14 DAY TRIAL // In order to use Google Earth at full power to obtain the best results, it is recommended to have at least 32 MB of Video RAM and 3D-graphics rendering capabilities. In some cases, you need a more powerful video card as movie making or using multiple overlays require at least 64 MB of RAM. But even if you currently own a very powerful graphic card, something you can encounter several errors due to the incompatibility with the Google downloadable application. For example, the mapping tool might freeze if the card connected to your computer cannot work with Google Earth.
In case you have a Nvidia graphic card, you probably encountered some problems when using Google Earth and you didn't know how to fix them. There's not much to do than to update your drivers because Google sustains that in order to use the application without any issue, you have to install the .6177 driver or a newer version. From all the Nvidia graphics cards, GeForce and TNT2 are the only ones which are 100 percent compatible with Google Earth since they are able to work in both OpenGL and DirectX modes.
"Nvidia GeForce4 MX-400 (420/440) works well with DirectX, but is known to have issues in Printing and Movie making in OpenGL. The Nvidia 6800 SLI will only draw half of the screen while in DirectX mode, so please use the OpenGL version with this card," Google informs the users about the known issues with the Nvidia cards.
"Nvidia Quadro cards also work well with DirectX but have problems with movie making, printing, and emailing a image when covered. To solve this issue please checkbox the "use unified back/depth buffer" in the advanced tab of the Display->Advanced->OpenGL options and then restart."
Also, it's recommended to install the latest version of Google Earth. If you don't have it, you can take it straight from Softpedia.