XPS 1730 8700 Drivers

[billaboy2767]

I have discovered something.I changed drivers recently and noticed a difference in directx 10 games and 9 games. When i upgraded from the 167 dell performance driver to the 174 performance driver,suddenly my directx 10 games played a little bit better and all my directx9 games got slower.i am guessing in the new driver construction they focus around harnesing for directx 10 games.This is true for all the drivers i tried out after the 167 driver.175's,174's,171's,177's. i doni't think this is coincidence. This is such a dilema. I can play World In Conflict,which i love, at 1027x768, 2 AA, all settings high except physics, and no ultra distant textures with the 174 dell performance website driver.i got an average of 22 fps on the benchmark which is complete chaos happening.You will hardly have that much happening at one time during gameplay. One tip: Physics high in WIC lowers fps significantly.i suggest turn on medium for descent physics.Low setting gave me 28 average fps.

175.80 DRIVER: Does not run World In Conflict. I have confirmed this with other forums. Wierd graphics glitch.

Favorite Game:

OBLIVION: I play Oblivion with 1400x900, 2AA, 16 AF, all settings high.More than what you need for the Oblivion experience. I can only play this now with the 167 driver. Any new driver lags horribly. I have tested my directx 9 games with 10

and come to the conclusion that some drivers are for 9 and some are for 10. So, make a decision on which ones play your favorite games the best. I'm sure i'll be uninstalling and installing back and forth.

Coolbits and overclocking are needed for these results.: Set it to 1A for best results XPS 1730 8700 USERS.

The best overclock speeds u can have without getting a driver fail and recovered message and having to restart is::: Core clock:732(link shader clock assuming u have rivatuner):Memory clock:870

167 dell performance driver. (actually for the 7900 gs,gtx). Here are my benchmarks.

The 174 driver slowed Oblivion down a lot.

Oblivion: 1400x900, 2AA, 16AF, all settings high.About 50fps almost all the time outside. In heavy wheat you'll get from 40 to 50. So playable.

F.E.A.R. :1280X800, 4AA. 16AF, all settings high. Minimum:52 Average:58 Max: 63. So playable

Call of Duty 4: 1027x768 2AA, all settings high except texture options.Best left at manual. Must be about over 55 fps. Smoothe as can be. So playable

Call of duty 2! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !.This is the best driver to run this xp based game if u choose directx 9 drivers over 10.. I got rundll32 failure with a lot of other drivers. So playable

As for Directx 10 games, if u want to play GEARS OF WAR with more fps and less glitches and WIC with about 6 more frames per second, i would not recommend this driver. All this information has come over weeks of testing,uninstalling,reinstalling,benchmarking, and headaches,trying to find the best driver for my XPS 1730 with the Geforce Go 8700m Sli. It is best to use the 174 or the 167 or some other dell tested driver for better compatiblity with 1730 users.

Hope this info was useful to all.

Edited July 25, 2008 by billaboy2767