Specifications

Video Display Adapters
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Video drivers generally are designed to support the processor on the video adapter. All video adapters
come equipped with drivers the card manufacturer supplies, but often you can use a driver the chipset
maker created as well. Sometimes you might find that one of the two provides better performance
than the other or resolves a particular problem you are experiencing.
Most manufacturers of video adapters and chipsets maintain Web sites from which you can obtain
the latest drivers; drivers for chipset-integrated video are supplied by the system board or system ven-
dor. A driver from the chipset manufacturer can be a useful alternative, but you should always try the
adapter manufacturer’s driver first. Before purchasing a video adapter, you should check out the man-
ufacturer’s site and see whether you can determine how up-to-date the available drivers are. At one
time, frequent driver revisions were thought to indicate problems with the hardware, but the greater
complexity of today’s systems means that driver revisions are a necessity. Even if you are installing a
brand-new model of a video adapter, be sure to check for updated drivers on the manufacturer’s Web
site for best results.
Note
Although most devices work best with the newest drivers, video cards can be a notable exception. Both NVIDIA and ATI
now use unified driver designs, creating a single driver installation that can be used across a wide range of graphics
chips. However, in some cases, older versions of drivers sometimes work better with older chipsets than the newest drivers
do. If you find that system performance or stability, especially in 3D gaming, drops when you upgrade to the newest dri-
ver for your 3D graphics card, revert to the older driver.
The video driver also provides the interface you can use to configure the display your adapter pro-
duces. On a Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP system, the Display Control Panel identifies the monitor and
video adapter installed on your system and enables you to select the color depth and screen resolu-
tion you prefer. The driver controls the options that are available for these settings, so you can’t
choose parameters the hardware doesn’t support. For example, the controls would not allow you to
select a 1024×768 resolution with 24-bit color if the adapter had only 1MB of memory.
When you click the Advanced button on the Settings page, you see the Properties dialog box for your
particular video display adapter. The contents of this dialog box can vary, depending on the driver
and the capabilities of the hardware. Typically, on the General page of this dialog box, you can select
the size of the fonts (large or small) to use with the resolution you’ve chosen. Windows 98/Me/2000
(but not Windows XP) also add a control to activate a convenient feature. The Show Settings Icon on
Task Bar check box activates a tray icon that enables you to quickly and easily change resolutions and
color depths without having to open the Control Panel. This feature is often called QuickRes. The
Adapter page displays detailed information about your adapter and the drivers installed on the sys-
tem, and it enables you to set the Refresh Rate for your display; with Windows XP, you can use the
List All Modes button to view and choose the resolution, color depth, and refresh rate with a single
click. The Monitor page lets you display and change the monitor’s properties and switch monitor dri-
vers if necessary. In Windows XP, you can also select the refresh rate on this screen.
If your adapter includes a graphics accelerator, the Performance page contains a Hardware
Acceleration slider you can use to control the degree of graphic display assistance provided by your
adapter hardware. In Windows XP, the Performance page is referred to as the Troubleshoot page.
Setting the Hardware Acceleration slider to the Full position activates all the adapter’s hardware accel-
eration features. The necessary adjustments for various problems can be seen in Table 15.16 for
Windows XP and in Table 15.17 for other versions of Windows.
Chapter 15
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