NVIDIA Forceware 163.69 released - Highly anticipated features

[neothe0ne]

http://www.nzone.com/object/nz...s_rel70betadriver.html

Vista 64 features:
* Supports GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
* Improved compatibility and performance for NVIDIA SLI? technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL applications.
* Improved compatibility for The Way It?s Meant To Be Played? game titles: BioShock, Crysis, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Hellgate: London, and World in Conflict.
* Added HD video post-processing for H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 HD content on the GeForce 8500 and 8600 series GPUs.
* Numerous game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, feature limitations, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.
* If you would like to be notified of upcoming drivers for Windows Vista, please subscribe to the newsletter.

XP 86 features:
* Supports GeForce FX, 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.
* Improved compatibility and performance for NVIDIA SLI? technology on Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0c and OpenGL® 2.1 applications.
* Improved compatibility for The Way It?s Meant To Be Played? game titles: BioShock, Crysis, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Hellgate: London, and World in Conflict.
* Added PureVideo? HD decode acceleration for GeForce 8600, 8500 and 8400 series GPUs.
* Numerous game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.


Regardless of if it was a typo/mistake last time, you no longer have to choose between Crysis or Hellgate London. Also, XP users can stop crying about PureVideo

Off to try this, as well as the brand-new RivaTuner 2.04.

 

[ViRGE]

Uhh, all of those were in the 163.67 drivers released last week. Read the release notes, they fixed a BF2 problem with this driver, some HDCP compatibility issues, and PowerDVD hanging. There's nothing in here about performance improvements or PureVideo HD being added to anything.

 

[Sylvanas]

Sweet another Beta already will give them a try- and check out this for RivaTuner 2.04- Independent shader clock adjustment!

Added new ForceWare 163.67 overclocking interfaces support. Please take a note that by design of new NVIDIA drivers ForceWare's NVAPI overclocking interfaces no longer scale shader domain clock when raster domain clock is changed on G8x graphics processors and provides completely independent shader domain clock adjustment interface instead. It means that all overclocking tools supporting traditional overclocking interfaces (e.g. RivaTuner, ATITool or PowerStrip) change raster domain core clock only when overclocking core with these drivers. Now RivaTuner is the only third party overclocking tool supporting new independent shader domain clock adjustment interface too and able to overclock it with these drivers. Currently shader domain overclocking in RivaTuner is available for power users only and is exposed as user adjustable shader/ROP domain clock ratio represented by ShaderClockRatio registry entry. The next version of RivaTuner will provide independent shader domian clock control directly via overclocking GUI. Please take a note that by default it applies to Vista ForceWare 163.67 only, however Windows XP owners may also force RivaTuner to use Vista-specific NVAPI overclocking interfaces by setting NVAPIUsageBehavior registry entry to 1.

 

[neothe0ne]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Uhh, all of those were in the 163.67 drivers released last week. Read the release notes, they fixed a BF2 problem with this driver, some HDCP compatibility issues, and PowerDVD hanging. There's nothing in here about performance improvements or PureVideo HD being added to anything.

No, the 163.67 US drivers only listed Crysis improvements, the International driver listed only Hellgate London. The 163.67's also didn't address anything concerning World in Conflict or Quake Wars. I'm also fairly positive PureVideo HD wasn't added to XP in 163.67...

Also, in 163.67 for Vista, VC-1 and H.264 and HD MPEG2 decoding was only added for the 8500 series. 163.69 says it was also added for 8400 and 8600.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: neothe0ne

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Uhh, all of those were in the 163.67 drivers released last week. Read the release notes, they fixed a BF2 problem with this driver, some HDCP compatibility issues, and PowerDVD hanging. There's nothing in here about performance improvements or PureVideo HD being added to anything.

No, the 163.67 US drivers only listed Crysis improvements, the International driver listed only Hellgate London. The 163.67's also didn't address anything concerning World in Conflict or Quake Wars. I'm also fairly positive PureVideo HD wasn't added to XP in 163.67...

Also, in 163.67 for Vista, VC-1 and H.264 and HD MPEG2 decoding was only added for the 8500 series. 163.69 says it was also added for 8400 and 8600.

No, that's Nvidia being stupid about their driver labeling. They're listing everything they added in the 163 series drivers, not what's new in this specific driver. 163.11 took care of World in Conflict. 163.44 took care of Bioshock and HD "Added PureVideo? HD decode acceleration for GeForce 8600, 8500 and 8400 series GPUs", 163.67 took care of Crysis, Hellgate, and Quake Wars. There really is very little new with these drivers.

 

[neothe0ne]

Then why didn't they list those things in the 163.67 highlights? -__-

 

[ViRGE]

They did, depending on what page you read. Like I've said, they've been really stupid about the whole thing.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

so anyone see any improvement over the drivers from about a month ago?

 

[Sylvanas]

They're running fine here on my GTX (swapped it in to rig in sig to try these out) although I cant really notice any difference between these and the other 163's, I will try Bioshock later though

 

[Kromis]

For some reason, BioShock is running like sh!t after these new drivers...

 

[jdoggg12]

why isn't 7800 gt listed? Its not in a lot of driver lists i've seen lately, is it really not supported?

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: jdoggg12
why isn't 7800 gt listed? Its not in a lot of driver lists i've seen lately, is it really not supported?

Vista 64 features:
* Supports GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.

XP 86 features:
* Supports GeForce FX, 6, 7, and 8 series GPUs.

It says it supports all 7 series so that would cover your GPU, however you might as well give them a go and see for yourself.

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: Kromis
For some reason, BioShock is running like sh!t after these new drivers...

Agreed.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Don66

Originally posted by: Kromis
For some reason, BioShock is running like sh!t after these new drivers...

Agreed.

Were you guys OC'ing before the 163.67s? One thing I noticed only after reading a few tidbits about RivaTuner was that OC'ing settings were no longer sticking and my GTS was actually running at default clocks. I downloaded and installed 163.69s and RivaTuner 2.04 and still, OC settings weren't sticking. Performance overall at stock speeds were still pretty good in LOTRO, but definitely a bit sluggish compared to previous OCs and older drivers.

I was only able to get back to 595/1000 via the Control Panel OC'ing (haven't used this in ages) as it seems RivaTuner 2.04 isn't as easy a fix as it seems. I guess I'll have to dig around some more as it seems like you need to tweak the Power User Tools a bit to get full OC'ing functionality and independent shader control unless I'm missing something here.

 

[AlucardX]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Don66

Originally posted by: Kromis
For some reason, BioShock is running like sh!t after these new drivers...

Agreed.

Were you guys OC'ing before the 163.67s? One thing I noticed only after reading a few tidbits about RivaTuner was that OC'ing settings were no longer sticking and my GTS was actually running at default clocks. I downloaded and installed 163.69s and RivaTuner 2.04 and still, OC settings weren't sticking. Performance overall at stock speeds were still pretty good in LOTRO, but definitely a bit sluggish compared to previous OCs and older drivers.

I was only able to get back to 595/1000 via the Control Panel OC'ing (haven't used this in ages) as it seems RivaTuner 2.04 isn't as easy a fix as it seems. I guess I'll have to dig around some more as it seems like you need to tweak the Power User Tools a bit to get full OC'ing functionality and independent shader control unless I'm missing something here.

same issue with OC'ing here. RT 2.04

 

[CottonRabbit]

Originally posted by: AlucardX

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Don66

Originally posted by: Kromis
For some reason, BioShock is running like sh!t after these new drivers...

Agreed.

Were you guys OC'ing before the 163.67s? One thing I noticed only after reading a few tidbits about RivaTuner was that OC'ing settings were no longer sticking and my GTS was actually running at default clocks. I downloaded and installed 163.69s and RivaTuner 2.04 and still, OC settings weren't sticking. Performance overall at stock speeds were still pretty good in LOTRO, but definitely a bit sluggish compared to previous OCs and older drivers.

I was only able to get back to 595/1000 via the Control Panel OC'ing (haven't used this in ages) as it seems RivaTuner 2.04 isn't as easy a fix as it seems. I guess I'll have to dig around some more as it seems like you need to tweak the Power User Tools a bit to get full OC'ing functionality and independent shader control unless I'm missing something here.

same issue with OC'ing here. RT 2.04

I have the same problem. My 8800 GTS 640mb's core clock will only go to 593 before it defaults. My memory clock can change as much as it wants to however. I've tried both RT and nTun and run into the same problem.

 

[chizow]

Ok, got an update on the 163.67 and higher (probably all new releases going forward) drivers. Turns out with the desynchronization of the ROP and Shader clocks, the ROP (GPU clock) is tied to the default Shader Clock speed. If you try to go out of this "bound", the driver will revert your clock speed to default clocks. The only solution is to increase the Shader Clock indirectly by changing the Shader/ROP ratio, and the only method of doing that right now is using an obscure/hidden feature in RivaTuner's Power User settings. A slider for casual users will make its way into RT 2.05.

Anyways for those who want to get their old OC's back (Shader/ROP ratios were previously pre-defined with a BIOS table):

1) Go to Power User Settings and find "Riva Tuner \ NVIDIA \ Overclocking"

2) Clock on "ShaderClockRatio" and click the check box, then hit enter highlighting the value

3) Entering "-1" will use the pre-defined ratios in the BIOS. You can set the exact ratio to increase your Shader Clock even higher. (Ex. 1458/621=2.35; 1500/621 = 2.41 etc).

4) Set your ROP (GPU) clock speed back to your previous OC pre-167 versions. Can check new clock speeds with various utilities, RT's Hardware monitoring, NV Monitor etc.

Kind of a big PITA atm, will be a good bit of confusion until RT 2.05 comes out so figured this would help those who were willing to put a little bit of effort into fixing the problem. Hope this helps.

 

[Zenoth]

163.44's were very nice drivers, but 163.67's were better, and now those 163.69's are even better than the rest. For me that is.

 

[mb]

Team Fortress 2 beta is crashing with 163.69 WHQL drivers for me.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: mb
Team Fortress 2 beta is crashing with 163.69 WHQL drivers for me.

Maybe it's related to your own hardware, perhaps over-clocks, or just Vista, because my TF2 doesn't crash at all with 'em on XP 32-Bit.

 

[videopho]

Installed 163.69 as well as RT 2.04 (Vista 64)
I'm now happy to report the RT now starts working once again.
Most games I've tried seem to work to my satisfaction. (Bioshock, SH4, FSx etc.)
Nvidia has finally pulled this one off.
Hats off to Guru3d as well.
Thanks to AT folks too for sharing the tips et all.

 

[imported_BikeDude]

For me (using 7800 GTX and 32-bit Windows), the nVidia driver helper service crashed after installing these drivers, and crashed again on the next reboot. (DEP kicked in)

Then DVD playback (using media player classic) started crashing as well. Halfway through playing a Simpsons episode from season 10, my computer froze. No BSOD, it just froze (and eventually my LCD switched off, which it never does). I restarted and tried again -- another freeze.

I reverted back to the old drivers (93.something) and everything returned to normal. Played two Simpsons episodes back-to-back without a hitch.

 

[SniperDaws]

lmao and now after 2 days the WHQL versions are out....i cant be arsed updating again.

 

[chizow]

Ran these drivers through 5-6 hours of some pretty heavy PVP last night in LOTRO and worked without a hitch. Frame rates were better in even the most pitched-battle with textures set to highest. In the past I'd have to lower textures to improve framerate but no longer.

Overall I'd say performance, IQ and compatibility are better (for LOTRO anyways) once you get your OC back up to pre-163 clockspeeds. For those noticing decreased performance and were previously OC'ing make sure check your clockspeeds and go through the appropriate steps to get your OC'd speeds back.

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: mb
Team Fortress 2 beta is crashing with 163.69 WHQL drivers for me.

Maybe it's related to your own hardware, perhaps over-clocks, or just Vista, because my TF2 doesn't crash at all with 'em on XP 32-Bit.

No overclocking here.. I'm going back to 163.67 to see if that helps. Played TF2 some more today and it crashed crashed crashed on .69