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Software NVIDIA Releases New WHQL Certified Vista Drivers
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - September 19, 2007 1:03 PM

24 comment(s) - last by alancabler.. on Sep 23 at 4:25 PM

The new drivers enable HD video post-processing on 8500 and 8600 series cards

NVIDIA yesterday released new ForceWare 163.69 WHQL certified drivers for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. The new drivers only support NVIDIA GeForce 6, 7 and 8 series graphics cards.

NVIDIA claims the latest drivers improve SLI compatibility and performance in DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and OpenGL applications as well as game compatibility in “The Way It’s Meant To Be Played” titles such as BioShock, Crysis and other older titles.

The most notable improvement of the latest ForceWare 163.69 Vista driver is the addition of high-definition video post-processing on NVIDIA mainstream graphics processors. NVIDIA enables HD video post-processing for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 high-definition content on GeForce 8500 and 8600 series GPUs, a feat previously available only on beta drivers.

Other notable improvements include the usual game and application compatibility fixes.

NVIDIA users can grab the 43MB driver package for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

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Platform drivers...

By Locutus465 on 9/19/2007 1:05:42 PM , Rating: 3

So I wonder when they plan to release platform drivers that actually work... They have yet to relase nForce 4 drivers that include fully functional ethernet drivers, currently my nVidia mac works about half the time.

RE: Platform drivers...

By Randy Marsh on 9/19/2007 1:18:01 PM , Rating: 2

I too am still waiting for my nForce 4 SLI motherboard to work properly. SLI crashes my system (in XP), most SATA devices get burned out in a year or so because the board never cuts power, and the list goes on... I don't blame ASUS for NF4, but I definitely will be getting Intel based chipsets from now on...

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 9/19/2007 4:52:54 PM , Rating: 2

I love asus boards, but I always go with Intel chipsets. I have faith that Intel will release solid chipsets for their processors and support them properly. So far, so good.

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Locutus465 on 9/19/2007 7:59:28 PM , Rating: 2

I've been building AMD systems since high school, and haven't really looked back to Intel since my P75 (really have not felt the need to). So no intel chipset option for me.

That said, the nVidia expereince on Windows XP was much better than vista so far. The need for driver updates didn't feel quite as urgent, perhaps because at the very least nVidia kept all the hardware working at a basic level, even if they struggled with things like the built in firewall (something I wasn't all that hot about anyway).

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RE: Platform drivers...

By neothe0ne on 9/19/2007 5:23:25 PM , Rating: 2

What's this about nForce 4 burning out SATA devices because of extra power in XP? Which nForce 4 chipset is this, and which MCP version? I have nForce 405 MCP61 (the unified south + northbridge one), and I've never heard of this problem with nForce 4 before. I usually run Vista x64, but I do boot into XP 32-bit occasionally...

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RE: Platform drivers...

By sinisterDei on 9/19/2007 10:14:42 PM , Rating: 2

You really might be having some problems specific to just you and your specific Asus NF4 board there....

I personally own three nForce4 boards, and have built nForce4 based systems for four of my friends. All but one are based on an nForce4 SLI chipset, two of the boards are actually run in SLI mode full time. All but one use SATA drives as their primary disk drive. All run XP.

Not a single one of these boards have experienced any of the issues you have mentioned.

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Puddyglum1 on 9/19/2007 1:18:06 PM , Rating: 2

you mean your Macintosh? Or do you mean MAC?
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=1... might help you, nforce4 fix for those who don't have the Marvell chip.

Back to the article, this is a very nice update from nVidia regardless. My issues are with TV-out, as the TV-out won't activate unless the s-video/composite cable has a direct connection to the TV's. Any in-between stuff such as splitters or switch-boxes, kill TV-out from starting.

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Locutus465 on 9/19/2007 3:01:40 PM , Rating: 2

MAC address.... I have a marvel thank god, but I see no reason why the nvidia MAC should not work...

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RE: Platform drivers...

By lotharamious on 9/19/2007 1:24:14 PM , Rating: 2

The XP nForce 4 drivers *STILL* don't have a correctly functioning hardware firewall. Yes, there are functioning drivers, but everything you download and upload is corrupted. It is also frustrating that they haven't released any nForce4 driver in over a year.
Sigh...

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Tanclearas on 9/20/2007 12:18:27 AM , Rating: 4

It's never going to happen. I have kept the email exchanges between me, Gary Key from Anandtech, and a rep from Nvidia. I gave them EVERY opportunity to work with me on identifying the issue because Nvidia apparently had trouble replicating the problem. I offered to completely reformat my system and follow every step they wanted me to. I emailed them screenshots of the CRC's of large downloaded files with firewall enabled and disabled.

Other than telling me to install the latest driver, they did not follow through AT ALL. Gary Key followed up with 4 email messages AFTER the last one from Nvidia, and he was following up with Nvidia.

Here are some snippets.

quote:

Hi Kyle,

Yes, please upgrade to those drivers and rerun your tests. You do not need to install the OS from scratch. If you still have an issue, please let me know and I will post a bug report. Please provide test/system details as well (if there is still an issue).

Thanks for your help with this!
Best regards,
xxxx.

quote:

Hi Kyle,

I was at NVIDIA the past couple of days and this subject was discussed in detail with xxxx. I will make sure he contacts you ASAP.

Sincerely,
Gary

quote:

Hi Kyle,

Did xxxx contact you this week? The nForce 500 networking works correctly for what it worth.

Sincerely,
Gary

Nvidia never contacted me again.

Nvidia basically decided to not bother trying to fix the problem at all. They sold a chipset and used the hardware firewall as a selling feature, shipped it broken, and never bothered to even try fixing it.

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RE: Platform drivers...

By walk2k on 9/19/2007 2:20:04 PM , Rating: 2

I think he means NIC?

Mine works fine 100% of the time. I don't use the "firewall" though.

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RE: Platform drivers...

By Locutus465 on 9/19/2007 3:03:33 PM , Rating: 2

I mean MAC, as in MAC address which is how nVidia's software distinguishes between the two. Mine is 50/50, thankfully I have the Marvel Yukon to fall back on... I also do not run the firewall (which I don't think is supported in vista 64b anyway). Are you running 64b Windows Vista?

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RE: Platform drivers...

By leexgx on 9/19/2007 9:56:22 PM , Rating: 3

but the network card is Called NIC not MAC

MAC is an code that each network card has like ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff each card in the world has an dif MAC adress

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Still no VIVO

By Etsp on 9/19/2007 2:37:23 PM , Rating: 5

Nvidia should really be ashamed of themselves over the state of the video in functionality of their cards in vista. Vista has been in their hands for at least 3 years, beta or otherwise, and they have yet to release even a beta of their WDM(WDF?) driver. Nor have they made any announcements about it. It really is getting ridiculous...

RE: Still no VIVO

By xdrol on 9/19/2007 6:03:40 PM , Rating: 2

You mean WDDM = Windows Display Driver Model (all XP drivers and Vista non-display drivers follow the Windows Driver Model)

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RE: Still no VIVO

By MaK2000 on 9/19/2007 11:59:36 PM , Rating: 2

Microsoft changed a lot of Vista at the last minute. That has screwed a lot of companies drivers. Either way I am running all NVidia and Vista Ultimate x64. Striker Extreme with a single 8800GTX and haven't had a single problem since Vista launch. I hate to say it about people but a lot of these problems may lie in the specific combination of the hardware and software you are running or between the keyboard and the chair.

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Not overclocking

By clayclws on 9/19/2007 2:17:16 PM , Rating: 2

Maybe this is off topic, but after installing the new drivers, I can't seem to overclock with any utilities. Either Gigabyte's or Rivatuner or nTune. Each time I apply the settings, the clocks (GPU and memory) reset themselves. Anyone else have the same problem?

RE: Not overclocking

By killerroach on 9/19/2007 2:21:21 PM , Rating: 2

I've had that problem since the "BioShock" beta drivers a month ago... wish I knew how to help you (and I'm getting sick of having my 8800GTS at stock, I got it running stable at rather obscene clock speeds before those drivers, sigh).

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RE: Not overclocking

By toyota on 9/19/07, Rating: -1

RE: Not overclocking

By neothe0ne on 9/19/2007 5:20:44 PM , Rating: 2

Ever since 163.67, NVIDIA has changed how overclocking works in Vista/DX10. Since Shader clock is now unlocked from the Core clock, you need a new interface to overclock.. which is addressed in RivaTuner 2.04, which you might have wanted to check for at Guru3D before bashing NVIDIA for "shit".

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My gripe about review sites!

By Mitch101 on 9/20/2007 11:30:51 AM , Rating: 3

I have to enter a gripe here about 99% of the review sites out there that only review the video cards the day of the release and never go back months later to review the cards again once the drivers mature and in this case for Vista but even for XP.

If one were to consider purchasing a video card they would only have the initial launch of the comparison to make the judgement instead with mature drivers the cards performance could paint an entirely different picture. Im not saying they should test with every revision but if a review is 6 months out from the drivers then its nearly null and void of the cards matured performance.

In another showing of review sites being out of touch with the times I would say the majority of people I know who have finally moved to LCD went with 22" widescreen monitors with a resolution of 1680x1050 some at 19" widescreen for money issues. Espeically since they are at and under the $200 price point a lot of the time. When review sites leave out widescreen resolutions it tells me they are being lazy with their reviews or have lost their connection with what consumers are using today.

I take launch day benchmarks with a grain of salt now and look for the 6 months out benchmarks to really determine the cards true performance. By 6 months out the performance should be mature and the rest is usually bug fixes and marketing BS on driver performance increases.

How about.......

By cheetah2k on 9/19/2007 8:39:13 PM , Rating: 2

Nvidia are still yet to release XP drivers enabling HD video post-processing for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 high-definition content support.

WTF are you doing Nvidia??