NVIDIA ForceWare 169.04 Beta

By +Tantawi
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Grand Master

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NVIDIA has new beta drivers up for download!

Release highlights:

* Beta driver for GeForce FX, 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs including GeForce 8800 GT.

* Recommended driver for Crysis single player game demo and TimeShift.

* Several game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.

* If you would like to be notified of upcoming drivers, please subscribe to the newsletter.

* Please read the driver installation hints before you install this driver.

Download for Windows Vista

English: 32-bit | 64-bit

International: 32-bit | 64-bit

Download for Windows XP

English: 32-bit | 64-bit

International: 32-bit | 64-bit

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/597548-nvidia-forceware-16904-beta/
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NateB1

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Hopefully this will solve the 64-bit Crysis demo freeze issue I'm having. About five seconds after Crysis starts in full screen, it becomes unresponsive - I have to go into Task Manager and kill it. 32-bit works fine.

I've heard that there supposedly is a 20% performance benefit if you run it in 64-bit mode vs. 32-bit, and am anxious to test it out.

again? That's a lot of beta releases in a short period. Will have to install when I get home.

No kidding! They released the 169.01 driver on Friday, the 169.02 driver on Monday, and the 169.04 driver today.

Rookie

hopeful

Posted
Posted (edited)

Nate,

There are several reasons why the 64bit may not work.

The first was the leaked pre-order version of the SP Demo. It had 64 bit executable issues.

It is recommended to use the rereleased public version.

The second was the 169.01 drivers. They apparently have done more harm than good, and their main focus was to help optimize some GPU hardware that had fallen by the wayside, which was a concern given that the SP demo is considerably old; rather than particularly increase performance, which, is a bit of a moot point, given the age of the demo. They also do not work with RivaTuner. And I suspect these new ones do not as well, as even the 2.06 version of Riva only covers the 163.7X series and older.

The third was some users, especially those using Nhancer, had multiple profiles in their Nvidia control panel or Nhancer database. Also, if you do not have duplicate or multiple profiles, you should at least remove the executable that the profile points to, and replace it with the newly installed 64 bit one.

There is another quirky suggestion that seem to have 'done the trick for some. That was to set GPU to default clocks, run the game in 32bit mode, set your visuals, save and exit, reboot, then run in 64bit. If it works, then modify clock settings.

What we know, is that the public release of the demo, using 163.69 Vista 64 drivers is confirmed as working, without flaws.

General FPS reports (1280X1024, no AA, Very High (a.k.a. DX10)) settings are:

high teens - high twenties for GTX users and mid teens-mid twenties for GTS users (roughly speaking).

The 64 bit will help processing, but it won't necessarily return better frame rates.

Edited by hopeful
Neowinian

Hollywood

Posted
Posted

Vsync and AF are non existent in the demo. And indeed it might be an issue, which is why checking the nvidia/nhancer profiles is a good idea, to ensure everything is disabled until you secure the stability first.

I'll add that to the notes, thank you.

And I'm not surprised the drivers give less performance with UT3, it was already performing great. These are just shoddy beta drivers, that have no need.

If you want drivers for Crysis, just wait a few days till after it's gone retail.

Proficient

qkslvr221

Posted
Posted
Vsync and AF are non existent in the demo. And indeed it might be an issue, which is why checking the nvidia/nhancer profiles is a good idea, to ensure everything is disabled until you secure the stability first.

I'll add that to the notes, thank you.

And I'm not surprised the drivers give less performance with UT3, it was already performing great. These are just shoddy beta drivers, that have no need.

If you want drivers for Crysis, just wait a few days till after it's gone retail.

This fix is for those who are having the 5 second fullscreen freeze, or that are unable to progress past the first ad screen in fullscreen mode.

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