186.18 WHQL drivers out (June 18th)

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ir0nw0lf

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Windows 7/Vista 64-bit
Windows 7/Vista 32-bit
Windows XP 64-bit
Windows XP 32-bit

New in Release 186.18

* Numerous bug fixes. More information can be found in the release documentation.
* Installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0428.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

New in Release 185/186 drivers:

* Adds support for Ambient Occlusion – the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs.
* Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See CUDA for more details.
* Expands GPU hardware acceleration for the NVIDIA Video Encoding library to GPUs with less than 32 cores. Applications using this library include CyberLink PowerDirector 7, Nero Move it 1.5, Loilo SuperLoiloScope MARS, and CyberLink MediaShow Espresso.
* Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185/186 drivers vs. Release 181 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
o Up to 25% performance increase in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
o Up to 22% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled
o Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled
o Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2
o Up to 30% performance increase in Half-Life 2 engine games with 3-way and 4-way SLI
o Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror’s Edge with antialiasing enabled
* Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
 
Good, I hope it fixes my issue where the display driver crashes occasionally when Windows is trying to bring up a UAC screen in Windows 7. I didn't see that in the pre 185 version.
 
Thanks for these, will report back if there is anything of note (XP32).

Edit:
There is no Ambient Occlusion setting that I can find.
 
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^^ you can force this in the global or game profiles, should be the first option in the list. well, in Vista.. might be a DX10 only thing.. edit: looks like some others with XP are having the same trouble finding it

I have been running the 186.08s for a bit now and like them a lot.. the 185.85s were awful. might give these a whirl but things are pretty stable on my rig now.. /me *knocks on wood*
 
downloading now :) yes I have to agree revenant the 185.85's are horrid many really annoying and some weird issues!
 
anyone who have GTX 295 can test for me ? I am tired of crashing in L4D and glitch in some games with 185..

dont want to waste my time update it from 182, which is the most stable one I could find so far..
 
I'm downloading the 186.18's now and will try them.
I have no problems at all with the 185.85's but I always try the newest from Nvidia
GTX 260, Vista64
 
revenant said:
^^ you can force this in the global or game profiles, should be the first option in the list. well, in Vista.. might be a DX10 only thing.. edit: looks like some others with XP are having the same trouble finding it

I have been running the 186.08s for a bit now and like them a lot.. the 185.85s were awful. might give these a whirl but things are pretty stable on my rig now.. /me *knocks on wood*
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.
Looking forward to my Win7 upgrade when finally released :)
ps performance of this driver is identical to 168.08 for me.
 
Nenu said:
Thanks for the info.
Looking forward to my Win7 upgrade when finally released :)
ps performance of this driver is identical to 168.08 for me.
Click to expand...

nVidia loves to put performance increase change log..

dont know why, its like their habit...
 
Does one have use DriverCleaner Pro before installing the new drivers (under Vista X64)?
 
Nenu said:
Thanks for these, will report back if there is anything of note (XP32).

Edit:
There is no Ambient Occlusion setting that I can find.
Click to expand...

nvcp.png


That is Win7, of course. I don't have an XP box, so I can't check to see if it is available in XP...should be, though. It is not a DX10 thing.

Nielo TM said:
Does one have use DriverCleaner Pro before installing the new drivers (under Vista X64)?
Click to expand...

I never do. My [H] box uses images, and for my primary box, I just install new drivers on top of the old ones. If I'm feeling froggy, I may uninstall the old ones first. Usually not, though. Thus far, I have not had a problem.
 
Mark_Warner said:
That is Win7, of course. I don't have an XP box, so I can't check to see if it is available in XP...should be, though. It is not a DX10 thing.
Click to expand...

Its a Vista/Win 7 feature only. Have no idea why, kind of disappointing.
 
Mark_Warner said:
That is Win7, of course. I don't have an XP box, so I can't check to see if it is available in XP...should be, though. It is not a DX10 thing.



I never do. My [H] box uses images, and for my primary box, I just install new drivers on top of the old ones. If I'm feeling froggy, I may uninstall the old ones first. Usually not, though. Thus far, I have not had a problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the piccy, that setting is indeed missing.
It still works in games that have explicit control
ie Ghostbusters has the command SSAO=1 in settings.ini which brings it to its knees lol.
 
Jeffredo said:
Its a Vista/Win 7 feature only. Have no idea why, kind of disappointing.
Click to expand...

Lame.

Nenu said:
Thanks for the piccy, that setting is indeed missing.
It still works in games that have explicit control
ie Ghostbusters has the command SSAO=1 in settings.ini which brings it to its knees lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the INI SSAO option breaks that game.
 
But only fraction of that is installed


It's better than downloading drivers based on model number.


You'll understand when you buy the Creative XtremeMusic OEM LOL
 
Nielo TM said:
Does one have use DriverCleaner Pro before installing the new drivers (under Vista X64)?
Click to expand...

Nah, I think brushing your teeth is overated as well. Seriously, imo if you want the best performance in benches and games, I feel its important to clean up the old registry before updating drivers, especially display drivers.
 
Never had a problem with the 185.85s. Did anyone else get a measurable performance drop going to the 186.18s? I did :\
 
i tried out the 186.18 drivers.. and went right back to the 182.xx drivers.. all my games were showing artifacts with my overclock even though my overclock is rock stable with every other driver..
 
Does this one have the habit of changing your resolution to what it thinks is native? The last one was basically unusable for me because of that. Every time I turned the TV on it would try some 1777x792 res instead of the native 1920x1080.
 
Are you positive it's native res is 1920x1080? Most 720p sets actually have 1336x768 panels... And drivers tend to default to that for said reason. I did think most 1080p sets were natively 1920x1080 though, but ya never know...
 
186.18's are great here on Vista 64-bit. They even fixed the desktop context menu lag :D.
 
Impulse said:
Are you positive it's native res is 1920x1080? Most 720p sets actually have 1336x768 panels... And drivers tend to default to that for said reason. I did think most 1080p sets were natively 1920x1080 though, but ya never know...
Click to expand...

Yes. its a 1080p set (Samsung A550) It just how the driver sees it. what's even more annoying is that Nvidia's stance is that "its how your TV reports itself so ask Samsung for a new driver" Just passing the buck.
 
Yep. same bull. Driver will install, but not the control panel, or if I clear it all out and install everything (including the mainboard drivers) then it thinks it knows best on what res to use. Irritating as hell.

Edit: I'll take some of it back. I got it to force 1920x1080, but it still wants to set it for 24hz, and it puts it back everytime the system is restarted or I turn the monitor off and on. Better, but still annoying.
 
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I set 1920x1080 as a custom res in the control panel and that seemed to work, except it still drops down to 24hz for a moment if I change input, turn the set off, or reboot. With the exception of killing Aero when this happens at least its working. I guess I'll see if this causes problems later on.


Edit: Actually, no it just created a new problem. It's knocking it back to 16-bit color. Oh well back to 182.50
 
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working great. only problem is they fail to downclock my gtx 280 in 2D mode. they actually oc my card a touch more than it is supposed to be (617 core vs. 612). I'm using Windows 7 RC.
 
Can anyone confirm if these drivers have multicore problems in L4D still. Seems 182.50 are the only stable ones for a 8800GT at least.
 
Oddly enough, these killed my Vista install.

Upon rebooting, black screen from both my SLi'd cards. Couldn't even restore from the last known boot.

So now I've installed Windows 7 and am posting from that.

Thanks Nvidia!

(At this rate, when I do upgrade my cards, it probably won't be Nvidia if they can't get their drivers together.)
 
Dion said:
Can anyone confirm if these drivers have multicore problems in L4D still. Seems 182.50 are the only stable ones for a 8800GT at least.
Click to expand...


182.50 are the only stable drivers period.. 185.xx had tons of problems.. and 186.18 fixed the 185.xx problems but now have their own problems..

Apallohadas.. nvidia already lost me as a customer a while ago.. just cant afford to get rid of these 8800GT's and replace them with HD4k series.. or i may wait for the HD5k series..

angelicvoices said:
sirmonkey1985 did you check temps on both sets of drivers?
Click to expand...

temps havent changed.. my card runs constantly between 39-49C even on insanely hot days it doesnt break 50C.. and this was with the 182.xx, 185.xx, 186.18 drivers..
 
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I like these drivers actually. Win 7 7232 x64, these drivers are really fast and stable <3 Alot better than the 185.xx series.
 
USMC2Hard4U said:
I like these drivers actually. Win 7 7232 x64, these drivers are really fast and stable <3 Alot better than the 185.xx series.
Click to expand...

I may give them a try under windows 7, but I'm a bit nervous since I'm still reinstalling all of my software.
 
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