Which driver? gts250
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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Kithzaru
July 2, 2009 4:51:06 PM
Gah, i hope this doesn't get double posted... the silly "ask the community" from the home page never works for me...
Long story short...
I have a 9600gt, and will be getting a 250gts today. I am currently running 185.xx drivers, but i know new ones have been released. I never updated the drivers because, frankly, the current ones worked just fine.
My question is as follows...
For a gts250 (which i know is a rebranded 9800++) should i...
-use the same 185.xx driver
-use the new 186.18
-use some other like a 92.xx?
I use the computer really just for gaming, and the games are either WoW or the latest FPS. Any input on the drivers would be great!
Long story short...
I have a 9600gt, and will be getting a 250gts today. I am currently running 185.xx drivers, but i know new ones have been released. I never updated the drivers because, frankly, the current ones worked just fine.
My question is as follows...
For a gts250 (which i know is a rebranded 9800++) should i...
-use the same 185.xx driver
-use the new 186.18
-use some other like a 92.xx?
I use the computer really just for gaming, and the games are either WoW or the latest FPS. Any input on the drivers would be great!
More about : driver gts250
B-Unit
July 2, 2009 9:02:30 PM
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jers
August 29, 2009 3:59:53 PM
B-Unit said:
Current ones will work fine, but for best performance always use the newest drivers.hahahaha. Sorry, I know this is a bit of an old post but I couldn't help getting my nose into it.. That statement is just so big a misconception... 182.50 are still the best drivers for windows vista and XP, sadly Win7 needs newer drivers to solve some bugs but 186.18 are the most decent for win7 so far. At least, that's my truth; for your hardware, it might change. A diferent manufacturer or motherboard could mean a big difference,
Kithzaru
August 31, 2009 5:42:12 PM
Kithzaru
September 1, 2009 6:19:19 PM
It's been freezing or slowing down a lot.
No virus scan running, no odd programs in the task manager. AVG and Malwarebytes caught nothing (which is normal because i don't browse the net on that machine).
It just randomly chunks out and slows down or freezes. Generally a restart fixes it though, so i've been getting accustomed to just restarting the machine before i decide to do anything with it. Where as before, i would restart it maybe once a week.
No virus scan running, no odd programs in the task manager. AVG and Malwarebytes caught nothing (which is normal because i don't browse the net on that machine).
It just randomly chunks out and slows down or freezes. Generally a restart fixes it though, so i've been getting accustomed to just restarting the machine before i decide to do anything with it. Where as before, i would restart it maybe once a week.
Kithzaru
September 1, 2009 7:25:00 PM
jers
September 2, 2009 1:48:33 PM
The Win 7 RTM is everywhere on the net, you should get it if you decide going 7. A fresh install of XP is of course a good choice too, just you won't have DX10.
Both options are good. I usually reinstall XP every 8~10 months when it starts to behave awkwardly, no need for viruses. It just gets slower and capricious, don't know why. However Win7 is a beauty, extremely stable, I felt XP ugly after that Artlike OS hehe
By the way, would you mind guys with a GTS250 doing some benchmarks with the games you have when you change drivers? I usually bench with Far Cry 2 and Trackmania Forever.. FC2 has only got fps drops since 182.50 for me in vista.. But I've heared that FC2 bench is bugged, don't remember where.. I just want to know what benefits does it bring to you since your machines have to be all diferent
Both options are good. I usually reinstall XP every 8~10 months when it starts to behave awkwardly, no need for viruses. It just gets slower and capricious, don't know why. However Win7 is a beauty, extremely stable, I felt XP ugly after that Artlike OS hehe
By the way, would you mind guys with a GTS250 doing some benchmarks with the games you have when you change drivers? I usually bench with Far Cry 2 and Trackmania Forever.. FC2 has only got fps drops since 182.50 for me in vista.. But I've heared that FC2 bench is bugged, don't remember where.. I just want to know what benefits does it bring to you since your machines have to be all diferent
jers
September 2, 2009 1:52:57 PM
Kithzaru
September 2, 2009 4:14:14 PM
jers, yeah i'm the same way, i like to do a clean install at least once a year, just deciding which way to go this year 8)
Unfortunately i don't have any newer games to really bench for you... no CoD, no Crysis, no Far Cry 2... only thing that i think is even installed on the machine with the 250gts is dungeon keeper 2 and WoW lol
Unfortunately i don't have any newer games to really bench for you... no CoD, no Crysis, no Far Cry 2... only thing that i think is even installed on the machine with the 250gts is dungeon keeper 2 and WoW lol
Kithzaru
September 2, 2009 10:18:46 PM
Is your GPU OC'd at all, OvrClkr?
Here is mine, this is with XPSP3 and the older 186.16 (or was it 186.86..) drivers.
Big difference in the SM2 and 3 score (which is why i asked if the GPU is OC'd or not...) though, the difference could also partially come in because OvrClkr's CPU spanks the hell out of mine.
Here is mine, this is with XPSP3 and the older 186.16 (or was it 186.86..) drivers.
Big difference in the SM2 and 3 score (which is why i asked if the GPU is OC'd or not...) though, the difference could also partially come in because OvrClkr's CPU spanks the hell out of mine.
That GPU (BFG GTS 250) is the 1GB version and yes I did overclock the GPU quite a bit..... note: the reason why I got over 15k was due to my CPU @ 3.765Ghz......here are some more screenshots :
Here the GPU was NOT overclocked at all, but the CPU was @ 3.860 ......
![]()
![]()
Stressing the CPU @ 3.6Ghz for over 30min, temps never exceeded 38c at LOAD.....
![]()
My personal best score using a "dual core" and a GTX 260 slightly overclocked 655/1175 :
Here the GPU was NOT overclocked at all, but the CPU was @ 3.860 ......


Stressing the CPU @ 3.6Ghz for over 30min, temps never exceeded 38c at LOAD.....

My personal best score using a "dual core" and a GTX 260 slightly overclocked 655/1175 :
jers
September 3, 2009 2:28:24 PM
It has come to a funny change, now it is a bench thread
It's cool to see your results and OCs but I can't make much sense of them as it would be only seeing if your pc or mine is faster in this or that hahah
My original intention was to see if you had indeed performance advantages out of newer drivers. I remember when the 185 driver got out claiming a performance gain in both Crysis Warhead and FC2; that turner out to be a performance loss!
I wonder if these gains are because of a better cpu usage or something like that, so, comparing drivers in different machines would be sweet, like TOM's on our own
I'm running an E5200@3.8ghz and an EVGA GTS250 sc 512mb..
I have benched so many times FC2 that I can tell the results by heart lol
Fully maxed, exept shadows in very high, 1024x768 4xAA "Ranch Medium"
182.50 Vista
Min. 42
Max. 85~105 (I bench with vsync so it's a frame that always scapes)
Avg. 62
All newer drivers in win 7 give a lower minimum of 31~38 and Avg of 55~59 being 186.18 the most decent. I had high hopes in Win 7 as it beats Vista in some RAM and CPU tests and all the supposed performance optimizations.
I'd like you to inform me of tests on actual games with different drivers so we all may guess what's the progress they are making cause I don't see any except support for their new stuff like ION. whomever wants to join with any card is welcome so we have different results ^^,
It's like Tom's user based silly tests
No really, I'd like some serious tom's article on a plethora of drivers in current most popular cards!
It's cool to see your results and OCs but I can't make much sense of them as it would be only seeing if your pc or mine is faster in this or that hahah
My original intention was to see if you had indeed performance advantages out of newer drivers. I remember when the 185 driver got out claiming a performance gain in both Crysis Warhead and FC2; that turner out to be a performance loss!
I wonder if these gains are because of a better cpu usage or something like that, so, comparing drivers in different machines would be sweet, like TOM's on our own
I'm running an E5200@3.8ghz and an EVGA GTS250 sc 512mb..
I have benched so many times FC2 that I can tell the results by heart lol
Fully maxed, exept shadows in very high, 1024x768 4xAA "Ranch Medium"
182.50 Vista
Min. 42
Max. 85~105 (I bench with vsync so it's a frame that always scapes)
Avg. 62
All newer drivers in win 7 give a lower minimum of 31~38 and Avg of 55~59 being 186.18 the most decent. I had high hopes in Win 7 as it beats Vista in some RAM and CPU tests and all the supposed performance optimizations.
I'd like you to inform me of tests on actual games with different drivers so we all may guess what's the progress they are making cause I don't see any except support for their new stuff like ION. whomever wants to join with any card is welcome so we have different results ^^,
It's like Tom's user based silly tests
No really, I'd like some serious tom's article on a plethora of drivers in current most popular cards!
Well I was just showing the OP different screenies so he can get an idea of what numbers he can compare to using the latest drivers.
Do you bench with 3dmark06? If so try posting some screenies and driver info and we might be able compare our PC's performance-wise..... IMO the lastet Nvidia drivers will give you the best performance possible in win XP and Vista....Don't know about Win 7 since I do not use that OS as of yet (soon)....
Do you bench with 3dmark06? If so try posting some screenies and driver info and we might be able compare our PC's performance-wise..... IMO the lastet Nvidia drivers will give you the best performance possible in win XP and Vista....Don't know about Win 7 since I do not use that OS as of yet (soon)....
Kithzaru
September 3, 2009 7:07:01 PM
OvrClkr,
We both have (or had i guess now =P ) the GTS250 1gig,
No GPU OC, you hit
Sm2 = 7.2k
Sm3 = 7k
That was with the 190.xx drivers and XPSP3
I hit, with the same card,
Sm2: 5.2k
Sm3: 5.7k
With 186.xx drivers and XPSP3
That is a huge difference, but i would imagine there is more here going on than just drivers.... i mean, there would have to be..
We both have (or had i guess now =P ) the GTS250 1gig,
No GPU OC, you hit
Sm2 = 7.2k
Sm3 = 7k
That was with the 190.xx drivers and XPSP3
I hit, with the same card,
Sm2: 5.2k
Sm3: 5.7k
With 186.xx drivers and XPSP3
That is a huge difference, but i would imagine there is more here going on than just drivers.... i mean, there would have to be..
Yea I still have the card, its just in another PC ATM...
As far as the numbers go, I am thinking it has to do with the CPU just like you pointed out... If your mobo is AM3 compatible then you are in luck since all you have to do is upgrade the CPU....
Back in April I was using a Kuma 7750 and I was getting more or less the same numbers as you. Once I upgraded the CPU I saw a drastic improvement in overall performance... Not bad for a 99.99$ CPU....
As far as the numbers go, I am thinking it has to do with the CPU just like you pointed out... If your mobo is AM3 compatible then you are in luck since all you have to do is upgrade the CPU....
Back in April I was using a Kuma 7750 and I was getting more or less the same numbers as you. Once I upgraded the CPU I saw a drastic improvement in overall performance... Not bad for a 99.99$ CPU....
Kithzaru
September 3, 2009 10:24:40 PM
Yeah... sadly i'm stick with just an AM2 board (not even +). I've got a little money saved up but am waiting for the i3 and i5's to come out in hopes that the current stuff drops in price a bit. *shrug*
As always, thanks for the input man 8)
jers, i will try to remember to DL the latest drivers tonight and rerun 3dmark and get something up ^^
As always, thanks for the input man 8)
jers, i will try to remember to DL the latest drivers tonight and rerun 3dmark and get something up ^^
jers
September 4, 2009 3:10:11 PM
I don't use synthetic benchs but I see the dramatic perf difference for you!
Meanwhile I decided to give 190.62 another try since I changed win 7 rc for the RTM a day ago, the sensless performance drop of some old titles is gone, God knows what was happening there :S
Vsync is not working (never did in this driver for me) but the rest is just fine.
FC2 and TrackMania Nations Forever stayed the same as in 186.18.
And what motivated me trying... Darkest of Days Demo, coming out soon. The game has some physX that really put the card to work and 190's log says it's got improvements for the title, they are right
All maxed, AA 4x AF 16x PhysX medium settings
186.18:
38.4822 avg.
190.62
38.4977 avg.
Marginal gains, but there you go. They shut my mouth hahaha. Now, imagine what the PhysX in High will do to the system performance. Oddly enough AA settings didn't do much. Graphically, this'll be a normal game, but God those PhysX, what do they have to be so demanding?!
Meanwhile I decided to give 190.62 another try since I changed win 7 rc for the RTM a day ago, the sensless performance drop of some old titles is gone, God knows what was happening there :S
Vsync is not working (never did in this driver for me) but the rest is just fine.
FC2 and TrackMania Nations Forever stayed the same as in 186.18.
And what motivated me trying... Darkest of Days Demo, coming out soon. The game has some physX that really put the card to work and 190's log says it's got improvements for the title, they are right
All maxed, AA 4x AF 16x PhysX medium settings
186.18:
38.4822 avg.
190.62
38.4977 avg.
Marginal gains, but there you go. They shut my mouth hahaha. Now, imagine what the PhysX in High will do to the system performance. Oddly enough AA settings didn't do much. Graphically, this'll be a normal game, but God those PhysX, what do they have to be so demanding?!
Kithzaru
September 4, 2009 3:17:02 PM
Hey jers,
I downloaded the new 190.xx drivers last night and re-ran 3dmark06, i actually got slightly lower scores. I forgot to upload it to Photobucket but,
186.xx
sm2: 5.2k
sm3: 5.7k
190.xx
sm2: 4.9
sm3: 5.5
*shrug* this is on XPSP3. I could probably run the bench again today and get a different number. It's really close either way. I played WoW last night, can't say I noticed an increase or a decrease either way.
I downloaded the new 190.xx drivers last night and re-ran 3dmark06, i actually got slightly lower scores. I forgot to upload it to Photobucket but,
186.xx
sm2: 5.2k
sm3: 5.7k
190.xx
sm2: 4.9
sm3: 5.5
*shrug* this is on XPSP3. I could probably run the bench again today and get a different number. It's really close either way. I played WoW last night, can't say I noticed an increase or a decrease either way.
jers
September 4, 2009 3:48:57 PM
Hey back Kithzaru,
Thanks for testing, I'm downloading 3dmark06 and after that I'll get 190.62 drivers and compare it to whatever results 182.50 give. Nice finding, now I know it's not me alone whining at nvidia drivers while everybody get more performance out of their hardware month by month
I'll guys let you know when I get those results. For now in windows 7 186 and 190 have no big difference except that vsync is gone in 190s.
Thanks for testing, I'm downloading 3dmark06 and after that I'll get 190.62 drivers and compare it to whatever results 182.50 give. Nice finding, now I know it's not me alone whining at nvidia drivers while everybody get more performance out of their hardware month by month
I'll guys let you know when I get those results. For now in windows 7 186 and 190 have no big difference except that vsync is gone in 190s.
Kithzaru
September 4, 2009 3:55:51 PM
You're going to notice a bigger difference in games from going DX9.xc to 10+ more so than you would notice a difference going from driver 186- 190.
I used to have a 9600gt in my main machine, which i replaced, so i moved the 9600gt to my spare machine which i later put Win7 on and in the same games, at the same setting, the spare machine, with a lesser CPU, gets higher FPS' with the 9600 than my faster main machine did with the 9600.
Updating drivers is usually a good idea, i personally like to wait 2 weeks or so just in case there is an issue, but again usually a good idea 8)
i think you will enjoy the performance gains from Win7
Does anyone know why they took out the sidebar? I kind of liked it in Vista..
I used to have a 9600gt in my main machine, which i replaced, so i moved the 9600gt to my spare machine which i later put Win7 on and in the same games, at the same setting, the spare machine, with a lesser CPU, gets higher FPS' with the 9600 than my faster main machine did with the 9600.
Updating drivers is usually a good idea, i personally like to wait 2 weeks or so just in case there is an issue, but again usually a good idea 8)
i think you will enjoy the performance gains from Win7
Does anyone know why they took out the sidebar? I kind of liked it in Vista..
jers
September 4, 2009 4:19:31 PM
It's there, but just the gadgets, as it should always have been in my opinion.
If you actually check the taskmanager you will see sidebar.exe running if you have any gadgets.
Regarding DX9 and DX10, your are right; there is usually a big difference in performance -may I add the rest ^^,- that does not equate visual differences.
If you actually check the taskmanager you will see sidebar.exe running if you have any gadgets.
Regarding DX9 and DX10, your are right; there is usually a big difference in performance -may I add the rest ^^,- that does not equate visual differences.
Kithzaru
September 4, 2009 4:23:12 PM
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