New NVIDIA ForceWare Drivers

[Apr 26, 2007, 10:35 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

NVIDIA now offers new version 158.18 Reference drivers (thanks Brent). There are new packages for Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit. The new releases offer bug fixes, performance improvements, and support for GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8600 GT, and GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8400 GS, and GeForce 8300 GS GPUs.

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19.

Re: Unified no more

Apr 28, 2007, 16:04

Pr()ZaC

http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/

18.

Re: Unified no more

Apr 28, 2007, 01:50

Silicon Avatar

Hey, ok. It doesn't have to be a unified driver. I'd settle for a 7900 driver that fixes existing problems. :-p Nvidia used to have pretty decent support for its hardware. I guess I'm supposed to care that they're having to push themselves for Vista, but honestly I don't. I just want decent support for what I already have. Sorry I wasted your "bandwidth". Heh. I haven't heard that one for years.

17.

Re: Unified no more

Apr 27, 2007, 20:03

4D-Boxing

What happened to DX9L I thought it was supposed to bring some of the DX10 features to XP. I might not remember correctly but I thought I was supposed to be the alternative to upgrading to windows Vespa (Vista). Again it would not bring all the so called advantages of DX10 but enough for gamers not to notice any big graphical diff. in games. Besides, Vista runs absolutely wonderfully well with so-called "DX9" 3d cards--.... Games running 10% slower on Vista is no my idea of wonderfull?!?! I'm being nice by saying 10% I just realized that I probably insulted the vespa by calling Vista that way...it's just reference to the poor performance in games.

16.

Unified no more

Apr 27, 2007, 10:21

HardCore

Why do people keep asking about unified drivers, it's common sense. First off, do all XP users want to have to download Vista DX10 drivers? Furthermore do all non-8x00 series cards running on Vista need to download DX10 compatible drivers? It's a waste of bandwidth and waste of space. Obviously the binaries and installers have to be different. Maybe one day soon there will be a 70 - 100MB+ driver download for all those longing for a unified driver/installer again. I would not want to be a driver writer for Nvidia that is for damn sure. They have to routinely pump out so many code paths for so many products, for so many platforms (MAC, Linux, windows, Dx10, etc.) routinely that it has to be friggin crazy. Not to mention track fixes and optimizations. This comment was edited on Apr 27, 10:22.

15.

what??

Apr 27, 2007, 09:26

Shataan

"however, with a the new DX10/vi$ta only games coming out soon," Don`t you mean the paltry 1 or 2 we will hopefully see before years end??? I haven`t seen GAMES=plural actually released a year... since the By Gone days. lol Crysis and maybe Quake Wars might possibly make it out this year. A whole 2. What we need to make it all worthwhile is like 6 to 8 AAA+ titles. Which I doubt is gonna happen.

14.

Re: No subject

Apr 27, 2007, 08:24

Arghis

. This comment was edited on Dec 29, 2012, 18:26.

13.

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 08:04

zirik

Take it from me, most Mac oriented web sites scarcely understand the Mac itself, and the opinions I've seen expressed there about how "Windows works" and so on are just horribly wrong, most of the time... judging by your previous postings your logic is always flawed. so why should we 'take it from you'? This comment was edited on Apr 27, 08:04.

12.

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 08:01

zirik

I'm running an ATi x1950 Pro and have no complaint with ATi's Vista drivers to make. you obviously wont have problems with vista drivers since your video card does not support dx10. duh!

11.

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 07:47

Bucky

Vista only, yes. Not sure about DX10 only, though. Almost the same thing since Microsoft decided to make DX10 Vista only in order to help sell more copies of an OS that most people just don't want. Seriously, what does Vista have that makes it better than XP? All of their previous OS releases have been fairly significant upgrades, but this one just makes me think 'meh'. Worse still are the DX10 exclusive and the DRM bullshit that they're cramming down everyone's throat. Guess I'll boot into XP now and game a bit, try to get unwound. --- Xfire: GreySpire We want Blue's News T-shirts!

10.

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 07:42

zirik

I'm probably going to start using a mac! Great idea--that way you can remain "obsolete" forever.. obsolete? try telling that to those who own an octomac (eight 3ghz xeon). you can even slap on any video card into a mac with a firmware update.

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 07:01

Jerykk

Contrary to your opinion, we won't see any "DX10 & Vista-required" games--meaning you have to have a DX10 3d card installed to play the game--for several years--if we ever see such games released at all. Hmm, aren't Halo 2 and Shadowrun DX10 & Vista only?

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 06:58

WaltC

...it looks like microsoft has abandoned all non vi$ta people, and I see this as Nvidia's excuse to stop making drivers for those who dont buy into the 8800 scheme.

XP will be officially supported by Microsoft until 2008, at least, according to Microsoft. Besides, Vista runs absolutely wonderfully well with so-called "DX9" 3d cards--so a "DX10" card is not a requirement for running Vista in the first place.

Your problem has nothing to do with Microsoft, but everything to do with nVidia's driver support for its products. nVidia's responsible for that--not Microsoft.

I'm probably going to start using a mac!

Great idea--that way you can remain "obsolete" forever...;)

It's funny to me personally. I just bought my new system a few months ago when the 7950 GX2 was the biggest and baddest. Dual core 6700, 2 gigs of ram, ASUS mobo... It was the absolute best you could buy, with the exception of more RAM. I had maxed out everything, and because of nvidia's decision, I am already obsolete!

Funny, you don't sound like you think it's funny...;)

In the first place--you're all screwed up about "DX10" games. It's your understanding here that's obsolete. When games ship that support DX10 features, those same games will also support DX9-class 3d cards--not to mention that they'll run fine under WinXP as well. Contrary to your opinion, we won't see any "DX10 & Vista-required" games--meaning you *have* to have a DX10 3d card installed to play the game--for several years--if we *ever* see such games released at all.

Try to keep in mind that DX10 support in games and Vista support in general are two separate things. I'm running lots of DX9 and below 3d games on my DX9-class 3d card inside Vista right now--and I have no problems doing so. I'm running an ATi x1950 Pro and have no complaint with ATi's Vista drivers to make.

If you have a problem here, as far as I can see, it's with nVidia's driver-release schedule. Far cheaper than buying a Mac--which will pretty much guarantee your permanent hardware and software obsolesence for years to come--you might consider picking up an ATi 3d card, for instance. It would be *a lot* cheaper to do that...;) Compared to ATi, nVidia's official driver release schedule well in advance of the G8x cards has been very spotty and slow for the past several years.

Last, I don't know where you are getting your info, but much of it sounds suspiciously like the kind of poor information that routinely appears on Mac-oriented blogs and web sites. Take it from me, most Mac oriented web sites scarcely understand the Mac itself, and the opinions I've seen expressed there about how "Windows works" and so on are just horribly wrong, most of the time...;)




It is well known that I do not make mistakes--so if you should happen across a mistake in anything I have written, be assured that I did not write it!

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 06:28

Bucky

just buy a budget 8800, i dont think they are going to improve performance on older cards anymore. Or fix the shadow issues that the 7950 GX2 has with several games. The sad thing is that I'm probably just going to get a middle of the road 8800 series (because it still outperforms my GX2) and the even sadder part is that I'll still buy Nvidia because they have better Linux support. For now. --- Xfire: GreySpire We want Blue's News T-shirts!

Re: vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 05:29

AcidDrone

just buy a budget 8800, i dont think they are going to improve performance on older cards anymore.

vi$ta is it folks... were screwed.

Apr 27, 2007, 03:21

Taking into account AMD's "merger" with ATI, this is probably the safest place for Nvidia to be. Not good for us, but good for Nvidia. I do understand that they want to comply with vi$ta, and make the users [or is it "Lohohooosers"] happy, so they have shifted their attention; however, with a the new DX10/vi$ta only games coming out soon, it shows where the publi$her$ are going. They too want to play it safe. And hey, why can't EVERYONE plant a "ready for vista" sticker on their product? Just like we have already seen, this does not mean it will actually work with vi$ta, but it sells! Anyways, I do not think nvidia will release another driver for us. Ever. Even though it says XP/Vista drivers for the 8800s, it looks like microsoft has abandoned all non vi$ta people, and I see this as Nvidia's excuse to stop making drivers for those who dont buy into the 8800 scheme. They will propbably talk about how the market is supposedly changing and whatnot... It's funny to me personally. I just bought my new system a few months ago when the 7950 GX2 was the biggest and baddest. Dual core 6700, 2 gigs of ram, ASUS mobo... It was the absolute best you could buy, with the exception of more RAM. I had maxed out everything, and because of nvidia's decision, I am already obsolete! Think i'll buy a new PC? Ha! No fukin way. >D I'm probably going to start using a mac! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Windows Gforce 8500/8600/8800 series Windows XP/Windows XP Media Center Edition ForceWare Release 158 Version: 158.19 Release Date: April 17, 2007 Beta Driver ---------------------------------- Quadro Current NVIDIA Driver Windows XP/2000 ForceWare Release 90 Version: 91.85 Release Date: April 13, 2007 ---------------------------------- Windows Gforce 256/2/3/4/FX/6/7 series Windows XP/2000 32-bit ForceWare Release 90 Version: 93.71 Release Date: November 2, 2006 ---------------------------------- Windows XP/2000 32-bit GeForce Go 7800/7900 Mobile Series ForceWare Release 80 Version: 84.63 Release Date: July 5, 2006 ---------------------------------- Ouch! Looks like mobile customers were abandoned last summer! At least they strung us along until November... sigh "Where's my Apple shirt!" This comment was edited on Apr 27, 03:29.

Re:

Apr 27, 2007, 01:26

Rseman

I'm fairly sure it was with the advent of the 8800 series that they told us the unified driver approach was dead. As for me, I'm running a 7900GT and the drivers for both Vista and XP64 have been far from wonderful. About damn time they made some improved ones. Hope these actually are an improvment.

Re: No subject

Apr 27, 2007, 01:26

DarkCntry

Beyond that, these do update the 6/7 series of cards as well...

Re: No subject

Apr 27, 2007, 01:23

Awesome Spume

Vista happened. It's right there in the description.

No subject

Apr 27, 2007, 00:09

Silicon Avatar

That's nice. It's been six months since the 7900 series saw a new driver. What happened to the "unified" approach?

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