Aegis said:
I thought that they actually reverse-engineer the driver, then rewrite them with optimized code. Just compare the Nvidia driver with a custom one. The file versions are the same, but the size difference is huge.
Then, you are correct if there is a size differential, but... you'd get the SAME possibly, mixing/matching files too!
(We don't really know, one way or the other @ this point @ least - that is, unless you have spoken to those doing this type of thing, disassembly of existing drivers etc.)
* If they are disassembling/reverse-engineering them? You would see gains that way, quite possibly AND the size diff. you mention too!
APK
P.S.=> Last time I even remotely became interested in that was w/ a guy named Anthony Toste who did 3dFx drivers "rebuilds" of this nature, & he + I often "collaborated" on his findings because he recommended a tool for overclocking Voodoo I, II, III, & V 5500 I wrote called:
APK 3dFx Tuning Engine 2000++
He explained what he did @ least, & it was HOW he did it (mixing/matching files for NT-based OS especially, during the Win9x -> NT 4.0 transition period)...
He did no actual recompiles &/or disassembles either, this much I am certain of... things may have changed now in this capacity (which would be, potentially, for the good/better quite possibly)... apk