Rob[at]Sound-Rehab
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How important is the latest graphic card driver?
I reckon most development is now geared towards win 8.1 - I'm on win 7 64 bit ...
I haven't had many issues with X2a but still get some instabilities with X3c. Now I found a new graphic card driver, yet the old one worked fine with X2a ... will updating the graphic card driver (ATI HD 5450) be beneficial or just add another variable to the vast number of unknowns that may cause these occasional crashes?
To update or not to update that's the question ...
GOOD TUNES LAST FOREVER +++ Visit the Rehab +++ DAW: Platinum/X3e, win10 64 bit, i7-3930K (6x3.2GHz), Asus Sabertooth X79, 32 GB DDR3 1600MHz, ATI HD 5450, 120 GB SSD OCZ Agility3, 2x 1TB WD HDD SATA 600 Audio-Interface: 2x MOTU 1248 AVB, Focusrite OctoPre, (Roland Octa-Capture) Control-Surface: VS-700C VSTi: WAVES, NI K10u, FabFilter, IK, ... (too many really)
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StarTekh
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 16:05:32
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chuckebaby
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 16:15:55
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how important is it to use sonar ?
it can create issues such as glitches and white screens, hang ups and the list goes on.
I always update all my devices, drivers, windows updates, all of them.
Windows 8.1 X64 Sonar Platinum x64 Custom built: Asrock z97 1150 - Intel I7 4790k - 16GB corsair DDR3 1600 - PNY SSD 220GBFocusrite Saffire 18I8 - Mackie Control
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SuperG
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 17:25:11
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Can't say for sure what the deal is, but there's been a lotta traffic on the board about video and mouse issues affecting Sonar performance with Windows 8+. I've not seen any such issue being claimed about Win 7, so it may very well be a drivers issue. I've read somewhere that MS is working on the mouse issue (reduced position update frequency), which has the gamer crowd howling...
It'd be a good idea to keep on top of drivers with Win 8+ until the racket dies down....
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Jinxy
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 20:45:21
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Wish I could say W7 / x3 / NVidia drivers were ok.  I wonder what the recommended GPU card is nowadays...I'm ready to toss mine.
Kind regards, Jinxy Sonar X2b Producer-64, Win7 x64, RME FF800 (Firewire), DELL XPS Inte Core 2 Quad CPUQ6600 @2.4, 4GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
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Splat 
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 21:53:49
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As you've updated to 8.1 you should be looking at the latest driver for your operating system, and keep updating... Unless you run into serious issues. Really you should be looking at forums specifically to do with your graphics card though to answer this question in more depth rather than DAW specific.
I am always updating drivers and BIOSs myself and my system is always fast and stable. And if one day I update and I don't like the result, I can roll back. That is what backups are for.
ps
I'm on the latest nvidea drivers for my card and they are fine. I know people have different experiences.
Sell by date at 9000 posts. Do not feed. @48/24 & 128 buffers latency is 367 with offset of 38. Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.4,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),4 x Seagate ST31500341AS (mirrored),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5.Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1.Addictive Keys,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist.Acronis True Image 2014.
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noynekker
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 22:51:44
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I haven't had any graphics related issues with my Sonar X3c, and I stopped updating my NVidia drivers a while back because when I read the update notes, it always seemed
to be some minor update which will repair how specific video games will run better. If the upgrade notes ever show some significant OS related improvement, then I may consider applying them.
Cakewalk by Bandlab, Cubase, RME Babyface Pro, Intel i7 3770K @3.5Ghz, Asus P8Z77-VPro/Thunderbolt, 32GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 250 GB OS SSD, 2TB HDD samples, Win 10 Pro 64 bit, backed up by Macrium Reflect, Novation Impulse 61 Midi Key Controller, Tannoy Active Near Field Monitors, Guitars by Vantage, Gibson, Yamaki and Ovation.
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Splat
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/08 23:31:58
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nVidea just released some great WHQL drivers which are a step up IMHO (release notes say nothing, why would you expect a developer to waste their time developing decent release notes ;) ). As long as you do a custom install and JUST install the driver all should work well (or roll back).
nVidia also includes a nice automatic update facility nowadays with the driver at the slight expense of performance.
Sell by date at 9000 posts. Do not feed. @48/24 & 128 buffers latency is 367 with offset of 38. Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.4,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),4 x Seagate ST31500341AS (mirrored),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5.Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1.Addictive Keys,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist.Acronis True Image 2014.
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Anderton
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 02:07:25
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You can always set a restore point, or if you forget, roll back the driver in Device Manager.
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Rob[at]Sound-Rehab
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 02:41:02
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Anderton
You can always set a restore point, or if you forget, roll back the driver in Device Manager.
Great info. I had thought that is only available for programs. How about changes to BIOS? That still scares - anyway to roll back or be safe? I'm still not fully convinced I shoud be getting into all of this ... seems a bit like taking the entire car apart just because it occasionally stalls at a junction ... hmmm?
GOOD TUNES LAST FOREVER +++ Visit the Rehab +++ DAW: Platinum/X3e, win10 64 bit, i7-3930K (6x3.2GHz), Asus Sabertooth X79, 32 GB DDR3 1600MHz, ATI HD 5450, 120 GB SSD OCZ Agility3, 2x 1TB WD HDD SATA 600 Audio-Interface: 2x MOTU 1248 AVB, Focusrite OctoPre, (Roland Octa-Capture) Control-Surface: VS-700C VSTi: WAVES, NI K10u, FabFilter, IK, ... (too many really)
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mettelus
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 03:07:28
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In general, new drivers are recommended, especially for newer hardware. As they mature, they typically stabilize and updates are rarely needed. Iobit now has a free driver updater (the official name is "Iobit Driver Booster"), which is handy to have, and can update drivers in your system efficiently. http://www.iobit.com/driver-booster.php As far as BIOS updates, this goes more back to your point of "if not broke, don't fix it." ASUS BIOS can be updated from AI Suite II, but ALWAYS save your current BIOS first, and going that route I also download the new BIOS manually, and use AI Suite II to "update BIOS from a file." Since your system is stable in other applications, updating BIOS is most likely unnecessary. I notice that you have your system overclocked, and just for grins I overclocked mine the other day. It made the CPU run at more than double it's normal temp, and created a noticeable latency gain in the system due to the faults that temp increase was creating. The latency monitor software ( http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon ) showed a pretty substantial degradation with this system even moderately overclocked.
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi AC), i7-8700k, 16GB RAM, GTX-1070Ti, Win 10 Pro, Saffire PRO 24 DSP, A-300 PRO, plus numerous gadgets and gizmos that make or manipulate sound in some way.
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rontarrant
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 03:42:08
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Jinxy
Wish I could say W7 / x3 / NVidia drivers were ok.
I wonder what the recommended GPU card is nowadays...I'm ready to toss mine.
I've used both ATI and nVidia cards over the last 18 years and I've very much favoured nVidia. I've only occasionally had trouble with drivers, but that was mostly while doing 3D animation, not audio stuff. But since there isn't any information about that on this forum (and you got me curious) I started a thread on the Computers forum. Maybe we can find out... http://forum.cakewalk.com...-m2928528.aspx#2928528
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mettelus
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 04:12:31
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I just responded on the other thread but want to add to that point here... NVIDIA owns the architecture, they do not manufacture the cards... the variations between manufacturers can be extreme, so research is always needed.
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi AC), i7-8700k, 16GB RAM, GTX-1070Ti, Win 10 Pro, Saffire PRO 24 DSP, A-300 PRO, plus numerous gadgets and gizmos that make or manipulate sound in some way.
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Geo524
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Re: How important is the latest graphic card driver?
2013/11/09 08:21:10
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Running Win 7 x64 with the latest NVIDIA Drivers here. All is well.
Win 10 x 64; CbB; SPlat; MixCraft 8 Pro; AMD FX4130, 3.8 GHz; DDR3 32 GB Ram; Focusrite Scarlett 18i20; SSD 1TB, 2 x 1TB and 1 x 640 GB HDD; Mackie HR624 Monitors, KRK G2 Rockit 5's, Dual HP S2331 23" MonitorsMusic and SFX http://www.radiosparx.com/georgeandmarguerite
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