AGP drivers, video drivers, DirectX - confused

[bobby]

I have reinstalled WinXP on my machine. I have a GeForce 4 Ti4200 videocard
and have downloaded the latest videodrivers from the suppliers (Asus)
website. I have also installed the latest DirectX version (9.0)

But then I have also spotted an AGP video driver installation that came with
the mobo. Should I install this as well?

I am well confused of the roles of AGP drivers, DirectX and video drivers.
Can someone clear the fog a little please?

 

[JT]

I have reinstalled WinXP on my machine. I have a GeForce 4 Ti4200 videocard
and have downloaded the latest videodrivers from the suppliers (Asus)
website. I have also installed the latest DirectX version (9.0)

But then I have also spotted an AGP video driver installation that came with
the mobo. Should I install this as well?

I am well confused of the roles of AGP drivers, DirectX and video drivers.
Can someone clear the fog a little please?

Depends on the chipset. What motherboard/chipset do you have.

Motherboard drivers: optimize the onboard chipset for data transfer between
cpu and the AGP slot. Not always needed as WinXP has built in, generic
drivers and sometimes chipset specific drivers for this function.

Video card drivers: needed to properly run the actual video card. Sets up
onboard registers, interfaces to the 3d processing functions of the card,
etc.. Windows has some built in but the manufacturers drivers are normally
needed for best stability and performance.

Direct X : an interface layer between Games and other grapical programs and
the lower level Video card drivers. On cards with directX 9.0 support, most
calls to directx can be passed on to the video card drivers with little or
no processing. In older cards without directX9.0, the newer functions have
to be Simulated by subroutines instead of letting the video card process
them.

JT

 

[DaveW]

AGP drivers tell the motherboard's AGP circuitry what to do.
Video drivers tell the graphics card what to do.
DirectX drivers tell the video card how to relate to the software being used
in DirectX applications.

Hope this simple explanation helps.

 

[bobby]

Short and straight to the point. Thanks!

AGP drivers tell the motherboard's AGP circuitry what to do.
Video drivers tell the graphics card what to do.
DirectX drivers tell the video card how to relate to the software being used
in DirectX applications.

Hope this simple explanation helps.