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nVidia GeForce 7900 GS Driver Update
Hi Guys,
I'm looking for some advice on updating the driver for my nVidia GeForce 7900 GS card, so as to take advantage of Firefox 4's Hardware Acceleration.
My current driver is from sometime in 2007. I see on nVidia's site that the current (2011.01.18) 266.58 driver, lists my card as being supported.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-32bit-266.58-whql-driver.html
Will I be okay to go ahead and use this latest driver?
Would it put too much strain on, or be too advanced for my 7900 GS card?
Thanks.
JMICHAEL
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March 29th, 2011 15:00
There can always be driver issues, but it's not going to be too much or overheat your old card. It is my understanding that the 200 series drivers only have had benefits for the newer 400 and 500 series Nvidia cards. This is why I stay with driver 197.45 since it is the last known good driver before they came out with the 200 series. I don't have any issues with this driver and have no plans on updating to a knew one unless it's absolutely necessary for some software to work properly and so far that has not been the case. You can find this driver in the Nvidia archives for your card also.
Davet50
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March 28th, 2011 19:00
Nvidia drivers are OK to use with Dell cards..
Anonymous
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March 29th, 2011 12:00
Thanks for your help, Dave.
I understand that the Nvidia drivers are ok for Dell cards. My worry is that the latest driver available, although it lists my card as supported, might be too much for my old card, and possibly cause it to overheat, or worse.
What do you think?
Sorry for the noob questions, not really my area.
Anonymous
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March 30th, 2011 08:00
Thanks for your help, JMICHAEL.
Unfortunately for me 197.45 is one version shy of what I need. Firefox 4 requires NVIDIA card drivers to be version 257.21 or newer, in order for Hardware Acceleration to work.
I had briefly installed 266.58 some weeks ago and all seemed fine, but in the end I restored my system back to a previous image until I could get confirmation that long term use of this driver wouldn't harm my card.
If you think I should be okay, then that's good enough for me.
JMICHAEL
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March 30th, 2011 10:00
You will be OK with the new driver. Interesting about the new hardware acceleration with firefox 4. I might have to give that a try. It looks like a new WHQL driver will be out soon given the two betas out now and 266.58 going back to January.
Anonymous
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March 30th, 2011 13:00
Happy to hear I can go ahead with the update.
Thanks again for your help, JMICHAEL, very much appreciated.