New 257.21 WHQL NV drivers

deuse · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:21

setter said:
About to install theese now, will give em a try on bfbc2. Running gtx 275's in sli, win 7 64.

setter I am thinking of going SLI(once I find a 790i mobo) what's the FPS increase with SLI over a single card.. 40% maybe?

thanks

andicole0 · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:25

Frenzy said:
I thought it was a joke when i first saw it. Quite a jump in revision number

257.15 have been in Beta for a while I suspect these are a minor update from those.

I've had no problems with the 257.15's.

Andi.

RavenXXX2 · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:47

So what's the verdict fermi owners? looks like there is no noticeable performance increase going by reports around the web, is that femi maxed out performance wise?

Stanners · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:49

Was ATI's new cards maxed out after a couple of revisions of the drivers? is it maxed out now....

Is fermi maxed out now, who knows and who can say.

Rroff · 16 Jun 2010 at 13:33

RavenXXX2 said:
So what's the verdict fermi owners? looks like there is no noticeable performance increase going by reports around the web, is that femi maxed out performance wise?

Only had a quick play with Heaven benchmark on a 470 - from the 257.15 beta to 257.21 WHQL there was a +0.875% increase in scores there

I don't think its safe to say they are maxed out tho just yet - the 8800GT is still getting performance updates from the drivers even now.

Culinia · 16 Jun 2010 at 14:04

Does it still not reduce clockspeed for idle cards (200-series) ?

layte · 16 Jun 2010 at 15:26

RavenXXX2 said:
So what's the verdict fermi owners? looks like there is no noticeable performance increase going by reports around the web, is that femi maxed out performance wise?

I think it is a bit early to be calling that. Nvidia are still probably tuning compatibility and stability given the new architecture (how long did it take for ATI's fabled performance drivers to come out? 10.2/3 I believe?). Historically Nvidia have been very good at bringing performance increases to their products even a long time after launch.

setter · 16 Jun 2010 at 18:22

DirtyJester said:
Cheers mate

Just for record did you suffer from random black / flickering screens with last drivers ?

Not with the previous beta's i was using, though it did happen a few times on the 197.45 WHQL release

deuse said:
setter I am thinking of going SLI(once I find a 790i mobo) what's the FPS increase with SLI over a single card.. 40% maybe?

thanks

Heres a few quick benches i ran using FRAPS.

Single gtx 275.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
19241, 341441, 30, 111, 56.352

Sli gtx 275's.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
10693, 126977, 65, 123, 84.212

System is an i7 920 DO at 4ghz with 6gb of ram at 1547 mhz, 7-7-7-24, 1920x1200 all settings on high, 4 x aa, 8x af.

varkanoid · 16 Jun 2010 at 18:47

Gazb said:
Anyone with a GTX280 on Vista or Win7 64-bit tried these out yet?
The last drivers 197.45 do randomly give me a screen flicker (goes black I think) in some games e.g. BF:BC2, so I'm thinking about giving these a whirl.

Works fine for me, although I never had a problem with older drivers either.

(GTX280 Win7 64bit)

Relentless81 · 16 Jun 2010 at 18:49

Gazb said:
Anyone with a GTX280 on Vista or Win7 64-bit tried these out yet?
The last drivers 197.45 do randomly give me a screen flicker (goes black I think) in some games e.g. BF:BC2, so I'm thinking about giving these a whirl.

Relentless81 said:
Installed these and played BFBC2, I didnt seem to get any black screen flicker but its not often I get it so its still to early to tell, also didnt get a CTD between maps but again it doesnt always do it and I cant see that being a driver issue anyway but all in all looking good

deuse · 16 Jun 2010 at 19:02

setter said:
Not with the previous beta's i was using, though it did happen a few times on the 197.45 WHQL release

Heres a few quick benches i ran using FRAPS.

Single gtx 275.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
19241, 341441, 30, 111, 56.352

Sli gtx 275's.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
10693, 126977, 65, 123, 84.212

System is an i7 920 DO at 4ghz with 6gb of ram at 1547 mhz, 7-7-7-24, 1920x1200 all settings on high, 4 x aa, 8x af.

Thanks for that

I am now going to save for a XFX 790i Ultra mobo

setter · 16 Jun 2010 at 19:04

No probs, with the single card bc2 was a bit jerky in places, since the addition of the second card it runs so much better now.

Stonedofmoo · 17 Jun 2010 at 07:46

Some improvements in various games, good roundup here: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/06/16/nvidia_forceware_25721_driver_performance

mothermachine · 17 Jun 2010 at 08:56

just thought i'd let you guys know, this new driver has totally fixed my BC2 map load times. cut down from about 3 mins to about 15 seconds! and the framerates have really improved in-game too.

excellent release

Locke · 17 Jun 2010 at 09:06

I'm still on 196.21's for my GTX 280, because of issues with the recent drivers. I guess it's time to update to these o_O

deuse · 17 Jun 2010 at 17:00

I have un-installed these drivers as I came out of a game and win 7 64bit asked
if I wanted to keep the color scheme I said yes and I got a black screen and then my monitor turned off.
I had to restart my computer. I tried again and the same happend. ...

I am installing over the top is everyone else doing this in Win 7?

setter · 17 Jun 2010 at 17:39

Installing over the top here, no problems on win 7 64.

Rroff · 17 Jun 2010 at 17:45

Yeah I've just installed them over the top - so far its not done that with any of my games.

setter · 17 Jun 2010 at 17:47

Is it advisable still to completely remove old drivers theese days, ie uninstall, use driver cleaner. I used to do this when i was on xp, though ive never done this on win 7.

scooby555t · 17 Jun 2010 at 17:52

Gazb said:
Anyone with a GTX280 on Vista or Win7 64-bit tried these out yet?
The last drivers 197.45 do randomly give me a screen flicker (goes black I think) in some games e.g. BF:BC2, so I'm thinking about giving these a whirl.

yeah not had any issues windows 7 x64