NVIDIA ForceWare WHQL Drivers v196.75

Published on 3rd March 2010 00:08

2 Comments

Nvidia has released WHQL-certified Forceware drivers v196.21 for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200 and Ion-series GPUs running on Windows XP, Vista or 7. These drivers adds support for GeForce GT 320, GeForce GT 330, and GeForce GT 340 graphics cards and have a ton of bug fixes that are worth having. This driver adds SLI and multi-GPU support in games like Assassin Creed II, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Zombie Driver. New in Version 196.75
* Adds support for Next Generation ION.
* Adds support for GeForce GT 320, GeForce GT 330, and GeForce GT 340.
* Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0129.
* Upgrades HD Audio driver to version 1.0.9.1 (for supported GPUs).
* Increases performance in several PC games from v196.21 WHQL. The following are examples of measured improvements. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

Performance:
* Up to 13% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with a single GPU
* Up to 30% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with SLI technology
* Up to 13% performance increase in H.A.W.X with single GPU
* Up to 15% performance increase in H.A.W.X with SLI technology
* Up to 30% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with single GPU
* Up to 28% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with SLI technology

Generic:
* Adds SLI and multi-GPU support for top new gaming titles including Assassin Creed II, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Zombie Driver.
* Enhanced SLI support for World of Warcraft and Unigine.
* Adds override anti-aliasing support for Mass Effect 2.
* Includes numerous bug fixes.

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2 Comments

KevSmeg - 5th March 2010 13:01

According to Blizzard's Tech Support the latest NVIDIA drivers are causing fan control to not work correctly and causes massive overheat. StarCraft II Beta might kill your PC or card literally. So, if you already installed it, uninstall it and downgrade to the previous version. Yeah, it's that serious. Many players are reporting their PCs or graphic card have died. It also affects all Blizzard games, so heed the call and safe your hardware's life. We're getting reports where users are getting intermittent low FPS after installing these drivers. It seems that it is related to the fan control included in these drivers not working correctly and is causing the video card to overheat on 3D applications. This will affect Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2 Beta. Please uninstall the drivers and revert back to the older ones.

Windows XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_196.21_whql.html
Windows XP 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...6.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...6.21_whql.html

More information can be found on threads such as these:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

One of these gamers reported insane egg-cooking temperatures as high as 104'C. Among the complaints found in the Starcraft II Beta forums are the following: 'General ScreenshotMy GPU is going almost 100% usage and my temperatures are at 104'C, 1C below max. I'm wondering if it's because StarCraft 2 beta REALLY is a demanding game, or if it's overusing my GPU . Fans are always @ 100% and side case is off. My normal temps for (halo, mw2, oblivion are 80-90C.) in Window mode or fullscreen, doesn't matter. - Velakan.velakan'
IncGamers reached NVIDIA's PR for an official statement and they replied: We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our Web site in the meantime.

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