Updating Drivers
The key to making sure a game will work on your computer is making sure
your computer meets the minimum requirements. This means not only meeting
the physical hardware requirements, but the software requirements as well.
The software drivers used to operate your video and sound cards must be
up to date, and more importantly installed for a game to work properly.
Follow these instructions to check your drivers, as well as to download
and install the newest ones for your computer.
Launch
the DirectX
Diagnostic tool.
- Click Start.
- Click Run.
- Type dxdiag
in the available text field, and press OK.
- This will bring up the DirectX
Diagnostic tool, which will give you a comprehensive report of the hardware
in your computer.
Identify
your hardware.
-
On the System tab, you can determine the following
basic computer information:
- Processor
The type of processor you have, as well as the speed listed
in megahertz or gigahertz
depending on its speed.
- Memory
The amount of RAM (random access memory) in megabytes or gigabytes
depending on the amount.
- DirectX
Version
Self explanatory; however the version of DirectX
is a key requirement in making sure all in-game features are enabled.
On the Display tab, you can determine
your display device, driver, and features:
- Device
- Name
The common name for your graphical device, most commonly the
name of the device sold in stores.
- Manufacturer
The Company who manufactured your video card.
- Chip Type
The name of the graphical chip on your video card. This is
important, because often times third party companies will sell a video
card with an odd name, but the same chipset
as a commonly sold video card.
Example: A Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 XT
has an ATI
Radeon 9800
XT chip on
the card.
- Approx.
Total Memory
The amount of video memory available. This may be misleading
if you have an integrated video card, as they use System RAM to mimic
video memory.
- Current
Display Mode
The current screen resolution, color depth, and video refresh
rate in hertz.
- Monitor
The name of the monitor driver currently installed.
- Drivers
- Version
The version number and language of the driver installed for
your video card. This is important in determining if you have the most
recent drivers installed.
- Date
Not necessarily an important field, however it's a good indicator
for determining if it's time to update your drivers.
- DirectX
Features
- DirectDraw
Acceleration
This feature controls your 2d graphics abilities, and needs
to be enabled for any game to run on your computer.
- Direct3D
Acceleration
This feature controls your 3d graphical abilities, and needs
to be enabled for games requiring a 3d graphs card to run.
- AGP
Texture Acceleration
This feature may not be available if you do not have an AGP
video card, but is not required.
On the Sound tab, you can determine
your sound device, driver, and features:
- Device
- Name
The common name for your audio device, most commonly the name
of the device sold in stores.
- Default
Device
If more than one audio device is installed in this computer,
this will allow you to determine if the one you are looking at is the
one being used by games.
- Drivers
- Version
The version number and language of the driver installed for
your sound card. This is important in determining if you have the most
recent drivers installed.
- Date
Not necessarily an important field, however it's a good indicator
for determining if it's time to update your drivers.
- Features
- Hardware
Sound Acceleration Level
The hardware acceleration slider will determine if advanced
audio features are used when launching a DirectX
application.
Find and download the latest drivers.
It's a good idea to always make sure your drivers are up to date. Now
that you are aware of how to check, you'll want to do a comparison against
the manufacturer's website,
and what the DirectX
Diagnostic tool shows you. Once you've done that comparison, you'll be
able to quickly download and verify that you've updated your drivers.
The first thing you want to do is identify your Video and Sound
card from the DirectX
Diagnostic tool.
- On the Display and Sound
Tab, you will want to use the Chip Type area to determine
the manufacturer of the chip as their drivers are the most commonly supported
and tested throughout the industry.
- Should that field not have anything listed,
you can use the Name field to determine the common card
name which is the next best thing.
- Once you've identified the card, you'll
want to check if there are any updates available.
- Select the driver page for your video
and sound card manufacturer from the lists provided below.
- Note
: The links below should take you directly to the driver page; all you
need to do is find the correct driver for your video card and operating
system.
- On the driver page, every driver should
be marked by a date; you will want to compare this date to the date listed
on the Display and Sound tab in the
DirectX diagnostic
tool.
- If the date on the driver page is
more recent than what DirectX
shows, you'll want to update your drivers.
- Note
: Should no driver date be listed on the website,
it's best
to download the latest drivers available from the website
to make sure you have the newest software installed.
Now that your ready to download and install the new drivers, there
are a few things you want to be aware of:
- Make sure that when you click on the link
to initiate the download that you choose Save rather
than Open when presented with the option.
- Warning:
Choosing Open will attempt to install the driver directly
from the driver website;
should your internet connection be interrupted during the install, your
drivers will not install properly and can cause you other system issues.
- Once you've chosen Save,
you'll want to designate an easy to find location to download the driver.
- Note
: A good idea is to save the driver to your desktop so that you an easily
install it and delete it once it's completed.
- Now that the driver is downloaded, you'll
want to install it. Most drivers are simple executables, requiring you
to only double-click on the file to start the installation.
- Note
: Should the driver not be an executable, please refer to the driver page
for instructions on how to install them.
Install and verify your new drivers.
Now that your drivers are installed, you'll want to verify that the
installation went properly.