sad sad noob question

[MBCOBRA68]

I know this is computer 101 but:

I have an AMD 4200+ x2 , 1GB pc4800ddr (ordered another 1GB)with a 7800GTX.
1.) How do I tell what my current video driver is?
2.) what is the process for updating a driver? Does it just write over the old driver like a patch?
thanks in advance

[fredbass]

I always delete my current driver and anything associated with it b4 I install a new one. (have the new one already downloaded first)

Right click your desktop and go into properties to find your display properties. From there, find your video card in the advanced settings and go into its properties to see current driver.

[jdski]

It's usually recommended to uninstall your current driver before updating to a new one. I haven't allways done this myself and have been able to seemingly update my driver without uninstalling without problems.

To find your driver right click "my computer", select "properties", click the "hardware" tab, select "device manager", find "display adapters" and expand the tree by clicking on the + next to it. Select the first one in the list if there's more then one and right click on it. Select "properties". Select the "driver tab". It will now show the driver version. However, this might not match to what you need to know. So you might then click on "driver details". Down the bottom it will show the file details. This may be the actuall driver version you have.

[GnarPow]

If you have a Nvidia card its easy... just go to the bottom right of your windows in the system tray and R-Click the Nvidia Control panel... then open up the Display bar (mine says Laptop Display, i dont know what yours will say) and it will say the driver right on the first screen

if it doesnt say it on the first screen, open up a little panel on the left side, if it isnt already open(should be) , and just click your card name at the top

[MBCOBRA68]

Thanks a lot guys! I will check on that ASAP. To all you Nvidia card users--are you using 93.71 or is there one out there that will work better for SH4?

[nfitzsimmons]

When I update my nVidia drivers, I do the following:

Set my video properties to VGA 800x600.
Run the nVidia uninstall program to remove the current drivers/tools.
Reboot the machine.
Run Driver Cleaner Pro to remove the remaining bits & pieces.
Available here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745
Reboot again.
Install the new drivers.
Reboot as required.

At the moment I don't remember vhich nVidia drivers I'm running; I'm at the office.

Hope this helps.

[Quillan]

1) There's a couple of ways to do it, but I'll leave it to someone else to explain. I'm on the computer at work, which has a crappy integrated graphics chip and I don't recall exactly how to find it on the nVidia drivers.

2) You can do it this way, but it's generally safer to uninstall the old ones first, reboot the computer, then install the new ones. It prevents possible driver conflicts between the old version and the new.