• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

New nVidia 260.89 drivers available.

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I don't think M$ actually does any QC and bug testing for certification. It's just that it passes some "M$ Windows standards". Think of it like a Rabbi declaring some food Kosher. The ingredients and preparation were of a certain specification. It doesn't mean it's actually going to taste good. 😉
 
toyota said:
no, it only adds the illusion of being thoroughly tested. some of the worst drivers ever released, including the ones that caused many cards to fail from overheating, were WHQL.
Click to expand...

Exactly, i dont trust MS to catch any bugs. They cant even notice the drivers are cooking cards how well can they be tested? answer, not well at all. they take your cash put the WHQL stamp on them and laugh all the way to the bank.
 
3DVagabond said:
I don't think M$ actually does any QC and bug testing for certification. It's just that it passes some "M$ Windows standards". Think of it like a Rabbi declaring some food Kosher. The ingredients and preparation were of a certain specification. It doesn't mean it's actually going to taste good. 😉
Click to expand...

its worse than that... I remember in israel where they would declare some water kosher and other water not... based on who paid what. I remember they would stop sales of certain brands of bottled water during passover because they didn't pay for the passover kosher certification. And the deeply religious will boycott any store that didn't keep kosher. Rather odd that non kosher places are so rare (they exist) because there is no law requiring that things be kosher, and because the majority of the population is atheist

anyways, sorry for going on a tangent there.
 
3DVagabond said:
I don't think M$ actually does any QC and bug testing for certification. It's just that it passes some "M$ Windows standards". Think of it like a Rabbi declaring some food Kosher. The ingredients and preparation were of a certain specification. It doesn't mean it's actually going to taste good. 😉
Click to expand...

MS has a standard test suite for WHQL which verifies that API calls are handled according to spec, and that the hardware meets the minimum quality requirements of the API (this WHQL suite is also available to developers, so they can test before submitting the drivers).
So WHQL mainly means that the drivers are Windows/DirectX-compliant. Hence the software-side should be reasonably stable.
Microsoft however does not specifically test things like fan control, as this is hardware-specific. Nor do they bother testing with various games... a lot of games have non-standard behaviour, breaking API-specs. This may cause render bugs on drivers that implement the standard correctly. Usually a workaround is implemented in the driver for that specific game.
 
These drivers cause some pretty bad artifacts in Mass Effect 1 in Windows 7 x64 with my GTX260, going back to the last WHQL release.

BTW, did anyone else get a warning that Windows might not be genuine after installing these drivers?
 
Rifterut said:
They cant even notice the drivers are cooking cards how well can they be tested?
Click to expand...

Not that it's really an excuse, but IIRC, the fan issue only affected non-reference cards. It's possible that NV just never tested these at all.

Schadenfroh said:
These drivers cause some pretty bad artifacts in Mass Effect 1 in Windows 7 x64 with my GTX260, going back to the last WHQL release.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had that in ME1 as well.
 
Well, it's not all bad 🙂
The DirectX SDK subdivision sample wouldn't work with the 258.96 WHQL drivers on my GTX460.
I also tried some early betas with OpenGL 4.1 support, same problem. There weren't many other drivers to choose from, with the GTX460 still being so new, and nVidia not having released that many drivers since its introduction.
These drivers are the first I've tried where the sample actually works on my GTX460. And they kept OpenGL 4.1 in there too. So I'm sticking with these for now.
 
I am still using the drivers which came with my new GeForce GTS 450 which are the 259.22 drivers. I have not had any problems with them and don't see myself trying Beta drivers anytime soon. 😉
 
Rifterut said:
Exactly, i dont trust MS to catch any bugs. They cant even notice the drivers are cooking cards how well can they be tested? answer, not well at all. they take your cash put the WHQL stamp on them and laugh all the way to the bank.
Click to expand...

This is so damn sad, but so damn true...well said...
 
Scali said:
MS has a standard test suite for WHQL which verifies that API calls are handled according to spec, and that the hardware meets the minimum quality requirements of the API (this WHQL suite is also available to developers, so they can test before submitting the drivers).
So WHQL mainly means that the drivers are Windows/DirectX-compliant. Hence the software-side should be reasonably stable.
Microsoft however does not specifically test things like fan control, as this is hardware-specific. Nor do they bother testing with various games... a lot of games have non-standard behaviour, breaking API-specs. This may cause render bugs on drivers that implement the standard correctly. Usually a workaround is implemented in the driver for that specific game.
Click to expand...

To add to what Scali is saying here - and he 100% correct - it's not even necessary for Microsoft to do the testing. Parts of the WHQL program allow the submission of log files. Microsoft then audits the logs (it's automated), and then issues a digital certificate if the logs show the software is operating to the specifications of the operating system.

This means that no testing is done to ensure the software functions properly outside of the OS - which makes sense. So I can have a program that says 1+1=3 that will pass WHQL as long as it properly interacts with the OS.

Cost for a single piece of software is $250 per OS, lower if you are self-certifying.
 
Last edited:
The new 260 series drivers don't scale full screen .The 258.96 drivers would scale full screen automatically. I'm using a GTX 460 with a 1980 x 1080 monitor while playing Enemy Territory at 1280 x 1024. No changes other than drivers and I loose the full screen scaling.

I can't find the scaling options in the display options either.
 
rickcfer said:
The new 260 series drivers don't scale full screen .The 258.96 drivers would scale full screen automatically. I'm using a GTX 460 with a 1980 x 1080 monitor while playing Enemy Territory at 1280 x 1024. No changes other than drivers and I loose the full screen scaling.

I can't find the scaling options in the display options either.
Click to expand...

Anybody please?
 
Any fps/stability improvements on SC2 for those who d/l'ed and used them?

Also, with that new driver installer with enhanced user interface feature in place, does it mean that I don't have to do that old-school "uninstall + CCleaner/driver sweeper" method anymore?
 
Thor_Odinson said:
Any fps/stability improvements on SC2 for those who d/l'ed and used them?

Also, with that new driver installer with enhanced user interface feature in place, does it mean that I don't have to do that old-school "uninstall + CCleaner/driver sweeper" method anymore?
Click to expand...

I dunno... I just got a GTX 470 over the weekend and installed this new driver - and it was quite smooth with SC2 playing at 1600x1050... but I get the occasional flicker or FPS refresh frame thingy (dunno what it is but it would flicker like missing a frame or something) as I scroll around the battle field on 1vs1...D:
 
Performance goes down with these drivers from the 260.63 betas.

These are also identical to the 260.89 betas that have been out for a little bit now, just with the WHQL certification.

BFBC2 low GPU usage in SLI is back in these drivers as well. There are also some weird visual errors in Mass Effect 2, I had to google for similar issues as I thought I had a bad card for a bit there :thumbsdown:

260.63 betas are better than these from my experience.
 
I am experiencing some graphical corruption in Civ5 after a few hours play, it only manifests itself when certain objects are on screen (water, large city it seems). Restarting fixes problem but it wasn't present with the 260.63's.

Also, with that new driver installer with enhanced user interface feature in place, does it mean that I don't have to do that old-school "uninstall + CCleaner/driver sweeper" method anymore?
Click to expand...

Probably not. I use the 'clean install' option every time now, it works great. Driversweeper will probably stay installed just incase I ever have any installation issues in future (unlikely).
 
Sylvanas said:
I am experiencing some graphical corruption in Civ5 after a few hours play, it only manifests itself when certain objects are on screen (water, large city it seems). Restarting fixes problem but it wasn't present with the 260.63's.
Click to expand...

its odd that you weren't getting those with 260.63, because I am.
 
Last edited:
taltamir said:
its odd that you weren't getting those with 260.63, because I am.
Click to expand...

It only happens in specific circumstances where there is water and large city tiles that the problem has occured for me, perhaps I was never in the position for it to manifest itself with with 63's (I did play similar games with water and large cities on the 63's though) but it's only appeared after using these new 260.89 drivers.

Not a game breaker at the moment, a restart fixes it, but obviously I hope it's fixed for the next revision. I haven't bothered installing the WHQL set as it seems they're exactly the same as the BETA's just with WHQL certification.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top