Acer Graphics Drivers

As the summation of my Acer-Chasing, here are links to all of the Acer-WHQL video drivers I've found for Nvidia graphics cards (ATi might come later).
These may or may not be compatible with your card, but it wouldn't hurt to try!
LV2Go links now take you to their page to download it, not the direct link.

LAST UPDATE - JUNE 18, 2009
Just adding 179.71 for XP from JustinKW1's post.

NVIDIA SEVEN DRIVERS
Remember that most Vista drivers will install without issue on Win7.
181.71 - 32-bit / 64-bit [MS Update, no URLs]
185.85 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 8, 9, 100, and 200 Series GPUs are compatible]
186.03 - 32-bit / 64-bit (NEW!) (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 8, 9, 100, and 200 Series GPUs are compatible]

NVIDIA VISTA DRIVERS
097.35 - 32-bit / ------
097.46 - 32-bit / ------
097.55 - 32-bit / ------
098.08 - 32-bit
101.24 - 32-bit / ------
101.27 - 32-bit / ------
101.34 - 32-bit / ------
101.38 - 32-bit / 64-bit
101.45 - ------ / 64-bit
101.54 - ------ / 64-bit
156.54 - 32-bit / 64-bit
156.55 - 32-bit / ------
156.72 - 32-bit / ------
167.46 - 32-bit / 64-bit
167.49 - 32-bit / 64-bit
174.31 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
174.51 - 32-bit / 64-bit
174.90 - 32-bit / ------
175.61 - 32-bit / 64-bit
175.66 - 32-bit / ------
175.90 - 32-bit / ------
175.97 - 32-bit / 64-bit
176.07 - 32-bit / ------
176.20 - 32-bit / ------
176.26 - 32-bit / 64-bit
176.37 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
176.40 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
176.62 - 32-bit / 64-bit
176.68 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
176.88 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go) [9400M G only]
176.92 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
177.18 - 32-bit / 64-bit [9400M G only]
177.48 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
179.24 - 32-bit / 64-bit
179.28 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [As per Nvidia, ALL 8 and 9 Series GPUs are compatible]
179.30 - 32-bit / 64-bit
179.34 - 32-bit / 64-bit
179.48 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 7, 8, and 9 Series GPUs are compatible, along with a few 100 Series]
179.52 - 32-bit / 64-bit
179.67 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
185.85 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 8, 9, 100, and 200 Series GPUs are compatible]
186.03 - 32-bit / 64-bit (NEW!) (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 8, 9, 100, and 200 Series GPUs are compatible]

NVIDIA XP DRIVERS
062.12 - 32-bit
071.84 - ------ / 64-bit [Go 2 & 4 Series]
079.72 - 32-bit [FX Go 5200]
083.60 - 32-bit
084.26 - 32-bit
084.83 - 32-bit
084.85 - 32-bit
086.02 - 32-bit
156.76 - 32-bit
174.74 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
175.61 - 32-bit / 64-bit
176.09 - 32-bit
176.20 - 32-bit
176.37 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
176.88 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
177.18 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go) [9400M G only]
177.48 - 32-bit / 64-bit (LV2Go)
179.28 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [As per Nvidia, ALL 8 and 9 Series GPUs are compatible]
179.34 - 32-bit (LV2Go)
179.48 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 7, 8, and 9 Series GPUs are compatible, along with a few 100 Series]
179.71 - 32-bit / 64-bit (MS Update) [ALL GPUs]
185.85 - 32-bit / 64-bit (Nvidia Direct) [ALL 8, 9, 100, and 200 Series GPUs are compatible]

That should be about it for Nvidia drivers - I'll be updating this topic every so often with new releases from the Acer FTP, and instantly when LV2Go drops something new.

 

COMING TO THIS POST: COMPATIBILITY MATRIX FOR THE ABOVE DRIVERS (at long last)

 

Great Post!
179.28, you use it and you never get driver freezes or crashes?
Anyways if nvidia has these drivers no point for laptop2go .
oh yeah bookmarked ^_^.

 

Great post to help the Acer community.

+1

Cheers

 

I can insert a table for you if you want. Basic html code.

 

I've had only ONE driver crash from 179.28, and that was just a short while ago on TF2 when I was overclocking.
EDIT: And just you wait - I managed to get a used SATA internal hard drive yesterday. I'll be able to benchmark ALL of the drivers listed here in 3DMark06 (over a decent length of time, of course).

 

hmmm I reinstalled this driver I was on bf2142 and it was making everyone huge and kept freezing. But I think it;s my fault cause I restarted before I hit allow change to registry from spybot, i'll see how it goes. But honestly Acer should make THEIR OWN DRIVER to fix the buggy factory one.

 

Try 179.48 then.

 

You could also post an image with photoshop and then keep adding bits to it... but that's probably more work.

 

Images wouldn't be more work - I probably will do Excel screenshots.

 

BENCHMARKS HERE.
Last update: June 19, 2009 (new Vista drivers)
Vista Table sorted by driver version


XP Table sorted by driver version


Vista Table sorted by performance


XP Table sorted by performance


Vista Conclusions:
-No one, under any circumstances, should be using anything older than the mid-167 series at the absolute least.
-The INF provided with 174.31 won't get DirectX working for some reason. Use the modded INF from LV2Go.
-As in my previous benchmarking, 175.61 has a curiously high SM3.0 score. Go figure. Funny how 175.66 follows that pattern.
-Whatever HP is doing to their drivers, they're doing it right. 177.13 is the best non-179 performer, and 179.44 is the BEST driver of the bunch. If they're overclockable, I think I have my new favourite.
-Surprised that 181.22 is a step back - don't bother unless you need OpenGL 3.0.
-185.85 and 186.03 are now the tops in terms of power, especially in SM2.0. I recommend either one of them.

XP Conclusions:
-Your benchmark results WILL be higher than in Vista.
-179 is still the best series here, with Nvidia Direct's releases nabbing the top two benchmarks.
-That being said, 181.22 nabbed the top spot just recently. If you don't need WHQL, go for it!

7 Conclusions:
-Surprisingly, 181.71 benched like a 175/176 driver - 1432 in SM2, and 1318 in SM3/HDR, for a total of 2750. It did better after a DirectX update and Windows Update did its work, boosting scores to 1447/1334/2781. Still, try other Vista drivers while you can on 7, or hope future releases perform better.

 

hmmmm i just reinstalled 197.28 and allowed all registry in place and it worked fine.well on bf2142, on css i cannot use HDR, i think its fine with hdr on dod:s not sure.

 

*bump*
Update of the chart, more drivers added.
I'm up to the 176 series now!

 

bump!
lol this isn't a sticky!
I depend sticky!

 

*bump again*
Vista driver testing is COMPLETE!
Windows XP will be coming soon-ish. Already started on it, but 174.31 had a bad crash, so I figured I should do something else for now.

EDIT: WinXP may be delayed - I think my laptop's buttplate is starting to get kerschmorgled from swapping hard drives so often (I'm doing my benchmarking on a spare 60GB Fujitsu HDD I was gifted).

 

*final bump*
XP results are complete!

 

hi tehsuigi, good job here. any plans for 180... series.
swapping hard drives is not good for disks or your lappy, you really need to dual boot for testing. try acronis true image & disk director/os loader. install clean copy in own partition, image, change drivers and test. overwrite with clean copy and start again, quick and easy and always you have your working system if copy fails to boot

 

Well, when the 180 series gets WHQL'd, it'll go in the table.
I didn't know that swapping HDDs is explicitly a bad thing. I might just get an OBHD caddy from NewMode, provided I can get my Blu-ray drive unscrewed in the first place.

 

Thanks for the informative benchmarks. Based on them I installed 179.44 on my 8930G on vista 64. I got a black screen after reboot all the time. So I clean installed again and used the modified inf and they installed. I will try some games and see how they run. I was using the 182.06 desktop drivers before with modified inf and they seemed to run ok and fast. Can you do benchmarks for 182.xx or newer desktop series with modified inf? Most are available from laptopvideo2go.com..

 

Probably not - my benchmarks are largely for those who don't want to around with modded INFs, so they're all WHQL and most of them by Acer.
Once I get Win7 set up properly, I can bench 181.71 at least.

 

I tried 179.44 with some games and they were fast. Unfortunately though my brightness and power settings don't work correct with these drivers. Changing screen brightness doesn't work eitheir, only restarting does which sucks..

 

i only meant from a hardware point, the connectors get loose. also slight poss of bending a pin. (dont ask, been there, but boy that caused confusion)
i didnt realise that they were only WHQL. we can always use this trick to get latest/best drivers and keep blu-ray
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4494660

 

On my ASPIRE 8930G for some reason, when I install other drivers like I tried 179.44(HP) and 179.52(ACER) I cannot adjust my screen brightness anymore. It cannot be changed from either the mobility center, power managment or FN keys. Only works when I go back to the ACER graphic drivers 176.26 from their website. It gets all weird like it stays locked and in the mobility center it shows only 1-39 level, with the good driver it shows 1-100. Anyone else have more information or ideas on this? The drivers work fine in games and other stuff, but the brightness issue ruins it. Do I need a special mod or inf for the drivers?

 

Good work on these driver tables/performance etc, could do with one of these for the ATi cards also

 

Well, since I lack a notebook with ATi graphics, that might be some time in coming.
Thanks for the kudos, though.

 

hello im using aspire 4736 G i ve downloaded the newest 186.81 but i cant instal it... it stop to instal just instal the HD sound driver it self... what is the problem? do u have any idea... my nvidia is G105M... i got this driver from nvidia. thx

 

You need to remove the old driver perfectly/completely before installing the new driver.
Driver Sweeper(freeware) is needed in order to do so. Don't forgot CCleaner(freeware) too.
Guide:
Download and install Driver Sweeper and CCleaner.
Remove Nvidia Driver(whatever related to Nvidia) from your windows using Device Manager or some software you like.
Restart your Laptop to Safe Mode.
Run Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode. Select all Nvidia stuffs on Driver Sweeper and click analyse and clean. After that, run CCleaner, go to its Registry tab, then, scan and clean the registry errors.
Restart your computer to Normal Mode.
Install new driver. Done.

 

I ve done it but i didnt download the driver sweeper coz i didnt have the internet connection in that situation. So i just uninstal and clean by cc cleaner. When i want to instal the nvidia. It give the sentences. Setup detect that the operating system in use is not windows vista 32 bit/ 7 32 bit. This set up program and its associated driver are design to run only on windows vista. The instalation will be terminated. What should i do?

 

What Windows are you using? If it is not Windows 7 or Vista. You can't install the Driver because the Driver you want to install is for Windows 7/Vista. If you're using Windows XP, you need to download the Driver for Windows XP.

 

Im using original home premium. And im sure i ve downloaded the correct one for vista 32 bit. But until now i cant do it. May be the driver sweeper is the last hope? Im downloading now. Do u have yahoo messenger? Plis add me so i can ask clearer. Mine is [email protected]

 

Can not i ve tried with all the way from u. But its fail. Even used the recently older driver. Whats wrong with that? Really confuse.

 

Driver Sweeper is your last hope.
If that fails, the problem will be the CCleaner has killed your system. =.=!
What version of CCleaner are you using?
Download latest CCleaner and latest Driver Sweeper(2.0.5) to avoid system screw-up.

 

I think the driver is not compatible with my vga. Coz my laptop still new aspire 4736G. I didnt found any source or review about this. So i return to the original driver. Cant hope to upgrade it. Maybe wait for the new compatible soon.

 

Most likely. If you can use back your old driver, go ahead.
If not mistaken, Nvidia Geforce 186.82(not 186.81) supports G1XX GPUs.

 

Will physix increase my vga ability? Do i need to instal it? Coz i think the original driver dont have that. My standart vista experience index still very low only 4 in aero. Even the older vga G9100 can get same score 4 also. Thats why i dont believe with the original driver.

 

LOL! You can download the latest DirectX to boost or correct the WEI(windows experiences index) score.
Here is the link, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=416622
In addition, WEI is not accurate, I don't really 100% believe in it.
I got 4.9 index on Vista(range 1-5.9). I got 5.0 index on 7(range 1-7.9)
Use other 3rd party software to test your laptop. For example: 3DMark06
WEI sucks.

 

I always download the windows update. Do i still need to instal this update? Yup i think i should use another benchmark to prove it. But i think 4 score in wei is really bad for G105.

 

WEI score is judged on many things.
So, please show your screenshot of your WEI.
Tell your specification of your laptop too.

For your information, your GPU Nvidia G105M is a 3rd class graphic card.
Here is the details, http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-G-105M.13790.0.html
So, getting low WEI on Gaming Graphic is very common.

 

Ok i cant upload the image coz im online using phone.
The scores are like this:
Processor 5.1 for T6500
Ram 5.9 for sodimm DDR2 800
Graphics 4.0 (for aero CMIIW)
Gaming 4.9
Hardis 5.2 uses hitachi
It get the lowest for the middle score after ram. This what make me unsatisfied.
Very far from gaming one. My old 4530 get.
4.8
5.9
4.0
4,5
5.3
So do u have any advice?

 

You mean the Window Aero?
Get yourself the latest DirectX and it will boost it up.
If can't, it have to do with the Windows blah blah service. Forgot which service already. LOL.

 

What do u think about the score. Is it normal. Have u ever tried to update the directX? How much your score increase? I only know that usually update driver can increase.