[XanderDylan]

I'm still using 195.62 drivers and I'm wondering if there are any problems with the 257.21's and if I should get them. I noticed I've had this strange problem with The Sims 3 lately. I would play for a long time and have no problem but other times I play, I'll play for 30 minutes and then the frame rates drop from a steady 85-170 to a very low 9 FPS. Don't know why. Nothing intense goes on just reading books or napping. Could it just be a Nvidia driver issue solved in a newer driver since mine is kinda old?

 

[Kaldari]

I don't know if the driver uninstall/clean/update will fix The Sims, but I've been using 257.21 since release without issue. Give it a shot.

 

[XanderDylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaldari I don't know if the driver uninstall/clean/update will fix The Sims, but I've been using 257.21 since release without issue. Give it a shot.

Ok thanks. I would just hate to have some crazy driver issues go wrong when they have been working ok with the 195's. I just think the 195's are getting a bit old now and it's time to get newer drivers.

 

[Kaldari]

Nvidia had a fire lit under their back ends to flesh them out after computer manufactuers started dropping their cards for ATI because of buggy drivers. The drivers have improved in leaps and bounds since then and will continue to improve I'm sure.

 

[XanderDylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaldari Nvidia had a fire lit under their back ends to flesh them out after computer manufactuers started dropping their cards for ATI because of buggy drivers. The drivers have improved in leaps and bounds since then and will continue to improve I'm sure.

Ok cool I'm gonna uninstall the 195's and install the new ones now. Thanks again!

 

[XanderDylan]

Ok I got the new drivers successfully installed. I'll post an update of gaming maybe COD4 and see if everything is ok.

 

[brettjv]

The only issue w/them in my book is that nHancer hasn't been updated to work w/them yet :*(

 

[XanderDylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brettjv The only issue w/them in my book is that nHancer hasn't been updated to work w/them yet :*(

Well I played a couple games (Sims 3, Far Cry 2, COD4) and Sims 3 had about a 10FPS increase. When I went to play it another time it was slower. Far Cry 2 seems to be 5 or so FPS slower and I think COD4 might have gotten a little slower. What's the problem does anybody know? I uninstalled "Nvidia Drivers" from the program list and restarted my computer. Windows 7 said it found the GTS 250 and wanted me to restart again so I did. The 3rd time I installed the new drivers and they did successfully install so then I restarted again. What could be causing the problem?

 

[Kaldari]

That doesn't really seem like a problem. Any number of things could be eating resources in the background or not that could cause performance fluctuation. FPS also naturally fluctuates depending one what you're looking at at any particular time.

One thing I would recommend doing differently though is doing a driver clean between the uninstall of the old driver and the install of the new one. I use DriverCleaner.NET, but Driver Sweeper works just the same and is free.

- Have the new driver you plan to install already downloaded and ready to go.
- Download and install Driver Sweeper
- Type "msconfig" into the run/search box in the start menu and press Enter.
- Choose the Boot tab at the top and tick Safe boot under Boot options. Hit apply, and exit without restarting when prompted.
- Uninstall PhysX and Stereoscopic 3D drivers through the conventional windows uninstall pane. Uninstall the display driver. Restart when prompted.
- You should be in safe mode after the reboot. Run Driver Sweeper with both NVIDIA - Display and NVIDIA - PhysX ticked. Clean.
- You can probably reboot in normal mode from here, but I usually reboot into safe mode once more just in case Driver Sweeper cleans any files after the reboot that might be locked with a normal boot.
- Go into msconfig again, untick Safe boot, reboot.
- Install new drivers.

 

[XanderDylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaldari That doesn't really seem like a problem. Any number of things could be eating resources in the background or not that could cause performance fluctuation. FPS also naturally fluctuates depending one what you're looking at at any particular time. One thing I would recommend doing differently though is doing a driver clean between the uninstall of the old driver and the install of the new one. I use DriverCleaner.NET, but Driver Sweeper works just the same and is free. - Have the new driver you plan to install already downloaded and ready to go. - Download and install Driver Sweeper - Type "msconfig" into the run/search box in the start menu and press Enter. - Choose the Boot tab at the top and tick Safe boot under Boot options. Hit apply, and exit without restarting when prompted. - Uninstall PhysX and Stereoscopic 3D drivers through the conventional windows uninstall pane. Uninstall the display driver. Restart when prompted. - You should be in safe mode after the reboot. Run Driver Sweeper with both NVIDIA - Display and NVIDIA - PhysX ticked. Clean. - You can probably reboot in normal mode from here, but I usually reboot into safe mode once more just in case Driver Sweeper cleans any files after the reboot that might be locked with a normal boot. - Go into msconfig again, untick Safe boot, reboot. - Install new drivers.

Well when not doing anything, my system only uses 944mb of RAM lol

Anyways, thank you for your help I'll try this with their next driver release.

 

[The Godfather]

Vantage score jumped 400 points with a single 470. Can't wait to get home and update

 

[james8]

i'm running the same card as you are
in my opinion, the 197.13 driver provide the highest level of performance and stability.
yes i've checked out 257.21 driver, 197.45 driver, all are WHQL but performance suffered.

 

[XanderDylan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james8 i'm running the same card as you are in my opinion, the 197.13 driver provide the highest level of performance and stability. yes i've checked out 257.21 driver, 197.45 driver, all are WHQL but performance suffered.

Ok thank you! Yeah i'm not really liking it. It takes a couple seconds for the frame rates to get up there. At least it works though. COD 4 singleplayer is around a stable 135-150FPS while the multi-player is always 91FPS. I'm thinking about either waiting until the new ones or try the 197.45's.

 

[esocid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james8 i'm running the same card as you are in my opinion, the 197.13 driver provide the highest level of performance and stability. yes i've checked out 257.21 driver, 197.45 driver, all are WHQL but performance suffered.

This is my experience too. I just updated to 257 and TF2 and Metro2033 both took a hit. Serious lag/chop issues. Back to 197.45 for me.

 

[Clay333]

You should get the 258.69 beta drivers. I installed them and I can now get 25 extra MHz on the core clock without crashing during New Calico on 3dMark Vantage.