NEW Official NVIDIA Drivers Released Today!

daveybrat

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jan 31, 2000
5,725
943
126
Well, i'm sure some of you have been using these as beta's already, but for the rest of us who primarily use
the official drivers, the new 29.42 WHQL drivers were just posted today on Nvidia's website.
Post your results here on how they perform and the stability under XP and 98/ME.
Have fun! :)
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Just installed them, had a quick test & found no problems with 3Dmark2001SE or Morrowind :) ,you still need to apply the NVRefreshTool program for 2K/XP so you`re not stuck at 60Hz in gaming which works ok on these drivers .

:)
 

merlocka

Platinum Member
Nov 24, 1999
2,832
0
0
Wow, I'm still at 23.11's

I'm officially "old school"

Update - I intstalled them for the heck of it. Tbird 1.3GHz with Geforce3 225/550 (note- I believe my previous run was at 240/560 so that probably explains the drop in score somewhat)

The only things of note are the high-poly test and advanced pixel shader results. Decent improvements, although I don't know if there is any real-world benifit.

3DMark Score
(3D marks) 6594 6400

Game 1 - Car Chase - Low Detail (FPS) 101.2 98.6
Game 1 - Car Chase - High Detail (FPS) 36.0 35.5
Game 2 - Dragothic - Low Detail (FPS) 105.5 101.4
Game 2 - Dragothic - High Detail (FPS) 59.4 57.0
Game 3 - Lobby - Low Detail (FPS) 97.8 94.9
Game 3 - Lobby - High Detail (FPS) 44.1 43.3
Game 4 - Nature (FPS) 38.0 36.7

Fill Rate (Single-Texturing) (MTexels/s) 797.5 762.4
Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing) (MTexels/s) 1651.9 1561.4

High Polygon Count (1 light) (MTriangels/s) 18.8 22.0
High Polygon Count (8 lights) (MTriangels/s) 3.8 5.8
Environment Bump Mapping (FPS) 121.0 124.6
DOT3 Bump Mapping (FPS) 125.2 120.1
Vertex Shader (FPS) 55.5 55.5
Pixel Shader (FPS) 90.4 86.2
Advanced Pixel Shader (FPS) 55.7 69.9
Point Sprite Speed (MSprites/s) 17.7 16.7

 

Barrei

Senior member
Mar 21, 2002
514
0
0
Just put them in last night , I must say these are smooth drivers , upped 3Dmark s.e. from 8389 to 8665 on an msi g3ti200 , thats a decent increase for a driver upgrade, but not just benchmarking the picture is overall , better on the screen. :)
 

TheCorm

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2000
4,326
0
0
Does anyone have a link to the "NVRefreshTool"...does it work okay under Windows 98?

Corm
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
I was using the 23.11's...

I haven't run any benchmarks, but the speed difference seems significant...Links 2001 screen refreshes much quicker...excellent.

Oh, BTW, what is the "NV Refresh Tool", and why do I need it?

Thx
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Does anyone have a link to the "NVRefreshTool"...does it work okay under Windows 98?

You don`t need it for Win98,the problem is only with Win2K or WinXP, you will find that in 3D gaming like OpenGL you `re stuck at 60Hz refresh rate without the NVReshfresh Tool program.

For users that want the
NVRefreshTool 1.0 click here.
 

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Two questions:
1) How do I remove everything that had to do with the old drivers after I unistall them using Add/Remove programs, and

2) What does the NVRefresh Tool do?

Any links would be helpful. I run the Visiontek GeForce4 Ti4600.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
KraziKid,if you are using Nvidia drivers you don`t need to uninstall the old ones,I`ve never bothered and never had any problems,however if you are going from branded drivers like from Gainward to Nvidia drivers then you should to remove them.

You only need NVRefreshtool program if you`re running XP or Win2K & don`t like the default 60Hz gaming refresh rate for your monitor,the NVRefresh Tool Program allows you to run games at higher refresh rate ,like 85hz or 100hz during gaming, the program allows custom or auto select to the safest highest possible rate for your monitor which will stop you seeing flicker during gaming at higher resolutions,nobody likes running 60Hz especially at 1152x864 or above during 3D gaming.


Good program for removing all traces of Nvidia detonator drivers is Detonator destroyer, with instructions etc there,btw it`s not for 2K or XP.
 

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
I'm using an LCD monitor which only goes up to 75 Hz, do you think I need the NVRefresh tool?
 

Caveman2001

Senior member
Dec 24, 2000
582
0
0
I've been very satisfied with this version. I've been using them for over 1 week and all my system lockups from gaming with my GF3Ti200 have disappeared. I'll be sticking with these from now on........until the next beta that is. hehe :)
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
I'm using an LCD monitor which only goes up to 75 Hz, do you think I need the NVRefresh tool?

No,you don`t need it if you`ve a LCD monitor.
 

dbal

Senior member
Dec 6, 2001
395
0
0
www.facebook.com
Well I just ran all benchmarks (3DMark2001, RTCW, QuakeIII, Max Payne etc) with the new set.....can't say I am amazed for sure cuz there is no significant performance difference on my GF2Ti :frown: Don't know for sure but I think it's not a performance set-maybe the big bang will be on the 30something later...
Maybe performance gain is more noticeable on GF3 cards and higher? Just guessing....

P.S: Do you guys know that coolbits not only enables the clock adjustments tab but also extra D3D vsync options in "more Direct 3D" tab?? It doesn't seem to work though....:eek:
 

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Wow! I noticed an instant improvement in all of my games. In FS2002, and CFSII, I noticed 10 FPS more (I run full settings, everything at maximum possible, I go for quality not FPS). I didn't check the FPS in STV:EF but the quality was better. I also noticed that my anti-aliasing worked a lot better.
 

daveybrat

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jan 31, 2000
5,725
943
126
well, i finally installed them myself, and they seem to be a nice improvement.
I originally had the 28.32 officials and just upgraded to these.
On my Geforce4 TI4400 (non-overclocked) and P4 2.12GHz, my 3dMark2001SE score rose
about 200pts. Not too shabby for a driver upgrade. Desktop 2D appears sharper as well.
I'll be sticking with these for now, as for the rest of you, your only going to see a performance
increase with GF3 and higher cards, as i think these new drivers have better enhancements of
the Pixel and Vertex shaders and Lightbar Memory controllers as i noticed i got better FPS in the
nature scene over the 28.32's. :)
 

motojeff

Member
Mar 21, 2002
115
0
76
my old geforce 1 got slightly worst 3dmark and ss:se benchmark scores.

also, when my monitor went into power savings mode last night, and I woke it
up, the graphics were all screwed. Had to reboot.