nVidia drivers and CUP usage, warning

[Al Smith]

I'm still fine-tuning my recent install of Windows XP Pro. I
thought I'd upgrade the video driver from the one installed by the
Windows CD, so I downloaded and installed the nVidia driver 61.77.
Before the install I got a warning that it hadn't been certified
for Windows XP, but I figured, what the hell, nVidia isn't going
to release a driver that won't work with XP. That would be crazy.
So I installed it anyway.

My CPU usage went from around 5% to over 65%. Everything slowed
down. I noticed it most typing my newsgroup messages. There was a
slight but noticeable pause between *each* character I typed.

So, I uninstalled the nVidia driver, and used the Hardware Install
wizard to locate the correct driver over the Internet on the
Microsoft site, and my CPU usage dropped back down to 5%. I wanted
to mention the problem here, in case anyone else who has upgraded
their nVidia driver has run into CPU usage issues.

 

[Dick Kistler]

I'm still fine-tuning my recent install of Windows XP Pro. I thought I'd
upgrade the video driver from the one installed by the Windows CD, so I
downloaded and installed the nVidia driver 61.77. Before the install I got
a warning that it hadn't been certified for Windows XP, but I figured,
what the hell, nVidia isn't going to release a driver that won't work with
XP. That would be crazy. So I installed it anyway.

My CPU usage went from around 5% to over 65%. Everything slowed down. I
noticed it most typing my newsgroup messages. There was a slight but
noticeable pause between *each* character I typed.

So, I uninstalled the nVidia driver, and used the Hardware Install wizard
to locate the correct driver over the Internet on the Microsoft site, and
my CPU usage dropped back down to 5%. I wanted to mention the problem
here, in case anyone else who has upgraded their nVidia driver has run
into CPU usage issues.

Not a big surprise. Look at nVidia newsgroups. NVidia has
had good and bad drivers. They also tend to release the drivers before
they are fully tested by Microsoft. Depends on which video card
you have too.

Dick Kistler

 

[Lambert]

I'm still fine-tuning my recent install of Windows XP Pro. I
thought I'd upgrade the video driver from the one installed by the
Windows CD, so I downloaded and installed the nVidia driver 61.77.
Before the install I got a warning that it hadn't been certified
for Windows XP, but I figured, what the hell, nVidia isn't going
to release a driver that won't work with XP. That would be crazy.
So I installed it anyway.

My CPU usage went from around 5% to over 65%. Everything slowed
down. I noticed it most typing my newsgroup messages. There was a
slight but noticeable pause between *each* character I typed.

So, I uninstalled the nVidia driver, and used the Hardware Install
wizard to locate the correct driver over the Internet on the
Microsoft site, and my CPU usage dropped back down to 5%. I wanted
to mention the problem here, in case anyone else who has upgraded
their nVidia driver has run into CPU usage issues.

Windows update keeps telling me that there is a nVidia driver
update available (over 12 MB). I tried several times to install
this update, but it doesn't work. The update makes the installed
nVidia driver unusable and the system falls back to the standard
VGA driver.
Finally I upgraded the driver directly from the nVidia website
and it works fine. But Windows update keeps warning me that there
is an update available for the nVidia driver!
I didn't notice any difference in CPU usage.
Lambert

 

[Dick Kistler]

Windows update keeps telling me that there is a nVidia driver
update available (over 12 MB). I tried several times to install
this update, but it doesn't work. The update makes the installed
nVidia driver unusable and the system falls back to the standard
VGA driver.
Finally I upgraded the driver directly from the nVidia website
and it works fine. But Windows update keeps warning me that there
is an update available for the nVidia driver!
I didn't notice any difference in CPU usage.
Lambert

While some MS types would disagree, normally you get better drivers
from the manufacturer's website. I also have an NVidia driver from last
October on the
Windows Update site that wants to install. I just don't install it.
The driver I am using is not the latest NVidia driver, though, I like
to lag the bleeding edge a little. As time goes on, it appears that the
support for older video cards is not as good in the newer drivers, since
NVidia obviously concentrates on their newer cards. So at some point, unless
you upgrade your card, you may stop upgrading drivers. Monitoring newsgroups
like alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia will keep you up to date on
the NVidia drivers, how good they are overall, and what cards have problems.

Dick

 

[Mick Doherty]

What does MS Quality testing mean anyway? They didn't test the driver on my
system so they can't say how it will affect it.
I'm using the nVidia Driver from March of this year and I've had no trouble
at all with it. When I use the OLDER driver that MS Update reccomends I have
problems on a Monthly basis. At least now with service pack 2 I can hide
this driver from my updates.

 

[Dick Kistler]

"Mick Doherty"

What does MS Quality testing mean anyway? They didn't test the driver on
my system so they can't say how it will affect it.
I'm using the nVidia Driver from March of this year and I've had no
trouble at all with it. When I use the OLDER driver that MS Update
reccomends I have problems on a Monthly basis. At least now with service
pack 2 I can hide this driver from my updates.

They do something called regression testing and WHQL testing. I haven't
looked into what that means. I think that if such testing is passed,
Microsoft
"signs" the driver(probably with their normal guarantee). The little
experience
I have had with signed drivers is that some are good and some are not, just
like
unsigned drivers. I haven't noticed any obvious spike in driver quality
caused by signing.
But, as I said, I don't have much experience. I am sure we'll
have a post from someone with closer ties to Microsoft with a different
opinion.

NVidia drivers are usually not signed when they are released. Soon
afterwards,
they become signed. I don't know if there are changes in between, or if its
a case of how
long it takes to test the driver. I do know that if you have a driver that
works, you should
stick with it. If you get the urge to upgrade, be sure you can roll back.
NVidia driver quality
from release to release seems to be variable for a specific card,
particularly for older ones.
Therefore an older driver may be better, depending on your card.

All that being said, the nvidia group would be a better place for this
thread, the real
experts on NVidia drivers hang out there. Gamers are really interested in
things like
video card capabilities and driver capabilities, and they do real world
testing. Of course,
they are usually pretty opinionated.

Dick Kistler

 

[Al Smith]

Finally I upgraded the driver directly from the nVidia website

and it works fine. But Windows update keeps warning me that there
is an update available for the nVidia driver!
I didn't notice any difference in CPU usage.
Lambert

As another poster mentioned, the problem probably only pops up
with certain video cards and certain driver versions. I have seen
discussions about the problem on the Net, though.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Windows update keeps telling me that there is a nVidia driver
update available (over 12 MB). I tried several times to install
this update, but it doesn't work. The update makes the installed
nVidia driver unusable and the system falls back to the standard
VGA driver.

I strongly recommend that you do *not* install drivers, and especially
video ones, that appear on Windows Update. By the time they have made
there way through Microsoft's labs they can be way out of date - get the
latest one from the maker,
(http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp in this case) which
may in fact correct errors in that Update one