I'm not very experienced when it comes to things like this, so I hope for help from DLP.
I want to install the latest nvidia drivers, preferably the 177.98. The problem is, I've got a mobile chipset (GeForce Go 7950 GTX) and the latest driver for that is - according to nvidia's homepage - the 175.32.
I remember reading somewhere that it is possible to make the desktop drivers run with mobile cards - something about a *.inf file?
Can someone enlighten me as to how to do that and whether it is even recommendable to do such?

 

I strongly suggest against running desktop drivers on a mobile platform. They are simply not made to support mobile graphics card specifications. Mobile chips have a very large difference in design concerning lower clock speeds, different memory bandwidths, power requirements and thermal capabilities. Attempting to run a desktop version graphics driver on a mobile card will not produce any good result if it works at all.

Always use a driver intended for your specific card as they include optimizations specifically developed for the card itself.

Just to reiterate; mobile platform =/= desktop platform. Big differences between them. Bad idea if it even works at all.

 

Thanks, Murton.
That's why I asked here instead of following all the advise as to how to do it that you find out there. Okay, I'll upgrade to the newest mobile drivers and leave the desktop ones where they are.

 

Glad to help.

 

You definitely can use the standard nVidia driver to upgrade your laptop's video. All nVidia video chipsets use the same driver these days, whether they're desktop or mobile.

If you run a laptop with an OEM nVidia driver (my laptop is NEC) you will probably never see a new driver released for your laptop. Your OEM is responsible for providing you with new mobile drivers and for whatever reason (probably financial), they almost never do. Thankfully, the current nVidia drivers contain the right stuff to run all of their chipsets.

I used http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ to upgrade my mobile nVidia to the latest drivers last year. I haven't done it recently because I rarely use my laptop anymore.

Their quickstart guide.

Yak's Super-Quick Guide (from creaky year old memory and copy/paste):

Go to the guide and make sure that your video card is on the list of supported chipsets. Congrats, your card is supported! (NVIDIA_G71.DEV_0297.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX")

Get the latest nVidia driver and the modified inf file from here. Your video card is one of the ones that is supported by their 'modified inf'.

Basically it's a 3-step process:
1. Download driver, double click and select extract,
2. Download modded INF and replace original INF in extracted folder,
3. Install & reboot.

If you want to roll back to your previous driver, go to Device Manager -> Display Adapters -> "Your Card" , double click to open its properties and click 'Roll Back Driver' button.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL ANYTHING, MAKE SURE THAT SYSTEM RESTORE IS TURNED ON, AND FORCE IT TO CREATE A RESTORE POINT.

While it is a fairly simple process and was pain-free for me, there are a thousand little things that could go wrong. Creating a restore point could save you a lot of heart ache and frustration. I wouldn't be surprised if I've made a mistake in my instructions, though it's correct as much as I can remember!

 

yak = :awesome

Many thanks, I did it like you said and it works perfectly. Took me some time, because I made sure to uninstal the drivers cleanly and everything, but the change is impressive. High end games run much smoother and more stable.

Thanks again.

 

We have the awesome smiley!

Congrats on getting heaps better video performance FOR FREE! That's :awesome