Video Card Driver Switch

[DigitalAssassin]

Thanks to a TG member I'll be upgrading from my Radeon 9600XT to an EVGA 7800GS. A couple of questions...

1. Is there a reliable way to switch cards and drivers without having to re-install Windows? Anyone made the switch recently that can give me some feedback? With XP should it be as easy as uninstalling the ATI drivers, replacing the card and installing the EVGA drivers? Most of what I've heard of in the past had to do with drivers not uninstalling clean and causing problems.

2. Any feedback from current nVidia owners as to which drivers to run? I'm sure there are 'tweaked' drivers available but is it worth running them instead of the official drivers available from EVGA?

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by DigitalAssassin

Thanks to a TG member I'll be upgrading from my Radeon 9600XT to an EVGA 7800GS. A couple of questions...

1. Is there a reliable way to switch cards and drivers without having to re-install Windows? Anyone made the switch recently that can give me some feedback? With XP should it be as easy as uninstalling the ATI drivers, replacing the card and installing the EVGA drivers? Most of what I've heard of in the past had to do with drivers not uninstalling clean and causing problems.

2. Any feedback from current nVidia owners as to which drivers to run? I'm sure there are 'tweaked' drivers available but is it worth running them instead of the official drivers available from EVGA?

1. Probably just fine doing that in XP. ATi drivers always seem to uninstall quite cleanly - in fact, now that I think about it, I've done it with card swaps like that many, many times.

2. I would start with the EVGA drivers and see how it goes from there, I've had great success with the Omega 'tweaked' drivers - but I use the factory drivers as a starting point.

[=Sarc=]

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

Easy way of cleaning out your graphics drivers.

[Satertek]

The safest bet is always to use the latest drivers straight from nVidia. (eVGA just links to the nVidia site, so its the same driver both places) Yea you might get a bit better image quality or performance from a modified driver, but theres so many, and the benefits so minute, I've steered clear for the most part.

Can't hurt to grab one and give it a go though. Worst case scenario is having to reboot into safe mode and reinstall a working driver.

[marstein]

Uninstall current video drivers. Reboot.
Optionally run drivercleaner. Reboot.
Download new drivers Shutdown. Turn off PC at power supply (unplug).
Install new graphics card while grounding yourself. Boot.
Install new drivers. Reboot.

[jaymind]

Originally Posted by =Sarc=

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

Easy way of cleaning out your graphics drivers.

Bingo. I would use driver cleaner and I some how think you'll get a disk with your 7800GS that includes a very stable, excellent set of drivers on it plus the nhancer utility that is a must for all nvidia users. Just a hunch though, but I'm pretty sure that will come with the card.

[BHack]

If your card has some sort of manufacturer supported features like special video out or some such thing then you might consider using the drivers that came on the cd.

For me though, it's straight to the nvidia website, I usually throw those install cd's in the trash.

[DigitalAssassin]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Got the new card Friday and un-installed the ATI drivers, booted into safe mode and ran Driver Cleaner then installed the new card and drivers and all was good.