Is it ok to use this video driver for a 1720 Inspiron?

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=6&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=226577

I have heard some major issues in regards to gaming and problems with the 8600m gt video card for the inspiron. Is this driver o.k. to use since the updated drivers from DELL aren't up to date?
nVidia GeForce GO 8700M GT SLI

Driver

Release Title: Video: nVidia GeForce GO 8700M GT SLI, Driver, Windows Vista 32-bit, Multi Language, XPS M1730, v.156.61, A03
Release Date: 9/27/2007
Criticality: Optional
Description: XPS M1730 / nVidia GeForce GO 8700M GT SLI Vista 32 Drivers

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File Name File Size Download Time (56K) File Format
R167359.EXE 49 MB 2 hr Hard-Drive
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1. You don't have the 8700 so the Dell driver won't (shouldn't) install.
2. The latest Dell driver for the 8600 is the 156.xx anyway.
3. Use NVIDIA's drivers instead.


Just what "problems" do you claim that you've "heard?" I've played everything from Homeworld maxed out on 1680x1050 to Bioshock maxed out on 1280x720 without any issues.

 

Ok I did install the drivers for it, its at home now.

While running TF2 the side was running hot and it would crash often, usually around the 10-15 min time while gaming. I shut down most of the processes and also dumbed down most of the vista stuff and settings , through this site of course.

I just want to play TF2 without it crashing and locking up most of the time....

I did this on a recommendation from someone at the DELL gaming forums, he has been using these drivers and so far so good for him.

 

You have a laptop. It has to get rid of the heat somehow. Get a temp monitor like ntune to see what your temps are. If you're under 60c, you're fine. Just don't block the exhaust/fan.

You don't have to "dumb-down" Vista to get games to run. Man I can't believe all of the misinformation on Vista that has been circulating around. Dumbing down the appearance isn't going to affect how a game runs. All of your hardware is running in its own kernel so you shouldn't have to worry about what the OS is doing.

How much RAM do you have? That should be your first concern. If you have anything less than 2GB, you're screwed.

Go to laptopvideo2go.com and learn how to apply NVIDIA drivers and run something stable like 169.04. You'll see a huge improvement.

I haven't had one single game crash or lockup on me, although I've never played TF2 or any of the Half-Life games but I say if you want to dumb-down something, dumb-down TF2.

I'm still LOLing @ hot - check out the guide on how to fix the headjack noise and look at the pics of the heatpipe running from the GPU and CPU. One fan has to cool two processors. Thats a ton of heat. Of course its going to be hot!!!!

 

I tired those inf drivers and cannot get the to load for the life of me. So far so good with the other drivers and I will get ntune to monitor the temp. readings. I also got 2 gigs of ram so I am set there. I love the laptop and I also understand it is not the top of the line for gaming, but shoot I get frustrated when I get the crashes!

 

What driver version are you using, what steps are you taking and are you getting error messages at the end of the installation?

If you use the "have disk" method and are getting a "file not found error" at the end of the installation, I have a solution for that.

 

Hey if you have a solution for it by all means fire away? And yes I am getting that error.....

Currently have 8600m gt in my inspiron, I can try again later this evening.

 

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16670

 

Which version would you recommend?

I have heard that 163.69 are the recommended drivers for GoW for Vista whereas XP is 163.75. I would try those before anything else. Also, I played GoW with 169.04 and it worked alright... OCing your card should be fine as long as you are not seeing any artifacts. I would feel uncomfortable going too far past 600/500. Your card shouldn't be overheating. I have the same card and it runs in the 80s and low 90s when gaming (no fans inside for some reason?). I will eventually buy some cooling for my laptop though, that type of heat will not make my GPU last very long...

Take it easy.

 

I have my card OC'd in the BIOS to 600/500 so I don't have to run any third-party drivers (which I absolutely hate).

I ran 169.09 just fine and now I'm running 169.28 and have never gone over 70c. You should be able to SAFELY OC your card 500/425 and still see significant gains. I have not seen any artifiacts running at 600/500 and will keep it at that speed.

169.04 are recommended as the fastest and most stable drivers availble. The 169.28 have fixed alot of issues, however.

 

I'm running the 169.13 drivers, and OC'ing to 625/1250 and 525 with the I8kfangui program set to force the cooling fan to run high speed all the time. I've yet to see it go over 62 celsius, although once I saw it hit 73 celsius when I mistakenly partially blocked off the fan on the underside with a blank cd. No artifacting that I can see and it makes a noticeable difference to framerates. Still not quite enough power to run with HDR and antialiasing for most games though.