Leaked 260.52 Beta Nvidia Drivers

Just spotted around the net a release of nvidia's 260.52 beta drivers, you can download them here along with physx 9.10.0514.

http://www.outlaw-star.net/Guru3dFF/NvidiaDrivers/260.52_geforce_win7_64bit_international.exe

http://www.outlaw-star.net/Guru3dFF/NvidiaDrivers/PhysX_9.10.0514_SystemSoftware.msi

You will need a modded INF to install them. Currently can't get this to install, Standard INF mods don't work so something extra must need doing..... No idea how these will handle or even work on both R2 and R1 (note: hybrid function on R1 wont work.... yet) so be careful

 

Failed to install on my R2 with modified drivier .inf

 

i hope nautis or one of the other drive dudes can get in here and cook us up a .inf that works

 

I updated the INF file myself with the hardware id to get it to run on discrete only (r1) and it doesnt work. Reaching out to Nautis now. Thanks!

 

Wow.. I couldnt get this one to install with a driver modified to utilize any of the older g80 series chipsets. I am weary about this one so far. It failed to load display driver 3 times, then It would let me load my old 258.96. Had to ccleaner the registry and driver sweaper. Downloaded a clean version of the display driver and a updated INF just in case. I am now back to 258.96 .. StevenX

 

God I want to try these drivers.. the other folks are saying nice gains in BFBC2. I dont want to get my hopes up, but.. I do have my hopes up!

BW, StevenX

 

Same i wonder how SC2 performance will change

 

People are having tons of issues with these drivers. Nvidia is even going around having sites pull them, could be due to the bugs, could be due to them still being under NDA.

Installer is very finicky now but will be a modders dream when finished. They even seem to point to the possibility of using a different INF for the Intel portion of Hybrid Graphics (which is a lot like my unreleased separates packages.)

These seem like they were Quadro drivers, updatussetup.exe is not included so adding full Optimus support would have to be pieced together.

Something to remember despite the fancy new installer the drivers in the Display.Drivers folder are more or less the same as always. If the installer will not work you can always force install using device manager. This is what I had to do to get them to install with Hybrid Graphics on my Vaio Z. Without it only the Nvidia portion would install.

EDIT: Sorry Steve for the delayed response to the PMs very busy today.

 

Nautis - no worries. I hear megaupload got bogged down due to over 2k hits within the first few hours. You think it will work on the R1 in discreet mode if I load it through the hardware profile rather that the pre-packaged updater? I found a mod'd inf with all the older driver...

Best wishes, Stevenx

 

What kinds of issues?

I'm using them right now, not really any different (same 3dmark06 score and temps).

 

Broken OpenCL. Issues with PhysX installer. Crashes. Lockups. etc. Of course these are all reports from various sources so who knows what the issues are related to really.

 

Ok, I have that problem.

 

I managed to get these installed with the modded INF off laptopvideo2go on my R2.

But as Nautis said, there not very stable at all (which is expected of a leaked beta). Nice to play with them though

 

Review - Game Performance
Just Cause 2 - 258.96 = 21.66 on concrete jungle, high settings
Just Cause 2 - 260.52 - 21.42 on concrete jungle, high settings
Arma 2, OA British - 258.96 = 32-33fps, normal/high/PP=low
Arma 2, OA British - 260.52 = 32-33fps, normal/high/PP=low
Battlefield BC2 - 258.96 = 29-31.6 fps, low settings
Battlefield BC2 - 260.52 = 28.3-30.4 fps, low settings
note - gpu still utilized between 32-45 percent only****

So in essence, no performance increase at all under standard gameplay conditions that I can tell so far.

Thanks, StevenX

***Also I set Dynamic Tiling to Safe/Unsafe/Nvidia and no difference***

 

Nvidia should be coming up with a proper driver next week which is just few days from now, so I am going to pass on this one. Also I too heard/read of a lot of issues with the current 260.xx driver that is being heavily tested inside Nvidia as of now. This leak driver is mostly likely just one of those buggy ones. Nvidia actually delayed the driver release due to some major bug found and trying to solve them. I personally dont advise to attempt use on these unless you are extremely adventurous. Since I dont recommend using them I wont be attempting a mod for it as well. Sorry guys lets just wait for few days more for a proper release Cheers

 

@Nautis and Kopicha - What can we do to get some pushback to nvidia about actual driver performance. During the course of the m300 series lifecycle we have received very few driver updates that are advertised to actually increase performance in games. Of course we have seen releases that "add" support for a game such as Mafia 2 or Starcraft, but no releases that "INCREASE PERFORMANCE". We are now already into the m400 series releases in drivers and I am wondering, has the m300 series peaked already for performance? Should we expect any future performance increases due to driver updates?

(Increased performance is a tough term to describe. I define it by setting everything in my nvidia panel to high performance, turn off AF and AA, and benchmark the game. I then upgrade to the newest driver and do the same. The delta between the two is what I consider "INCREASED PERFORMANCE" or decreased performance.)

 

Futhermore, what can we do to get Nvidia to address this Optimus/Punkbuster bug? Since Evenbalance insists it's an Nvidia issue.

 

normally when there's "increase performance" within certain games i understand that it work across the board and not specific to certain family. i do understand that at times nvidia do specific optimization to some specific chips. but generally any drivers they release with claims that it increases performance for certain games does work on most nvidia cards. at least thats what i have tested before between my desktop and the laptop counterpart. also from what i have been monitoring these far like ppl commenting on their m11x gpu utilization mostly goes between 40-60% on average. I think this is normal for now too. not sure if its related to game coding not fully optimizing the use of gpu or drivers need further optimization but its the same case even on 4xx series chips. its hard to say what is right what is wrong especially when we come to talk about efficiencies of the gpu. we cant say that due to its only using 40-60% meaning its not using it efficiently. since it doesnt mean running at peak 100% it should yeild a faster performance. neither we cant say what it is running now is already at its optimum rate. this is a debateable arguement. its like processors given a C2D with lower clock does not mean its slower than a P4 with higher clock. all these comes back to efficiency of the device. i cant comment if current 40-60% is efficient or there is something wrong. but for sure its not a problem as its also same on other gpu in the 4xx range.

for bug fixes i think its good to also send in feedbacks on drivers to nvidia. dont expect immediate reaction to things being reported thou. since investigation of the issue is require. but i think this is necessary to let them aware of the major concerns that we customers are facing and that they as the big boys should come out and do something to sort them out.

Anyway new drivers should be out soon already since there is mention about final drivers already ready

 

@Kopicha - I dont know how much pushback you have on nvidia but I would like to see a 15 percent increase across the board on games for the 3xx series.

In case others wonder, that would be a 1.5 frame increase for every 10 frames. So if you were at 30 in a game you would now be at 34.5. Which means you can enable another detail or AA or something else in game.
15 percent is not out of the question at all. Thanks again Kopicha and Nautis for all your work!!! BW, stevenX

 

lol, and out of which orifice do you expect them to pull the 15 percent that would be acceptable to you? hehehehe

sometimes you crack me up.

seer

 

@Seer - i work for a fortune 50. I expect a lot out of everyone. Anything less is not acceptable. I expect it of the vendors I work with, support staff, engineers, managers and everyone else. Others expect it of me. Plain and simple. Nvidia has the ability to optimize the drivers. My guess is that since the 4xx series is new they wont do anything that would push the 3xx series closer to the 4xx performance.

That doesnt mean that I am not going to ask about it or push for it. I am not concerned about Nvidia sales... I am concerned about my $1000 m11x performance. If you have a M11x you should be concerned as well.

StevenX