Finding the best driver for my Ti-4200...

eamroh

... seems like an impossible task. Omega? DHzer0point? Extreme-G? Detonator 4X.XX? Newest Forceware? Everyone keeps telling me something different. I'd try it for myself but the card's GPU cooler is broken and I'm still waiting for its replacement to arrive.
What drivers are you (the other Ti-4200 owners of this board) using? Every recommendation is appreciated. Note: I'm mostly going to use the card for Half-Life 2 and FarCry. Thanks in advance!

TheAscension

I wouldn't know what to tell you. I'm still looking for the best drivers for my TI-4800. I've used Omega's and Zeropoint's, and the Zeropoints were a little better. However, my framerate in CS, and now sometimes in FarCry has gone down and it seems that it will never be the same again, even if I uninstall and go back to standard nVidia drivers....I've lost fps. (no, I did not enable the overclock feature)

Come to think of it now, It may be because I'm using Direct X 9. Where the TI cards were designed for Direct X 8. This could be a problem. Well, regardless, I think I have to use DX9 for FarCry anyway. I also did a memory upgrade, which I wouldnt think would kill my fps, but I guess anything is possible.

pr0digal jenius

"impossible task" is a bit drastic...it is the sort of thing only you can really tell. People all have different expectations from a driver, speed...IQ....'smoothness'....etc

I'd say stick to the Omega or DHZP drivers on that card, putting the "fast frame rate" crown on the omegas for that card, but the 'smoothness/IQ' with the zer0points

TheAscension

I've actually experienced the best frame rate with the DHZP's and not the Omega's. I also found to be interesting that if you use the FarCry optimizer in the install it seems to work the best for CS as well. I did one install with the CS Source optimizer and it seemed to worsen my fps than if I used the FarCry settings only.

Any comments on my setup Prodigal?? Could DX9 be causing my TI to struggle??

Raff_3DC

Well, take your pick:

Half-Life², Canals09-Timedemo

1024x768x32, no AA/AF:

71.24 => 45,8 fps
71.22 => 45,8 fps
71.20 => 45,8 fps
70.90 => 45,6 fps
70.41 => 45,6 fps
67.03 => 45,5 fps
66.93 => 45,5 fps
45.28 => 44,5 fps !
44.65 => 44,5 fps !
61.76 => 43,3 fps
56.72 => 40,0 fps
53.03 => 40,0 fps

! = missing water shader.

Call of Duty 1.0, Brecourt-Timedemo

1024x768x32, no AA/AF:

71.22 => 68,1 fps
71.20 => 68,1 fps
44.65 => 68,1 fps
71.24 => 68,0 fps
45.28 => 67,4 fps
67.03 => 67,2 fps
61.76 => 67,2 fps
66.93 => 67,1 fps
70.41 => 66,9 fps
56.72 => 65,4 fps
53.03 => 65,4 fps


UT2004, Primeval-Timedemo

1024x768x32, no AA/8xAF

71.24 => 16,1 fps
71.22 => 16,1 fps
70.41 => 16,1 fps
71.20 => 16,0 fps
70.90 => 16,0 fps
67.03 => 16,0 fps
66.93 => 16,0 fps
61.76 => 16,0 fps
56.72 => 16,0 fps
45.28 => 11,4 fps
53.03 => 11,3 fps
44.65 => 10,6 fps


1024x768x32, 4xAA/8xAF:

71.24 => 11,5 fps
71.22 => 11,5 fps
71.20 => 11,5 fps
70.90 => 11,5 fps
70.41 => 11,5 fps
61.76 => 9,9 fps
56.72 => 9,9 fps
67.03 => 8,9 fps
66.93 => 8,9 fps
45.28 => 7,3 fps
53.03 => 7,1 fps
44.65 => 6,8 fps

Tested with an GeForce4 Ti-4600 and AthlonXP system.

Quite obvious, I think.
In FaCry 1.3 the 71.20 produces some bad artifacts, so I'd recommend the 71.22 or - if you want to use something official - the 71.89 WHQL from the nVidia page. Should perform identically.

Greetings from Germany,
Raff

eamroh

Check your PMs, Raff.

swatX

really nice of you to do the benchmarks!

naamakala

yep thx raff u helped me a lot . thx!

GeneralClaymore

when i was using my ti4200 i used like the 44.72 drivers i think i dont remember but i was using older drivers with it.

toyomatt84

Holy freeholies! Great response Raff!! I wonder if you have some type of archive like that for all graphics cards?? That's flipping SWEET!!

freehoop

can anyone tell me what driver is the best for my ti4200 to play wow?

pr0digal jenius

either a 6x.xx series(the 69.xx was good)

or the newest 81.98, i think it is

lots of ones in between had fog and draw distance/shimmering issues

freehoop

thanks, but where can i download the 69.xx driver?? and which is the best performance one to play wow?

resonatorman

Here's the link to the full GF4Ti driver review (it's in German, but the pictures talk...):
http://www.3dcenter.de/artikel/gefor...ich/index2.php