nVidia Quadro – Differences Between Various Drivers

driversnvidia-graphics-cardnvidia-quadrowindows 8

I have a nVidia Quadro FX 1700 graphics card and there are different drivers offered at the nVidia driver page:

  • Quadro ODE Graphics Driver
  • Quadro Performance Driver
  • Quadro Partner Certified Driver

And 2 software specific drivers:

  • AutoCAD Performance Driver
  • 3ds Max Performance Driver

So my question is:
What is the difference between the 3 first drivers and which one is the best for gaming?

EDIT: The Driver I´m currently using is linked here.

Best Answer

The explanation for each can be found here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Help.aspx?lang=en-us

Are you having issues in new Quadro Download Type?

To better support our Quadro and Professional Solution products, the new download type will guide you to find the best fit driver with specific purpose and product combination -

  • Quadro Graphics Driver - Official release driver for Quadro and ISV certification support to all ISVs, OEMs and End Users.
  • Quadro Performance Driver - The driver released ahead of "Quadro Graphics Driver" from each major release to support the need of Press performance evaluation on Quadro.
  • Quadro Partner Certified Driver - All drivers certified by our ISVs partners.
  • AutoCAD Performance Driver – NVIDIA Powerdraft performance driver for Autodesk's AutoCAD software. Developed in close collaboration with Autodesk, POWERdraft is a free, downloadable software driver capable of delivering dramatic performance improvements when coupled with NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics solutions.
  • 3ds Max Performance Driver – NVIDIA Maxtremeperformance driver for Autodesk's 3ds max software. Developed in close collaboration with Autodesk, MAXtreme is a free, downloadable software driver capable of delivering dramatic performance improvements when coupled with NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics solutions.

ODE refers to the first bullet, Quadro Graphics Driver. So based on these explanations, you would generally use the ODE drivers.

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