RECOMMENDED Enhanced Drivers for your Video Card (ATI, nVIDIA, 3Dfx)

DDRRE · May 27, 2004

DNA Drivers (ATI only)

Guru3D.com
These are modified/hacked ATI Catalyst drivers. The drivers have been optimized with two things in mind, better Image Quality and more/stable frames per second when compared to the official Catalyst drivers from ATI. There now also is a 64-bit edition available.

DNA Drivers - Download from Guru3D.com
DNA Drivers info and download links - official post (use this to view the latest releases; The Guru3D.com link may not have the latest version)

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Omega Drivers (nVIDIA, ATI and 3Dfx)
Greetz: edhe for notifying me of the Omega Drivers.

Omega Drivers - Official Site
Omega drivers have been recommended by ATI!

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N.G.O Drivers (ATI only)

N.G.O - Official Site

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StarStorm Drivers (nVIDIA only)
Greetz: Raffi_B for notifying me of the StarStorm Drivers.

The official SandStorm forum - includes the latest releases
These (SandStorm's) drivers seem to be praised by many - try it first!

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A comparison round-up of all the ATI drivers:
**80% Translated (Google)**
I'd like to thank www.ggmania.com for updating gamer-related news daily, and for supplying this link.

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Swedix said:
Just a note if you decide to install non official Nvidia drivers.

If you have non official Nvidia drivers installed and decide to install any of the Nvidias official drivers later, you must make sure to uninstall and remove all of the files the non official drivers installed.

Many people have got in big trouble when they have tried to update to Forceware drivers by just trying to install over their previous drivers.

Mad Max RW · May 27, 2004

The Omega drivers are based on an older driver. For Nvidia owners I recommend the 60.85 forceware drivers. It's faster and fixes graphics corruptions, especially with games that use shaders.

Raffi_B · May 27, 2004

I use the Starstorm drivers.

They gave me a good (20+) increase in FPS, and they have plenty of new tweakable options.

You can get them at www.guru3d.com

BooGiTyBoY · May 27, 2004

Mad Max RW said:
The Omega drivers are based on an older driver. For Nvidia owners I recommend the 60.85 forceware drivers. It's faster and fixes graphics corruptions, especially with games that use shaders.

erm.. when I last checked the nVidia site the newest released forceware drivers were 56.72? It says the 60.85 are WHQL at Guru3D (thanx for the link by the way Raffi, that's a kick ass site!) so why aren't they on the nVidia site yet? Are they still considered Beta?

Stigmata · May 27, 2004

Mad Max RW said:
The Omega drivers are based on an older driver.

that's not true. Omega (for ATI) is based on the Catalyst 4.5, which is the most current. I just wanted to mention that for anyone who was thinking of getting the Omega driver but changed their mind because they thought the drivers were old. They aren't.

DDRRE · May 27, 2004

Stigmata said:
that's not true. Omega (for ATI) is based on the Catalyst 4.5, which is the most current. I just wanted to mention that for anyone who was thinking of getting the Omega driver but changed their mind because they thought the drivers were old. They aren't.

1/2 correct. The nVIDIA drivers of Omega are old, not ATI's.

BooGiTyBoY · May 27, 2004

tried the forceware 60.85 drivers with no probs so far! Thanx Mad Max... I can actually run my 2k4 at 1024x768 now instead of 800x600 believe it or not! Woot!

TWD · May 27, 2004

When I get home I will test the different Nvidia drivers with my GeForce4 ti 4600 and tell you the numbers.

neilthecellist · May 27, 2004

Wait, is it possible to use the Omega drivers or the 60.85 driver for a Gainward FX5200 128 MB 8X AGP?

BooGiTyBoY · May 27, 2004

Well if this helps this was the list in the Guru forums for the supported chipsets and the 60.85 forceware drivers... I do see a few different FX 5200's in there...

NVIDIA_NV05.DEV_0028.1 = "NVIDIA RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro"
NVIDIA_NV05.DEV_002C.1 = "NVIDIA Vanta/Vanta LT"
NVIDIA_NV05.DEV_0029.1 = "NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV05.DEV_002D.1 = "NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro"
NVIDIA_NV10.DEV_0100.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 256"
NVIDIA_NV10.DEV_0101.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce DDR"
NVIDIA_NV10.DEV_0103.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro"
NVIDIA_NV11.DEV_0110.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400"
NVIDIA_NV11.DEV_0111.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200"
NVIDIA_NV11.DEV_0113.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX"
NVIDIA_CR11.DEV_01A0.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 Integrated GPU"
NVIDIA_NV15.DEV_0150.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro"
NVIDIA_NV15.DEV_0151.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti"
NVIDIA_NV15.DEV_0152.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV15.DEV_0153.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_0170.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 460"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_0171.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_0172.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_0173.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440-SE"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_0178.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 550 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV17.DEV_017A.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro NVS"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_0181.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_0182.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_0185.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_0188.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 580 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_018A.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro NVS with AGP8X"
NVIDIA_NV18.DEV_018B.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 380 XGL"
NVIDIA_CR17.DEV_01F0.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU"
NVIDIA_NV20.DEV_0200.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce3"
NVIDIA_NV20.DEV_0201.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200"
NVIDIA_NV20.DEV_0202.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500"
NVIDIA_NV20.DEV_0203.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro DCC"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_0250.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_0251.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_0253.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_0258.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_0259.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 750 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV25.DEV_025B.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 700 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV28.DEV_0280.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800"
NVIDIA_NV28.DEV_0281.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X"
NVIDIA_NV28.DEV_0282.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE"
NVIDIA_NV28.DEV_0288.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 980 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV28.DEV_0289.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro4 780 XGL"
NVIDIA_NV30.DEV_0301.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV30.DEV_0302.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800"
NVIDIA_NV30.DEV_0308.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 2000"
NVIDIA_NV30.DEV_0309.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000"
NVIDIA_NV31.DEV_0311.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV31.DEV_0312.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600"
NVIDIA_NV31.DEV_0314.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_0321.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_0322.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 "
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_0323.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200LE"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_0326.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_0327.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5100"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_032A.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro NVS 280 PCI"
NVIDIA_NV34.DEV_032B.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 500/600 PCI"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0330.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0331.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0332.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0333.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0334.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900ZT"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_0338.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000"
NVIDIA_NV35.DEV_033F.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 700"
NVIDIA_NV36.DEV_0341.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV36.DEV_0342.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700"
NVIDIA_NV36.DEV_0343.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE"
NVIDIA_NV36.DEV_0344.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700VE"
NVIDIA_NV36.DEV_034E.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100"
NVIDIA_NV40.DEV_0040.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra"
NVIDIA_NV40.DEV_0041.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 6800"
NVIDIA_NV40.DEV_004E.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00F8.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00F9.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra "
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00FA.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00FB.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00FC.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00FD.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro PCI-E Series"
NVIDIA_BR02.DEV_00FE.1 = "NVIDIA Quadro FX 1300"

DDRRE · May 27, 2004

LOL yeah, there's SE and LE.
SE = Sucky Edition,
LE = Lame Edition. :lol:

BuzWeaver · May 27, 2004

that's not true. Omega (for ATI) is based on the Catalyst 4.5, which is the most current. I just wanted to mention that for anyone who was thinking of getting the Omega driver but changed their mind because they thought the drivers were old. They aren't.

I had two concerns with Omega, one was that I get an XP warning that the software may not be compatible with XP and I can't find the advanced feature to adjust the Color, Gamma, Brightness.

[Ci]Mazza · May 27, 2004

That xp warning is just windows telling you that the driver has not been verified by ms, all it means is that the driver files have not been looked over by them.

I'm currently running the omegas and they have been fine for me, an improvement over the last set of cats i used :tup:

zynthetic · May 27, 2004

Now the big question is: Will this work on Mobile cards?
ie: Radeon7500M

DDRRE · May 27, 2004

zynthetic said:
Now the big question is: Will this work on Mobile cards?
ie: Radeon7500M

Yup.

TWD · May 27, 2004

I tried the sandstorm drivers. There is definatly a difference in the image quality, but there isn't much of a performance difference. I'm going back to the defaults.

SanitysEdge · May 27, 2004

How about we all post our graphics card, drives, and see if we see an improvement over the defualt ones (In fps)

Card: Radeon 9600
Drivers: Omega 4.4 Version (Too lazy to update :/)
Improvement: None.

Nemephosis · May 27, 2004

I use the 56.72 WHQL drivers, what can these Omegas and Sandstorms offer me over the drivers I use now?

BuzWeaver · May 27, 2004

That xp warning is just windows telling you that the driver has not been verified by ms, all it means is that the driver files have not been looked over by them.

I'm currently running the omegas and they have been fine for me, an improvement over the last set of cats i used

Thanks, I kind of figured but I'd still like to be able to adjust my Gamma, Contrast and Brightness though.

Swedix · May 27, 2004

These drivers are just orginal drivers with a lot of tweaks done.
Funny is, when Nvidia and ATI release tweaked drivers, they are accused for cheating to get higher scores in benchmarks.

You can do most of the tweaks yourself with 3rd party tools and the orginal drivers if you have the knowledge what to change.

**RECOMMENDED** Enhanced Drivers for your Video Card (ATI, nVIDIA, 3Dfx)

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RECOMMENDED Enhanced Drivers for your Video Card (ATI, nVIDIA, 3Dfx)