I have been using Nvidia GPUs for about 7 Years. and because I trusted the company, I also purchased motherboards with nforce chipsets.
I am a gamer, but for the first time I need to use my vivo output (GeForce 7600GT) and spent (literally) 5 hours trying to figure out why I couldn’t capture video; I never thought the problem would be the nvidia drivers.
I am using Windows vista 64bits, and finally realized that nvidia never released vista WDM drivers. (I am assuming they won’t release them now, after almost 4 years)
The thing is; with Windows 7 just around the corner, I can’t trust nvidia for supporting their own products! If they never released drivers for the “actual†OS (actual because Windows XP is now discontinued) how can I expect them to continue supporting their products for Windows 7.
I need to buy a new PC, what should I do? Buy nvidia and take the risk that they won’t support their products for Vista or Windows 7? I have no idea. Maybe they will, but “maybe†is not a certainty.
I know it’s just a part of the product that doesn’t work but that’s no excuse. Maybe tomorrow they won’t support some other thing. Buying a product that is only half functional is not something I’d like to do.
Should I buy nvidia products for my new gaming rig? Maybe not.
I have a laptop that’s only a few years old that has integrated intel graphics. I installed the Windows 7 beta on it only to find that Intel never released (and is never planning to release) WDDM drivers for it.
If you read up on the differences between XPDM and WDDM, you’ll see that some of the requirements for WDDM aren’t supported by older GPUs, so they might not be able to make new drivers for it even if they wanted to.
Also, if you bought a new PC, why wouldn’t it support Vista or Windows 7? Anything that is new will almost surely support WDDM. In fact, there is a new software rendering technology coming out with Windows 7 that will essentially ‘upgrade’ older DirectX 9-capable devices to be DirectX 10-capable through some software translation. Which means that the 8800GT I bought a few years ago will be perfectly fine for at least another year or two, at which point I probably would understand if nVidia stopped releasing new drivers for it (as long as the old ones were still available).
I’ve been doing the same thing… until nVidia decided to not develop a chipset for the i7. Now I’m stuck with my second, hot, power-hungry and expensive X58. The first one died within a month. I still use thir GPUs though.
I’m a gamer, computer builder, programmer, and CUDA developer.
Nvidia stopped releasing drivers for the GeForce 7000 a bit under 4 years ago. I’m not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with the, what was its name? Aaah, the 8800 launch, that’s it!
I used to own a pair of 6800s. I could find Vista 64 drivers almost two years before the release of the Vista beta (What was that about no Vista divers?). By the time Vista came out, I was able to game in SLI with the same performance as in XP. And nVidia kept releasing driver updates that also fixed issues with my 6800s even afterwards. I can’t say such nice things about [major competitor].
Have you even tried Windows 7? No.
Vista drivers are 100% compatible with Windows 7. And if you were to do even do a driver search, you’d see that nVidia already has Windows 7 drivers. So please, think before you post.
Get a pair of 9800GTs, or G200s. They work beautifully under Vista, and Windows 7. I have tested my 9800s with Windows 7 beta, and the Vista drivers installed out of the box.
The “maybe” in “you are just ignorantly whining about a minor issue” is indeed a certainty.
You can’t bash the entire nVidia line because one feature you are trying to use doesn’t work as you’d like. Judging from your attitude, you never had or used an ATI card. If you think ATI is the all-in-one answer to all your nVidia problems, good luck!
I can go on for hours., describing all the bad ATI experiences, but I think a summary will do:
How are ATI cards like buses? They’re big, red, hot, noisy, slow, and under the influence of shi*ty drivers.
If that’s what you want, then no, you should not buy nVidia. nVidia only makes the highest quality products, and has the most innovative(and original) technologies.
BTW, this is not the forum to post this. Again my friend: think before you post.
I understand your frustration. I wasted three years working with Windows XP Pro x64 trying to setup a multimedia computer. Two TV cards and some investment in video software later without success. I even had to go to ‘open source software’ just to watch TV.
However, my experience with Windows 7 Beta x64 should ease your concerns. Windows 7 setup my TV card with ease and Windows Media Center (included) displayed my TV channels and recorded video (even timed recording) in a way that finally achieved my goal of a TV computer. This custom computer uses the nForce4 ultra motherboard chipset and GeForce 7300GS PCIe video card, so I can’t vouch for any Nvidia TV enabled cards, but I have had no difficulty finding 64 bit drivers. (Understand this is still beta and not a complete solution as I have not been able to save recorded video to DVD yet.)
Although way out of my price range, a quad core processor and Nvidia graphics should make an awesome foundation for gaming and multimedia.