M17x Drivers thread

Just to add a couple of screenshots for the 195.62 drivers. The important thing to mention is the ambient temperature which was 24 degrees Celcius and actually quite hot.
The game I use to check the temperatures is Counter Strike Source with settings all maxed out. I know it's ancient but it's the only one that I have installed.
The second screenshot was taken after opening the browser and surfing the forum, leaving mozilla in the background and start playing CSS.

 

24 (26) is the temp of your cpu not gpu. and its by no way hot. i dont think gpu driver has to do something with this. your gpu temps are ok except that the game must not work in sli (10 degrees difference)

 

use GPU-z to see the downclocking. shouldn't base it on temps as temps will have nothing to show 1 minute after exiting the game. Wait 15 minutes or more and see the difference between the GPUs. If 1 GPU is downclocked to its lowest and 1 is locked on full, believe me, you'll see more than 1-3 degrees.

he said his ambient temp is 24 (room temp) which is 75 degrees f. warm enough. what 10 degree difference? I see a difference between the 9400 and the discretes - which is totally normal.

 

Ok i tried these drivers 195.62. And they perform very poorly in games....

the 186.82 still the best in my opinion.

 

Agreed - old reliable 186.82. Thanks to Microsoft for that one. Leave it to a Windows Update driver to actually perform better in-game as well as with Hybrid functions. Never would've thought it...

 

i am back to 186.82 yes the driver is good. but pro2010 gets white screen every now and then when configured in sli. no such problem with 195.62

 

195.62 broke my vintage installation....

im getting the "COM Surrogate has stopped working" error... i dont know how to fix this now.

 

I've been using the updated chipset driver + 195.62 for about a week now and performance has been slightly better than 186.82. Noticed the biggest increase in crysis tho. Down-clocking is working properly on both cards as well according to GPU-z. I guess I'm lucky?
I haven't had time to play around and test stealth mode/hybrid/wake from sleep yet, but so far so good.

 

I had a problem with downclocking too. Although the temps seems ok but the clock on the 2nd card remains and max speed after playing dirt2.

 

Anyone using the 195.62 drivers have the auto switching to the 9400 video card when you unplug the power cord? the 186.82s do it for my but when I put the computer to sleep with the 9400 in use it never wakes.

 

i'm using modded 195.62 drivers from http://tweakforce.com/ and i think they turned out pretty good, im going to keep them for now.

 

yes. i have heard alot of good things with that driver.

 

can you upload it somewhere?

edit: i found a download link

 

Tweakforce used to turn out some really decent drivers back when I had my XPS M1730. From what I gathered, they switched to basically using the driverheaven NV Mod tool. Not sure if this is still the case since the mod tool was last updated back in august (i believe) and the modder hasn't been reworked for the current INF format.

Can someone post back if the TF driver also exhibits the downclocking issue with GPU #2 (or not)? Thanks.

 

where are the 195.62 mobility drivers on tweakforce.com?

 

the thing i notice about tweaked drivers is that they screw around with the picture. I like accurate colors on my screen and not hyper-real looking colors. Any idea if this is the case with the 195.62?

 

Installed the new beta a couple of hours ago.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.81_beta.html
So far performance is good (MW2 so far) with these and the big thing I have noticed, both 260's are downclocking now after game play.

 

Anyone( yes that means you Batboy) know how to get Bluray to work with non- WHQL drivers?

 

im not getting the down clocking with the tweakforce drivers, ill test a few more times though to make sure

edit: nvm, its definatly doing something strange to the clocks

 

Great news... thanks for sharing Gadget.

 

can you upload those gadgets of yours somewhere? i will try the driver son gtx280s too.

 

195.81 BETA -

MY TEST RESULTS:

•Install:
Installed without any issues.


•Stealth Mode & Hybrid SLI:
Stealth Mode is no longer quirky as with the previous release. With this release, depressing the Stealth Mode button will disable the discrete GPUs while putting the rest of the unit into the sub 65w power save mode. Depressing the Stealth Mode touchstrip button a second time will prompt you to disable Stealth. Once accepted the system powers up the discrete GPUs and restores the system to full power. The REBOOT requirement is now gone - which is a positive.

Pulling the AC Power Cord does not automatically switch the unit to the Integrated GPU. In previous releases (186.82, 186.91, etc.), this was not the case and when AC was cut, the unit would power down the discrete GPUs and only use the 9400 automatically. This new behavior actually may be intentional. I believe NVIDIA did away with the auto switch functionality. You will need to use the Stealth Mode button or FN+F7. I personally like the auto switch myself.

Depressing the FN+F7 key works fine and you are able to switch between discrete GPU(s)/9400M G and 9400M G only modes without issue (again, no reboot is required which is nice).


•Waking from Standby/Sleep/Hibernation:
No issues.


•Gaming:
No issues with FPS in-game. No issues with SLI. Tested with TF2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, COD:MW2, TrackMania


•GPU Clock Rates:
This is the deal breaker (at least for me) folks. After exiting out of a game and letting the system sit idle for about 10 minutes, I noticed GPU #2 was about 10c higher than GPU #1. Checked clock rates using two instances of GPU-Z. GPU #1 had downclocked properly to 200Mhz/100Mhz while GPU #2 was locked at 583Mhz/950Mhz. So, looks like GPU #2 is failing to accept instruction from PowerMizer to D/C properly. This was an issue with the 195.55 beta release and the follow up 195.62 WHQL release.

•Screen Flickering:
I am seeing some odd screen flickering when opening up pages in Internet Explorer 8 with this release. I have not been able to determine the cause to this. The flickering is intermittent and seems to be related to Hybrid SLI and the GPU#2 downclocking behavior.

Back to 186.82 for me. If NVIDIA fixes the downclocking issue or a work-around is found, I would replace 186.82 as my driver of choice.

Remember, whatever works for you is my motto. If you like this driver and don't care about your second GPU being locked at full clocks after exiting out of a gaming session (or do not see the downclocking issue), then go with it. Its what you prefer.

 

That's too bad BatBoy, I was having the same issue with the previous version 195.62, but applied these and mine are downclocking within a minute or 2 of game exit.
I will also note that this was the first time I applied a new version over the existing one without uninstall and CClean, I did this to enable the driver roll back incase there was an issue.

 

Has anyone else tested with the 260's?

 

hmmm, if it is downclocking 260s and not 280s it can probably be fixed easily enough, maybe even in the inf?

has anyone tried another version of 195.81 besides the official nvidia one?

 

196.81 can downclock 280s for me .

here are my temps and clocks with 196.81 beta.

the temps are 15 minutes after i stopped playind cod mw2 (i left it open during gameplay to see max temps shown on right edge)



and the clocks using gpuz






i also installed over 186.82 but i remember i got this 1 -2 (only) degrees difference with 196.62 when installed after uninstalling 186.82 and using driver sweeper

Batboy try installing over 186.82. thus i think you dont use A02 bios right?

 

Same again with the downclocking issue for me. I was hoping this release would fix it.

 

Very odd that it seems to he hit or miss. Must be some other softwre interfering with PM

 

yes it must be registry leftups or something. i cant believe we are the lucky ones and downclocking works with others while it doesnt on others.

vista vs win7 may also matter or bios version. whatever.

 

I will test tonight. I have installed no new drivers other than the ones Win7 installed so I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

@ristotelhs2060:

I've been running BIOS A02 since it was released. You might want to check the box in each instance of GPUz which tells GPUz to 'to continually refresh even when in the background'.

 

I decided to go back an mirror BatBoys checks to see if anything else is different.

195.81 BETA -

MY TEST RESULTS:

•Install:
Installed without any issues. Installed over existing driver 195.62 with Sli/Hybrid Sli active.

•Stealth Mode & Hybrid SLI:
My results mirrored Batboys results, Hybrid Power save and Boost modes can be switched without reboot

•Waking from Standby/Sleep/Hibernation:
Same here, no issues.

•Gaming:
No issues with FPS in-game. COD:MW2

•GPU Clock Rates:
After this driver install both GPUs started to downclock at the same time about 1-2 minutes after ending gameplay with temps coming down equally too. Prior version would only downclock GPU1 and GPU2 would stay at full speeds resulting in a temp diff of 7-9deg C. To monitor this, I am using GPU-Z 0.3.8 and GPU Monitor Gadget(uses RivaTuner 2.24c for data source). Below is an updated screen cap. GPU-Z background monitoring is on and this was taken about 3min after ending a 1hr game play.
For me the improvement in temp differences is the key, since the prior drive version had the noticeable difference between the 260s

•Screen Flickering:
I am not seeing any screen flicker, tested with IE8 and Chrome, both in Save Power and Boost Performance modes.

 

Worthwhile to note, when I install an NV display driver I always do the following:

1. Uninstall driver via Programs & Features CP, reboot when prompted
2. Reboot into Safe Mode. Run CCleaner to remove all left over traces - they should be removed by the installer, but are not. This step makes no difference in the sense that if you were installing the driver from a clean OS install, it would be the same.
3. Reboot normally after running CCleaner.
4. Once at the desktop, Windows will load the Standard VGA driver for the 9400M G. It will also attempt to load this driver for the discrete GPUs however they will not be active. Once this is done, reboot normally.
5. Once back at the desktop - run the NV Display Driver Installer.

Also to note,

1. I am on Vista 64. This should not make a difference, but it is something to consider.
2. I am using GPU-z 0.3.6 as there was a conflict with 0.3.8 (at least with the 186.82 driver) where having 2 instances running with the sensor tabs displayed could cause a crash.
3. I do not have RivaTuner installed.

Thanks for the followup post Gadget. As always, the more info we collect on an issue, the closer we come to determining a cause. Can you check the box to output each instance of GPUz to a log file? Run your gaming app and then exit. Leave GPUz alone for several mins/until you see both cards DC. Once this has happened, can you check each log and see how the clocks were in-game?

Thanks.

EDIT:
Wanted to rule out the GPUz versions being a factor. No change. Screenshot attached. Its either a Vista vs W7 issue, or the way the driver was installed. In both cases, I don't see how either could account for this issue. Just not sure. Time to uninstall and go back to 186.82 for me. I'll wait until the 195.81 passes the BETA stage. Time to file my lengthy bug report with NV. They can sort it out.

 

Here are my LOGS, When I get into the game everything stays pegged as far as the clocks and then you can see the DC starting about 30secs-1 min after game exit. GPU1 has load at the beginning and end hence the name GPU1.
In game starting about 23:02:35, ended game at around 23:11:00.

 

Thats great Gadget. Thanks for confirming via logs. Really odd issue here. Glad its working as expected on your system. As I mentioned previously, if the clock issue were not present, this would be a keeper for me.

I may try the uninstall/reinstall again using my same process - a bit tired at the moment though. Will post back if I have positive results.

 

Thanks for all the testing guys..it really helps us newbies. Batboy how do u get these non-WHQL drivers to play bluray?

 

195.81 can play bluray as it is

http://i45.tinypic.com/zxqjpg.jpg


those three options on second panel were always yellow even with dell driver. i dont know what they are or what to do for them.

what i noticed is that both gpus overclock or downclock according to what i am doing. the temps are also similar which is a proof by its own.

 

Hey guys, I recently upgraded my Drivers from the 186.12 Dell, to the latest 186.64, and I've noticed a pretty good increase in heat in stanby but especially when playing games. The performance also seems a bit choppier, especially when playing back videos. Anyone else had similiar problems with these drivers? or does someone have a suggestion for other drivers

 

What do you mean 'increase in heat in standby'? If you mean the system is actually getting hotter while in standby/sleep mode, I would say something is wrong.

My current driver pick is 186.82. Its not a Dell release driver, but a Windows Update Driver. You can find info on it here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=412578

There are several other drivers you can try as well. We are currently discussing the 195.81 driver.

Try this - Open up the PowerDVD options and on the BluRay tab, uncheck the disable Aero feature. This worked for me when I was testing the other two 195 releases.

 

I've gone back to the 195.62 drivers after a few issues with these beta ones.

Flickering: in 3D mode, I noticed the mouse cursor was flicking when moved.

Pauses: In some cases such as when starting WoW, the display output stopped rendering for a few seconds before carrying on and continuing normally.

Other than that, general performance and temps seem more or less identical to 195.62. It is good to see that Nvidia are continuing to release drivers that install properly, even with these bugs and glitches.

 

the only way i get this flickering is when i open device manager and select properties and then x to close as you can see from the screenshot



i got this with other drivers as well but nowhere else until now so no issue at all

also a notice regarding downclocking of 2nd gpu. i selected prefer performance in nvidia control panel and checked sensors using gpuz. both gpus remained overclocked as expected. tehn changed it back to adaptive and guess what 2nd gpu remained overclocked and 6 degrees difference. i had to restart with adaptive selected to get normal temps-clocks again.

 

Very interesting. With the 19x.xx series, I have always set games and futuremark apps to prefer max perf and single display. Global default I leave on adaptive and multi display.

I've already reinstalled 186.82 so I can't test this...

 

just install over it as we did. it worths the time

 

Thanks Aristotle and BB

 

i just clean installed 195.81. 2nd gpu downclocked as expected.

however i had to set once again performance mode to prefer performance, then adaptive and restart.

 

Interesting - I will give this another go tomorrow. Thanks for posting - I'll let you know how it works out. Hopefully this is resolved in the WHQL release.

 

My Global setting and game settings are defaulted also to adaptive. I installed Empire Total War yesterday and driver performance is the same. Both cards start to downclock about 30sec-1min on game exit and temps also drop together.

 

So for both of you - you are leaving Performance Mode (both for global settings as well as individual game profiles) set to Adaptive?

 

That's a yes for me.

 

i only change global settings to adaptive (it is to adaptive by default but i have to do as i told you above).

programs are all set to use global settings i think because i didnt change anything except the settings for some games using nhancer but i dont think this matters. nhancer has nothing to do with this kind of performance mode and total downclocking (200mhz) of 2nd gpu just occurs when you close the game.

just for confirmation again here are my temps without playing anything after clean install of 195.81 and the "trick" i described above . when the gpu temps go up for any reason their degrees difference is not more than 1 -2 degrees (2nd gpu is always 1-2 degrees hotter) but also downclocked as i can see for gpu-z). i could say that if you see a difference of more than 3 degrees under standby then this is an indication that 2nd gpu is not downclocked properly.