VirusType2
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- Feb 3, 2005
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Im curious and confused about video card drivers.
I am a programer. Lets compare video drivers to writing a program for a computer becuase thats all a video driver is -a program.
there is one way to write the program, then there is the most efficient way to write the program.
For example, you could write a program that is 100 lines of code, but a skilled programer would be able to write a program that does the same thing (same end result) in 5 lines of code, by using more advanced techniques.
The program with 5 lines of code would run ALOT faster, becuase the CPU doesn't have to read as much. Also the program is smaller using less memory.
Now I'm under the understanding that this is all that Video Card drivers are.
When they release an updated version aren't they just releasing a more efficient video driver program? (less lines of code and in some cases ways that are more quickly executed by the CPU)
How could they take so many tries(release so many versions) to get thier software to get thier hardware to work as fast as possible?
A video driver is a small amount of code. What exactly is in there? How can they possibly make it better once they use the least amount of code possible.
This is my real question now -Why would they release drivers that are worse than the previous version? this sounds unbeliveable to me.
I hear it all the time, the new drivers are slowing down my performance.. I'm not saying thats not possible, I've heard that benchmark tests even prove it.
I just don't understand why the latest version(i.e. most effecient) would slow down performance..
Anyone?
Maybe I need to paste this to a tech geek site.
I am a programer. Lets compare video drivers to writing a program for a computer becuase thats all a video driver is -a program.
there is one way to write the program, then there is the most efficient way to write the program.
For example, you could write a program that is 100 lines of code, but a skilled programer would be able to write a program that does the same thing (same end result) in 5 lines of code, by using more advanced techniques.
The program with 5 lines of code would run ALOT faster, becuase the CPU doesn't have to read as much. Also the program is smaller using less memory.
Now I'm under the understanding that this is all that Video Card drivers are.
When they release an updated version aren't they just releasing a more efficient video driver program? (less lines of code and in some cases ways that are more quickly executed by the CPU)
How could they take so many tries(release so many versions) to get thier software to get thier hardware to work as fast as possible?
A video driver is a small amount of code. What exactly is in there? How can they possibly make it better once they use the least amount of code possible.
This is my real question now -Why would they release drivers that are worse than the previous version? this sounds unbeliveable to me.
I hear it all the time, the new drivers are slowing down my performance.. I'm not saying thats not possible, I've heard that benchmark tests even prove it.
I just don't understand why the latest version(i.e. most effecient) would slow down performance..
Anyone?
Maybe I need to paste this to a tech geek site.
