LSudlow Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 I don't normally review older drivers, but since Dell has been terrible about releasing drivers for the Inspiron series (current version for the i5150 is only 45.86), the release of 58.21 is a cause for celebration. 58.21 is an odd duck. It's the latest 5x.xx driver we've seen, and is the only 58.xx driver we've ever heard of. It's dated about three months ago. Maybe Dell was planning to release this series for all of the Inspiron line but decided to wait for a newer series. As it happens, they've only released it for their new Inspiron 5160, a model that (as far as I can determine) is only available in Europe and is virtually indistinguishable from the 5150. However, its Geforce FX Go5200 uses a different internal ID number, which implies a design update. I'd like to try one in in my 5150 to see how it compares. You'll notice the benchmark numbers in the late 5x and early 6x range are pretty variable. 58.21 scores with the best of them and is a near match for my current favorite, 65.90. It lacks the features of the 65 and 66 series, and probably isn't fully compatible with Windows XP SP2 or DirectX 9c. However, being the latest 5x.xx driver it's very polished and bug free, and it has some pretty good muscle. If, like many, you prefer the 5x.xx series, 58.21 is definitely worth checking out, especially if you want an official driver. Driver..........3DMark01..............3DMark03 53.03............6963.....................1335 53.04............6965.....................1332 53.06............6976.....................1333 53.30............6940.....................1335 53.81............6943.....................1337 54.01............6833.....................1307 56.55............6744.....................1306 56.56............6731.....................1304 56.64............6661.....................1277 56.72............6822.....................1308 56.82............6591.....................1271 58.21............6803.....................1308 60.60............6536.....................1190 60.72............6826.....................1253 60.80............6484.....................1186 61.11............6446.....................1186 61.12............6639.....................1215 61.21............6620.....................1213 61.40............6697.....................1269 61.80............6702.....................1271 62.01............6896.....................1308 62.11............6897.....................1308 62.20............6890.....................1307 65.62............6776.....................1301 65.73............6806.....................1307 65.90............6806.....................1308 66.00............****.....................1309 NOTE: I use a home-grown inf, which can be found here. Pieter's version may perform quite differently. Machine: Dell Inspirion 5150 BIOS: A35 CPU: 3.06 GHz Pentium 4M (Non HyperThreading) RAM: 512MB GPU: Nvidia FX Go5200 w/ 64MB RAM OS: XP Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest citrixcl Posted September 13, 2004 Report Share Posted September 13, 2004 56.82............6591.....................1271 58.21............6803.....................1308 60.60............6536.....................1190 Wow look at that! The 58's are probably a good bet for anyone not willing to play with the newest 66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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