Should I download nVidia's 81.85?

[Bast]

I have that on my current GeForce 440 card. But tonight I'm getting a new computer and a new card: GeForce 6800 Ultra. Should I play the game and see how it goes or should I just get the latest driver before I even install?

People with 6800 cards, please help me!

 

[zsc]

I have the 6600, just upgraded from FX5200. Prior to the upgrade, I installed 81.85, then after putting the 6600 in, I had to do it again to get everything to work correctly (in Windows).

 

[Underseer]

I always use the latest video driver out of pure paranoia unless there's a known incompatibility with one of my games.

 

[Sorceresss]

tonight I'm getting a new computer and a new card: GeForce 6800 Ultra. Should I play the game and see how it goes or should I just get the latest driver before I even install? [...]

On the whole forum, some people have complained about the October-released 81.85 drivers, but other gamers (such as I) have not had any problem with the 81.85.

If I were you, I would try to play the game first, with the drivers that come with your new card. Based on the testimony of those who have had problems with the 81.85, you would be taking a chance by installing those October-released drivers beforehand.

Some posters very recently reported that the 81.87 drivers are available : why take the risk of trying them out if one's older drivers work with Civ IV?

It is not because drivers are more recent that it automatically means that they will produce better results for each and every piece of software : in fact, it is not rare that the very latest drivers introduce new problems for certain games...while fixing problems for other games.

 

[Omegamerc]

Civ 4 works 'out of the box' on my 6800GT w/those drivers, civ 4 also works 'after fighting with it for 2 weeks' on my 7800GT w/those drivers.

 

[Bast]

Thanks guys, I've got new computer. I'll install it without the new drivers then.

 

[Sadan01]

Bast, I would try it with the manufacturers drivers first if you need other drivers (if they have them available) even they they are still something like 71.89 etc.

If you have problems (blue screen of death, graphics corruption etc), then try the nVidia reference drivers. I had a lot of problems with mine (it is only a Ti4600 - soon to build a new machine with a 7800GTX in it) with the nVidia ref drivers until I put the ASUS drivers on. Since then, I've never had a crash.

 

[StreetX]

The best thing is to delete first your old graph card driver. Install the new graphic card. Than install the latest nVIDIA drivers, (you could try the manufacter driver what sadan said but the nvidia drivers are newer and better) Newer doesn't always mean better but in this case it means better.

 

[Sorceresss]

[...] install the latest nVIDIA drivers, (you could try the manufacter driver what sadan said but the nvidia drivers are newer and better) Newer doesn't always mean better but in this case it means better.

It depends on what you mean by "better". Your personal opinion contradicts the testimony of some gamers, on the whole forum, who have had problems with the newer drivers (81.85) and who have ceased to experience some of them when they went back to older versions of the nVidia reference drivers (or, as it is the case with "sadan", to the videocard manufacturer's drivers). EDIT : Read Arkeide's post, immediately below.

Consequently, "better" might have (in some individual cases) at least one exception : when playing Civ IV. And since this is a forum on Civ IV...

81.85 work perfectly for me, but no one can guarantee that those "better" drivers will perform well for everybody. You have to experiment, with caution : as StreetX has recommended, it is safer to first uninstall the previous drivers before installing any other drivers.

 

[Arkeide]

Indeed, you can try all the drivers until you get something playable. That's what I've done.
Before installing Civs4, i installed 81.85 as everyone said it was NECESSARY to install the new drivers. And i trust them of course.
Then i played a bit, and at the middle of my 1rst game, i got CTP each 3 turns. Frustating...
So i looked in this forum, and i saw that people talked about a new BETA driver 81.87. I tried it but it was no better...
Then I saw a topic talking of manufacter drivers that were older then 81.85. I did't try to find my manufacter drivers but insted i looked into the nvidia drivers archives section.
I installed 77.19 (something like that) : as it's an older version, the installation is slower (need to desinstall completely the previous driver). But it was better : no more CTP, but instead movies don't work or crash the game...
Then I tested 77.77 : miracle!!! No more CTP and movies works (slowly but i had this problem already). I have still some problems sometimes, but it's now playable.
Conclusion: Newer is NOT ALWAYS better. Some people needs to find the driver that is the best for their system...

 

[Sorceresss]

Before installing Civs4, i installed 81.85 as everyone said it was NECESSARY to install the new drivers. And i trust them of course.
Then i played a bit, and at the middle of my 1rst game, i got CTP each 3 turns. [...] Then I tested 77.77 : miracle!!! No more CTP and movies works (slowly but i had this problem already). I have still some problems sometimes, but it's now playable. Conclusion: Newer is NOT ALWAYS better. Some people needs to find the driver that is the best for their system.

Yes, I think you are right...but in my case, 77.77 created problems in some World of WarCraft dungeons...whereas 81.85 have created NO problems whatsoever in Civ IV. Go figure : it is a puzzling mystery.

 

[Bast]

Got the new computer and saw that it came with 77.50. I decided to keep that and not upgrade and installed and played Civ IV. BEAUTIFUL! Everything is perfect.

 

[Sorceresss]

Got the new computer and saw that it came with 77.50. I decided to keep that and not upgrade and installed and played Civ IV. BEAUTIFUL! Everything is perfect.

Great! Lucky you. Stick with your 77.50 for awhile.

 

[catorulz]

I just got a new system with an AMD 3800 X2, 1GB RAM and a 6600GT card. I installed the 81.85 drivers without having ever installed any previous versions and the game runs great. No error messages, skipping movies and I see hammers and coins on the terrain instead of that nasty single piece of bread only.

The game is much more enjoyable above 0.2 frames per second