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    New Optimus driver?

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by too456, Jun 30, 2011.

  1. too456

    too456 Resident Angry Bird

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    Hi, I have an Asus N43SL, but the driver by Asus is outdated-ish. Is there any sort of 'hybrid' driver out there that is updated to the latest version, because there are people who do this for the ATi Switchable graphics like the one here but I cannot find any for Optimus, and I do not know if the official Nvidia drivers will work on my laptop, if it will disable Optimus or anything. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks :)
     
    too456, Jun 30, 2011
    #1
  2. saturnotaku

    saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    NVIDIA's reference drivers support Optimus. Download them here.
     
    saturnotaku, Jun 30, 2011
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  3. Support.4@XOTIC PC

    Support.4@XOTIC PC Company Representative

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    I usually recommend using the drivers that are available from ASUS on their site. It can be hit or miss at times with the drivers from NVidia as to whether or not they will function properly with your setup.
     
    Support.4@XOTIC PC, Jun 30, 2011
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  4. too456

    too456 Resident Angry Bird

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    However, as with ATi/AMD, they explicitly state that any graphics card with Optimus/hybrid switching is not supported. So, can I ignore this (as I do with my Timeline for AMD)? Asus supplied the Nvidia driver 267.21, which is rather old compared to the current 275.33. Also, is there any way to upgrade the Intel HD Graphics package, because Asus supplied build 2291 on its website and it does not support Windows 7 SP1.
     
    too456, Jul 1, 2011
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  5. shotgunb

    shotgunb Notebook Consultant

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    I have regularly updated my NVidia and Intel drivers from the parent website and both have always performed fine... just go to NVidia and Intel and download the latest driver and install. My laptop has the 310M and Intel HD and Optimus... and with the latest of both video drivers the Optimus works perfectly.
     
    shotgunb, Jul 1, 2011
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  6. BMWBig6

    BMWBig6 Notebook Guru

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    Yes, you can upgrade both the Nvidia and Intel graphics drivers by going to their respective websites. I will say that I reverted to the latest nvidia driver available from ASUS because the current nvidia driver on the nvidia site dropped my Windows Experience Index score in desktop Aero graphics from 4.4 to 3.9. I know WEI is not the best benchmark but that is a serious drop in measured performance.

    XoticPC, why do you recommend sticking with the ASUS-provided drivers? What does hit or miss mean (do the drivers fail to work, or reduce performance like I noticed)? Also, does your advice apply to the Intel HD Graphics drivers too?
     
    BMWBig6, Jul 2, 2011
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  7. too456

    too456 Resident Angry Bird

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    The updated drivers should increase performance because of various bugfixes and performance enhancements in various games... and I agree that WEI is not a very good benchmark, you should try 3DMark06 on Asus drivers and run it again on the latest Nvidia drivers to get a better benchmark
     
    too456, Jul 2, 2011
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