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    Which driver to use for the 256mb Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT on Dell 1720?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by colouredFunk, Oct 17, 2007.

  1. colouredFunk

    colouredFunk Newbie

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    Hello,

    I'm going to re-format my dell 1720 to winXP as Vista is just too much of a memory hog, and is unnecessarily slow.

    I've found most of the XP drivers I need apart from my nvidia card.

    After a read around these seem that they could be the ones -
    162.18
    163.16's
    163.44

    But I have no idea what the difference or if they will work...

    Can anyone help?
     
    colouredFunk, Oct 17, 2007
    #1
  2. Predata

    Predata Notebook Enthusiast

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    AFAIK The 8600M GT is a DirectX 10 card, which you will be trying to run under an operating system that doesn't support DX10. I could be wrong though... I just felt like typing on my 1720's keyboard... mmm.... crispy.
     
    Predata, Oct 17, 2007
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  3. Gilliann

    Gilliann Notebook Consultant

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    The 8600m will work fine under xp, you just cant take advantage of dx10 (no big deal)

    On the other had I think you should really give vista more of a chance. It is a much better os the xp. It is a memory hog (you need 2gb) but this is a good thing. It learns what you habbits are and then stores the programs you most frequently use into ram, to many people it makes it look like vista is hogging all of your memory (this isnt the case). Alsp driver support is getting much better and the performance difference is starting to slim down.

    I recommend a frest vista install and dissable services that you dont need or want. I think you'll find a significant difference over dells install.

    Just my 2c, I know everyone has their own opinion and in no way do I wan't to start a flame war :)
     
    Gilliann, Oct 17, 2007
    #3
  4. B2TheEYo

    B2TheEYo Notebook Deity

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    Yea.. I'd give Vista another chance. Then again Windows is Windows.. Microsoft blows and can't do anything right so.. (I'm honestly considering Linux, only if I could get everything running native on it..sigh..)

    163.75, seems to be running great on my 8600mGT, smooth video playback and game play but if someone can name one that does better, do it.
     
    B2TheEYo, Oct 17, 2007
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  5. LordBug

    LordBug Notebook Guru

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    Do many other people use nLite and vLite to cut down on the amount of Windows bloat?

    That's what I'll be playing with when I get my machine. I read somewhere that someone cut their Vista install disc down to CD size (Though I don't know how large the DVD size is to begin with, so that might not be much :p)
     
    LordBug, Oct 17, 2007
    #5
  6. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    vista wont be slow on your computer. just like xp wont be slow on your computer but it will be on a computer from 1998.
     
    nizzy1115, Oct 17, 2007
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  7. frazell

    frazell Notebook Deity

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    What doesn't run natively on Linux for you? Also, what distro are you using?
     
    frazell, Oct 17, 2007
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  8. thebbb33

    thebbb33 Newbie

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    I am also looking for a driver for my NVIDIA 8600M GT card for XP. I have a new XPS M1530. I got a fairly nice set up, 2.4GHZ processor, 4GB ram, 200GB 7200rpm hard drive, but I can't run Vista. I use this laptop both at home and for work, and my company's software is not compatible with Vista, at least not yet. I didn't really like Vista for the short time I did use it on my Inspiron 1505. ANy I dea where I can get a useful driver?
     
    thebbb33, Mar 4, 2008
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  9. Shad0w

    Shad0w Notebook Enthusiast

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    http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/

    grab the highest version of drivers they list, extract it, then download the modded inf and copy it into the folder containing the drivers. After you do this, you'll be able to install them
     
    Shad0w, Mar 4, 2008
    #9