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Win XP cpu drivers!


BRETT

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BAH, I've heard that the new CPU drivers MS have put on Windows Update have made some noticable improvements in speed (as reported by several people)

To get these drivers, go to Windows Update, then Windows Catalog, and browse for drivers.

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I did not find this information myself. It was uncovered by the folks at www.iexbeta.com ... and you should check their bulletin board for full details of how this situation unfolded.

The fact is that you can upgrade your processor drivers from the Windows Catalog ... even though the link on your Win XP menu does not take you to the download site.

I guess these updates will be officially announced on October 25th when Windows XP is officially released but they are available NOW. Several people have installed them and noticed SIGNIFICANT performance improvements.

The CPU driver upgrades are for Intel P3's and AMD-7 processors ... however, I use an AMD-6 processor and used the AMD-7 driver with no ill effects. It is early days yet but there does seem to be an extra "snappy-ness" to my system since the CPU driver update.

If you have any reservations about performing this upgrade (it is fully reversible with "driver rollback") YOU SHOULD NOT PROCEED ANY FURTHER.

This is what to do ...

01. Go to http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

02. On the left hand side of the page tick the "Personalize Windows Update" box

03. Wait for the new page on the RHS to open then check the box for: Display the link to the Windows Update Catalog under See Also.

04. Click the "Save settings" button at the top RHS of the page.

05. In the LHS panel select "Windows Catalog" ... click on the link.

06. When the new page opens on the RHS click on the link to "Find driver updates for hardware devices"

07. On the next new RHS page click the "Personal computers" link.

08. Choose an operating system e.g. Windows XP Professional then click the search button (lower RHS of the page)

09. Select the driver you want (AMD or Intel) by clicking the "Add" button.

10. Click "Go to the download basket"

11. THIS IS IMPORTANT ... you must browse to a location on your HDD e.g. the desktop before you can proceed.

12. Click on the "Download now" button ... accept the license agreement when prompted to do so.

13. After downloading the driver ...

AA. Extract it to a temporary folder (or your Desktop).

BB. Open up Device Manager via Control Panel ... I find it easier to use "Classic view" for this.

CC. Right click on "Processor" ... for some reason not every system has this displayed (and I have no idea why ... see the iexbeta site for more details)

DD. Select "Update Driver" (note this is also where you "rollback" the driver to get back to where you were before.

EE. Point the update program at the place you downloaded the driver to ... I found it easier to get rid of all those "nested" folders that the driver sits in and just copy the files to my "Temp" folder.

FF. Update your driver and then re-boot.

That is all there is to it.

Almost everyone who has done the upgrade reports good improvement of their system ... some claims of 30 or 40 per cent improvement are (IMHO) people getting carried away by the initial euphoria. Comparative test have been done with SciSoft's SANDRA but the numbers don't do justice to the apparent improvement ... it is thought that SANDRA is not expecting such "off the scale" improvements so can't accurately report what's happening ... I really don't know about this.

It is interesting to note that the upgraded drivers give (at least in the driver properties) a different version number ...

5.0.2600.10 [xpclnt_qfe 010827-1803]

Note they now spell xpclient differently ... as I'vepreviously explained this is part of the forthcoming Windows.net system.

Here's what I see on my PC (note the AMD K-7 driver works with my AMD K-6 processor) ...

If pushed, I'd say I'm seeing a 10 per cent improvement in the general operating status of my PC ... but I will no doubt review that after a few days running with the upgrade.

You welcome...

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