Only BETA drivers work? Is that normal?

[Ryuhei]

I just put a clean install of Win2K pro on my system (PIII 667, 256 MB PC133, G400 MAX, SB Live X-gamer, SCSI DVD-ROM and HD). I tried the 5.03 Matrox drivers and my freakin' system wouldn't even open Windows, just a crazy black and white screen. I tried BETA 5.10 and it got me into Windows, but it locked up after I moved the mouse too much Then I installed the BETA 5.11's and everything works fine! It's the most stable system I;ve ever had. Now, I haven't tried to Play Q3A yet or any other game, but Windows is running better than ever. Is it normal or safe to use the BETA drivers? Thanks!

[ayoub_ibrahim]

I use win98 but the beta driver before the present flavour(6.04) was well liked by alot of people on this forum & apparently solved several niggling problems.

[RAB]

Every set of beta drivers I've used from Matrox have been stable except one. Out of the ten or so Betas I've used only the 5.52 drivers were unusable. And that was a conflict with a VIA chipset, the drivers and D3D.

Matrox does not normally release beta drivers until they are very thoroughly checked by our Beta Boys and Matrox internal testers. The only real problem in the past was Open GL compatability and that is largely solved now. So feel free to us them as if they are final drivers. Around here there never seems to be final drivers - but the betas normally all work well.

RAB

[Raptor^]

Erm... why not use the 5.14 Win2k drivers?
They aren't beta and are newer than 5.11

[Ryuhei]

I always just go to the "Latest Drivers" section on the Matrox website. I never look at the unified drivers or anything else. Should I? What's the difference? Thanks again!

[Gurm]

Ryuhei,

I'm going to be nice today, and assume that you aren't just a flame-baiting troll...

The 5.03 drivers, while deemed "non-beta" are almost a year old. I can't think of any reason to use year-old drivers.

There is no video card currently on the market which does not have its drivers currently in a "beta" state. I just did a quick check, and...

ATI: ONLY has beta drivers for the Radeon. ONLY has beta Win2k drivers for any of its other cards. No drivers work correctly for any card other than Radeon.

3dfx: Has "non-beta" drivers from February. Several "beta" releases since then. The February drivers are ok, but lack compatibility with recent games.

nVidia: Has "non-beta" drivers from... err... a long-ass time ago. All detonator drivers are "beta". Each successive build fixes outstanding bugs and creates dozens of new ones. 50/50 odds of the card working correctly.

So, which card is it that you have used in the past which has led you to believe that there was any necessity to use "non-beta" drivers?

ESPECIALLY under Win2k - since NOBODY has non-beta drivers for Win2k. Period.

In answer to your question, the 5.14 drivers are "certified" drivers, which happen to also include the most up-to-date OpenGL ICD. They are likely a bit slower than the 5.10 drivers in D3D, but are the most complete, up-to-date, and compatible.

And if you "only look in the latest drivers section", then why on God's Green Earth were you using the 5.03's?

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Ryuhei]

Gurm--Um, sorry to upset you. I'm not a troll, I'm just not as Matrox savvy as the other members here. I didn't mean to upset you. And I'm not using the 5.03 drivers. I'm using the beta 5.11's. I wasn't trying to cause trouble! I was just wondering about the different driver sections on the Matrox website! So what's the bottom line? Should I stick with my 5.11 beta or change it to the certified one? Thanks!

[Gurm]

Oops, you missed the point. I _wasn't_ flaming you, I was trying to explain the concept of beta drivers. Apparently I did badly.

My advice - yes, get the 5.14's (make sure to completely uninstall the 5.11's using the pduninst.exe in your winnt\system32 directory) since they are much better than the 5.11's. If you are having compatibility problems after that you can try dropping back to 5.06 if necessary - but I think the 5.14's will make you a happy person.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[SteveC]

...are very thoroughly checked by our Beta Boys...

heh heh.. maybe so, but since when has us reporting errors ever made them stop releasing dodgy drivers?!? <FONT SIZE=-3>(Only kidding Haig!!)</FONT>

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Ryuhei]

Thanks guys! I'll get those drivers right now!