Nvidia releases ForceWare 163.44

[Marduk_25]

As predicted, the Green Goblin of Santa Clara has released a new ForceWare driver, just in time for the unveiling of the PC demo of BioShock. The ForceWare 163.44 Beta comes with support for the GeForce FX, 6, 7 and 8 series cards and features:

- Single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology support on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL for GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series
- Improved compatibility for Bioshock.
- Numerous game and application compatibility fixes.
- Added PureVideo HD decode acceleration for GeForce 8600, 8500 and 8400 series GPUs. (only for Windows XP versions)

Source & download: http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.p...=15789&catid=3

Nzone link - http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do...etadriver.html

[comment]

Improved compatibility for Bioshock.

Thanks, Marduk_25!

[RPGWiZaRD]

What I would like to know if 8800 series users with the alt+tab bug has got the prob fixed installing this driver cuz I had a similiar bug with my 7900GTO in one application and this is the first driver since v94.20 or 93.71 that works normally. I think the problem I've had may be related so it's worth a try.

BioShock demo FPS went up about 3~5 in average FPS.

[jgigz]

yeah the alt+tab issue is really annoying, it crashes a few game I play occasionally, I'll install it when I get home and see if it continues to do it

[RPGWiZaRD]

I was talking about the FPS related alt+tab issue.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xcn6QDf6624

[bigdaddy25fb]

Sweet. Grabbing this.

[SoulsCollective]

Damn. On XP Stalker still lags like on the 7900GS with DX9 lighting, and System Shock II is still broken.

[jgigz]

I was talking about the FPS related alt+tab issue.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xcn6QDf6624

Never had that issue, what happens to me is if alt tab out then back in, it will load the game yet the task bar is still displayed at the bottom of my screen, screen is black but I have control in the game, as if if i move i can hear myself move etc, but it is just a black screen. Either way I hope it fixes both issues.

[josty2]

So it still hasn't fixed the frame drop thing? I thought it was only a problem with 8000gts320's or is that just me thinking that...

But for the rest, it works like a charm. The others one before this release screwed a few things up for me.
But this one DOES still have a problem with DiRT. It doesn't start up anymore, it did fine with releases from a few months ago though

[mele]

These drivers FVCKING SUCK!!!!

Crashed/Locked up on me playing BF2 3 times and then I could not even connect to the EA account server.

Reloaded 162.22 and all is working fine. Nothing elase has been installed or changed.

Mel

[safan80]

these drivers are basicly for bioshock only. wait until the next release to play other games. They're on nzone.com(nvidia's beta site) not nvidia.com so don't expect much out of these.

[hecktic]

Man im getting lock ups in world of warcraft now and im still on 162.18...

this driver release is a beta yet they say..

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.

So should I update to these?

Im running an XFX 8800 ultra 675/1667/2300 on stock cooling with a good exhaust setup for the heat dump the card makes aside from the crappy stock cooling thats included with this card.

Part of me thinks the stock cooling just needs to be replaced even with the cooling setup Ive made the temps get as high as 69/70C on full load however world of warcraft I know wont throw it full load ever even on all high settings and maxed resolution.... so what to do?

[cantankerous]

Try the 162.50 drivers for WoW. I built a system for a friends dad who was having lockups in WoW using 162.18. I installed the newer 162.50 and he said he hasn't had a lock up.... yet. I hope it stays that way.

[`danny]

These drivers have worked very well for me on my 8800GTS. Played 4 hours of BF2:SF last night and some Quake Wars without any FPS issues or driver crashes.

[Borgod]

14281 3dmark06 with 162.18
14382 3dmark06 with 163.44

[hecktic]

Try the 162.50 drivers for WoW. I built a system for a friends dad who was having lockups in WoW using 162.18. I installed the newer 162.50 and he said he hasn't had a lock up.... yet. I hope it stays that way.

thanks will try that.

14281 3dmark06 with 162.18
14382 3dmark06 with 163.44

verified links???

also it seems like that is just about inside margin of error... might be not though..... need to see the links.

[jgigz]

I tried it and i had a 15 fps loss in cs 1.6. Never crashed but everything was choppy for me even moving windows around etc.

[Jacky]

I tried it and i had a 15 fps loss in cs 1.6. Never crashed but everything was choppy for me even moving windows around etc.

you mean it dropped from 300 to 285? I cannot imagine that any recent system doesn't get decent fps in cs (100+, will be capped in multiplayer prolly..) and if you don't have a recent graphics card, maybe you should think more about your driver update. the drivers were optimised for the most common cards, if you install them on older hardware you will get a huge performance decrease (that's what I have experienced with a gefore 4 ti4200 - using 4x drivers for best performance )