[Ars] Should we be required to create an account to get drivers?

[ShintaiDK]

You are trying way too hard here. People already have those 970s and when they bought them this policy was not in place. The question is from here on out how will it shake out. Your line of reasoning is invalid and makes no sense whatsoever. Automatic updates for your OS is one thing considering the security aspect of it...plus the damned OS is free, but having your add-in discrete gpu follow along in such a way is too intrusive.

GFE should remain optional, and it should be good enough that people want to install it vs being forced to install it to receive game ready driver updates. As I've mentioned before, some processes of GFE are read as active 3D processes by Afterburner and conflict with it.

I'll put it to you like this. If Radeon comes out with a good competing card in comparison to nVidia (power/heat/noise/fps, etc), I will from here on out go with Radeon...and if anyone says that is an overreaction and act condescending then you are showing your hand.

No, its you trying too hard. Its quite obvious from Steams hardware survey that it had zero impact on GTX970. It still sells like hotcakes today.

And this is the classic situation where people on this forum is decoupled from reality in terms of what Average Joe out in the world wants and cares about.

While you and I can surely agree on many points about this. There is just a reality we also have to deal with.

Plus the usual case of saying one and doing something else. Windows 10 is a prime example there. Telemetric, forced updates and drivers. Yet they quickly cave in and upgrade anyway.

 

[Mistwalker]

Are you running a Pentium III with 128MB RAM? How are you able to use a PCI-E video card in that system?

Are you suggesting that because computers today are powerful enough to minimize the impact of bloatware, we shouldn't be against bloatware?

If it's software I don't want or need, I don't care if it's only using 0.1% of my CPU and memory, I want the choice of not using it. Which is exactly how it's been regarding GFE, until now.

 

[Techhog]

My ignore list is loving this thread. Some of you would defend anything. i hope that none of you complained about Windows 10 privacy issues and just upgraded right away since it's the only way to DX12.

 

[tential]

My ignore list is loving this thread. Some of you would defend anything. i hope that none of you complained about Windows 10 privacy issues and just upgraded right away since it's the only way to DX12.

Day 1 upgrade on all my pcs.

 

[railven]

Day 1 upgrade on all my pcs.

I don't even use a Firewall anymore! DMZ all day and night baby!!!

 

[tential]

No, its you trying too hard. Its quite obvious from Steams hardware survey that it had zero impact on GTX970. It still sells like hotcakes today.

And this is the classic situation where people on this forum is decoupled from reality in terms of what Average Joe out in the world wants and cares about.

While you and I can surely agree on many points about this. There is just a reality we also have to deal with.

This forum has 0 idea what is important/what goes on in the real world when it comes to the average gamer. It's why the 970 sold well despite everyone complaining on here, other forums were like "There is no issues with anything other than unplayable settings? Game away!"
You've seen it on the CPU side, with people thinking the i7 should be a hexacore minimum, when many people won't even upgrade to the current i7 as it is from the i5 when making a new build. Enthusiasts just don't understand the average joe, especially in PC gaming.

Plus the usual case of saying one and doing something else. Windows 10 is a prime example there. Telemetric, forced updates and drivers. Yet they quickly cave in and upgrade anyway.

Lol so true. This is EXACTLY MY POINT.
Gamers will whine about things, but at the end of the day they act like children. They whine, then they cave and just do it anyway.

Like I've said before in this thread, NO MARKETSHARE will change over this issue. People will just deal with it and Nvidia will continue to do what it wants to do.

In fact, I won't be surprised if Nvidia gains marketshare with Pascal after this STILL.

Because I'm willing to be 90% of the people who area Nvidia GPU holders in the thread, who did NOT already have plans to switch to AMD, will pick up a new GPU from Nvidia as their next GPU.

It's all bark, but no bite. At the end of the day, it's a typical internet madness. People are mad enough to complain/post online, but not mad enough to actually change their buying habits.

 

[tential]

I don't even use a Firewall anymore! DMZ all day and night baby!!!

Not even sure if serious since I've done this many times. In fact I have firewall off in Windows now almost enabled dmz until I realized it won't help in my current situation but now that I think about it I'll enable it for my wii u see if it helps

When people say gfe will auto update, will be Paywall, etc. The whole complaint sounds like fear mongering. Not saying people won't be upset but I feel amd cheerleaders will just throw fuel on the fire wherever possible just like the 970 incident.

 

[therealnickdanger]

Even saw people returning their GTX970, only to buy it again.

GTX970 is king on steam, says it all.

I did exactly this. I bought a pair of them brand new, but was let down by the stuttering when trying to play games 1080p@144Hz. I grabbed ahold of the opportunity to return them many months later for a full refund. Then out of the blue, I was able to buy an open box set for $120 each... For that price, I'll am content to live with the performance penalty.

 

[railven]

Not even sure if serious since I've done this many times. In fact I have firewall off in Windows now almost enabled dmz until I realized it won't help in my current situation but now that I think about it I'll enable it for my wii u see if it helps

When people say gfe will auto update, will be Paywall, etc. The whole complaint sounds like fear mongering. Not saying people won't be upset but I feel amd cheerleaders will just throw fuel on the fire wherever possible just like the 970 incident.

Haha, yeah it was mostly sarcasm. But it's already been said.

In this thread: GFE/bloatware/spyware/Paywall
In the DX12 thread: everyone should upgrade to Windows 10, period.

As if the left hand isn't talking to the right hand for the same users.

I did exactly this. I bought a pair of them brand new, but was let down by the stuttering when trying to play games 1080p@144Hz. I grabbed ahold of the opportunity to return them many months later for a full refund. Then out of the blue, I was able to buy an open box set for $120 each... For that price, I'll am content to live with the performance penalty.

I missed that gravy train. The refund satisfied the people I know who bought a GTX 970. Hell, one guy used the refund to cover the EVGA Step-up and got himself a GTX 980.

Amazon/Newegg were the saving grace in that fiasco.

 

[Pariah]

Are you suggesting that because computers today are powerful enough to minimize the impact of bloatware, we shouldn't be against bloatware?

If it's software I don't want or need, I don't care if it's only using 0.1% of my CPU and memory, I want the choice of not using it. Which is exactly how it's been regarding GFE, until now.

By definition, it's not bloatware. I run it on my system already. So I don't care if Nvidia requires it in the future. On my system, the service and driver component use about 20MB of RAM. Some of the stuff on my computer that uses more than that, are my Logitech Mouse drivers (25+), and driver client for my GPS running watch (65+), Origin Client (180+), etc. So far have it has used 7 seconds of CPU time over the last 31 hours which calculates to about .006% CPU time. So if you are seriously getting that worked up over the resource usage of this, you are simply whining for the sake of whining.

 

[Azix]

970 sold well for the same reason 960 sells better than 285 and 380, most people are ignorant (dont follow performance etc). I'm still going to rub it in for the people I know who bought a 970 back then thinking it was on par with the 290x and 290. Beautiful tears incoming.

Buy nvidia, get screwed sooner or later. Back then I was in that boat. "OMG 970 is so awesome. that price. that performance. Drools" Unlikely I'll ever regret jumping ship now.

A 980 is not a better place to be. It will likely replace the 970 in the 390 vs 970 match up in dx12. Just a flipping minefield buying nvidia.

GFE seemed like bloatware to me. I was kind of annoyed with the driver updates, especially with how little information was readily available about what it did. The approach does help people who don't know much when it comes to sorting out settings and drivers. I think this is very likely the majority of nvidia's user-base. Easy mode.

raptr or the GE app were the same but I left it running for the points. Stopped allowing it to start with windows after this GFE news and realizing the points were almost useless.

 

[96Firebird]

I'm still going to rub it in for the people I know who bought a 970 back then thinking it was on par with the 290x and 290.

I would feel bad for them thinking that too, it is better than the 290(X)! ^_^

 

[AnandThenMan]

This forum has 0 idea what is important/what goes on in the real world when it comes to the average gamer. It's why the 970 sold well despite everyone complaining on here, other forums were like "There is no issues with anything other than unplayable settings? Game away!"
You've seen it on the CPU side, with people thinking the i7 should be a hexacore minimum, when many people won't even upgrade to the current i7 as it is from the i5 when making a new build. Enthusiasts just don't understand the average joe, especially in PC gaming.

Firstly, just because this an enthusiasts forum doesn't mean we have no clue about what average gaming is all about, what a ridiculous assumption to put it kindly. Secondly true enthusiasts don't like giving up control, that is the point of having a PC in the first place. You like your hand held and being babied you buy a console, plain and simple.

 

[stahlhart]

Get this thread back on topic.
-- stahlhart

 

[railven]

EDIT: Oh snap, the mod has spoken!

GFE is a casual's dream. Just don't install it and wait for the torrent links.

 

[thesmokingman]

EDIT: Oh snap, the mod has spoken!

GFE is a casual's dream. Just don't install it and wait for the torrent links.

I guess that is the future, but there are so many pitfalls. I can just see it now, takedown notices for their drivers lol. What will be will be, but damn the man.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Just don't install it and wait for the torrent links

I think you just found our solution. It looks like we'll have no other option

 

[AnandThenMan]

I am almost certain we will see the stand-alone drivers posted and then Nvidia will go after sites that host them.

 

[Magic Carpet]

After reading this whole thread, I don't know what to say. I do agree with many. But apparently, the days of autoexec.bat / config.sys modding are long gone now and this is just another direction the industry is moving. I am pretty sure, there will be ways to still manually control what's going under the hood of your PC software and its components, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Better not to waste energy on this since, nobody gives a damn about our opinion anyway. Expect "more automation and less choice" in the coming years, eventually, AI taking control of most things.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

It's just a move. It's different, its nvidia making sure switching to the competitor is just a little more difficult. It's probably great for PC gaming freshmen.

It's not as though the 3rd party driver scene for PC veterans if flourishing and this will threaten to kill it or something.

I am glad that AMD has allowed me to search for and download driver updates through CCC for ages now.

 

[Teizo]

I am almost certain we will see the stand-alone drivers posted and then Nvidia will go after sites that host them.

I imagine Hilbert is loading his guns as we speak. I wonder if he hosts the drivers if they will not send him review cards and forbid AIBs from sending him cards.

That is the backlash from this from the enthusiast perspective. Sites like Guru3D and other enthusiast sites are the ones that help set the tone for AMD or Nvidia with their reviews. We all know the power of journalism on perception, and bad PR in the long run will hurt you.

I will state this, I actually do like GFE minus a few quirks that should be worked out (for instance the ability line by line to customize your game profile rather than using the slider and the inability to direct the driver download to the location of your choice so you can use DDU to do a complete uninstall of the driver before updating as well as less interference with Afterburner) as I feel it actually is really good software. The thing is, however, is that no matter how nice it is I really have no use for it so now I'm being forced to install software I don't really need.

One thing Nvidia can do to make this better would be to allow you the option to download the driver to the folder of your choice (advanced...or update automatically for the casual Joe)....then make GFE the actual Nvidia Control Panel itself. Just add the functionality of the NCP to GFE.

The main thing I have a gripe about is the way the driver updates as I like to use DDU to have clean driver installs vs the windows uninstaller as DDU is more thorough. Rather than have the download cache hidden...give me the choice to download it and install it on my own. Is that necessary on my part? Maybe not, but then again how many things do enthusiast do that are really only necessary to enthusiast and not really necessary at all lol.

 

[96Firebird]

One thing Nvidia can do to make this better would be to allow you the option to download the driver to the folder of your choice (advanced...or update automatically for the casual Joe)....then make GFE the actual Nvidia Control Panel itself. Just add the functionality of the NCP to GFE.

I haven't used GFE in a while, and never used it to download drivers. I'm assuming this is not a feature? They should definitely add it if it isn't. My main drive (right now) is only 64GB, and I have about 200MB left because of needing to have soooo many GB of data kept on the Windows drive.

I just ordered a 500GB SSD today to upgrade to Win10 though...

 

[SPBHM]

it's funny how this stuff made to make life easier can slow down the process, I remember it being much quicker to pick a driver using their ftp page, the geforce.com site is slow and annoying, and this software even more... if they want to use this thing it's fine, but at least keep an .exe for the driver available elsewhere (it doesn't need to be a shiny geforce.com website) as a quick alternative.

 

[Teizo]

I haven't used GFE in a while, and never used it to download drivers. I'm assuming this is not a feature? They should definitely add it if it isn't. My main drive (right now) is only 64GB, and I have about 200MB left because of needing to have soooo many GB of data kept on the Windows drive.

I just ordered a 500GB SSD today to upgrade to Win10 though...

Yes, it downloads the driver to the C\ProgramData\Nvida Corporation\Netservice folder. They should allow you the option to download where you like because otherwise unless you enable seeing hidden folders you can't locate the driver. That would be one major thing they could do to smooth things over for people who like to use DDU because DDU deletes that folder path by default.

So, fix that and make it compatible with Afterburner so I doesn't bork your overclocks and things will be allot better (as well as incorporating the line by line game profile options like in the NVCP). It will still be intrusive and dumb, but at least then it could be liveable rather than a headache.

 

[Azix]

It's just a move. It's different, its nvidia making sure switching to the competitor is just a little more difficult. It's probably great for PC gaming freshmen.

It's not as though the 3rd party driver scene for PC veterans if flourishing and this will threaten to kill it or something.

I am glad that AMD has allowed me to search for and download driver updates through CCC for ages now.

I still don't see how this locks people in

Also it's not really a search to find the drivers on AMDs site. 2 clicks to download. Hover over "drivers + support" -> click OS -> download.

Its a bit more involved on nvidia's site.