nVidia's not so "Unified" Driver Support

[Mastertech]

Popular Technology.net (http://www.populartechnology.net/) has posted this story about nVidia's not so "Unified" Driver Support

This news is six months old but for various reasons is still not widely known. nVidia dropped "Unified" driver support in Windows XP/2000 for certain GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), starting with driver v77.72. This is not the first time they have done this with their "Unified" driver architecture but it is significant in its disparity. The irony is the lack of "Unification".

nVidia Unified Driver Architecture
"The NVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) is the foundation for the company's award-winning ForceWare drivers and delivers forward-and-backward compatibility across all implementations of NVIDIA desktop, workstation, mobile, platform, and multimedia processors. With a single driver, UDA delivers ongoing performance and feature improvements, reduced maintenance time, increased scalability, and a lower total cost of ownership.

ForceWare software supports the entire line of TNT2 processors, the GeForce consumer line of GPUs, the NVIDIA nForce platform processors, the NVIDIA Quadro line of professional GPUs, as well as the full line of NVIDIA mobile processors."

This is clearly not the case as you will see below....

[JediSanf]

These commercial cards seem old enough that I would be surprised at any newish game running at all on them, and it's my understanding that companies using professional cards always keep them up to date. I understand the "unified" is a bit hypocritical but I guess I'm asking what's significant about Popular Tech's discovery?

[UnderHero5]

Oh no... the article goes on to say they dropped support for the following...

TNT2
TNT2 Pro
TNT2 Ultra
TNT2 Model 64 (M64)
TNT2 Model 64 (M64) Pro
Vanta
Vanta LT
GeForce 256
GeForce DDR
GeForce2 GTS
GeForce2 Pro
GeForce2 Ti
GeForce2 Ultra
GeForce2 MX Integrated graphics
Quadro
Quadro2 Pro
Quadro2 EX

Then it goes on to say
"It is highly recommended that anyone running a non supported GPU should seriously consider upgrading as current driver support is essential for compatibility with newer games. While the GeForce 2 MX series is still supported, performance in almost all of the latest games is unacceptable."

Okay, I just have to point this out... They're saying you should upgrade because "as current driver support is essential for compatibility with newer games. "... Is there seriously anyone out there who things that the lack of DRIVER SUPPORT is the reason their TNT2 or GeForce 2 isn't running their games good??

Come on now. Do people honestly expect Nvidia to still make new drivers for 5 year old graphics cards?? And do they honestly think new drivers are going to make CoD2 run good on their TnT2's??

This article is stupid. Regardless of whether Nvidia calls it UDA. Who freaking cares. If you're using a TNT2 or GeForce 2 and trying to play new games with it, stop. Just stop.

[markster3000]

Wow, if all it takes is a driver update to make a TNT2 play modern games, I'm heading out to local surplus store right now! I've got a K6-266 right here that needs a 3D card!

[TrackZero]

I wonder what happens if you try to upgrade your drivers on a Geforce 2 card now, I assume just some form of error message?

[Mastertech]

Well the GF2 Tis came out in 2001. It will run everything that came out last year, not blazingly fast mind you but it will work and much better then the still supported GF2 MX cards. I guess the point is nVidia still support the GF2 MX line and doesn't tell you when they will dump support or why.

[FunkyPoopMonkey]

Indeed, this article is bullcrap. I have a geforce 2 mx in my old computer, primarily for desktop display only. But back in the day, that card hit it's peak at about Max Payne 1. I'm not ganna be a dumbass and expect it to play anything more advanced then that. And I won't expect nVidia to magically allow it to do so.

[Banacek]

Those bastards! I bet they secretly got rid of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 support as well!

[Mastertech]

The GF2 Ti cards were twice as fast as the GF2 MX ones. When Win3.11 was out they didn't even have 2MB video cards. :D

[TalkingOctopus]

This seems reasonable to me. It is generally hard to maintain backwards compatibility, and the cards they dropped haven't been able to run the latest game for a long time.

However, I'm still using a geforce 3 :(.

[The Iron Weasel]

I love my card. Nuff said.

[KhitomerRouge]

Aren't most of these cards 5+ years old? Plus, it's not like they're not being supported, since they work with 71.84. The recent ForceWare drivers are just optimizing features available on newer (i.e. DX9) cards.

[sabrewolf]

Anyone with Geforce 6600 working fine with the latest forceware driver. Ever since 71.89 I can never play movie using media player or any other programs. Looking at Nvidia forum I am not the only one with these problem but so far no response from nvidia other than Geforce 6800 works just fine so tough luck.

[Montgomery_Python]

Use zoomplayer.

[baz]

So the drivers are still unified, they are just culling some of the old ones. Fair enough... nothing to see here, move along.

[Deadend]

has anyone been able to test this?

Maybe it's all the booze in me, but it seems more likely that some cards will no longer have updated drivers, but will still have their drivers on the patches. Or something.
A big deal of nothing, really.

[Mastertech]

You can't have a unified driver that does not support all the cards. It is not a unified driver anymore.

Maybe it's all the booze in me, but it seems more likely that some cards will no longer have updated drivers, but will still have their drivers on the patches. Or something.No they will no longer be supported with future driver releases.

[Cyotik]

Its still unified, just for the cards nVidia is still supporting. Big deal, so nVidia dropped support for useless old cards nobody sells anymore and now the people who are still using them aren't privy to patches that would have introduced no new features, funcionality or performance upgrades. I fail to see the issue here. Also, wow every single article on that site is negative and extremely opinionated.

[AspectVoid]

My guess as to why the GF2mx line is still supported is because it still has a large user base among people who don't play games due to its relative cheap cost back when it was released.

[eEK!]

Anyone with Geforce 6600 working fine with the latest forceware driver. Ever since 71.89 I can never play movie using media player or any other programs. Looking at Nvidia forum I am not the only one with these problem but so far no response from nvidia other than Geforce 6800 works just fine so tough luck.

I had that problem. I fixed it by deleting something from my registry so it would'nt try to preview the video. But I can't remember what I deleted. You might want to try the latest drivers before hacking off bits of your registry though.

[Nite_Moogle]

Does anyone really think that anybody who has one the cards that was dropped off the list has updated their drivers in the last year or so? I would be willing to bet that less than .1% of the drivers downloaded in the past 12 months have gone to this type of card, and those were probably done by people trying to salvage old machines. Not to mention that the newest versions of the drivers include very few improvements to the 6600 line much less the lines before it. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been 2 years or more since there were any sort of upgrades to the cards that are no longer supported. If it hacks a few megs off my driver download, I'm ok with those cards not having updated drivers anymore.

[Edwin]

I have a laptop with a PCIe 6600 that still isn't supported by nvidia drivers, and my laptop was released back in May.

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=5&l2=70&l3=0&model=609&modelmenu=1

[KhitomerRouge]

I think we should get this article edited to reflect that it only affects grossly out-of-date cards. The fact is, the cards are still supported, and that the newer drivers are for fixing issues with and optimizing functions for newer cards, ones that the old cards lack. Also, does the submitter have some sort of anti-nVidia hardon? He makes it sound like nVidia is misleading their customers, when in fact every recent driver release says the following: The following products are not supported in the current ForceWare Release 80 driver. Please continue to use the previous ForceWare Release 70 drivers available here.

TNT2
TNT2 Pro
TNT2 Ultra
TNT2 Model 64 (M64)
TNT2 Model 64 (M64) Pro
Vanta
Vanta LT
GeForce 256
GeForce DDR
GeForce2 GTS
GeForce2 Pro
GeForce2 Ti
GeForce2 Ultra
GeForce2 MX Integrated graphics
Quadro
Quadro2 Pro
Quadro2 EX

[Royal Fool]

Its still unified, just for the cards nVidia is still supporting. Big deal, so nVidia dropped support for useless old cards nobody sells anymore and now the people who are still using them aren't privy to patches that would have introduced no new features, funcionality or performance upgrades. I fail to see the issue here. Also, wow every single article on that site is negative and extremely opinionated.

Yep, that blog site is awful. The guy keeps hammering on his own flawed facts and spewing nonsense, even when people try and show him the error of his ways in the comments... what an ass.

[ÜberJumper]

I ran into this a couple weeks ago when I swapped in my GeForce 2 GTS 64MB card to troubleshoot a problem I was having with Civ4.

Lo and behold, I try and install the latest Forceware drivers, and they do not support the card. I got a message about being unable to find a driver for your hardware.

I looked in the INF file, and sure enough, the MX2 entries are there, but not support for my GeForce 2 GTS. I was majorly pissed.

Oh, and Nvidia, I played through the entirety of Half Life 2 (and it looked pretty damn good!) on my GeForce 2 GTS when my 6800 crapped out (not an nvidia problem I think). My GeForce 2 GTS is a good ole backup standbye.

I'll need it around until I no longer have an AGP slot in my motherboard, and that's not going to be happening for a long while.

[Taco]

Well at the very least they should split out 77.72 and link to them for older cards.

[Thenetcase]

The GF2 Ti cards were twice as fast as the GF2 MX ones. When Win3.11 was out they didn't even have 2MB video cards. :D

I actually owned a Cirus Logic video card for Win 3.1 and DOS 5.x+ that had 6MB of VRAM on it. :) It was the first card to also fully support both DirectX and OpenGL at the same time. I paid over $200 for it on an auction... that card was freakin' fasssssst.

-TNC-

[Thenetcase]

I ran into this a couple weeks ago when I swapped in my GeForce 2 GTS 64MB card to troubleshoot a problem I was having with Civ4.

Lo and behold, I try and install the latest Forceware drivers, and they do not support the card. I got a message about being unable to find a driver for your hardware.

I looked in the INF file, and sure enough, the MX2 entries are there, but not support for my GeForce 2 GTS. I was majorly pissed.

Oh, and Nvidia, I played through the entirety of Half Life 2 (and it looked pretty damn good!) on my GeForce 2 GTS when my 6800 crapped out (not an nvidia problem I think). My GeForce 2 GTS is a good ole backup standbye.

I'll need it around until I no longer have an AGP slot in my motherboard, and that's not going to be happening for a long while.

If you're upgrading your PC anytime in the next year, you will be losing AGP And getting PCI-Express.

The Gf2 series cards are *crap*. If you want a decent card, spend the $40 and get a decent backup off eBay.

-TNC-

[XenonCJ]

If they don't, nVidia SHOULD announce "End of Life" dates for thier cards... Kinda like Microsoft does with thier OSs... http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex

[51|RandoM]

hahaah, this is funny. must've been a slow news day for somebody to come up with this tempest in a tea cup.

Guess what? The driver is 'unified' for all shipping product. Nvidia isn't exactly making millions of tnt2 cores as we speak.

Long story short, if you have one of these cards, it isn't your *driver* you should be upgrading. :-)

[XenonCJ]

hahaah, this is funny. must've been a slow news day for somebody to come up with this tempest in a tea cup.

Guess what? The driver is 'unified' for all shipping product. Nvidia isn't exactly making millions of tnt2 cores as we speak.

Long story short, if you have one of these cards, it isn't your *driver* you should be upgrading. :-)Well said for gamers... However, enterprise corporate users can be hurt by this kind of thing if you have a some kind of bundled release package script that goes out and updates all of the workstations in your envriionment...

[nonchalance]

Anyone with Geforce 6600 working fine with the latest forceware driver. Ever since 71.89 I can never play movie using media player or any other programs. Looking at Nvidia forum I am not the only one with these problem but so far no response from nvidia other than Geforce 6800 works just fine so tough luck.

I'm using 71.89 for my 6600, because I get that problem with anything released since then.
It also fucks over quite a few games, including Dawn of War and Vampire Bloodlines.

[netcraazzy]

I've always considered Nvidia's driver support to be some of the best, if not THE best in the entire PC industry. It has always amazed me that I can still get a NEW driver for my old POS geforce card from their site. Other computer hardware I have of that vintage such as morhterboards do not have ANY driver support from the manufacturere, not even legacy support. This article is nothing more than somebody trying to find a problem where there is none. You don't need constantly updated drivers for your old gaming cards just one that supports your current OS. It's not like you are going to do any serious gaming on these cards any more. As long as they still provide legacy support for those cards they are still going above and beyond the industry standard.

[Mastertech]

#1 you can't keep calling it a unified driver if it doesn't work with everything.
#2 they do need to announce end of life dates.

[Bubby]

I actually owned a Cirus Logic video card for Win 3.1 and DOS 5.x+ that had 6MB of VRAM on it. :) It was the first card to also fully support both DirectX and OpenGL at the same time. I paid over $200 for it on an auction... that card was freakin' fasssssst.

-TNC-

Directx for Windows 3.1? Something fishy here. There was no Directx until 1995. Opengl appeared in 1992 but I cant imagine what you could do with it on a windows machine until Win95 was released.

[netcraazzy]

#1 you can't keep calling it a unified driver if it doesn't work with everything.
#2 they do need to announce end of life dates.

It can still be a "unified" driver as it encompasses the driver code necessary for a wide range of cards but it is not a "universal" driver since it will not work with everything. Also, would you rather Nvidia simply terminated support for their oldest hardware since it is not practical to include them in their latest drivers? I think this approach makes much more sense.

[Mastertech]

Directx for Windows 3.1? Something fishy here. There was no Directx until 1995. Opengl appeared in 1992 but I cant imagine what you could do with it on a windows machine until Win95 was released.He was probably still running Windows 3.1 in 1995-1996, when Windows 95 was already out but yes Win 3.1 did not support DirectX or used OpenGL. The first significant game to use OpenGL was Quake in 1996 running on Windows 95. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

[ChumLord]

I have a laptop with a PCIe 6600 that still isn't supported by nvidia drivers, and my laptop was released back in May.

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=5&l2=70&l3=0&model=609&modelmenu=1
I was unaware that any laptops could use referance drivers whether they are Nvidia or ATI cards. If that's not the case, I'd love to know...

[ÜberJumper]

If you're upgrading your PC anytime in the next year, you will be losing AGP And getting PCI-Express.

The Gf2 series cards are *crap*. If you want a decent card, spend the $40 and get a decent backup off eBay.

-TNC-

Nope, next motherboard will be this one.

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050916/index.html

I spent 600+ (Canadian $) on my video card just a while ago. My 6800 will last another two years. It's an AGP 8x part.

Obviously the GeForce 2 cards don't cut the mustard anymore. But it does still work, and I will be putting it into my spare 1.2 Athlon when I hand this 2.26 P4 down to my wife (which will then get a Ti4200 put back into it).

I'm annoyed that nVidia still supports the 2mx (obviously because there's so many of them out there), yet they don't support a more powerful card in the 2 GTS 64MB card.

[Stormwatcher]

You SHOULDN'T install these drivers on older boards anyway, as they only introduce stuff for newer cards and most of the time end up making your machine slower. It's useless anyway. You should stick to a driver release that works well and not upgrade it.
I have a 6600gt AGP, and I already stopped upgrading, because most new releases only upgrade SLI stuff for 6800 and 7800 cards.

[Edwin]

I was unaware that any laptops could use referance drivers whether they are Nvidia or ATI cards. If that's not the case, I'd love to know...

You can, you just need to add the model number to a .ini. http://laptopvideo2go.com/