Motherboard driver questions

[Oenone]

I have an MSI K8N Neo4 SLI (MS-7100) motherboard, and I'm considering
upgrading my motherboard drivers in an attempt to cure some freezing
problems in Half Life 2. I have a couple of questions, however:

1. How can I find which version of the nForce4 drivers I currently have
installed?

2. Which drivers should I be installing? On the nvidia web site I can see
drivers for both "nForce4 AMD" and also "nForce4 AMD/Intel X16", with no
explanation of the difference between the two. Which of these do I need?

TIA,

 

[Pen]

I have an MSI K8N Neo4 SLI (MS-7100) motherboard, and I'm considering
upgrading my motherboard drivers in an attempt to cure some freezing
problems in Half Life 2. I have a couple of questions, however:

1. How can I find which version of the nForce4 drivers I currently have
installed?

2. Which drivers should I be installing? On the nvidia web site I can see
drivers for both "nForce4 AMD" and also "nForce4 AMD/Intel X16", with no
explanation of the difference between the two. Which of these do I need?

TIA,

It would depend on the actual chip set that you have. Your
manual should tell you, or you could use a program such as Everest
to help you. Everest will tell you what your hardware is. However,
it's unlikely this will help a whole lot.

 

[kony]

I have an MSI K8N Neo4 SLI (MS-7100) motherboard, and I'm considering
upgrading my motherboard drivers in an attempt to cure some freezing
problems in Half Life 2. I have a couple of questions, however:

1. How can I find which version of the nForce4 drivers I currently have
installed?

The properties for the driver components, or look in your OS
root (C:\ , usually) for an nVidia folder and look inside-
that's where the newer forceware driver puts the
installation files.

Does it matter though? I mean, after you've downloaded the
current driver from nVidia.com, then add/removed the current
driver from control panel and rebooted, what did it matter
even if it's the same version? OK, I can see a scenario, if
the newer driver is worse the old would be reused again.

Also check on bios updates for your motherboard, and a
different driver for the video card. Generally it's good to
try the newest driver from nVidia.com, but some people
report better results from an older, 7x.xx series driver
than the newer 8x.xx series. Google will find these older
drivers, or many of them are available at
http://www.guru3d.com

2. Which drivers should I be installing? On the nvidia web site I can see
drivers for both "nForce4 AMD" and also "nForce4 AMD/Intel X16", with no
explanation of the difference between the two. Which of these do I need?

Use the latter if your board supports 16x PCI-E lanes when
in SLI instead of 8x. Assume your board does not unless
it's mentioned in the documentation.

 

[Oenone]

Does it matter though? I mean, after you've downloaded the
current driver from nVidia.com, then add/removed the current
driver from control panel and rebooted, what did it matter
even if it's the same version?

My reasonsing here is that if I already have the latest version (I can't
remember what I installed when I first got this PC) then I'd rather not go
through the pain of installing it all over again. I'd prefer to only install
it if it's actually a newer version.

Use the latter if your board supports 16x PCI-E lanes when
in SLI instead of 8x. Assume your board does not unless
it's mentioned in the documentation.

I've no idea off the top of my head, but I'm not using the system for SLI
and never will. I guess in this case the "nForce4 AMD" would be the right
one to go for, then?

Thanks,

 

[kony]

My reasonsing here is that if I already have the latest version (I can't
remember what I installed when I first got this PC) then I'd rather not go
through the pain of installing it all over again. I'd prefer to only install
it if it's actually a newer version.

"Pain"?
I don't think you're going to solve your problem, that's
about as painless as it gets.

It's possible that installing exact same driver as you
already had, has potential to fix a problem. This is not a
scenario where "do you feel like upgrading a driver", rather
it's a "doesn't matter what you consider a pain, it's an
attempt to fix the darn thing". Maybe it'd help, maybe it
wouldn't, but "pain" has no bearing on anything, either you
are going to do what is necessary to fix the problem or live
with it.... and you won't actually know what fixes it, until
you try a few things.

I've no idea off the top of my head, but I'm not using the system for SLI
and never will. I guess in this case the "nForce4 AMD" would be the right
one to go for, then?

I'm not going to answer that, it's a waste of time to tell
you anything.

 

[Oenone]

"Pain"?
I don't think you're going to solve your problem, that's
about as painless as it gets.

In an ideal world, yes. But I've been through enough mb driver installs to
know that it's something I'd prefer to do only as a last resort.

I'm not going to answer that, it's a waste of time to tell
you anything.

Well thanks for your hostility.

I can't see how you can possibly decide it's a waste of time telling me
things after only reading two posts from me. Regardless of what you think,
I'm just a cautious person who has been burned performing driver upgrades
enough times that I'm wary of doing it unless necessary.

I'm pleased that not everyone that participates in newsgroups is as quick to
judge as you.

 

[kony]

In an ideal world, yes. But I've been through enough mb driver installs to
know that it's something I'd prefer to do only as a last resort.


Well thanks for your hostility.

I can't see how you can possibly decide it's a waste of time telling me
things after only reading two posts from me.

It's quite simple, I'd already made two suggestions but you
seem to take an approach as if your preferences are somehow
relevant. Most people would prefer to snap their fingers
and have a PC magically fixed but more often, they end up
having to do things they don't prefer instead. After two
posts you are not trying much at all to fix your problem.
IF something someone suggests would've worked but you don't
"feel" like trying it, will you ever have a positive outcome
or just waste everyone's time?

Regardless of what you think,
I'm just a cautious person who has been burned performing driver upgrades
enough times that I'm wary of doing it unless necessary.

There's something horribly wrong if you can't uninstall a
driver from add/remove programs, reboot the system, and
reinstall it. Horribly wrong, product is defective enough
you should get a refund.

I'm pleased that not everyone that participates in newsgroups is as quick to
judge as you.

I'd glad that you're pleased.