What's the best solution to enjoy 3D games?

[Alfredkuac]

Hi guys,
I have a RTX2070 super and a monitor Asus PQ278QR..and I'm wondering what could the best option to enjoy 3D and don't have incompatibilites issues.
Is it better to have a W7 partition and use that for 3D? maybe a W10 1809 version?
And what's the best solution to fix the drivers?

Thank you in advance!!

[Lizzard]

When it comes to Windows you definitely want to avoid 8! The rest (7, 8.1, 10) are quite good. The most reliable reported by the majority was 7. I've only used 8.1 and 10 v1809. 8.1 so far has been far more superior to w10 after a year of using. (Where I used 8.1 for about 6). I've never had so many random crashes and problems with any operating system before (w8 completely out of the question). It is probably because the manufacturers of hardware and software development spend less time with older versions and always primarily focus on the latest and greatest. You might argue: why is w7 so stable? Maybe because its not so "experimental" anymore and things more set in stone? W10 seems like a very experimental platform with ongoing development + updates and I personally would only recommend it if you are into VR too. With w10 you have to find alternative routes to block them from updating your drivers without your explicit consent.

The feature I'm using most in windows is task manager. I always check to see what is going on in the background. With W10 the list is enormous and always very suspicious. You need to be more concerned about your personal privacy and safety when you choose an operating system or anti virus.

The nVidia drivers arent something you should worry about unless you gain some ridiculous performance boost of 10% or something. Its quick to reinstall drivers and try different things. Operating system much more tedious. On the RTX and DLSS side of the matter someone else might need to give their opinion.

[Cowboybob]

I have dual ssd's with 8.1 and 10.
Using 8.1 all the time now, got sick of 10 always forcing updates and having to kill them.
8.1 has given me no problems what so ever.

[bo3bber]

It's interesting that 8.1 has been working well for you guys. Good info.

Most reliable and least amount of trouble is going to be either Win7 or possibly 8.1. Win10 in all versions is a giant pain in the ass, constantly changing things, constant updates. You either have to spend time locking it down, or spend time dealing with random changes that are forced upon you.

Win 7 is out of service, which matters not a lot, except that you don't get system patches for viruses. It's not like Microsoft ever did a good job here anyway, but if you are concerned, maybe 8.1 would be better. I run Win7 with no virus protection because it saps performance and occasionally blocks things from working properly. About once every few months I'll scan with Malwarebytes.

Win10 works OK from the 3D standpoint, 1809 lets you use any driver you want without restriction or bugs, and we have the Scwhing hack for 1903 or above. But in terms of incompatibilities and annoyances, it's tops.

[Alfredkuac]

I'm gonna try W8.1! thanks for the feedback guys!!
One more question, once I installed W8.1 what should be the process to follow to hack the driver? or just download the last 3D supported driver?

[bo3bber]

I'm gonna try W8.1! thanks for the feedback guys!!
One more question, once I installed W8.1 what should be the process to follow to hack the driver? or just download the last 3D supported driver?

Simplest and most reliable will just be to run 425.31. Be sure to use Standard, not DCH. Hacked driver is OK, but can introduce some anomalies on Win10, like not being able to see the nvidia overlay in some games. Not sure if that would be true of 8.1, but later drivers pretty much don't have anything that stand out as a must have. They claim higher performance, but they always lie. Check the benchmarks, no difference.

[Alfredkuac]

Simplest and most reliable will just be to run 425.31. Be sure to use Standard, not DCH. Hacked driver is OK, but can introduce some anomalies on Win10, like not being able to see the nvidia overlay in some games. Not sure if that would be true of 8.1, but later drivers pretty much don't have anything that stand out as a must have. They claim higher performance, but they always lie. Check the benchmarks, no difference.

Hi Bo3bber,
I have everything ready with me!, I bought a new SSD and installed W8.1 but I can't find the official drivers 425.31 for the rtx2070 super and W8.1...I think there is not drivers for my graphic card in W8
Any other solution that I can apply?

[Alfredkuac]

I have dual ssd's with 8.1 and 10.
Using 8.1 all the time now, got sick of 10 always forcing updates and having to kill them.
8.1 has given me no problems what so ever.

Cowboybob, how did you configure your W8.1?..I can't find the drivers for my graphic card (rxt2070super)

[schwing]

    It looks like neither the new nor the old versions of the nvidia driver page are paginated (no surprise there), and 425.31 isn't part of the list. I can't even find it for my 980Ti. Here's a page I found that contains links to the 425.31 driver. Choose a Win7 link for Win 8.1 and then install as normal.

[bo3bber]

Man, it's like NVidia hired the B-team of new college hires for their web team. Only total amateurs used hard coded fixed lists. Their forums and their web pages say "We couldn't care less about the customer experience."


Direct Nvidia links to the driver, pulled from 3DFM/HelixVision:

Standard:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... l-whql.exe
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... l-whql.exe

DCH:
http://de.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... h-whql.exe


Also of note, you can edit those URLs, so if you are trying to find something extra old, you can just replace the version numbers.

Another option is to use the Guru3D download, which has archives for every driver. And shockingly, doesn't use a hard coded fixed list:

https://www.guru3d.com/files-categories ... %7C-7.html

[Alfredkuac]

Man, it's like NVidia hired the B-team of new college hires for their web team. Only total amateurs used hard coded fixed lists. Their forums and their web pages say "We couldn't care less about the customer experience."


Direct Nvidia links to the driver, pulled from 3DFM/HelixVision:

Standard:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... l-whql.exe
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... l-whql.exe

DCH:
http://de.download.nvidia.com/Windows/4 ... h-whql.exe


Also of note, you can edit those URLs, so if you are trying to find something extra old, you can just replace the version numbers.

Another option is to use the Guru3D download, which has archives for every driver. And shockingly, doesn't use a hard coded fixed list:

https://www.guru3d.com/files-categories ... %7C-7.html

Hi Bo3bber,
I tried with you links and I got this error:

The graphic driver is not compatible with this version of windows and the graphic driver couldn't find a hardware compatible.
Any other ideas?

Thank you in advance!!

[john105]

The graphic driver is not compatible with this version of windows and the graphic driver couldn't find a hardware compatible.
Any other ideas?

425.31 doesn't support any "super" cards. Your only option is to use a later driver version + one of the methods of adding 3D Vision support to it, like viewtopic.php?f=105&t=23752

[bo3bber]

Also you might have the DCH conflict. It reports as 'incompatible', even though that's just a bug in their code.

You can either use the DCH version, or use the DDU tool to scrub out the old driver.


As john105 notes, there are multiple ways to run recent drivers now, so that's an option too. BringBack3V, Losti's tool, 3DFM, HelixVision.