Nvidia Graphics Drivers

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

A place to post info about new Nvidia releases.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

2 new ones today.


185.65 beta

New in Release 185.65:

    * Adds support for the new GeForce GTX 275 GPU.
    * Adds support for Ambient Occlusion – the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs.
    * Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See www.nvidia.com/cuda for more details.
    * Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185 drivers vs. Release 182 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
          o Up to 11% performance increase in Call of Duty: World at War
          o Up to 5% performance increase Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
          o Up to 22% performance increase Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2
          o Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror’s Edge with antialiasing enabled
    * Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
    * Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes.


182.50 WHQL

New in Release 182.50:
·         Optimized single GPU and SLI support for upcoming PC games.
·         Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

Pretty impressed with the Ambient Occlusion.  I enabled it in the Nvidia cp and tried it out in CoD4 and it added alot of clarity to the environment.  One thing about the 185.65's.  Installing them in safe mode caused the Nvidia control panel to fail to install.  It might have just been on my end, but its something to watch out for.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

Intresting 
Smooth, why did you load that from safe mode?  Just curious

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

Well, I usually follow this process.

Uninstall old drivers.
Restart in safe mode.
Clean any remnants with Driver Sweeper.
Restart in safe mode.
Install new drivers.
Restart normally and configure.

Basically I do that because Vista will install its own drivers for the card if it finds none on a normal boot.  Booting in safe mode interrupts that procedure and lets you put in the Nvidia drivers.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

Nice.  Thanks, was curious about that. I do pretty much the same but never in Safe mode unless there is an issue.
I just un-install the old - reboot, install new reboot.  Vista is great using the generic in the inbetween of the new install.
I really am looking close at that gtx295 - OMG $300 clams for that puppy but........

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

It's probably just paranoia, but I like to be sure I'm getting a clean install and not installing over anything else.  More like $500+ for the 295.  I think I'd go SLI rather than dual GPU if I ever went that high end.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

I am like that too Smooth. I try to keep a clean registry.  Doing the safe mode makes a lot of since.  Thanks for sharing.

I know when I re-install Windows if the updates and things don't go just right, I start over complety.  It would bug me to know that something just may have not fell into place. 
My last install I created an image of Vista 64 patched.  What is nice now is I can just reformat and throw this image on.  I tested this and was back up in 45 minutes from the beginning of format to loging in to this forum! All drivers were current.  I didn't have to patch or update a thing.  Other than a windows Silverlight update that I don't use.  This was very nice.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

185.66 beta

Released Apr. 3rd.  Nothing in the release notes I can find to indicate whats different from 185.65.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

185.81 beta

New in Release 185.81:

    * Adds support for the new GeForce GTX 275 GPU.
    * Adds support for Ambient Occlusion – the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs.
    * Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See CUDA for more details.
    * Expands GPU hardware acceleration for the NVIDIA Video Encoding library to GPUs with less than 32 cores. Applications using this library include CyberLink PowerDirector 7, Nero Move it 1.5, Loilo SuperLoiloScope MARS, and CyberLink MediaShow Espresso.
    * Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185 drivers vs. Release 182 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
          o Up to 25% performance increase in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
          o Up to 22% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2
          o Up to 30% performance increase in Half-Life 2 engine games with 3-way and 4-way SLI
          o Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror’s Edge with antialiasing enabled
    * Automatically installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0408.
    * Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
    * Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

185.85 WHQL

Besides being the first driver in the 185 series to get WHQL certification, the release notes are the same as the latest betas.


A note about these.  If you're using Rivatuner for fan control and/or overclock profiles you'll need to use the ForceDriverVersion parameter in the power user section.  Otherwise your events won't load.  If you don't know how to do this contact me.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

186.08 beta

New in Release 186.08

    * Numerous bug fixes. More information can be found in the release documentation.
    * Installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0428.
    * Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

New in Release 185/186 drivers:

    * Adds support for Ambient Occlusion – the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs.
    * Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See CUDA for more details.
    * Expands GPU hardware acceleration for the NVIDIA Video Encoding library to GPUs with less than 32 cores. Applications using this library include CyberLink PowerDirector 7, Nero Move it 1.5, Loilo SuperLoiloScope MARS, and CyberLink MediaShow Espresso.
    * Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185/186 drivers vs. Release 181 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
          o Up to 25% performance increase in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
          o Up to 22% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled
          o Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2
          o Up to 30% performance increase in Half-Life 2 engine games with 3-way and 4-way SLI
          o Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror’s Edge with antialiasing enabled
    * Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!

Existing Support:

    * Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
    * Includes full support for OpenGL 3.0.
    * Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here.
    * Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

186.18 WHQL

New in Release 186.18

    * Numerous bug fixes. More information can be found in the release documentation.
    * Installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0428.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

190.38 beta

New in Release 190.38

    * Adds support for OpenGL 3.1
    * Adds support for CUDA 2.3 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See CUDA Zone for more details.
    * Adds a new user-controlled power management setting for GeForce 9-series and later graphics cards. This option allows users to set a performance level for each DirectX or OpenGL application.
    * Includes several new control panel features and numerous bug fixes. More information can be found in the release documentation.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

Thank you Smooth, I think this is the patch that will clear up some of the bugs DX9 was having for some in the new ArmA2 game.