Upgrading to NVidia

nicstt

I've had a an ATI/AMD 6950 for years and have been considering an upgrade. I also had a nVidia GT 640 that I used to use as it was a silent card.

I ended up taking out the AMD and replacing it with the 640; I then bought a 970. I run the display with the 640 which does get a little laggy now and then, and use the 970 for rendering. The 640 is actually faster than my i7 CPU at rendering, but only has 2GB of GDDR3 on-board.

Remember: Do NOT use SLI - NVidia report that there can be issues when using SLI.

If you're switching vendors make sure you strip off all drivers from the previous vendor.

Download Display Driver Uninstaller and restart in safe mode (Windows only); run the program and select the driver manufacturer from the list and let it do its thing - takes a minute or two.

(Note: if you're having trouble with drivers, it can be a good method to use to strip the system completely and reinstall them - or reinstall earlier drivers that weren't causing a problem.)

Do not try doing it without booting into safe mode; for windows 8, at the log in screen, click on restart - while holding down the shift.

Make notes of anything you need as it may not be accessible while in Safe Mode.

On windows 7 and 8 you can also try this method:

- Type msconfig into the run option (start menu on w7 and windows-key R on w8).

- Click on the boot tab of the System Config window, and ensure that minimal is highlighted then reboot.

- Run the Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode, then adjust the boot option so you can boot back to regular mode.

- Install Drivers.

On windows 7 it is also possible to use the F8 key; this doesn't work on W8. The F8 requires one to hang around while it boots; going for coffee while booting was what I used to do before I got an SSD. (I miss that excuse for a coffee :D )