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Video Driver Installation Guide


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VIDEO DRIVER INSTALLATION AND INFORMATION GUIDE

FOR NVIDIA VIDEO CARDS WITH WINDOWS 7/8/10

(Revision Date: 21-02-2016)

 

Installing drivers for Nvidia video cards has gotten a lot simpler which means this guide is long overdue for a reboot. The reason is that Nvidia drivers no longer need any third party driver cleaner apps in order to get a clean install as a clean install option is now included as part of the Nvidia driver installer package.

 

Before we get going on the actual steps to remove the old driver and to install the new, a couple of notes:

 

1 - In most cases you will want the latest driver version which you can download from Nivdia's website under the "Drivers" tab. Make sure you get the version that matches your version of Windows. For example, if your operating system is Windows 7 64-bit, then you MUST use the Windows 7 64-bit driver version. If your OS is Windows 10 32-bit, then you MUST use the Windows 10 32-bit version and so on. Once you have found the driver you need, download it noting the save location.

 

2 - If you are using Nvidia Inspector, note that installing a new video driver will require resetting your FSX profile. The easy way is to simply export your FSX profile before updating your drivers. Then, once the new driver has been installed, go back into Nvidia Inspector and import your saved profile.

 

Now to the step-by-step procedure:

 

1 - Open the file manager and look for a C:\Nvidia. This is the driver extraction location and if found it should be deleted as a new one will be created during the install process. Be very careful NOT to delete any other Nvidia directories or folders you may find on your system.

 

2 - Remove your current NVIDIA drivers by opening the Windows Control Panel then finding your way to Add/Remove programs or Programs/Uninstall a program (actual wording depends upon your version of Windows). Wait for the list to populate and scroll down to find the NVIDIA entries. The entry of interest here is NVIDIA Graphics Driver XXX.XX (XXX.XX being the version numbers). Click on it and then click Uninstall/Change or Change/Remove (again, wording depends upon your version of Windows).

 

3 - Once the driver uninstall completes, most likely you will be presented with a Restart (or reboot)option. Be sure you do Reboot even if the system does not prompt you to do so.

 

Note 1 : After the re-boot, your screen may not look quite the way you want it to as your video card will likely be running Microsoft's default VGA Graphics driver. Not to worry. Just continue with the driver update.

 

Note 2 : If you are installing a new video card, follow the procedure to step 3 but instead of re-booting initiate a system shutdown. Unplug the system power cord then remove your old video card and install the new one. Plug in, power up and continue with step 4 to install the new drivers.

 

4 - Find the driver you downloaded earlier and double click to launch it. Doing so creates

a new C:\Nvidia folder to which the driver installer and the driver components will be extracted.

Once the extraction/decompression has completed, the driver installer screen will appear:

 

A - Click "AGREE AND CONTINUE".

B - Select Custom (Advanced)

C- Click NEXT

D - Check "Perform a clean install" DO NOT OMIT THIS STEP!!!!

E- In the list of driver components, you will find the graphics driver selected by default and greyed out. The other components are optional. I don't need 3D support or HD audio drivers. Nor do I wish to participate in Nvidia's "Driver Experience" program. I do want the PhysX System Software as I play games that use PhysX. You get the drift.

F - Once you've selected your components of interest, click NEXT.

G - When the installer has finished, reboot whether prompted to do so or not.

 

5 - Finally, you can now safely delete the directory C:\NVIDIA or you can do it on the next driver update.

 

Notes

-------

 

1 - While you can use the Nvidia Control Panel to set your graphics preferences, it does not give you full control over graphics quality in FSX. You can get around this limitation and better optimize the graphics quality in FSX by using Nvidia Inspector which is an external driver control program. To use Nvidia Inspector, follow this guide to create an FSX profile. Once you've created your FSX profile, I suggest you make a copy of it. Then, whenever you update your drivers, simply import your saved FSX profile into Nividia Inspector which will ensure that your FSX settings get restored.

 

2 - For an excellent Nvidia Forceware Tweak Guide which includes a section on the Nvidia Control Panel with an explanation of each setting, go to: http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_1.html

 

3 - This guide was written for and applies only to Nvidia video cards. It has been tested with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit and Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.

 

 

 

FAQ

------

 

Q1 - What is a video driver?

A1 - Every device connected to your computer whether it is a video card, sound card, keyboard, mouse etc. requires its own set of specialized commands in order to operate. These commands are contained within a program called the "device driver". In the case of a video card, that program is the video driver. Windows loads all of the device drivers as part of your computer's bootup sequence.

 

Q2 - How do I know what video card I have?

A2 - You can find out by opening the Windows Device Manager. Near the top of the list, find an item called “Display adapters”. Click the “>” to its left and then right-click on the item that appears. Click “Properties” to display information about your video card. For detailed specifications on your video card, use this freeware program called GPU-Z.

 

Q3 - Where can I find video drivers for download?

A3 - Drivers are usually on the CD provided with a new video card. These drivers are not likely to be current so your best bet is to download the latest driver version from Nvidia (http://www.nvidia.com/page/home).

 

Q4 - Are some video driver versions better or worse than others?

A4- The short answer is yes. The longer answer is quite a bit more complex. Let's consider a typical Nvidia driver release. For starters, it takes a considerable amount of work to produce a video driver so the first thing to understand is that the driver was released for a reason. Generally, the release is to fix problems that became apparent after the previous driver release. The fixes provided are often

numerous ranging from problems with certain games to problems with Sli to problems with the control panel etc., etc., etc. All of the fixes are detailed in the release notes posted with each new release. In addition to fixes, some drivers offer improvements in performance (FPS) and/or improvements in video quality. The balance between FPS and image quality is a battle video driver writers constantly wage as one affects the other. If you get the latest driver, it may give you a slightly higher FPS at the expense of slightly lower image quality. Or it may do just the opposite. In either case, the difference in FPS will likely be no more than a few FPS one way or the other (usually 2-3 FPS). An exception would be the "tweaked" drivers from the sources listed elsewhere in this guide. These drivers are generally written by gaming/performance enthusiasts and often show higher FPS than the "stock" driver release. Again, the difference is not huge with about 4-6 FPS being about the average increase over the "stock" release. It you change a driver in the hope of a huge performance boost you will be disappointed. Instead, consider it as part of the overall fine-tuning of your system. If you can gain 3 FPS from a driver change, another 2 by over-clocking your video card and get yet another 6 by over-clocking your CPU, now you've got 11 and that is worthwhile.

 

Q5 - Why update my video drivers anyway?

A5 - Even if you are not a performance enthusiast out for every tiny FPS boost possible, updating to a new video driver now and then is worthwhile and generally recommended. As pointed out in the FAQ item above (Q4), video drivers get released for reasons. Consider the release of a new series of video cards. When a new video card series gets released, the drivers can usually be considered as being

"immature". Later, as driver writers gain experience with the new line of video cards, they learn how to extract more performance by making changes to the drivers. Additionally, a new driver release will contain fixes for reported problems. Understandably, fixes are more numerous for the latest video cards but fixes can also often be found for some very old video cards. You can check this for yourself by reading the driver's release notes. In the release notes you will surely find that a new driver contains fixes for new video cards. If you read further, you will often find fixes or sometimes even improvements in performance for older cards as well. If you have a new card, you should, of course, update more often than if you have an older card as driver updates are generally more frequent soon after the release of anew video card model. Again, the release notes are key in determining your update frequency. Another example of a time when it is important to update your drivers on a more frequent basis than perhaps you did previously is if you switch to a newly released operating system as driver releases that follow on the heels of a newly released operating system often contain important fixes and improvements. The bottom line in all of this is if you want to be sure you are getting the most from your video card you need to update the drivers. This is especially true in the first few months following the introduction of a new product series and/or you are using a newly released operating system.

 

 

And that does it. I hope you find this guide useful and if you have questions or comments, please direct them to me via this forum.

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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Maybe there's no "logic" as such. I've just been using this procedure with great success for a long time to ensure a clean driver install. I've seen cases where funny things have happened following a video driver install and those "funnies" cleared up after cleaning the registry (CCleaner) and using a driver cleaner program. Like it says at the top of the install guide:

"I'm sure some may think this is the long way round with many unnecessary steps. So be it. If you have a method that works for you and you have confidence in that method, then by all means, stick with it. I use this method because, in my opinion, a new video driver will only perform as it should when all (and I mean ALL), remnants of the old video driver have been removed. I believe this procedure ensures that."

 

 

....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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Thanks for the positive feedback, Farley.

Since I first posted my video driver installation guide (that must be at least three years ago by now) I've received lots of thanks and lots of compliments from fellow flight simmers. Sure is nice to know one's efforts are appreciated.

 

 

....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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Definitely. Your expertise has been very much appreciated by a very large number of people here, most definitely! We're very lucky to have you, and you are very generous with your time.

68,000 lbs of thrust..... "Excellent!" --Montgomery Burns, Simpsons tv show

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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  • 3 months later...

I'm not much of a forum Q/A reader, not because I am an expert with the knowledge in every subject, but instead, on the contrary ,..more or less content with what I use and have, (my computer) reluctant, naive and lasy to learn new things in order to keep up with the latest news, updates and the tremendous information offered by the kindness and knowledgeable members like you.

For the second time I was browsing on this forum looking for some clue of information related to my nVidia video driver newest version update and came across with this article of yours. Once I start reading I could not stop until the last word.

It's mind buggling how much of detail, step by step, easy to understand information you have had supply in this report. All I can say ..Thank you very much for your time and effort in helping members like myself in the need to know and learn so many issues and interesting subjects in the computer Flight Simulator world.

My complements to you my friend.

Best regards.

 

Gary

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Gary,

Many thanks for taking the time to comment on my Driver Installation Guide.

I'm so glad you found it useful and informative. It is very encouraging to receive such appreciative, positive feedback. Again, many thanks.

 

All the best,

Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

The description in the services list says: "Provides system and desktop level support to the NVIDIA display driver". What exactly that means, I'm not sure. I have searched the web many times for a detailed explanation of what it does and so far I've found very little. Almost universally, the comments I've found posted in many forums say this service doesn't seem to have any essential function and that it can be safely shut down without causing any difficulties or any reduced functionality whatsoever. I've also read of users saying that disabling this service improves Windows startup/shutdown times and improves general performance however I've not been able to confirm any of that. I've been setting it to disabled for a long, long time and have experienced no ill effects at all by doing so. I do it just in the interests of maintaining a "clean" machine and to make sure that no more resources are consumed than absolutely necessary. If, by the way, you are not comfortable in setting the display driver service to "Disabled", you can instead set it to "Manual". That way it won't start automatically on boot, but if it is ever needed for any reason, it will start. If ever I find some detailed info on exactly what the Nvidia display driver service does, I'll be sure to add it to Note #4 of my driver installation guide.

 

.....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 2 months later...
I really appreciated your detailed explanation of video driver installation. I have not installed drivers prior to reading this and I was able to follow it without any difficulty. Cheers.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 3.4GHz. MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5B Deluxe Pro.

RAM: 2X 1GB Corsia XMS2, DDR2-1066. GRAPHICS CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS, 640MB, PCI Express. PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower WO131, 850W ATX.

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Thanks for the feedback and glad you found the guide useful.

 

....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

All I've ever done to update Nvidia nForce drivers is:

 

1 - Open Add/Remove programs.

2 - Select NVIDIA Drivers.

3 - In Vista, click Uninstall/Change. In XP, click Uninstall/remove.

4 - The "Remove NVIDIA Components" window will open.

5 - Select to remove only the Nforce drivers and click Remove.

6 - Reboot.

7 - Run the installer for the new drivers.

8 - Reboot.

 

 

....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Very lllllllllloooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks, Alexander. It was absolutely meant to be that way!

 

........Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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@Noell,

Hi

very long indeed,

BUT very good - very informative - very complete..

thank you very much for your effort

 

in one of your latest posts you desribed the essential procedure:

 

to cut the long story very short

to obtain shortest and essential description-extract, but just not for beginners, of course

1) remove first the old nvidia drivers

2) reboot

3) now install the new nvidia drivers

4) reboot

 

thanks again and happy landings

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The primary purpose of the video driver installation section of my guide is to provide a very detailed step-by-step guide that absolutely guarantees a clean driver installation. From feedback I've received, it seems to have done that and in a manner that even a rank beginner can follow.

 

Sure, you can shorten it up and if it works for you in a consistently reliable manner, go for it.

IMO, though, at least the use of a driver cleaner program should be part of whatever procedure you use.

 

 

.....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

.

noell,

 

Please allow me to express my sincere appreciation for your time & efforts in sharing precious information like this. It means a lot to so many &, most recently, yours truly.

 

Am a brain-injured veteran who has great difficulties with reading & comprehending the written word. What most others would take for granted takes me a long, long time to get my head around. It is an excruciatingly difficult process for me to read through instructions. Going through yours time & time again, beginning this task & finally following through with all you have generously laid out for any & all to partake of: success. It took me over 6 full hours to accomplish but your clear & precise instructions & tips navigated me through. Next time it will take less than an hour, no doubt (wrote notes).

 

Worked like a charm, sir. :) The new video card is up & running well.

 

There was a time before my disablility that simultaneously a rubics cube was resolved while playing a competitive game of chess & landing a plane on an early computer flight simulator. Multi-tasking champ. Now, 12 years later, am still healing & fighting to so much as truly focus on one task at hand. Though it is clear that you are not in this for the money :D or for the thanks, you are giving of yourself so willingly, freely & unselfishly in order that we simmers may do it better & with less risk. Am sincerely thanking you, noell. Thank you for being here for us.

.

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David:

 

Great to "meet" you, so to speak. You are no stranger to me, though, as I've often read your posts over the years. It pleases me greatly to know you found my video driver installation guide helpful and your kind words make my participation in this forum feel appreciated and worthwhile. Thanks so much for taking the time to express your thanks.

 

.....Noell

Intel i7 8700K@4.8GHz / Swiftech X3 / Gigabyte Aorus 7 Gaming / 16 GB G.Skill DDR4 3200

500GB WD SSD (Win 10 Pro 64-bit) / 500GB Samsung 960 Pro (P3Dv4) / 240GB SanDisk SSD (P3D Misc.)

480GB SanDisk SSD (General Storage) / EVGA GTX1080/ Seasonic Platinum 850 watt

 

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  • 1 year later...

Hi can someone help me what might have gone wrong?

 

I tried to follow this guide using a drivers sweeper, because I want to install a program for a 3d glasses but before that I have to install some nvidia driver, then i so. After I was finish I could not start FSX and some kind of error, that's why we go to a computer shop and they said we should install the GeForce 7 series and everything would be fine, but it did not help at all.

 

We go to a fsx club here in Norway and they take a look at the computer and said that, we have to reinstall the whole FSX. Okay, then we did that but after the re-installation we still can't open FSX we get this msg:

 

"Fsx.exe - Application Error

 

The instruction at "0x200ef382" referenced memory at "0x0175c928". The

memory could not be "read"

Click on OK to terminate the program

 

I tried to re-install it again and again but just come out the same.

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