Who makes the best graphics drivers?

[radrok]

Hmm, I thought it was drivers that gave the ability to run Crossfire/SLI...I mean you dont change the game code to use SLI/Crossfire, you change/update the GPU driver, not patch the game.

You are partially right, multi GPU scaling optimization can be made driver wise AND game wise


About drivers, I've had quite few issues with ATI/AMD in the past, going from CFX bad scaling and bluescreens, although I can understand they can't keep up with 3-4 GPUs support as much as one or two.

It's been a while since I've used an Nvidia card (480s), can't say I've had any major issues there either but they aren't free of problems anyway.

In the end single GPU wise both brands are fine but as soon you get into multi GPU ground you'll have issues with both.

I am not going to vote though, would have liked a different approach with the poll.

 

[STCNE]

I've had my fare share of issues with both AMD and NVIDIA but I'll say AMD because the problems with NVIDIA were actually bad enough to get me to switch back. These last few releases of drivers from AMD have been bad... but at least things run for the most part just a hiccup every now and again.

Intel is the worst, for gaming at least. I can't count the number of games my friend has bought that should be playable on his Intel card but nope. No support for :Unreal Engine 3 or OpenGL. And a lot of games use Unreal. He even has trouble with games like Awesomenauts.

 

[temp02]

Most of the time nVidia releases drivers tunned up for recent games, sometimes even ahead of launch time, but nVidia OpenGL shader compiler does not follow the standard, and allows artists/coders to use shortcuts and a slightly different syntax that won't work on other vendors cards/drivers.
AMD drivers normally just work, although they only get tuned up for recent games performance only some time after launch, the same applies for new hardware launched.
So my vote goes to Intel, their recent work on the open-source Linux drivers for the new integrated HD series have been great.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I've had issues with both. I voted NVIDIA for the simple fact I have had less issues. With that being said I have had them FAR less time. 15+ years with ATI without any real issue until last November when they dropped the ball so bad I had to change brands. Then NVIDIA was running great until one day the "updater" decided to crash and I had to reinstall the driver and everything. SO I guess they are about the same for me. Just NVIDIA is better for me right now.

 

[Nordic]

A lot of people seem to be "If I really had to choose..." and their comments show several amd users saying nvidea has better drivers. Like myself.

 

[ViperXTR]

Tho i only experienced minor AMD/ATi cards, i thought they gave more issues to me vs nvidia drivers, so i usually roll to nvidia.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I've never had problems with any of their drivers so I can't choose which is "best."

 

[cadaveca]

I've never had problems with any of their drivers so I can't choose which is "best."

Do you even turn your PC on?

 

[DarkOCean]

fanboy meter

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Im going to say Nvidia. Ive never had an issue with Nvidia drivers. But with AMD when I had a 5870 no drivers other then 10.4 and 10.5 worked. Everything else had horrible performance and game crashing.

 

[Batou1986]

Intel there products are so lack luster its hard for them to release a driver that don't work.

Never once have i had an issue with an intel display driver in 10+ years working on computers, most likely because there's no features to screw up or performance to improve.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Do you even turn your PC on?

Everyday. My server rarely goes off. Both currently run AMD cards.

 

[TRWOV]

Always used ATi GPUs, never had a problem with their drivers. Haven't installed CCC since Legacy 10.2 (for my old X1950PRO AGP) so I don't know how good/bad it is now. Back then I didn't have any issue though.

 

[INSTG8R]

I pretty much have to say AMD because it's all I have used for the last decade. Outside of being an early adopter of Crossfire(X1900XT's),Poor OpenGL drivers and most recently the issues with Flash. My ATI/AMD experience has been pretty painless. I have always bought the flagship cards when I upgrade so I always keep on top of the latest drivers.

I mean I have an Nvidia card in my laptop(8400M) but it's just for surfing so I rarely even update the drivers on it. What has always bothered me with Nvidia is the constant amount of Beta Drivers they put out it seems there always so many floating around between WHQL's.

I will miss ATI/AMD's monthly driver schedule...

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

My understanding of best is least problems, most navigable and feature filled. That's Nvidia by a freaking mile. I have witnessed a very steady stream of people I know switch to nvidia and experience resolution to problems they didn't even know they had. Most notably microstutter. My friend gets about twice the FPS in wow with his 670 as he did his 7950 and his microstutter in it and GTA is gone, a problem hes had going back to his 3870.

I've tried many times to be pleased with AMD graphics cards but the weird quirks I keep encountering with their drivers and general lack of game enhancing options like physx and no AF/AA support in minecraft make them a nonviable option.

Nvidia by comparison I have only two noncritical bugs. If I do something graphical like browsing the net while streaming a HD movie to the TV things get choppy, at least in VLC. The other issue isn't a bug it's just bad design, every new display plugged in is always treated as the primary and the desktop moves. Both issues are livable.

 

[CounterZeus]

Nvidia for me.
Back in the day, they were the only one with drivers that worked with my cheap lcd tv with DVI.
AMD/ATI really failed me when they dropped support after about a year for my expensive top of the line mobility radeon x1900.
Haven't really had problems with my intel HD3000 yet, but it's my first intel experience.

 

[pantherx12]

Didn't vote as I'd say they were all aight.

I've had more problems with Nvidia but I'm damn near certain it was due to something I've done rather than Nvidia.

 

[catnipkiller]

I have a gtx 260, 2x 5870s, a gtx460 and a few others and have never had driver problems from NV but get hard locks and bsod with xfire from AMD. Not a fanboy just telling the facts.

 

[KainXS]

I'ma have to say nvidia I have simply had too many problems back when I had a 4890, microstutter killed, no murdered its performance on pretty much everything in cf and for some reason the cp always killed my boot time, got tired of it and went back to nv

but intels cp is the worst by far

oops picked amd by mistake T.T

 

[Widjaja]

I would have to go with nVidia, but this is based on my Brothers experience with nVidia and AMD.
The last nVidia card I had was an 8800GT and the card was a bad experience not the drivers itself.

But then again, AMD/ATi were constantly pushing out drivers once a month so we have more to complain about than nVidia.

 

[Phusius]

I voted AMD, I never use the control panel of either, Msi Afterburner ftw.

That said, only issues I have ever encountered are with beta for both companies when it comes to rolling back to WHQL, etc. Fair enough, they are beta for a reason.

 

[Anath]

I have had both, I had nvidia back during the 7950 era then switched to ati and had ati up until 6950s and then switched back to nvidia for 580 and 680s. During that time I had a lot more stability running nvidia drivers than ati. With ati I would have really bad stutter running crossfire, weird artifact issues, and a few other things that were common daily. With nvidia once per game I would have an issue where the entire game would freeze for 1-2 seconds and then be fine for the rest of it. I have also had where the display driver crashes when I am surfing the web. But comparing the two I like nvidias drivers a lot better. The install is a lot better than ati, I dont see any stutter(minus what i said above), Nvidia has physx( I know it's not fair to compare but it is a bonus), and generally their support is way better meaning their updates include quite a few games with performance enhancements. I see more performance enhancements from driver updates that i did when I had AMD.

 

[erocker]

I vote Microsoft, standard vga driver always works. Other than that I'd say NV has the better control panel. Can't say I notice any difference between AMD/NV otherwise. Intel is just poop.

I agree with the King of logic and reason. ^

 

[Hilux SSRG]

Why no love for Voodoo 3dfx drivers?

I never had trouble with any of their drivers. Maybe others can chime in, it's been quite a while and my head is fuzzy.

 

[erocker]

Why no love for Voodoo 3dfx drivers?

I never had trouble with any of their drivers. Maybe others can chime in, it's been quite a while and my head is fuzzy.

Ugh.. Don't get me started there. While I came in late to the 3DFX game when it was around their drivers for my 5500 agp card were substandard at best... Then Nvidia bought them out and my two month old card was officially unsupported. I guess this poll is for current drivers from companies that are still in business.