Hello. I recently picked up a copy of Battlefield 3 but I am unable to play it. Now, it said I need to upgrade my drivers. I found THIS thread, and I should be able to follow it. However, I have a few questions, and am really unsure if I should upgrade them or not, because I dont want to mess up my computer. Anyhow, here are my questions.
1) Can I install the new driver on top of the old one without uninstalling everything?
2) What exactly is the Nvidia driver and what does it do?
3) Will basic programs like word and IE8 still work if I mess up the drivers?

I really want to play battlefield 3 but I also dont want to mess up my computer. Im REALLY unsure if I should upgrade it or not, I dont want a messed up computer... In short im unsure what to do and if playing battlefield 3 is worth risking a messed up computer.

My driver is Nvidia GeForce 9500 GS with current driver version 175.56 and I would be upgrading to 296.1.

Also, I have very little experience working with computer hardware, but I should be ok. I will google some of my questions.

No, upgrading your drivers shouldn't hurt anything. Also, I would highly recommend switching browsers to Firefox, or preferably Chrome. If things don't work out, you can always roll back your drivers, which we will help you out with should the situation arise.

Like Marth said, upgrading your drivers is not only safe, it's highly recommended. In fact, NOT updating your drivers is more likely to screw up programs on your computer.

Basically, a driver is a program that your hardware uses to communicate with the computer. Without a driver, things like your graphics card, keyboard, or USB ports simply wouldn't work. Your Nvidia driver is a program that your graphics card uses to work. Installing a driver is just like installing any other program, and it happens automatically whenever you plug in a new device. Have you ever plugged in a thumb drive and it says "please wait while we configure your new hardware"? That's installing a driver to allow the thumb drive to work with your computer. The driver only works for the specific device it is made for, so it won't interfere with any other programs.

Now, your job as a computer owner, is to make sure you keep your drivers updated. The only reason to update something is if there's a fix, right? So, obviously, the driver you have now doesn't work properly with something, otherwise it would not need an update. Installing an update is easy, just follow the onscreen directions. It's just like installing any other program, and you can update without removing the previous driver. Now, like Marth also said, if the update doesn't work right (because software isn't perfect and neither are the programmers writing the code), you can always "rollback" to a previous version of the driver. There are tutorials across the internet that tell you how to do this for different devices. But for the most part, updating drivers should go smoothly.

While I'll concede that *usually* upgrading drivers won't make things worse (97% of the time) I never bother to upgrade until I have to. Over the years I've learned not to upgrade systems software/firmware unless I can check off one or more of these:

• I'm forced to -- the system requires the update (usually firmware)
• I'm promised new functionality I want (such as improved performance)
• It'll make things work that didn't before (such as games)

Generally speaking unless you have one of those reasons to upgrade (which you do) there's no real need to mess with updates.

Alright, thanks everyone. I did google some answers and found this really great simple website called http://www.howtogeek.com and I also used the download on the nvidia website. I simply ran the installer and it ran with no errors, and now I can play battlefield 3! Thanks for the help guys, I wouldnt go anywhere else but GT for this kind of stuff. You guys are the best.

EDIT: Ok, so I can play the game, but it lags in full screen even on lowest video settings. I can play with a minimal amount of lag while not in full screen, but its still there. I want to be able to play lag-free, fluid, the way the game was meant to be played. How do I go about doing this? Here is a direct X diagnostics which should tell you my computers specs. Also, my computer has 4 gigs of RAM and the recommended amount for battlefield 3 is 4 gigs. How would I go about increasing the amount of RAM on my computer?

DXDiag: In short: How can I know make battlefield 3 play without lag?

Take a look at canyourunit.com -- that's where you'll see what your bottleneck is.

I can infer right now that the bottleneck is with the 9500 GS graphics card.

Battlefield 3 is very resource intensive, you need a good graphics card to run it. So I agree with Marth. Also, RAM doesn't affect your framerate much, meaning a difference between 3 GB of RAM and 6 GB of RAM is negligible. Basically more RAM allows you to do more things, but doesn't allow you to do those things faster.

THEWULFMAN wrote:... Also, RAM doesn't affect your framerate much, meaning a difference between 3 GB of RAM and 6 GB of RAM is negligible. Basically more RAM allows you to do more things, but doesn't allow you to do those things faster.

Thanks wulfman, so getting more RAM wouldnt make it faster. About my graphics card, is there a way I can get a better card? Upgrade it? Would I have to purchase it somewhere? As for the canyourunit.com, the graphics card failed the test. Any suggestions are appreciated.

THEWULFMAN wrote:Battlefield 3 is very resource intensive, you need a good graphics card to run it. So I agree with Marth. Also, RAM doesn't affect your framerate much, meaning a difference between 3 GB of RAM and 6 GB of RAM is negligible. Basically more RAM allows you to do more things, but doesn't allow you to do those things faster.

Actually, RAM would make a difference, provided it's the bottleneck. The more RAM the less an application has to cache on the hard drive, meaning faster access to needed files for processing, which in turn speeds up framerate. For example -- I still run a single core 3.4ghz P4 but can run most new games with 4GB RAM (WinXP) and my trusty Radeon.

Can't run Battlefield 3, though. That thing is a resource hog, like you said.

THEWULFMAN wrote:Battlefield 3 is very resource intensive, you need a good graphics card to run it. So I agree with Marth. Also, RAM doesn't affect your framerate much, meaning a difference between 3 GB of RAM and 6 GB of RAM is negligible. Basically more RAM allows you to do more things, but doesn't allow you to do those things faster.

Yes, exactly. However, having RAM with a faster clock speed will also help programs run faster.

Teancum wrote:

THEWULFMAN wrote:Battlefield 3 is very resource intensive, you need a good graphics card to run it. So I agree with Marth. Also, RAM doesn't affect your framerate much, meaning a difference between 3 GB of RAM and 6 GB of RAM is negligible. Basically more RAM allows you to do more things, but doesn't allow you to do those things faster.

Actually, RAM would make a difference, provided it's the bottleneck. The more RAM the less an application has to cache on the hard drive, meaning faster access to needed files for processing, which in turn speeds up framerate. For example -- I still run a single core 3.4ghz P4 but can run most new games with 4GB RAM (WinXP) and my trusty Radeon.

Can't run Battlefield 3, though. That thing is a resource hog, like you said.

Ah, yes, true. However, typically, more RAM will not help as much as a faster processor or a faster graphics card with more dedicated video memory.


Also, after some research, it appears I was incorrect with my inference; the 9500 GS should have a fine time running most of today's games.

Just a heads up; don't download Nvidia's newest beta driver. For me, a few games crashed, and Zero Editor stopped working.
Back on topic: I would recommend using ReadyBoost to speed up your computer. A flash drive or memory card (I use SanDisk) can work wonders.
Also, how old is your computer? Has it been cleaned recently? Is there any dust blocking the fan/air vents?

Im not sure how old it is, a few years (2-3) maybe older. As for the fans, I can easily clean those. I will google ReadyBoost. Also, how would a flashdrive/memory card help me? Also for Nvidias latest beta driver, i wasnt planning on getting it, as it is a beta and if ain't broken, dont fix it. I can run the game OK in a smaller window mode (in fact I was having very little lag playing most of the campaign) so I should be OK. I will try ReadyBoost then see if I play any faster.

You have enough RAM that I don't think ReadyBoost will make a difference at all. It's more for systems that have a small about of RAM.

ReadyBoost is pretty much a virtual memory page file that can decrease the lifetime of flash storage devices by about 400% because of all of the reads/writes that the page file puts onto it. However, you can simply set Windows to use more virtual memory via one of the tabs under system properties in My Computer, which will pretty much achieve the same effect as ReadyBoost, except magnetic disk drives can handle a TON more reads and writes than flash storage devices.

Random tip: Don't EVER defragment a flash storage device; doing so annihilates about a year of its lifetime.

Random fun fact: Your computer's motherboard appears to have the same North Bridge chipset (G31-P35, except my old one was a G31-P35TM) as my old motherboard!


Argh, I can't seem to delete the above, unintentional post. AQT or another staff member, could you delete it please?

Marth8880 wrote:However, you can simply set Windows to use more virtual memory via one of the tabs under system properties in My Computer, which will pretty much achieve the same effect as ReadyBoost, except magnetic disk drives can handle a TON more reads and writes than flash storage devices.

Thanks for the tip.
I started using the SanDisk because my computer was lagging BF2 and other games on higher settings. (I already have 6GB built in.) Using the Sandisk, external fan, and homemade laptop stand seemed to help fps. However, I found out that the problem was actually a dust-clogged vent. I cleaned it out, and all of my games run smoothly maxed out.
Still, the SanDisk did help a little. Thanks again for the tip, I will be looking into it.

Ok, I will see if I cant experiment with the windows settings to mask out performance and not appearance. I dont really care how good a game looks (ok yes I do but still) but as long as I dont lag then im fine. Also, is there any way I can upgrade the graphics card itself? Or would I have to buy a whole new card. Also, if I bought a new card, how expensive would it be? I know very little about graphics cards but one that would run battlefield 3 on medium to high settings without lag.

As is battlefield 3 does have noticeable, but minimal lag and I have to play in a smaller window and not fullscreen. However, some lag is much, much better than not at all ( since I live for realistic first person shooter games. )

EDIT: Ok, I renamed the thread Tears2Roses tech questions rather than filling the entire technical advice and tutorials thread full of topics. I have a slight annoyance, and not gaming related (hence the re-name of the thread.) Anytime I install something, it installs for all users. Now, this isnt too bad. However, any desktop icons on newly installed software show up for all users. Now, if I do some icon cleaning it "deletes" the icon for all users. This is problematic as I only have one family computer, and I dont want my dads stuff showing up on my name and he tries to keep his desktop clean too. In short: I was wondering how in the [insert a descriptive word here] my battlefield 3 icon got deleted. What I want is to stop file-sharing everything (specifically icons) between users, any idea how this could be done? (it probably isnt hard and (google is my friend) so I will look into it.)
This isnt a serious problem, but its still very annoying...

I also looked into your tip marth, it looks like it just increases overall RAM. Is THIS The tutorial/tip? Would it increase my video cards memory too?(/make battlefield 3 play better)

Well, if you're the only one using these applications, you can install them to a folder in your user account. I've never actually tried doing this, and it might not work with all games/other apps, but its worth a try.

On the other hand, it's probably easier to just delete the icons off the desktop when you install something - it's not like you're installing games every day right?

Ok, I can try that. And actually (recently) i've been downloading stuff a lot/something every day. I should be able to figure something out.

Also, looking at the back of the battlefield 3 case the recommended graphics card is Nvidia GeForce GTX 560. Would my motherboard chip(and whatever else the graphics card needs) support that card, and how expensive would it be?

EDIT: I was playing BF3 and I noticed that there was a lot of heat/fans noise. I was also lagging really badly, and the servers kept disconnected me (server disconnection probably internet but anyways). Anyhow, I took a good look at my CPU fans/all the other fans and i've noticed they are clogged with dust. This is more than likely not helping and could be a potential culprit for a slow computer. Also, the graphics card fan sometimes clicks when I bump the computer (acording to the tech guy a few months ago). i dont know why I didnt mention the clicking sooner, it could have something to do with my gaming lag...I bumped it just now and I remembered that it clicks. A clicking fan cant be good. It wouldnt click while playing, I just remembered that it does click and hence might not be cooling the graphics card. I really hope I can get a whole new graphics card, along with cleaning out all the dust. On that note, whats the best way to clean out the dust from the fans/everywhere without causing the dust to fall on the other components? Also, is there an easy way I can clean the power supply fan? its probably the worst of the clogged fans. As is I'd have to pretty much take apart the entire computer case to get at it. Also, will bumping the other components break anything? Is there anything I shouldnt ever touch?

(google/youtube/etc.) Is my very best friend so I should hopefully turn up some info. I guess if I want to be a computer tech/just about everything in the tech field I should know how to do this kind of stuff.

@cerfon
I must have been very tired or high or something when you said the fans... I never did bother with them (until now) and I dont know why i said I could clean those easily(I cant at the moment). Sorry about the confusion/me not knowing what I posted... I will pay much more attention and read VERY carefully what I post.

@all
thanks for all the help/reassurance guys. I hope to have a problem/dust/lag free computer in the near future.

Tears2Roses wrote:As is battlefield 3 does have noticeable, but minimal lag and I have to play in a smaller window and not fullscreen.

Actually, that could potentially be slower than full-screen. Your best bet in terms of that would be to lower the screen resolution in-game, and then play fullscreen.