Graphics driver in windows effecting graphics in OSX?

[Packbacker92]

I also posted this under mac hardware, but then thought it would be more appropriate in software. I just installed windows XP on my macbook. I then downloaded and installed the latest intel GMA 950 graphics driver. After the little program ran, the screen went crazy with colorful lines in it so I got scared and restarted. However, after I restarted, the graphics were fantastic in windows. I then restarted to 10.5.1 leopard and to my amazement, everything looked better in mac osx as well. The widgets came in smoother, the dock looked more reflective, the menu bar looked more transparent, and games ran much more smoothly. I also ran Xbench openGL test and the frame rate had gone up from 294 to 370. Do drivers in windows effect drivers in Mac OSX? If they do, I had no idea.

 

[nixgeek]

The Windows drivers shouldn't affect Mac OS X at all since they are only written to work in Windows, not OS X.

Is your MacBook one of the recent ones? Remember that before the end of 2007 the MacBooks got an update to the Santa Rosa chipset, which includes the Intel GMA X3100, not the GMA 950.
http://www.lowendmac.com/macbook/oct_2007.html

Anything before that model uses the GMA 950, so it's just a matter of making sure you have the right model for the driver you're using.

 

[Packbacker92]

I'm not a mac newbie. I have had my macbook for a year come august. This is pre santa rosa. I also was sure that windows drivers effected only windows, however, either leopard suddenly started running a whole lot faster, or the driver had something to do with it. Spider-man 2 and Star wars jedi academy both could not perform at the highest graphics settings before, and now they can after installing that driver. It may sound crazy but everything is running noticeably faster.

 

[nixgeek]

Well, I couldn't make any assumptions on your expertise. Have to make sure all the grounds are covered.

Had you performed any maintenance after the fact that might have possible increased the performance in OS X? I can't speak much about Leopard because I haven't had the experience with it yet (still on Tiger).

 

[Packbacker92]

No, I hadn't done any maintenance. Heck, I was just installing the trial version of windows x64 to have a little fun in my spare time with shockwave which isn't universal yet. My screen couldn't go past 1024 by 768 under windows so I installed a newer driver. Next thing I know, the whole screen is in a colorful funk with lines all through it and I was scared I had damaged the chip. Thankfully when I started back up to windows it was fine and had automatically switched into the highest resolution (1280 by 800). Then I started back into mac OSX and noticed that the whole interface of leopard looked a lot smoother and richer than it had last time I had used it. I thought it was just in my head at first, so I ran xbench on OpenGL and it was 100 frame rates higher than before. Then I tested some of the games I play in my spare time. I tested halo, and I was actually able to play with pixel shaders on and everything else at medium quality. Before, I had never been able to play unless everything was at the lowest frame rate. I restarted again, and everything was still the same. So I don't know what i did, if anything, I thought it was just a little strange that this happened right after I install a driver on windows. I've owned macs since 1995 and know a lot about them, however, I have never seen anything like this.

 

[nixgeek]

Wow....that is rather strange. To be honest, I couldn't say one way or the other what caused it to work better than before in OS X. I can only assume an update of some sort, but the only available update for Leopard now is 10.5.1 (which I'm assuming you already have installed). I guess you might as well just keep monitoring it and see if anything changes for the better (or worse).