nvidia forceware driver; Vista drivers; asus/nvidia vga ca..

Hi,

Sorry if this is a basic question but what is the Forceware driver for? Is
it neccessary to install or is it only for games?

I just bought the asus EN7600GS Silent,or another name of it is the GeForce
7600GS(on a nvidia logo & model pic on top right hand corner of the box).
Anyone have any idea *why* the Asus brand name is associated with this VGA
card and how this nvidia vga card became an "asus vga card",as i was asking
to buy the GeForce 7600GS,and received this one.The explanation i get for
that at the shop is that it is an asus card and it is an nvidia card.

I am running Vista,and the package does not include a vista compatible
driver,and found the Forceware driver on the nvidia website,and am wondering
if this is the entire driver for the vga card or is an add on driver or is
part of all the drivers that is needed ?????

I assme that any driver for this model GeForce 7600GS from the nvidia
website is OK as it is an Asus EN7600GS Silent(GeForce 7600GS)???

Also after my pc starts i get a message that a pci bridge is being
installed,i am also wondering if it possibly might be to do with the vga
driver???

thanks

In article <gJcGh.6426$8U4.609@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, JPK says...
> Hi,
>
> Sorry if this is a basic question but what is the Forceware driver for? Is
> it neccessary to install or is it only for games?
>
> I just bought the asus EN7600GS Silent,or another name of it is the GeForce
> 7600GS(on a nvidia logo & model pic on top right hand corner of the box).
> Anyone have any idea *why* the Asus brand name is associated with this VGA
> card and how this nvidia vga card became an "asus vga card",as i was asking
> to buy the GeForce 7600GS,and received this one.The explanation i get for
> that at the shop is that it is an asus card and it is an nvidia card.
>
> I am running Vista,and the package does not include a vista compatible
> driver,and found the Forceware driver on the nvidia website,and am wondering
> if this is the entire driver for the vga card or is an add on driver or is
> part of all the drivers that is needed ?????
>
> I assme that any driver for this model GeForce 7600GS from the nvidia
> website is OK as it is an Asus EN7600GS Silent(GeForce 7600GS)???
>
> Also after my pc starts i get a message that a pci bridge is being
> installed,i am also wondering if it possibly might be to do with the vga
> driver???
>
OK, lets start with the basics.

"Why is it called an Asus card?"

nVidia are a company that make 3D graphics chips (called a GPU), kind
of like AMD and Intel make processors, and produce a reference design
board. Companies such as Asus take that reference design and either
leave it as it is or tweak it to their own specs - in your models case
it has a different cooling system. They then manufacture cards under
their own brand name but using the nVidia GPU. You have got what you
have asked for - it's just that the badge on the box is an Asus one.

"What is the forceware driver for?"

This is the graphics card driver suite which the operating system needs
to get the best from the card and get full functionality. Whilst Asus
releases it's own, it is best to use the one released by nVidia as they
release new versions more often.

The drivers you need to download and install are here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_100.65.html

The PCI Bridge is part of the motherboard - it's OK to allow it to be
installed.

Hope all that helps.

--
Conor

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.........