Question about dell xps 730x

Also may i asked when dell updates report for shipping online it said it would be shipped Firday and it got delayed but when i check it still saying Friday but i just hope i get it next week for sure.

I should download the latest nvidia drivers for my 2 gtx 285's though right after i do important windows ones like sp2 since the driver updates for cards increase fps alot  with some updates i noticed that on my old gt 9800

No PC I have ever bought, no matter how new was not up to date.

For one I think Dell is still offering Vista with SP1, and SP2 is already out.

PLUS, I always prefer to do a clean install and get rid of all the frrebie extras.

* ChrisM from Dell Forums used to have a post up about steps to startup and use and update a fresh PC... I could not find the link anymore ... basically it goes like this:

• Plug in only Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor and start up the PC
• Go through the steps, until you get to the desktop, do not allow auto update for the OS
• once all is running, Reboot (first reboot of many)
• When you are back up, go to Windows Update
• Install ONLY the urgent/important updates and reboot whether it asks you to or not
• Repeat updates until you run out of important ones and reboot after every update even if you are not asked to
• Now run the recommended updates and reboot again
• Use the PC and make sure all is good.
• Now you can install your software; one at a time and reboot after each app
• last install and update your peripherals like printer, scanner, cameras, ect.  One at a time and reboot
• Last step ... there is none, happy computing now!

Good luck with your machine.

PS ... do not install any optional drivers and software updates from Microsoft update, for those go to the manufacturer site or Dell support site.

Peace

PS ... do not install any optional drivers and software updates from Microsoft update, for those go to the manufacturer site or Dell support site.

That is the WORST advice you could give users on this forum.  I don't rely on Dell for ANY drivers other than my BIOS and chipset, and I suggest others do the same.  Why?  Because it's the norm for Dell to be several releases BEHIND on driver releases.  A perfect example of this is the official driver release for the GTX 285 on the Dell downloads and support page.  Dell still has the 181.30 driver release, and there has been 4 releases from NVIDIA, 2 being WHQL and the other 2 being BETA.  I have installed them all and they ALL work perfect in gaming and desktop applications.  I am currently using the BETA release of the NVIDIA 190.38 GTX 285 driver for Windows 7 x64 BETA and it works PERFECT.

Another example is the Realtek driver. Dell still has the driver release from November 17, 2008 and Realtek has released a new update within the past couple of months.

I should download the latest nvidia drivers for my 2 gtx 285's though right after i do important windows ones like sp2 since the driver updates for cards increase fps alot  with some updates i noticed that on my old gt 9800

Download the Windows updates first, and reboot when you're prompted.  After you've installed all of the Windows OS updates, THEN download and install the optional updates that you have listed.  Is it safe?  Certainly.  I've done it from DAY ONE and never had any problems whatsoever.  ALWAYS get your video card drivers from the NVIDIA website as it's much more reliable and trustworthy than the Dell supplied driver.  This goes for drivers with anything else as I stated above, with the exception of your BIOS and chipset driver.

Update all of your drivers and download all updates for Windows BEFORE installing any 3rd party software such as games, AUTOCAD, etc.

That is the WORST advice you could give users on this forum.
* I disagree. Other than the video card, you will not see a "performance" increase running newer drivers for any other Dell hardware component. That is why I would not allow windows to just update my drivers automatically and why I would also recommend staying with our drivers tailored for our PCs. Plus, our hardware is OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and sometimes running the retail driver can cause issues.

My pet peeve about Dell drivers and update.microsoft.com is the annoying way that the Dell Photo 922/924/926 inkjet printers always show up as needing "drivers" even if the most recent Dell drivers are installed. I always click "ignore" when in update.microsoft.com for ANY hardware driver. The few times that I have succumbed to my own stupidity/curiosity and allowed a driver update to install from update.microsoft.com I had incredible high failure rates (almost 50%).

The reality is that one can spend a lot of time endlessly chasing drivers on vendor web sites. An then a few weeks later, the vendor relentlessly releases yet another driver with some microscopic change that usually doesn't have any impact on most users of the hardware. Generally speaking, it seems that Dell is doing its customers a big favor by not going along with the vendors' endless/relentless driver update madness.

Understood. I was just saying that concerning drivers, I only update them to address a specific issue I might be having. I do use the retail ones but only after ours have failed.

our hardware is OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and sometimes running the retail driver can cause issues.

I have yet to experience a single issue from downloading drivers directly from the equipment manufacturer.  I mean no disrespect toward you, Chris, when I say this but I'll trust Creative, NVIDIA, and the other hardware vendors before I'll ever trust Dell.  The Dell tech support, not speaking of this forum, has proven to be somewhat less than stellar.