#1, Yes, I installed the driver on two test systems.
On the first system running Vista Ultimate and 7600GT, I left the old driver on and followed the install guide [an 8 step guide, of which all or only a portion of the steps may apply]. All updated smoothly - with one reboot after the uninstall and another following the install of the new driver. All installed fine and the system ran normally.
On the second test system, I first manually uninstalled all old drivers and upon reboot, selected, as advised, to NOT/NOT have Windows Vista look for or ask to install a driver. After this, I ran the installer and after rebooting all ran as expected - normally.
Both test systems did require that I re-run the Windows Experience Index - with each scoring lower than they had before 5.0 as opposed to 5.1 [some explanation is required here.... the systems are identical as before, less the new driver as above. Previously, the WEI's lowest point score was 5.1 for the CPU - an Intel Core 2 E6400 at 2.13/2.13 and the score for gaming graphics was 5.3. The score for both systems now reflects a gaming performance score of 5.0 - .3 WEI lower than with the older driver]. However, upon lowering the default refresh rate from 75 Hz to 60Hz, and re-running the WEI, the score was elevated back to 5.1, but this time, driven by the gaming performance score of 5.1 [higher than at 75 Hz, but still .2 WEI lower than before].
***Both test systems run Dual DVI to two DVI based 17" LCD's at 1280 x 1024 (4:3) res w/32 bit color @ 75 Hz and later @ 60 Hz
***The lower point score may be attributable to the fact that the new driver is NOT/NOT entirely WHQL Certified - where at step 5 (optional) in Nividia's guidance document, they suggest that one may have to approve the uncertified driver. Approval for and acceptance of the uncertified driver was required in both test cases.
***Maually running Windows Updates on both tests systems after the new driver was installed, did NOT/NOT reflect any new, or previous WDDM/WHQL based driver being available.
(this is a good thing! - can't say the same for AMD/ATI).
Now, we can test how the drivers perform in a variety of gaming, media and 2D/3D applications tests.
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