Video card question

[beau_boy04]

I have an MSI Geforce Ti4200 8x with 64 MB with DirectX 8.1 installed.

Questions:

1. I havent installed the newest DX 9c because I was told that the newest DX are not meant for older video cards. Is that true? Am I better of keeping 8.1 than going for the 9 series?

2. Like I said before I have a MSI video card. Is it better if i get the MSI driver version or go straight to the nvidia sites and get their newest driver?

What do you guys?

Thanks

[bishibashiboy]

1. No you're confusing matters. Your card is only CAPABLE of dx8.1 hardware-wise. If you install dx9 you will NOT magically get any new capabilities that your graphics card does not have in the first place nor will you lose any capabilities. There is no penalty upgrading to dx9.0c, and in fact you may be required to do so for some games to run since directX is not only for graphics but is a whole suite for everything including sound, network, input devices AND graphics. Just keep in mind that any game that USES any specific graphical capabilities offered only by dx9.0c (and up) will look worse on yours because your graphics card does not support it, not because you upgraded the dx version.

2. Up to you. If there are any capabilities specific to your MSI card then you will have to use their drivers. However, if your card is pretty much the same as the nvidia reference card (meaning no special features) then definitely use the nvidia drivers since they are almost always newer.