Nvidia plans to lock Game Ready drivers behind GeForce Experience registration

I'm having a difficult time seeing this as a bad thing honestly. Truth is, there are negatives associated with releasing drivers too often which I can understand they would want to avoid. Most of these negatives are based in ignorance but that isn't something they can control. While releasing "game ready" drivers for particular games makes us enthusiasts happy, it also implies to many that the drivers prior were somehow flawed. Most won't see a "game ready" driver as a bonus, but as more of a "why do I have to keep downloading a new driver for every single game?!?" type of thing.

Really, I feel that GFE is a reasonably fair compromise. Even if you don't want to use GFE, all you have to do is open it, install the driver update, and close it again. You don't have to have it running beyond that. Lastly, I fully expect every "game ready" driver that is released by GFE to still be widely available by 3rd party websites, even if Nvidia starts throwing DMCA takedowns around.
 
GotNoRice said:
I'm having a difficult time seeing this as a bad thing honestly. Truth is, there are negatives associated with releasing drivers too often which I can understand they would want to avoid. Most of these negatives are based in ignorance but that isn't something they can control. While releasing "game ready" drivers for particular games makes us enthusiasts happy, it also implies to many that the drivers prior were somehow flawed. Most won't see a "game ready" driver as a bonus, but as more of a "why do I have to keep downloading a new driver for every single game?!?" type of thing.

Really, I feel that GFE is a reasonably fair compromise. Even if you don't want to use GFE, all you have to do is open it, install the driver update, and close it again. You don't have to have it running beyond that. Lastly, I fully expect every "game ready" driver that is released by GFE to still be widely available by 3rd party websites, even if Nvidia starts throwing DMCA takedowns around.
Click to expand...

Question: if GFE would not function on your system, and Nvidia tech support admitted this was due to bugs with GFE, not with your system, would you still consider it a fair compromise? Just curious.
 
Terpfen said:
Ask AMD users if they care about the advertisement that plays during the Catalyst install, or if they even remember it exists 5 seconds after the window is closed.
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You could always turn the ads off in Catalyst. It's a check box right on the main screen.
 
GotNoRice said:
Really, I feel that GFE is a reasonably fair compromise. Even if you don't want to use GFE, all you have to do is open it, install the driver update, and close it again. You don't have to have it running beyond that.
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You have to register your email with them as well, presumably so they can send you all their exciting news and announcements on at least a weekly basis (judging by the number of emails I currently get from their dev programs).

The whole thing is kind of silly IMO. I don't know who comes up with these ideas but somehow they have to get the nod from several layers of management to proceed.
 
Overreacting.

I have GFE installed.

Never received even one email from nvidia (nor do I want any).
Never allowed GFE to scan my HDD's for games or any of that crap (I like to set my own graphics settings).
I dont think GFE actually does anything good or bad though it does alert me when a new video driver is available.

You'll always be able to get the newest drivers from a place like http://www.guru3d.com anyway.
 
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Yakk said:
You could always turn the ads off in Catalyst. It's a check box right on the main screen.
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The installer still shows ads even with the check box off. The check box just stops one type of live streaming ad.
 
Did nvidia backtrack on this? The latest game ready driver was Dec 21 and its available on the website. Change was supposed to go live in mid-December.
 
The past couple of drivers GFE won't open...at all. It is there in the system tray, I can right click on it, but opening GFE doesn't do anything. Oddly, I can open the NVCP when right clicking on the GFE icon. I can't get it to open even by going to the program files folder and opening it up.

I always clean uninstall my drivers with DDU - so maybe that breaks GFE now?
 
I tried looking through this thread for the answers but didn't see it. I may have missed it.

If I install GFE, do I get to choose what driver version gets installed, or does GFE choose it for me?
Also, can I downgrade drivers using GFE or does it only allow the latest version to be installed?
 
Azrak said:
I tried looking through this thread for the answers but didn't see it. I may have missed it.

If I install GFE, do I get to choose what driver version gets installed, or does GFE choose it for me?
Also, can I downgrade drivers using GFE or does it only allow the latest version to be installed?
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GFE downloads the latest driver.
 
Terpfen said:
GFE downloads the latest driver.
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Thank you for the info.

What do you (broadly - this is not focused at you, Terpfen) do if the latest driver contains a defect like has happened in the past with certain driver releases that contain:
a) a bug with a game that you play?
a1) It may only affect your particular GPU model and/or game combination.​
b) a bug with fan/cooling control or power control?
b1) It may only affect your particular GPU model.​

In the past, the simple fix was to downgrade the driver to the previous version and wait for a new driver release with a fix. Not a big deal.

But, now that GFE controls what driver is downloaded to your system and it always seems to choose the latest version, this control has apparently been taken away.

I understand that the first response will be: "Well of course NVidia will pull the broken driver and download the previous version."
To that I say: Really? In all cases you can guarantee this? Even for a GPU model that is only 1% (my guesstimate which is probably way off) of the NVidia market, such as my GTX 690? Does GFE even have such granularity built into its distribution model? Does it take into account the exact games I play and what GPU I own and what known bugs there might be with that combination to decide what driver to download?

And if the answer to that is, "Of course, they will respond to customer problems quickly" then I ask: When? How long will it take? How many complaints will it take for action to start? How many GPUs will have to be fried or games crashed before this wheel starts to turn? Is there a website where I can post problems and guarantee I will be helped in a timely fashion?

Or will my GPU already be damaged/melted by the time NVidia realizes there is a problem?
Or will I have to wait to play that game again until the higher powers at Nvidia decide to pull the driver that is breaking it? Or, even worse, force me to wait for another new driver with a possible fix? "Oh, not this time, sorry, maybe the next driver will fix that issue. Just another two/three/four weeks." Yeah, maybe.

This is not why I own a PC that I built from components. As a PC owner and builder, I want choices. I want to be able to decide if I want to use GFE or not. I want to be able to download drivers directly from the NVidia website like it always has been done in the past. I want to be able to downgrade my video drivers if I want/need to. Do not take this control away from me, NVidia.

Some will say I am overreacting or making this issue overblown. I say: Yup, you're right. Until it happens, anyway.
 
GFE downloads the latest driver automatically, it doesn't install the latest driver automatically.
 
Rizen said:
GFE downloads the latest driver automatically, it doesn't install the latest driver automatically.
Click to expand...

Great, so I have control over what GFE installs.

Where can I choose a/the previous driver version to install, then? Giving me the option to prevent installation does not fix the problem where I've already downloaded and installed (unknowingly) the broken driver version and discovered it too late.
 
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