[Carbon]

http://www.nvidia.com/content/forcew...s/download.asp

Also included, a ton of awesome stuff: UT3 addon, a full game, and a myriad of tech demos. Also, new FAH CUDA client and CUDA video transcoder trial (which looks slightly bloated but amazing, especially because it lists nearly every device ever made and will likely be easy to convert everything)

This is certifiably awesome. ALL 8XXX AND UP CARDS ARE SUPPORTED. This doesn't mean things will run better, just look better if you have the hardware, so don't expect massive gains in UT3 on your 8400GS.

Notes:

Uninstall previous nVidia driver! Install this one afterward!
Don't try to run anything without the PhysX software/driver installed!
"The Great Kulu" looks dumb and the physics only works on GTX280 so skip it!

[Bubba]

You are too slick Carbon, posting a help thread for me before I even knew I needed it. But you pose more questions......

I just downloaded the 177.79 driver as my vid cards have been crapping the bed lately (2 9800GX2's in SLI mode). The Nvidia site is STILL giving me t
he 175.19 drivers to download but I found the 177.79 drivers on the EVGA site. So here are my questions:

What are PhysX software/drivers? Should I already have them with the current drivers (175.19)? The techie at EVGA suggested I run Driver Sweeper before installing the 177.79. Are you familiar with the program? I found it here: http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/

Is this a safe idiot proof program that I should run first?

Also should i forego the 177.79 drivers and jump straight into the 177.83 drivers that you linked? Are they beta drivers? Are they signed? I run Vista64 and it doesn't play well with unsigned drivers? Have I asked enough questions in one post or should I delve some into the imponderable mysteries of the meaning of life and everything in it as well?

I WAS going to install the new drivers but I reckon I'll go mow the grass and build a new threshold for my back door while I await your answer. Thanks.

[Carbon]

These are WHQL signed drivers and will work fine with Vista64. Drivercleaner isn't really necessary, even installing them on top works fine, but uninstall old ones first just to be safe. \

I don't think there's a reason _not_ to download them - even if the PhysX stuff was lagging you (unlikely, it's had very little effect here), you could just turn it off in control panel. They also fix a number of app issues like the new drivers always do so they might be of benefit to other stuff as well.

[Bubba]

Thanks, I got impatient waiting so I went ahead and did it anyways (it works great, thanks for the heads up on the drivers), but that brings me to another couple of questions.

1.) How come my (old) drivers are working just peachy keen on my OLD games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., COD4 ect) until the new drivers come out and then all off a sudden things start crashing and windows has to shut down because my drivers aren't working ect....... My games don't know nVidia has released new drivers.

2.) I let an MS helpline tech "take control" of my computer soon after I built it when i was still having problems and he changed a setting that let's Vista automatically "find" drivers upon reboot whenever I try to install the new ones, whether it is for the GFX, Sound, or MOBO. Since it is usual for the install wizard to first uninstall the current drivers then reboot before installing the new drivers, this presents a problem. WITHOUT FAIL, upon reboot, the damn Vista starts installing the OLD drivers before I can do anything about it and I can't stop it. How do I stop this? If I delete the old driver file, then Vista installs it's default drivers from 2007 or whenever they completed the program. It is quite annoying and if I could have five minutes physical, face to face time, with my "brother" from India, "Peter" who slashed and burned my computer from his MS support desk I guarantee he wouldn't do it to anyone else without asking permission lol, but lacking that time, I'm still hosed. I eventually fight around the problem, but it is never easy, never works the same way twice in a row, and takes much more time than it should.

[Carbon]

1. They should work fine. COD4 works extremely well here, if not _better_ after the drivers. Not sure about STALKER. If they're not working, roll them back. Could be the below problem though.

2. I have really no idea. It automatically installs them? No dialogs or anything? It should use its onboard "basic" drivers but if it's downloading the wrong ones from the web that's a Bad Thing. I wish I could help but I don't know how Vista does it.

[Bubba]

You mis-understood question 1. The NEW drivers are working great, it was the OLD drivers that started crapping the bed. My question was, how come the old drivers work great until NEW drivers come out, and then all of a sudden the OLD drivers quit working once the new drivers are out?

[Carbon]

Oh, sorry. I dunno, reloading drivers won't cause any changes in either the graphics card's functionality or the game. Successive patches might make things a little more unstable, but by and large software companies don't want to alienate lazy users who haven't updated yet. So why this would be occurring stumps me. But at least the new ones are working :p