upgrade video driver?

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Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
installing the new driver? Thanks.
 
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You would only think of upgrading a video driver if you were experiencing
problems with your video. The opposite argument to this is to always have
the latest driver, no matter what. People seem to argue passionately on both
sides. The fact is, absent a problem there is no need to upgrade and no
advantage either, since drivers are boring, utilitarian pieces of software
that do not add new featrures to your video card. The disadvantage is that
something will go wrong during the upgrade and you'll have to work your way
out of it.

Ted Zieglar

"Nate" <none@none.none> wrote in message
news:8gcf6157kbn3jv54u0bj9jjjpfsh3j8q19@4ax.com...
> Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
> Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
> don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
> installing the new driver? Thanks.
 
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Nate <none@none.none> wrote:
>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine

You may get some performance enhancements and may eliminate some bugs
you didn't know you had, so in general I like to keep my drivers up to
date. On the other hand, you may add bugs, misfeatures, or other
problems, so I always do upgrades after a good backup.

There are no easy answers, though as Ben mentioned, getting them
directly from Intel has some advantages in ensuring you have the
latest version and giving you revision change information so you can
determine if anything on the list is something you care about.

On the third tentacle, not every single change is documented in
sufficient detail to know if there are unanticipated changes for good
or bad hiding in there somewhere.
 
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"Nate" <none@none.none> wrote in message
news:8gcf6157kbn3jv54u0bj9jjjpfsh3j8q19@4ax.com...
> Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
> Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
> don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
> installing the new driver? Thanks.


In general, don't use the MS update drivers unless they address a very
specific issue that you're experiencing. Either get the latest drivers from
your PC maker or the vendor of the device.

In short, no. I wouldn't update my video driver if I were you.


Stew
 
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Unfortunately, Micro$oft applies the mushroom theory to Windows Update: keep
people in the dark and feed them a lot of manure. So nobody will ever know from
the information supplied by Micro$oft just exactly why a newer driver is
available. Was a software bug found and corrected? Was a new feature added?
Etc?

As a rule, the Windows Updates correct defects in the software, but there have
been at least a few examples of creeping functionality as part of an update.
The most visible of these is USB 2.0 support, absent in the original XP, but
added with SP1 and later.

You might also check with the Intel web site re. the 82865G driver. Intel tends
to do a respectable job of documenting the whys and wherefores of driver and
BIOS updates. The driver on the Micro$oft Windows Update web site is nothing
more than a repackaged driver from Intel. The same goes for all device drivers
available from Micro$oft.

On balance, I think I would install the driver update, because Intel has a good
track record of knowing what they are doing when it comes to drivers and
BIOSes... Ben Myers

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, Nate <none@none.none> wrote:

>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>installing the new driver? Thanks.
 

nick

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On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Nate
<none@none.none> wrote:

>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>installing the new driver? Thanks.

If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.

In your situation, I probably wouldn't bother with the update unless the new
drivers fixed or improved something I actually used: a lot of video driver
updates are just for game-specific issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you do decide to update the drivers, I would recommend seeing if you can
get the update from Intel's site, rather than from Windows Update or from
Dell's site. The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared to
the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.

1. I updated the video driver for my ATI video board using Windows Update a
week or so ago, and discovered that a lot of the configuration options I
used to have were gone. I uninstalled that driver and installed the exact
same driver version from ATI's web site, and that had all the configuration
settings that were missing from the Windows Update version.

2. When I bought this Dell computer, it came with an nVidia video board and
Dell drivers. The Dell-supplied drivers were missing a lot of configuration
options that the nVidia board in my previous computer had. Downloading
drivers from nVidia's web site supplied the missing options.

Later on, I installed updated drivers from Dell's site, and the
configuration options disappeared again. I switched to drivers from nVidia
and the missing options were restored.


I've seen posts by others with similar experiences: drivers from Windows
Update or a computer manufacturer that are missing significant features that
are present in the drivers from the video chip set manufacturer.


So I would recommend using driver updates from the video chipset
manufacturer (Intel, in your case), rather than ones from Windows Update or
the computer manufacturer. (My brain must have been on vacation when I
installed the Windows Update drivers for my ATI board; once I noticed the
missing options, I knew what I'd done. :( )


--
Nick <mailto:tanstaafl@pobox.com>

Nick's First Law of Computer Virus Complaints:

Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs
doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus.
 
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Nick <tanstaafl@pobox.com> wrote:
>The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
>manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared to
>the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.

I've also had two recent examples of WinUp drivers that broke the
product in question, apparently by virtue of misunderstanding which
flavor of device they were installing onto.
 
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On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:32:21 GMT, Nick <tanstaafl@pobox.com> wrote:

>If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
>drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
>probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
>or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.

Interesting. Thanks to all. I'd thought it might be a flip-a-coin
answer, yet it seems there are good reasons behind each side of the
coin.

I did go to Intel's site. Their ASP is broken on what seemed to me the
critical page.

But along the way, it seems there are individualized drivers per box
maker - so I'd have to point out that I used Windows Update manually
today, rather thah relying on Dell's auto (Dell's auto-update
notification didn;t steer me to me to my vid-driver update... I have
it set to alert me but not auto-install).
 
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I had no problem downloading the drivers from this URL on the Intel web site:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/download.aspx?url=/8544/a08/win2k_xp1411.exe&agr=N&ProductID=1044&DwnldId=8544&strOSs=45&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Home%20Edition&lang=eng

.... Ben Myers

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 01:58:44 GMT, Nate <none@none.none> wrote:

>On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:32:21 GMT, Nick <tanstaafl@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>>If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
>>drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
>>probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
>>or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.
>
>Interesting. Thanks to all. I'd thought it might be a flip-a-coin
>answer, yet it seems there are good reasons behind each side of the
>coin.
>
>I did go to Intel's site. Their ASP is broken on what seemed to me the
>critical page.
>
>But along the way, it seems there are individualized drivers per box
>maker - so I'd have to point out that I used Windows Update manually
>today, rather thah relying on Dell's auto (Dell's auto-update
>notification didn;t steer me to me to my vid-driver update... I have
>it set to alert me but not auto-install).
>
>
 
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The drivers on the Micro$oft Update site are not exactly dumbed down, altho that
is often the net result compared to the chipset manufacturer's web site.

I'm fairly certain that Micro$oft imposes space quotas on the chipset and other
hardware manufacturers, who, of course, must pay for Windows Hardware Quality
Lab certification (which is often as useless as tits on a bull). Also, if
Microsoft bends folds spindles and mutilates drivers to fit its software
distribution model, Microsoft wants to support the end result as little as
possible, so the less software the better.

Availability of up-to-date drivers from Micro$oft always lags behind because of
the WHQL certification process and because the manufacturers do not want to pay
and pay and pay for every update submitted to WHQL.

But the punch line is always the same for any driver update: Read the readme
file that describes why the update is being done, and choose accordingly to suit
ones own computing needs... Ben Myers

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:32:21 GMT, Nick <tanstaafl@pobox.com> wrote:

>
>On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Nate
><none@none.none> wrote:
>
>>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>>installing the new driver? Thanks.
>
>If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
>drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
>probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
>or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.
>
>In your situation, I probably wouldn't bother with the update unless the new
>drivers fixed or improved something I actually used: a lot of video driver
>updates are just for game-specific issues.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>If you do decide to update the drivers, I would recommend seeing if you can
>get the update from Intel's site, rather than from Windows Update or from
>Dell's site. The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
>manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared to
>the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.
>
>1. I updated the video driver for my ATI video board using Windows Update a
>week or so ago, and discovered that a lot of the configuration options I
>used to have were gone. I uninstalled that driver and installed the exact
>same driver version from ATI's web site, and that had all the configuration
>settings that were missing from the Windows Update version.
>
>2. When I bought this Dell computer, it came with an nVidia video board and
>Dell drivers. The Dell-supplied drivers were missing a lot of configuration
>options that the nVidia board in my previous computer had. Downloading
>drivers from nVidia's web site supplied the missing options.
>
>Later on, I installed updated drivers from Dell's site, and the
>configuration options disappeared again. I switched to drivers from nVidia
>and the missing options were restored.
>
>
>I've seen posts by others with similar experiences: drivers from Windows
>Update or a computer manufacturer that are missing significant features that
>are present in the drivers from the video chip set manufacturer.
>
>
>So I would recommend using driver updates from the video chipset
>manufacturer (Intel, in your case), rather than ones from Windows Update or
>the computer manufacturer. (My brain must have been on vacation when I
>installed the Windows Update drivers for my ATI board; once I noticed the
>missing options, I knew what I'd done. :( )
>
>
>--
>Nick <mailto:tanstaafl@pobox.com>
>
>Nick's First Law of Computer Virus Complaints:
>
> Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs
> doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus.
 
G

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Nick wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Nate
> <none@none.none> wrote:
>
>>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>>installing the new driver? Thanks.
>
> If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
> drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
> probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
> or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.
>
> In your situation, I probably wouldn't bother with the update unless the new
> drivers fixed or improved something I actually used: a lot of video driver
> updates are just for game-specific issues.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you do decide to update the drivers, I would recommend seeing if you can
> get the update from Intel's site, rather than from Windows Update or from
> Dell's site. The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
> manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared to
> the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.

I would 2nd that recommendation - go to Dell or the manufacturer of a
card for the drivers for it. MS Update kept insisting I download really
old drivers from their site for my nVidia GF4 Ti4200 video card (when I
had already installed newer drivers from the nVidia site).
 
G

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For anyone not aware of the MS Update site preferences though, you can check
the box not to show that update again and in the future you should not be
advised of an update you do not want such as the outdated driver.

I am sure you are aware of it Sparky but threw it out for anyone else that
was not familiar with the site.

Regards,
John O.


"Sparky Spartacus" <Sparky@universalexports.org> wrote in message
news:AXkae.11065$V02.786@fe08.lga...
> Nick wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Nate
>> <none@none.none> wrote:
>>
>>>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>>>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>>>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>>>installing the new driver? Thanks.
>>
>> If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
>> drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet
>> would
>> probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release
>> notes
>> or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.
>>
>> In your situation, I probably wouldn't bother with the update unless the
>> new
>> drivers fixed or improved something I actually used: a lot of video
>> driver
>> updates are just for game-specific issues.
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> If you do decide to update the drivers, I would recommend seeing if you
>> can
>> get the update from Intel's site, rather than from Windows Update or from
>> Dell's site. The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
>> manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared
>> to
>> the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.
>
> I would 2nd that recommendation - go to Dell or the manufacturer of a card
> for the drivers for it. MS Update kept insisting I download really old
> drivers from their site for my nVidia GF4 Ti4200 video card (when I had
> already installed newer drivers from the nVidia site).
 
G

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JJO wrote:

> For anyone not aware of the MS Update site preferences though, you can check
> the box not to show that update again and in the future you should not be
> advised of an update you do not want such as the outdated driver.
>
> I am sure you are aware of it Sparky but threw it out for anyone else that
> was not familiar with the site.

Good point. I have used this option a couple of times when MS really,
really wanted to download some backdated drivers for my video card.
 
G

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In some cases the update takes care of bugs and such which they may have
found since the original release. I found while doing windows updates there
has been a new release for the agi video card for my 2 week old Dim. 8400, I
installed figuring that if may have updates to these drivers, if worse comes
to worse you can always just roll back to previous drivers the device
manager with Win XP..


"Nate" <none@none.none> wrote in message
news:8gcf6157kbn3jv54u0bj9jjjpfsh3j8q19@4ax.com...
> Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
> Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
> don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
> installing the new driver? Thanks.
 

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