Clarification about driver version

I'm a novice MS Flight Simulator user (my first 'gaming' application).
On one of the Simulator forums someone with a similar spec to my new
PC was talking about nVidia drivers and said "...the latest driver
which is WHQL is 175.16."

But in the thread 'New PC with 8800GT - is my driver the latest?' I
was told "Taking the last 5 digits of your driver version, that's
forceware 169.21 which is the latest official Nvidia driver for XP."

Could someone clarify please? If there is a later (reliable) driver
then I'd appreciate a link please.

My graphics spec is 512 MB nVIDIA GeoForce 8800GT, Driver Version:
6.14.11.6921.

BTW, why does '6.14.11.6921' get called '169.21' please?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:bnc544tjmbq37nmg4b4gfn3qcg6jmehgvq@4ax.com...
> I'm a novice MS Flight Simulator user (my first 'gaming' application).
> On one of the Simulator forums someone with a similar spec to my new
> PC was talking about nVidia drivers and said "...the latest driver
> which is WHQL is 175.16."
>
> But in the thread 'New PC with 8800GT - is my driver the latest?' I
> was told "Taking the last 5 digits of your driver version, that's
> forceware 169.21 which is the latest official Nvidia driver for XP."

It was possibly due to the date of the thread. The 175.16 drivers were
released on May 16.

> Could someone clarify please? If there is a later (reliable) driver
> then I'd appreciate a link please.

Use at your own risk:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html
Each driver fixes a few things and creates a few new problems, so it is not
necessarily more reliable. FSX has been out for a while now, and drivers
have been in a mature state in dealing with FSX.

> My graphics spec is 512 MB nVIDIA GeoForce 8800GT, Driver Version:
> 6.14.11.6921.
>
> BTW, why does '6.14.11.6921' get called '169.21' please?

"169.21" is the version of the driver suite. The suite contains the basic
Windows 2D display driver, the Direct3D drivers, the OpenGL drivers, control
panel apps, video-capture drivers and umpteen other files. "6.14.11.6921" is
the version of the Windows 2D display driver; it is shown in Windows Device
Manager.

It's theoretically possible for the suite version to increment without a
change to the Windows 2D display driver (again, mature development), because
the other files have changed. ATi did this pretty often with its Catalyst
drivers, from what I remember.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

"First of One" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
>news:bnc544tjmbq37nmg4b4gfn3qcg6jmehgvq@4ax.com.. .
>> I'm a novice MS Flight Simulator user (my first 'gaming' application).
>> On one of the Simulator forums someone with a similar spec to my new
>> PC was talking about nVidia drivers and said "...the latest driver
>> which is WHQL is 175.16."
>>
>> But in the thread 'New PC with 8800GT - is my driver the latest?' I
>> was told "Taking the last 5 digits of your driver version, that's
>> forceware 169.21 which is the latest official Nvidia driver for XP."
>
>It was possibly due to the date of the thread. The 175.16 drivers were
>released on May 16.
>
>> Could someone clarify please? If there is a later (reliable) driver
>> then I'd appreciate a link please.
>
>Use at your own risk:
>http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html
>Each driver fixes a few things and creates a few new problems, so it is not
>necessarily more reliable. FSX has been out for a while now, and drivers
>have been in a mature state in dealing with FSX.
>
>> My graphics spec is 512 MB nVIDIA GeoForce 8800GT, Driver Version:
>> 6.14.11.6921.
>>
>> BTW, why does '6.14.11.6921' get called '169.21' please?
>
>"169.21" is the version of the driver suite. The suite contains the basic
>Windows 2D display driver, the Direct3D drivers, the OpenGL drivers, control
>panel apps, video-capture drivers and umpteen other files. "6.14.11.6921" is
>the version of the Windows 2D display driver; it is shown in Windows Device
>Manager.
>
>It's theoretically possible for the suite version to increment without a
>change to the Windows 2D display driver (again, mature development), because
>the other files have changed. ATi did this pretty often with its Catalyst
>drivers, from what I remember.

Many thanks, that's very helpful.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK