ATI / Nvidia drivers & resources here:

[tarquel]

[Geoff inadvertantly gave me an idea by his post earlier - thanks lol]

Here we go:

-ATI-

- Official ATI Catalyst [unified] drivers [currently 8.12 - as of Dec 08]:

- XP: Desktop - Laptop
- Vista 32bit: Add-in - Integrated


- 3rd party mod tool - so you can update your laptop gfx card drivers (if they arent part of the approved list):

Mobility Modder - DriverHeaven.net

[havent tried this much newer version yet, though my laptop does require a clean XP install soon i think

There are pretty detailed instruction on the above page, and is possible on both XP and Vista, and even on good ol' 98]

- Omega Drivers for all ATI Radeon cards - both XP and Vista version available:

OmegaDrivers.net - Home of the ATI & NVIDIA Omega Drivers. ATI


-NVidia-

- Main Nvidia drivers download selector page:

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

- Nvidia GeForce Release [XP @ 177.41 - June 08] download pages:

GeForce Release 177 - Vista [32bit]
GeForce Release 177 - 2k/XP
Win 9x/ME - (81.98) - 9x/ME [why r u using this? ]

- Omega Drivers for all Nvidia Geforce [and supported] cards:

OmegaDrivers.net - Home of the ATI & NVIDIA Omega Drivers. NVIDIA

Any more links - pm or post [the post will be deleted after i add the links just so ya know ]

Regards
Nath

[ChrisH]

I have always had Nvidia cards since 3DFX took a nose dive just set in my ways I guess. I am currently using the 78.05 beta drivers with no issues at all as they have some specific fixes in them for the source engine.
Seems they have fixed the performance issues as well now on DoD:S as im now running 1600 X 1200 and most options on full as well as full HDR

[tarquel]

Nice one chris - what nvidia card you got out of interest?

or you the git with SLI? [waste o' cash really tho isnt it? :P :P :P]

Regards
N.

PS you want me to add 3DFX to the list? lol

[ChrisH]

Ive got two 7800 GTs . I just discovered last night they were not running at their full potential either as you can set special SLI profiles for games so I will investigate further tonight. Not something they make immediately obvious!
It is an expensive setup but it is worth it.

[E1uSiV3]

ATI make some awesome cards, as do nVidia, but nVidia can write drivers that actually work properly, so my vote goes to nVidia.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by E1uSiV3

ATI make some awesome cards, as do nVidia, but nVidia can write drivers that actually work properly, so my vote goes to nVidia.

Lies! Have you seen the god awful state of their Linux drivers?

[tarquel]

@Chris:

Thought it was 7800 GT's :P - was even gonna put it in my prev post lol

Cheers
N.

[E1uSiV3]

Originally Posted by Geoff

Lies! Have you seen the god awful state of their Linux drivers?

OK ill rephrase:

At least nVidia can write decent Windows drivers, i cant vouch for linux...

From past experiences, ATI drivers have been a pain in the arse to install, configure and have been unstable alot of the time on various windows platforms (9x, ME, 2000 + XP) Ive faced drivers doing poor hardware detection and refusing to install on correct chipsets, stating they are incorect drivers, system hangs after installs and general in game crashes caused by the ATI cards or drivers involved.

nVidia on the other hand ive had far less problems with in the past, their unified driver platform has never failed me yet, and i cannot recall a single in game crash caused by nVidia based hardware or drivers.

ATIs saving grace: i own an ATI X300 in my laptop, and its worked fine with a variety of games ive thrown at it, only thing that annoys me is the half dozen flickers when it changes screen modes and when power saving modes kick in.

[tarquel]

never had those problems with any ati card / system i've had/built/repaired.

Minus-ME that is - but who uses ME anyhow? (some poor saps I know lol :P)

N.

[tarquel]

[driver list updated - tarquel]

[Irazmus]

I've not had many problems with either ATI or NVidia cards or drivers, but I prefer NVidia as their drivers support more modes for dual screens. The only complaint I have with NVidia is the heat generated by the 8800. My record thus far, 75°C at full load, and from what I've read, thats normal 8O

[wagnerk]

Generally speaking I prefer Nvidia cards over ATi, however my current work laptop has the x1600 card from ATi and it runs various software titles smoothly.

-Ken

[Ryan]

This needs updating - current Catalyst version is 8.3 as of this post date.
linkypoo

[mac_shinobi]

I can't comment truely so don't go flaming me as this is only based on the fact that most of the graphics cards I have had were nvidia and I have only had a really old 8mb ati card and since that experience have always lent towards nvidia for graphics cards.

So for that reason and the fact that nvidia cards have worked for me seamlesly so far I am going with nvidia

[flyinghaggis]

Nvidia FTW

In fact I'm planning on NEVER buying an ATI/AMD card again in the near future at home or at work. This is because they left beta-testing code in the driver that broke all of the open-GL dependant apps (of which there were loads) at our school for users without admin rights, so everyone at work apart from IT!, and didn't fix the problem for at least 3-4 driver version updates nor did they ever admit to the error

That's unbelievably sloppy for a company the size of AMD and show's just how little testing/design they put into coding their drivers. In fact we still get all kinds of weird graphical glitches on the ATI cards such as black bars on the windows shutdown screen that aren't a problem on Nvidia or even intel onboard PCs. That and we've had problems with a lot of the older ATI chipset based cards in our school dying whereas we've never had a single failure in any NVidia based model. To top it off they try and bundle crapware (earthsim!) with their driver releases and I've had numerous issues with driver updates.

ATI/AMD Graphics cards (software drivers in particular) are complete and total rubbish IMO!

NVidia/Intel cards on the other hand quite simply just seem to work