Apache Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I have the above card in my PC and knowing little about sound cards and all the 'stuff' they let you do, I haven't really touched or tweaked it from day 1. I have DirectX8 and it seems to work OK and this machine will go to my son now (also a CMBB/BO fan) and we hope to set up a LAN for head to head play. I'm just trying to clear it up for him now and I thought it might be a good idea to get the best drivers for the sound and video (Voodoo 3 3000). Are there known sites for the latest, best drivers? I presume a straight download and install will overwrite the old ones? I don't want to take anything out and screw the system up. Also I presume Windows Media Player is a different application to the media play 'function' in the SB Live and that some programs/web pages will 'call for' WMP whereas some aren't bothered. If not, should I be setting one or the other as the default? Will the app on the SB Live be a more sophisticated one than WMP? I have to say I'm somewhat bemused by all these plug ins and sometimes reject their download for fear of either again, screwing up the system, or inadvertently having a bog standard app set itself as the default in a system which has more advanced capabilities with it's hard/software. Or have I totally missed the point? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 If you want to change your video drivers, then I suggest uninstalling your current ones first before installing a new set. You can get some of the better ones from x3dfx (click on Drivers in the left hand column and then select your video card and OS). For the Voodoo 3's the 1.07.00 have worked fine for me, but it may be worth trying the 1.08.0x's. If you want a larger selection of drivers to tinker around with you can also go to Voodoo Files (click on 3dfx in left column and then select whether you want '3dfx Original' or '3rd Party' drivers - the 3rd Party drivers will have some of the latest hacks/combos to play with). As for Windows Media Player, it's just a personal preference what you want to play your audio/video-related material. Different files will launch or not launch depending on their program association (there may be some types of multimedia that won't work with WMP because it lacks codecs and file associations). WMP is probably better than the Creative SB Player in some ways (it can probably play more types of multimedia and may have been updated more often - usually for security holes). Some people may not like the overhead and visuals of MediaPlayer (which is at version 7.1 for Win9x/ME/2K and 8.x/9 for WinXP) or they may just not like Microsoft period. There might be more conveninece to having one player run most of your multimedia, but then some people may prefer the interface/performance of some other players. [ October 05, 2002, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted October 6, 2002 Author Share Posted October 6, 2002 Thanks for that, will the video drivers likely do anything better? I'm just a bit paranoid about changing something just because I can. Also, if I uninstall a driver first won't the display fail to work if I screw up the installation of the new one or will Windows just use one of it's own to get the screen working? I have checked under My Computer/System and gone to device drivers and under the view driver details I have three 'files' one under the other, each one indented slightly more than the one above. Is that like a Windows file system meaning the bottom one is a file in the folder above etc. or, are they all separate driver files with the one at the top (which sort of highlights by default being the one in use?). There is a section on that box for 'search for updated driver'. Should I DL the driver and then use that (and if so, will it handle the uninstall automatically)? Do you know a site for Creative too (other than their own)? [ October 06, 2002, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: Apache ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 If you're not having problems, then why bother changing things ? Most driver updates are released to fix bugs, add compatibility for newer devices and sometimes increase performance. In the case of NVidia it is rare that a driver release will increase speed and fix bugs at the same time. Often a release that increases speed (for what little increase can be squeezed from the drivers at this point) will have more bugs or worse dislay quality. Most newer drivers that increase speed often do it for the latest chips in the family rather than the entire family of chips. When you uninstall a display driver Windows uses a 'default SVGA' driver that will work for simple 2D display purposes (16 colors and 640x480). You are usually prompted to install the proper driver however. I often recommend that people install the 'default SVGA' driver before installing the proper driver. This helps to clear out some registry settings before installing the latest drivers. I'm not aware of any other sites that have Creative software/drivers other than the large OEMs (IBM, Gateway, Dell, etc.) who may often be using something a little bit older than the very latest versions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted October 7, 2002 Author Share Posted October 7, 2002 Thanks. Thinnk I'll leave 'em be. The new PC arrives today with a Ti4200 128M. Are you aware of the latest drivers for that (in case it don't work). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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