Gaming Issues ... Help plz

First off I am real sorry if this is out there i have spent hours reading posts and searching and figured this is the next step to answers.

I just joined up with this site when i was deciding on a new laptop.

Well everyone helped me with that decision now i have a couple more questions I would greatly appreciate help with.

First off the specs

Dell Inspiron 1720, Intel T7500 Core 2 Duo 2.2 ghz, 2 gig ram, 160 gig 5400 rpm harddrive, NVIDIA 8600M GT vid card, 163.15 drivers for vista 32 installed at this time, vista home premium 32 bit

Second the questions concerns.

1. What are the best drivers as of now for vista? (what version if not the newest from laptopvideo2go?)

2. Should i stick with vista or go back to XP?
I ask this because I am getting some really weird gaming issues that i dont know what to blame. Vista, NVIDIA or what. I have tried searching for an answer and am not sure what to do. Mainly this happens during playing Rainbow Six Vegas. During game play screen freezes and then 10-30 sec the game continues. Once i exit the game i get the message about Display drivers ******** recovering from an error.
I figured, ok maybe i am trying to run it on to high of graphics for my card (was running on 1028x720, pretty well max cept with shadows low) so i turned it down to the worst everything off, 640x480 ect. still happens. My buddy owns a dell as well, 2.0 ghz core 2, ati x1400, 2 gig ram etc. it runs fine so i'm thinking it can't be that i cant handle the game... guessing its a driver issue.

3. Games running REAL SLOW, not like choppy like a graphic problem just like my processor is to fast to handle older games. games i've noticed issue on is Splinter cell pandora tomorrow tried it on max and lowest settings, runs fine just in slow motion... also in NHL 2007, game runs perfect on max graphics but in slow motion for a bit then normal speed ect..

4. Also with the 8600M Gt what is a safe operation temperature. Using Rainbow Six Vegas as an example this is what i have, that to high. I am using laptop on a flat desk, brand new no dirt dust ect.. no cooling system, slight airconditioned room, not cold.
Rainbow Six Settings

Resolution: 1152x864
V Sync: On
Hardware Skinning: Off
High Dynamic Range: On
Shadow Quality: Very Low
Motion Blur: Off
Blur Quality: Very Low
Brightness: 5

Runs At about 62-65 deg. C, i am worried that the messages being caused by heat from the vid card, (still happens on lower settings runs perfect with these ones)
20-25 fps (with these high settings) (using RivaTuner, as per http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81852 from Gophn)

So those are my main things as of now. ANY INPUT would be greatly appreciated. If you want add me to msn and we can chit chat if you have some helpful advise.

oh ya back to my buddies laptop, he also was playing splinter cell pdt and a similar issue occored, first time he ran it was working great, next time we went to play when loading it was GOING EXTREMELY SLOW, and hes ran it perfect before? any idea to that. his specs are the dell 2 ghz, 2 gig ram, ati x1400 ect..

thx again

 

WoW! Kinda late for that question, maybe tomorrow

 

The gaming issues seems to be driver related. Remove the present drivers completly and install the latest Driver (the one with the highest version).

XP has better performance right now, although as stuff gets more stable on vista, that's likely gonna change.
62-65C under load is good. Warning temp should be around 100C and shutoff 110C-

 

@ fabarati do think i should look into overclocking a bit?

I also assumed it was driver related, i unistalled and went to www.laptopvideo2go.com and downloaded their newest vista 32 bit drivers with the mod'd dll file and install it, i get better resolution options in rainbow, but still get the freezing issue.

 

OC'ing is always nice. As is UC'ing. Run at a lower clock during normal use (less heat) and higher clock when needed (gaming). Even though you have an awesome GPU, a little faster is always nice.

 

I've searched around here and seen alot of OC'ing threads for other vid cards, do you know of any for the 8600M GT with instructions (kinda new at it, was always afriad of messing up my laptop), and with the instructions max temps i should be aware of?

 

make sure you patch rainbow six vegas. the newest patch is 1.05. it REALLY needs it.

 

ya that auto patches when you run it, can't go online else wise. (legit version)

 

Find a thread theat explains AtiTool. Has profile support and a Find Max Clock functions for both core and memory.

 

AtiTool says it doesn't work on vista. http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

 

1. There are no 'best' drivers. If you haven't already try the XtremeG drivers; here is our driver update thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910
2. If you continue to have problems after updating drivers then go back to XP. XP is still the 'best' operating system for gaming. Personally I don't miss Vista when I use an XP system.
3 + 4. Your graphics card shouldn't be clocking down at those temperatures. Once you get to 90*C yes, but not at ~60s.

 

Get the 0.27 beta 2. That works. Here's the linky: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=33447