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VIA 4 in 1 Drivers Comparision


Date
: 01/11/01 – 01:02:08 AM

Author
:

Category
: Drivers

Manufactor: VIA

Introduction

The latest official release of the VIA 4 in 1 drivers is version 4.25a. In the meanwhile several new beta releases have leaked, and yesterday version 4.28a, the lastest revision of these drivers, became available through Overclockers Online and VIA Hardware.

Because all these drivers are giving us a hard time chosing which driverset to use, I decided to install them and run some benchmarks so we can compare all the releases and conclude which one is the most stable and fastest driverset to install on your rig.

I compared the following 4 in 1 releases: 4.25a, 4.26a, 4.27a and 4.28a. Of course you can download them all in our Downloads section if you decide to try them yourself …

A little history …

According to the official VIA website, the latest "official" release of this driver set is revision 4.25a, dated from 1st December 2000.

Here's a list of the improvements made in revision 4.25a (compared to revision 4.24):

- Updated AGP GART Driver to version 4.04

- Updated IDE Busmaster Driver to version 2.150

After the release of these 4.25a drivers, the 4.26 revision leaked somewhere around the same time as the release of the Abit VP6 if I remember well.

Leaking may not be the proper word to use, as the 4.26 release was included in the software package that came with the VP6. I found about this at Tweak 3D, and later on I confirmed it when our VP6 test board arrived.

Personally I had nothing but troubles with revision 4.26! They made my system very unstable with random reboots and other annoying stuff. Others confirmed this to me, but some also reported these drivers to work fine.

Anyway, here is a list of the additions made in revision 4.26a:

- Updated IDE Busmaster Driver to version 3.10

Not so long ago, revision 4.27a made it to our testlabs, but they didn't seem to have a lot of new additions in them:

- Updated AGP Driver for Windows ME

- Updated IDE Busmater Driver to version 3.11

This release is aimed towards Windows Millennium users as it contains an update for their AGP driver.

Last but not least, revision 4.28a. This driverpack was brought to my attention by a visitor of Overclockers Online (thanks Vidar!) and as soon as I got them I posted them on the site. Here is the list of the new additions:

- New INF File

- New AGP Driver

Benchmarking

Of course we are all curious to se if there is a performance difference between all these drivers, so let's get on with the show shall we?

System Setup

- Abit KT7 RAID with WW BIOS

- AMD Duron 600 overclocked to 1000MHz

- 2x128MB PC133 Mushkin RAM and 1x128MB PC 133 OCZ RAM

- IBM 34GB IDE UDMA 100 7200rpm hard drive

- Hercules Geforce GTS Ultra (not overclocked)

- Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro + SP1

- DirectX 8

Sisoft Sandra Professional Suite

<center>
CPU Benchmark

<img src="/images/articles/via/cpusmall.jpg">

Multimedia CPU Bechmark

<img src="/images/articles/via/multismall.jpg">

Memory Benchmark

<img src="/images/articles/via/memsmall.jpg">

Hard Drive Benchmark

<img src="/images/articles/via/hddsmall.jpg">
</center>

MadOnion 3D Mark 2000 v1.1

<center>
Default Benchmark – 1024x768x16bit

<img src="/images/articles/via/3dmarksmall.jpg">
</center>

Conclusion

Like the benchmarks are showing, there is no noticable difference between all the different drivers. The CPU benchmarks are showing no difference whatsoever, and the benchmark that simulates a gaming environment, MadOnion's 3D Mark 2000, shows a little, unnoticable improvement. Memory benchmarks are also pretty much the same on all drivers.

The new 4.28a seem to be very stable, but since I only installed these new drivers a day ago there might be problems with them I have not yet encountered. Version 4.26a is, for me anyway, not so stable as it made my system reboot at random moments without me modding anything but the VIA drivers.

My advice? If you are having no stability problems with your current setup, I would not update your VIA 4 in 1 drivers unless you feel brave and you want to test everything for yourself. If you do have problems with your system, I suggest you try the latest 4.28a drivers as they seem to be very stable.

If you are still using an older version then the official 4.25a release, I urge you to update a.s.a.p. because it will give you a noticable performance boost and add stability to your system.