Video: Installing a New Graphics Card + Going From ATi -> nVidia and Back Again

[bauglir]

i learned something... but, i just did reformat my computer, and i changed cards after that, i dont want to reformat if it will only increase my score by 100 pts... its too much work for litle performance gain

[python134r]

Good thread, took me awhile to notice it. There is nothing better than a reformat and new install. I too am guilty of switching out cards on the fly using just driver cleaner with good results MOST of the time. In a couple days I will switch out my 9800XT for a 6800GT. Right now I am dual booting XPsp2 and Vista and I will reformat and do a clean install only if I must.

If hdd are backed up properly it really is a piece of cake to do, man I'm sooo lazy.

[BIOShazard]

Extremely bad punctuation, bad explanation, not understandable for people with a low IQ, let me give you an example:

"etc. Doesn't really matter so the only thing you need to know is what card it is that you are upgrading and if you are upgrading you will of already researched what card you are going to buy whether its nVidia or ATi as these are the main graphics card manufacturers out there."

There should be a few commas in here, and the rest of the grammar is also wrong. The sentence must be rephrased.

"etc. doesn't really matter, so the only thing you need to know is what card you are upgrading, and if you are upgrading you will already have researched what card you are going to buy. It will most likely be either nVidia or ATi as these are the main graphics card manufacturers out there."

That's how to write it, doesn't it feel a lot easier to read that loud in your head? I suggest you read a dictionary or something before you post something like this again.

Yeah, and I agree, Richdog, the big letters are silly. By the way, I do know my own grammar is not exactly perfect, but I am six years younger than you.

[trismegistus]

Wow! You just made it look like a crap. Congrats. Mesce spent some time writting this so it would be nice if you could say at least something nice.

[mesce]

Originally Posted by BIOShazard

Extremely bad punctuation, bad explanation, not understandable for people with a low IQ, let me give you an example:

"etc. Doesn't really matter so the only thing you need to know is what card it is that you are upgrading and if you are upgrading you will of already researched what card you are going to buy whether its nVidia or ATi as these are the main graphics card manufacturers out there."

There should be a few commas in here, and the rest of the grammar is also wrong. The sentence must be rephrased.

"etc. doesn't really matter, so the only thing you need to know is what card you are upgrading, and if you are upgrading you will already have researched what card you are going to buy. It will most likely be either nVidia or ATi as these are the main graphics card manufacturers out there."

That's how to write it, doesn't it feel a lot easier to read that loud in your head? I suggest you read a dictionary or something before you post something like this again.

Yeah, and I agree, Richdog, the big letters are silly. By the way, I do know my own grammar is not exactly perfect, but I am six years younger than you.

Lol, if you want me to go down that path, let me correct you then.

Originally Posted by BIOShazard

Extremely bad punctuation, bad explanation, (good upto this point, you should of made use of a tri-colon but you decided to "uber-omgwtf" mess up) not understandable for people with a low IQ, let me give you an example:



"etc. doesn't really matter, so the only thing you need to know is what card you are upgrading, and if you are upgrading you will already have researched what card you are going to buy. It will most likely be either nVidia or ATi as these are the main graphics card manufacturers out there."

In red and bold are the problems that you have, rather than let me tell you what they are, why dont you www.google.no and find the answer, you could always ask your English teacher

Anyway, lets keep this thread on topic now. Any more people that stray off-topic will get their asses kicked.

[El King]

i was wondering if i shud reformat after i changed from the 8500gt to the hd3850, but i after some lockups and performance issues and after reading ur article i guess i will be re-formatting, i will be back wid some results
oh btw
FORZA AZZURRI

[Chase007]

what if im going from msi 8400gs to ati radon 1960pro??

[dccmadams]

I remove drivers in control panel/remove software. I dont use any driver cleaner. I go between ati and nvidia almost on a weekly schedule without a single problem. this is on both of my pc's.

[mesce]

I've updated this sticky a little bit. Changing the must reformat when switching from ATi and nVidia. I think now you can get away with it a lot easier using driver cleaner etc. But dcc, you will definitely not be scoring as high in benchmarks doing that than doing a clean refresh of a reformat, that I can pretty much guarantee.

[Atom(ik)]

Thanks for the post

[taquila]

well i certainly do feel that mesce knows much more than I do about computers, however i have never had an issue changing video cards before.I am just a guy that does his own stuff, i do not work in this field so I have only upgraded cards 10-12 times and I'm sure that from his informative posts that he has done thousands.I am sure doing upgrades all the time for ppl one would see many issues that a home user does'nt see.If I do run into an issue when swapping cards I will be sure to search for this post and use it.I too am lazy enough to avoid reformatting unless performance has fallen off and I have been unable to resolve it,but I ussually put up with some garbage for awhile before I admit to myself that a reformat is in order.I think that anyone going for an absolute top benchmark will often benifit from a clean reinstallation even if you have not upgraded any hardware,if you have had the system for very long.I will be getting new cards for me and the wife soon (trying to decide between a GTX 260,4890 or a 5770)so I will be back to this article if I have issues. Good thread btw. Now i need to go hide from the grammar police that are trolling the forums LOL.

[mesce]

Originally Posted by taquila

well i certainly do feel that mesce knows much more than I do about computers, however i have never had an issue changing video cards before.I am just a guy that does his own stuff, i do not work in this field so I have only upgraded cards 10-12 times and I'm sure that from his informative posts that he has done thousands.I am sure doing upgrades all the time for ppl one would see many issues that a home user does'nt see.If I do run into an issue when swapping cards I will be sure to search for this post and use it.I too am lazy enough to avoid reformatting unless performance has fallen off and I have been unable to resolve it,but I ussually put up with some garbage for awhile before I admit to myself that a reformat is in order.I think that anyone going for an absolute top benchmark will often benifit from a clean reinstallation even if you have not upgraded any hardware,if you have had the system for very long.I will be getting new cards for me and the wife soon (trying to decide between a GTX 260,4890 or a 5770)so I will be back to this article if I have issues. Good thread btw. Now i need to go hide from the grammar police that are trolling the forums LOL.

You can get away with a good driver cleaner at the moment, rather than reformatting. The reformat is usually for Benchmark junkies who want optimal performance.