You might be interested in knowing that I'm running with the 44.03 drivers, with absolutely no problems of any kind.
I recall having some problems with the 12.xx series and OpenGL support, and until the 28.32 drivers, there was a refresh rate problem with certain monitors and games, but that has long since been corrected.
This experience has been with several different cards, from an original GeForce256 to a GeForce4.
I almost never use the video card drivers that come on a CD with a card, unless the driver supports extra features that are specific to the brand of card. Even then, since many of the drivers of this type are often out of date on the CD, I'll pick them up from the manufacturer's website. Otherwise, I'll use the latest release on the nVidia site.
Because of this, don't be too quick to assume that if you ran into a problem that the drivers are entirely at fault.
The tried-and-true method for installing an nVidia driver set is to do it manually, instead of just double-clicking the downloaded file, and allowing the installation to take place automatically. For many users, this is where problems start, as sometimes the setup.exe in the driver files can become corrupted, or just doesn't work as advertised.
To install the drivers manually, first you'll need an unzipping program, since as WinZip or WinRAR, with the context menus enabled and I.E. integration enabled to make things a little easier.
Then create a new folder, either on the desktop, or preferably, within Windows Explorer. Right-click the driver file you downloaded, drag it to the new folder, and choose to extract the files within the folder from the right-click context menu.
Next, open the Device Manager, and browse to the Display Adapter. Right-click on the video card displayed within this category, and look for information on the driver under Properties. Once you've found this, choose to update the driver.
Do <i>not</i> allow Windows to look for the files. Choose "Have disk" and browse directly to the new folder with the extracted files.
If the driver has been updated correctly, the system will prompt you to reboot.
Note: If you are using Win9x or WinME, the best method for updating a video card is a little more involved. Instead of directly updating the driver, you should first install a standard VGA display adapter, under Add/Remove Hardware in the Control Panel. Then you can update the driver for the VGA adapter within the Device Manager by browsing to the folder with the previously extracted files.
It's also a good idea to install newer versions of DirectX in Windows before updating the video card driver ... and sometimes, to be certain, reinstalling DirectX <i>again</i> after a new driver installation might be necessary for the video card to function correctly. For most people, installing DirectX 8.1 is sufficient (this is already in WinXP, so no installation is necessary), as they <i>might</i> encounter unusual issues with a DirectX 8 card and DirectX 9.0 or <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx?url=/windows/directx/downloads/default.htm" target="_new">version 9.0a</A> and certain games (although I haven't yet run into an issue, personally.)
Once the card is installed and the drivers updated, using the DXDIAG command at the Start\Run line will allow you to test the card. Primarily, since you were having problems with slow frame rates, I'd check to be sure that AGP texturing was enabled. This is assuming that you have an AGP card.
You didn't mention your operating system version, so here are some links you might find helpful:
<A HREF="http://www.voodoofiles.com/5093" target="_new">Microsoft DirectX 8.1 Win2k Final</A>
<A HREF="http://www.voodoofiles.com/5092" target="_new">Microsoft DirectX 8.1 Final Win98/ME</A>
It's also possible that you might have some kind of conflict with another device. I'd make sure that nothing was using PCI slot 1 on the motherboard, as this can cause programs with the AGP port. You should also be sure that only <i>one</i> video card is listed in the Device Manager, by selected "Show hidden devices" under the View menu. Upon occasion, while working with Win2K and WinXP, I've seen more than one device under a category, and this can cause conflicts and lockups.
If you have Win9x or WinME, you can pick up Detonator Destroyer under the nVidia Detonator Drivers section at this <A HREF="http://download.guru3d.com/" target="_new">website</A>. This will allow you to clean out all the old files before installing the VGA adapter and updating the driver files to the latest version from nVidia.
You might also wish to pick up the latest version of <A HREF="http://download.guru3d.com/rivatuner/" target="_new">RivaTuner</A> from the Guru3D.com website and do some tweaking to get the best performance from the card.
Toey
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