Graphics Card Driver Advice

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After 3 years of random game freezings and VPU recovery errors, I'm finally being lent a different graphics card to install and see if it's capable of running games on my PC.

I currently have a stupid ATI Radeon THING that is really stupid and possibly faulty. Updating the drivers didn't help, nor did buying a more compatible mobo.

Now. The card I'm being given to trial is an nvidia card, with a view to buying my own card if this pans out.

My query: In the past, when updating new gfx drivers, I have always uninstalled the old drivers, then used a driver cab cleaner to rid my system of unwanted stuff, before upgrading to new. But because this time I'm switching to a different card, will I be okay leaving my ATI drivers on the system and just installing the relevant Nvidia drivers without uninstalling and all that malarkey. My theory being that if this borrowed card doesn't work, I'm gonna have to stick my old card back in.

Your advice is greatly appreciated. My minion will be bringing my new card on Friday evening, and once it's installed I'll be giving it a thorough testing with the aid of the good Reverend. I shall report back once it's done, and maybe after this week I can FINALLY play games like M&B, Spore and NWN without risking obliterating my computer.
 
There's really never a need to uninstall old graphics drivers, whether you're simply upgrading your drivers for your same card, or installing a whole new card. As long as you have the proper driver software on your computer, the computer will know which card you have in your system and will choose which software to use accordingly. So, no, you don't need to uninstall your ATI drivers. Just stick in the new card, download and install the new drivers, and you're set to go.
 
Allegedly the ATI update drivers uninstall the old ones too, but they always leave cabs behind it seems.

Anyway, shall see how I go on with this new card. My only fear is overheating, but I suppose I can always buy more fans.
 
I would say stick your **** in it like my usual advice, but er might not work.

Unless wimmin have a hidden one.
 
£29 and two exploded PSUs later, I'm putting the Radeon back in. It may have been woefully unreliable (except when playing Witcher, which it liked) but at least it didn't cause parts of my computer to explode.
 
It was a Geforce GTX 280.

I dunno what a PSU with 2 12v rails looks like. My first was the one my Radeon HD4870 was using, a generic 450w thing which was clearly inadequate for the Geforce. Then I got hold of a 600w PSU which according to the specs should have been enough, but nobody mentioned anything to me about different rails.
 
Thanks guys, my friend has picked me up a 750w PSU today and delivered it to my house earlier, when I get back I'll post what kind it is. He swears it's a good one and definitely shouldn't explode.
 
And it turns out that my PC didn't like it. So now I'm using the cheap and nasty PSU I linked to earlier. If this fails me, I'll go for the one Arch mentioned. I just needed a quick fix for now.
 
4 PSUs in 7 days. I can now install them in my sleep with my eyes closed and my hands tied to the bed whilst simultaneously doing other things which are best not described.

The cheapo 880 PSU seems to be holding up for now, but I've only subjected it to a few hours straight of Witcher and some horrific Excel formulae. 2 out of 3 of my other PSUs had either exploded or stopped working by this point, so I'm hopeful. And then tomorrow I might be getting a different Radeon to try, a 5850 or somesuch.
 
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