New to the separate graphics card world

capnblinski · Oct 19, 2011

Hi folks - I'm new to the separate graphics card world and need some advice.

I have physically installed a new GT 520 graphics card along with a clean install of Vista HP, and before installing the drivers from the included CD (says version 11-520-01-1 on the disc), I'm looking for an all-inclusive site/article/thread/ that gives information/options/answers/ on whether the install CD that came with the card is the best way to go - or should download the latest drivers - or exactly what is the best procedure for the install for my given situation. I've searched the web and haven't found what I would consider a basic primer on installing those drivers.

My goal in purchasing a graphics card is to make Vista run smooth without all the intensive ram and cpu usage that occurs using when using the onboard video. That of course also involves tweaking the s**t outta the clean install. lol. Gaming and other types of demanding graphics-type usage are not a factor at this time. Also, my goal in searching for advice is to not mess up this clean installation with unwanted, uneeded files etc., and end up with a great working system.

Thanks and any help will be much appreciated...

Vista Home Premium 32 bit
EVGA GeForce 520
Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @ 2.3ghz
2 Gig of Kingston RAM
Intell G33 Express Chipset (disabled)
Foxconn G33M02 motherboard
80 Gig WD SATA Hard Drive
Seasonic 350w PSU

richc46 · Oct 19, 2011

Welcome
Always the best way go to the website and download. If your CD is current the drivers will be the same.
There is no primer or rule, just follow the above.

and a gift from the Forum to you

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/81176-speed-up-performance-vista.html

Patonb · Oct 19, 2011

The cd ships with the newest version at the time it was packaged. That being said, they may be the newest, or they may be a year old. Gpu drivers chgange A LOT to tweak gaming performance, which is the main reason for the updates.

It's quite easy to update, so giver.

capnblinski · Oct 20, 2011

Thanks - decided to run the PC in the basic vga mode as i set up this new install of the OS - it's running surprisingly fast. I like this better mostly than XP now.. I'll be back after downloading the new driver 280.27 and ...

Found an exhaustive link to (nearly) everything you need to know about graphics and cards. From a few years
back but there is enough to keep you busy for weeks:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/selectvid/select.html

Vista Home Premium 32 bit
EVGA GeForce 520
Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @ 2.3ghz
2 Gig of Kingston RAM
Intell G33 Express Chipset (disabled)
Foxconn G33M02 motherboard
80 Gig WD SATA Hard Drive
Seasonic 350w PSU

MilesAhead · Oct 20, 2011

The one suggestion I would make, since the last few of my PCs have had NVidia cards.. download the last few drivers especially if the latest hasn't been out long enough for bugs to show up. Sometimes if you get weird behavior and back off one version it goes away. I've never had a problem where the PC wouldn't function. Just some hinky video now and then.

Yard Dog · Oct 21, 2011

MilesAhead said:
The one suggestion I would make, since the last few of my PCs have had NVidia cards.. download the last few drivers especially if the latest hasn't been out long enough for bugs to show up. Sometimes if you get weird behavior and back off one version it goes away. I've never had a problem where the PC wouldn't function. Just some hinky video now and then.

I have to agree with that, once, i tried a beta version, whew, what an experience that was. wound up doing a restore to get back to where i was , and then getting a non beta latest driver .

Patonb · Oct 21, 2011

€Unless you know what youre doing NEVER use a beta, and if you do, don't complain ifg you have issues.

capnblinski · Oct 21, 2011

always have been adverse to early versions after some google beta crashed all over the place once..

MilesAhead · Oct 21, 2011

I don't mean just betas. I've downloaded some NVidia drivers that were supposedly "stable" that sure didn't act that way. Downloading the last few versions just saves you hunting 'em down when you're annoyed.

capnblinski · Oct 24, 2011

Hi again folks.

I installed the evga 520 video card's drivers (280.26) late last night, and so far so good. Everything is running faster and smoother and the card's fan is quiet and there is very little heat being generated. I know 'cause I had the PC set up to where it would be easy to slide the cover off after running with the new card for a few hours. Thanks again and I'll be here learning some more!

Vista Home Premium 32 bit
EVGA GeForce 520
Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @ 2.3ghz
2 Gig of Kingston RAM
Intell G33 Express Chipset (disabled)
Foxconn G33M02 motherboard
80 Gig WD SATA Hard Drive
Seasonic 350w PSU

Patonb · Oct 24, 2011

You can use evga precision to monitor your temperatures btw.

Glad youre enjoying the new card. Its always great having new stuff.

capnblinski · Oct 25, 2011

Thanks Patonb. This Vista is much more graphically interesting and fun, if laborious, to tweak. Hope to be of some help here on the forums. Take care!

capnblinski · Nov 13, 2011

Hey folks - me again. I want to report back on my evga 520 graphics card install.

Well after running this card for a month now I'm very satisfied. The few games I have will now run without warnings telling me that I don't have enough video power to run the game. And the whole Vista system has settled down after the tweaking where it's running as well. or better, than my old XP system.

The only problem was the way my web pages were loading and scrolling - one big offender being Yahoo news and the photos on there - the pages would hang, my CPU usage was 75 percent and more, and the whole internet just ran like a huge mess.

Well, it was the browser - IE8. Switching to Google Chrome solved everything. I would recommend Chrome over IE anyday.

One question - I installed GPU-Z and the temperature reading for the gpu is always in the 37 degree Celsius range. Does that sound pretty much normal?

Yard Dog · Nov 13, 2011

That is a good temp. 45 c and above is getting hot. 37 is fine. real fine actually.

Patonb · Nov 13, 2011

Thats you temperature while idle... Which is not bad.

If you crank up something intense, it should heat up.

glad to hear its working out

Yard Dog · Nov 13, 2011

I just did some checking around and some gamers said they got as high as 90 , close to 100 while gaming. So, if you don't go up more than that , you should be fine. Enjoy .

Patonb · Nov 14, 2011

For the record, ATI and Nvidia design their cards to throttle at 105C and shut down at 110C

I run my cards, 560ti, 8800, 260-216s at 80ish 24/7 365. I game on my laptops 9600 at 100ish C

MrNeeds · Nov 16, 2011

Mine gets real toasty under pressure, I even video'd it getting toasty here :
260 GTX XXX edition cooking on automatic fan speed - YouTube

capnblinski · Nov 21, 2011

Thanks again folks.

Everything working shipshape - except for a snafu with my internet pages loading and scrolling like molasses - Yahoo News and the photos there, and Toyota Nation and many others. Well, here it was my browser. Man, ya just can't think of everything when it comes to the world of computing! Well, suffice it to say that I went ahead and installed Google's browser, and now all my internet pages are lightening fast. I have a DSL connection at 3MB, and so far I'd recommend the Google browser to anyone having problems with IE. Will report back on game temperatures if I ever get enough time to play some!

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