NVIDIA Prepares a Controversial Change to its Driver Update Distribution

[ZeDestructor]

I had GFE and got info about new drivers through forums faster (NVIDIA and TPU).

Yeah, but how many people hang around forums like TPU and nvidia's? Or have RSS feeds like myself?

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

It's sad people have an opinion on this and want to express it?

It's such a minute issue though. Takes next to no system resources, kills the reboot requirement, and honestly, what is there to hate about Shadowplay? You do something epic and want to save it for personal use or just maybe make a Youtube channel and post stuff up occasionally, it's there. It also has an FPS counter. Goodbye Fraps.

People bitch about EVERYTHING these days. Fucking grow some thicker skin, take a deep breath, and relax.

 

[ZeDestructor]

It's such a minute issue though. Takes next to no system resources, kills the reboot requirement, and honestly, what is there to hate about Shadowplay? You do something epic and want to save it for personal use or just maybe make a Youtube channel and post stuff up occasionally, it's there. It also has an FPS counter. Goodbye Fraps.

People bitch about EVERYTHING these days. Fucking grow some thicker skin, take a deep breath, and relax.

Technically, the no-reboot upgrade option came from Vista, for the rest, much agreed.

 

[Relayer]

Yeah, but how many people hang around forums like TPU and nvidia's? Or have RSS feeds like myself?

They all, like you, have the option though. Seems like that's going to go away.

 

[R-T-B]

It's such a minute issue though. Takes next to no system resources, kills the reboot requirement, and honestly, what is there to hate about Shadowplay? You do something epic and want to save it for personal use or just maybe make a Youtube channel and post stuff up occasionally, it's there. It also has an FPS counter. Goodbye Fraps.

People bitch about EVERYTHING these days. Fucking grow some thicker skin, take a deep breath, and relax.

I treat this like bundled toolbars for my browser. Even if they don't slow me down, I don't want them there, and shouldn't have them forced down my throat. I know this will likely be a program I install just for updates and then promptly uninstall. No, it's not a huge deal, but if we don't speak up, how is nvidia supposed to know our feelings on the matter?

 

[Prima.Vera]

It's such a minute issue though. Takes next to no system resources, kills the reboot requirement, and honestly, what is there to hate about Shadowplay? You do something epic and want to save it for personal use or just maybe make a Youtube channel and post stuff up occasionally, it's there. It also has an FPS counter. Goodbye Fraps.

People bitch about EVERYTHING these days. Fucking grow some thicker skin, take a deep breath, and relax.

Shadowplay DOES cut your FPS in games by 5-10% which is a lot by my standards....

Check the official nVidia forums and news if you don't believe it....

edit:

more reactions here:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...rience/forcing-us-to-use-geforce-experience-/

Again, why do I need this junk bloatware on my PC?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Because NVIDIA said so!

 

[RejZoR]

I need just the updating part of it. Nothing else. I don't get it why NVIDIA uses tray icon and can't be bothered to add FXAA, FSAA and AF control into it like we had back in friggin year 2000. Instead I have to fiddle with profiles or wait ages for CP to open and load whole ist of all apps scattered over disk.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Shadowplay DOES cut your FPS in games by 5-10% which is a lot by my standards....

Check the official nVidia forums and news if you don't believe it....

edit:

more reactions here:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...rience/forcing-us-to-use-geforce-experience-/

Again, why do I need this junk bloatware on my PC?

I dont have it running 100% of the time im playing a game. I have it set to record the previous 5 minutes of game play the second I hit ALT+F10. Bam. Captured what I wanted to capture. No additional wasted HDD space.

I also have it save my Shadowplay captures onto my NAS instead of it's default location.

I also like the fact that everyone that has a problem with this, calls the software "crap" and "bloatware" Bloatware takes away system resources. And im talking large amounts. This, takes up maybe 200MB max? Yup, must be bloatware. Or the 90's with limited hdd capacities.

 

[ZeDestructor]

I dont have it running 100% of the time im playing a game. I have it set to record the previous 5 minutes of game play the second I hit ALT+F10. Bam. Captured what I wanted to capture. No additional wasted HDD space.

I also have it save my Shadowplay captures onto my NAS instead of it's default location.

I also like the fact that everyone that has a problem with this, calls the software "crap" and "bloatware" Bloatware takes away system resources. And im talking large amounts. This, takes up maybe 200MB max? Yup, must be bloatware. Or the 90's with limited hdd capacities.

I capture to my local RAID0, with temp storage on one of the SSDs, because it's faster than the NAS... the 10Gbit upgrade on it's way should fix that quite nicely...

On the bloatware camp, I can see the argument for not having features you'd never use, but as someone who ran GFE since it's beta to get in on ShadowPlay, only Shield streaming is a feature I don't use, but I can make the same argument for, say, Wordpad, Windows Media Player, and Voice Recorder for example...

 

[Techmaner]

In other news Newegg unloading 970's for $250 *No rebate*.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/381433334938?rmvSB=true

Ohhh my... I want that Will get it at next pay.

 

[xorbe]

Ohhh my... I want that Will get it at next pay.

It's $290 + $4 S/H now.

 

[R-T-B]

I also like the fact that everyone that has a problem with this, calls the software "crap" and "bloatware" Bloatware takes away system resources. And im talking large amounts. This, takes up maybe 200MB max? Yup, must be bloatware. Or the 90's with limited hdd capacities.

No, bloatware does not have to take "large amounts" of memory or cpu cycles. It simply has to take any for no particular purpose you will ever use.

And yes, this does make windows to a degree, bloatware. But that's kinda been the case for a while unfortunately. It doesn't make it right.

 

[ZeDestructor]

No, bloatware does not have to take "large amounts" of memory or cpu cycles. It simply has to take any for no particular purpose you will ever use.

And yes, this does make windows to a degree, bloatware. But that's kinda been the case for a while unfortunately. It doesn't make it right.

It doesn't, but going back to the point I made much earlier, the majority find it useful/inoffensive, in much the same way as Windows ships with a massive library of in-built drivers and default services installed and often enabled (like the DHCP client, other ZeronConf network services, Print spooler, PDF/XPS printer, Windows Update, wireless scanning).

Sure, they could all be installable from the DVD, or installed but disabled by default, but having them installed and enabled by default makes life a lot easier. That's what nVidia is seeing from their data on GFE usage, and I can't fault them.

Now, if MS would get off their fucking asses and have a proper package manager and would force 3rd partied to integrate with it properly, we wouldn't even be talking about this at all.

 

[R-T-B]

Sure, they could all be installable from the DVD, or installed but disabled by default, but having them installed and enabled by default makes life a lot easier. That's what nVidia is seeing from their data on GFE usage, and I can't fault them.

Now, if MS would get off their fucking asses and have a proper package manager and would force 3rd partied to integrate with it properly, we wouldn't even be talking about this at all.

How does making geforce experience a forced install "make life easier" for anyone? If you can provide me with a legitimate example, I may be swayed.

 

[ZeDestructor]

How does making geforce experience a forced install "make life easier" for anyone? If you can provide me with a legitimate example, I may be swayed.

Just in terms of steps needed:

With GFE installed:

1. Click notification
2. Spam next/agree
3. ??? (wait for automatic download + install)
4. Profit!

Without GFE installed:

1. Subscribe to some form of notification for new drivers
2. Find drivers
3. Choose drivers (correct version, correct OS, correct GPU)
4. Download drivers
5. Extract drivers (using the self-extracting .exe or otherwise)
6. Launch installer
7. Spam next/agree
8. ??? (wait for install)
9. Profit

I don't know about you, but I've grown quite fond of the lazy approach. The only reason I still download the drivers manually is to maintain my driver library (as a companion copy to GFE's autoinstaller, and to make windows installs faster), for old times sake, really.. I mean, I haven't felt the need to downgrade drivers in what.. 9 years now?

 

[64K]

Just in terms of steps needed:

With GFE installed:

1. Click notification
2. Spam next/agree
3. ??? (wait for automatic download + install)
4. Profit!

Without GFE installed:

1. Subscribe to some form of notification for new drivers
2. Find drivers
3. Choose drivers (correct version, correct OS, correct GPU)
4. Download drivers
5. Extract drivers (using the self-extracting .exe or otherwise)
6. Launch installer
7. Spam next/agree
8. ??? (wait for install)
9. Profit

I don't know about you, but I've grown quite fond of the lazy approach. The only reason I still download the drivers manually is to maintain my driver library (as a companion copy to GFE's autoinstaller, and to make windows installs faster), for old times sake, really.. I mean, I haven't felt the need to downgrade drivers in what.. 9 years now?

I guess we all have different perspectives when it comes to this. I see from your specs that you are running SLI GPUs so naturally you want the latest driver upgrades for SLI profiles on new games. For me the latest drivers are irrelevant. I don't run SLI and I don't buy games until they have been out for a few years. If Nvidia will continue to release quarterly standalone drivers then I'm not affected in any way from this.

 

[ZeDestructor]

I guess we all have different perspectives when it comes to this. I see from your specs that you are running SLI GPUs so naturally you want the latest driver upgrades for SLI profiles on new games. For me the latest drivers are irrelevant. I don't run SLI and I don't buy games until they have been out for a few years. If Nvidia will continue to release quarterly standalone drivers then I'm not affected in any way from this.

Even for single-GPU setups there are benefits to be had... , as can be seen here (first set of results, with the 750Ti) for example. Yes, I know, first party results and all that, but the tests are repeatable enough and nobody came out with contradictory results (and you can be damn sure someone would have, and the "news" outlets would only obligingly spread it far and wide). Fun fact, in some cases the SLI system gets a much smaller improvement (Metro: Last Light for example).

Of course, if you're only buying games months to years later, then even with an SLI setup it's all mostly a moot point (some exceptions apply, like major refactoring of the driver causing a change in performance across all games, or updating game profiles).

On the subject of quarterly driver releases: I expect those to be available for a very long time, on account of the Quadro and Tesla users, both of whom usually get their updates by corporate rollouts using full installers re-packaged for remote deployment (partly to ensure version uniformity across the org, mostly to reduce support calls).

 

[R-T-B]

Just in terms of steps needed:

With GFE installed:

1. Click notification
2. Spam next/agree
3. ??? (wait for automatic download + install)
4. Profit!

Without GFE installed:

1. Subscribe to some form of notification for new drivers
2. Find drivers
3. Choose drivers (correct version, correct OS, correct GPU)
4. Download drivers
5. Extract drivers (using the self-extracting .exe or otherwise)
6. Launch installer
7. Spam next/agree
8. ??? (wait for install)
9. Profit

I don't know about you, but I've grown quite fond of the lazy approach. The only reason I still download the drivers manually is to maintain my driver library (as a companion copy to GFE's autoinstaller, and to make windows installs faster), for old times sake, really.. I mean, I haven't felt the need to downgrade drivers in what.. 9 years now?

I'd be swayed if there wasn't a missing step there.

Geforce Experience will soon require an account and email.

You may not know this from my presence here, but I pride myself on being a digital age recluse, with no facebook, myspace, or any digital presence really whatsoever. My few accounts are on things I am interested in, nothing more. As a side effect, I almost never get spam.

 

[ZeDestructor]

I'd be swayed if there wasn't a missing step there.

Geforce Experience will soon require an account and email.

You may not know this from my presence here, but I pride myself on being a digital age recluse, with no facebook, myspace, or any digital presence really whatsoever. My few accounts are on things I am interested in, nothing more. As a side effect, I almost never get spam.

Only on the first install though.. I mean, it's not like you don't sign into Steam (or sign up, if it's your first time) when you first install it to a fresh PC.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Steam = subscription service (you literally agree to "Steam Subscriber Agreement"); Steam wouldn't exist without it because it is DRM.
NVIDIA = drivers for hardware

They don't and shouldn't mix.

 

[ZeDestructor]

Steam = subscription service (you literally agree to "Steam Subscriber Agreement"); Steam wouldn't exist without it because it is DRM.
NVIDIA = drivers for hardware

They don't and shouldn't mix.

And how does this change the complexity argument or number of steps?I see you moving the goalposts from R-T-B's original argument that GFE didn't make driver maintenance easier, and I don't like that. I fully admit that I ignored the step in my rebuttal justifiably so, since the first use is very rarely representative of long-term usage. Bringing in Steam as an example was just to illustrate the first time experience vs the continuous use experience. No more, no less.

I can see the point of user accounts not being required from a purely technical/ideological perspective (and personally I'm somewhat... disspointed.. of the requirement), but in practice, you have to give up something in the name of convenience, and in this case nV wants users to sign up an account, and dissenters put on a slow quarterly schedule. Many (like myself) will sign up for the sake of convenience.

As an aside, all drivers have some form of license attached that the end user(s) agree to (including fully free, open-source ones that can be upstreamed directly into OS kernels like Linux and FreeBSD), and to the best of my knowledge everything on Windows that doesn't have terms that are equal or less onerous than MS' terms is simply not shipped with Windows, or will only get a basic class driver developed by MS (like USB drive drivers, for example). Arguing otherwise is simply ignoring pars of the situation.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

GFE should be optional like Gaming Evolved. The moment it stops being optional is the moment in crosses the proverbial "line." NVIDIA should offer an update tool but it should not require any account with NVIDIA (having NVIDIA hardware should be the only prerequisite) and that should be part of NVIDIA's Control Panel (like Catalyst) with an option to disable it. GFE should have never handled updates. If they divorced updates from GFE, I see no reason why GFE couldn't require an account because it is optional software.

In relation to "just in terms of steps needed:" Catalyst automatically prompts on program start to install the latest WHQL drivers if your installed drivers are out of date. It never prompts for any user information.

 

[qubit]

Looks like NVIDIA hasn't implemented this GeForce Experience only change yet as I've just gone to www.geforce.com and was able to download the latest 359.06 driver. That's good, let's hope NVIDIA delay this change as long as possible. Perhaps there was too much backlash from users?