. What program are you trying to use?

There's no need to be insulting.

Casey

 

[cfcgreg]

Casey, if you are running Windows 7 with that computer, you are not using Windows 7 drivers, but Windows Vista drivers, which many of us tried to do but found screen resolutions, color issues and compatibility issues were not solved. So, I don't what computer you have but it was not the one I bought or many others who have tried to solve this problem without current drivers.

 

[stevejnb]

I wonder how many people in here who are saying "no big deal" have referred to Microsoft as being cheap for stopping support of Windows XP after significantly more time than these cards were supported... At least one that I can see.

 

[cfcgreg]

Add me to that list. Other than open sourced Linux, there isn't much out there. I have the same issue with Microsoft. I see a pattern there. They have stable rendition of windows and then do a lot of hoopla about the new rendition, it is not very good (which they knew was weak); so they immediately follow up with a stable system (which they had ready, all the time) Think Windows 2 and then OS/2. Then windows 98 and then 2000. Then Windows XP and then Vista. Then Windows 7 and then Windows 8. The more stable release will come out shortly, replace the weak windows 8. See the pattern? it results from having a monopoly, which is never good for consumers.

 

[cklaubur]

Casey, if you are running Windows 7 with that computer, you are not using Windows 7 drivers, but Windows Vista drivers, which many of us tried to do but found screen resolutions, color issues and compatibility issues were not solved. So, I don't what computer you have but it was not the one I bought or many others who have tried to solve this problem without current drivers.

I'm running the latest Quadro New Feature drivers for Windows 7 on the Dell Latitude D830 I mentioned a couple of posts ago. It uses a Quadro NVS 140M, and would be affected by the driver release mentioned in this article. Being a 7 year old chip, I'd expect the manufacturer to stop releasing drivers.

If you'd like, I can post a screenshot of the Nvidia System Properties showing the version of Windows and the driver I have running on my Latitude.

Casey