The new 8600m GT 185.20 beta driver

I just installed the 185.20 beta driver (which supports the 8600m gt ddr3 without the need for a custom inf ), I didnt have any crashing or glitching, and I will let the pic do the talking
BTW: this is the first stable 18X.XX driver I tried, and its weird that the 8600m gt doesn't need a modded inf lol
Edit: download the driver from LV2Go but dont download any modded infs because you dont need them

 

Pics are nice, but what would it have looked like using your previous driver?

 

well this is the best benchmark that I got with the 8600m gt at stock, and old drivers would give me 4750 3DMarks Maximum.
I have been testing a couple of games, and for now I have seen
a 3-6 FPS increase in GTA IV
a 10-20 FPS increase in L4D
No difference in Fallout 3 (the Fps is between 30-60 depending on the place) but overall smoother
Crysis is running smoothly (not sure whats the FPS because Xfire didn't work with it but I think it was between 20-30 FPS because it was so smooth)
Overall the driver is the best driver for the M1530 untill now

BTW: I am running Fallout 3 on high (1440×900) with AA and AF off, and Crysis (1280×800) all on medium with shadow, shaders, and water on low.

for GTA IV (It could get to 40 FPS in buildings and its alot smoother overall)
Statistics
Average FPS: 22.52
Duration: 37.30 sec
CPU Usage: 92%
System memory usage: 69%
Video memory usage: 99%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1280 x 800 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Low
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 10
Detail Distance: 10

Hardware
Microsoft® Windows Vista" Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Video Driver version: 185.20
Audio Adapter: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9500 @ 2.60GHz

File ID: benchmark.cli

 

How did you get gta 4 to go to 1200x800? it will only let me go to 1024x768. (running dox drivers, I'll install these. and try again) Btw, Nice tests, I'll have to install these

 

Rockstar thought of a stupid way to limit people from changing the settings to any higher than they see fit by putting a system that goes by the card size and so to fix it just make a txt with the name (commandline) and write

Code:

-norestrictions
-nomemrestrict
-novblank

in it and save it in your GTA IV file

COD 5 is showing improvments (almost as good as one of the 180.xx (I don't remember which) that gave glitches but ran the game at a constant 30-35 FPS )

BTW: I have tested more games ( Assassins Creed, Far Cry 2, Mass Effect) and they all showed improvements, and so the only game that had slowdowns is UT3 (its still playable but it goes down to 25 fps instead of a constant 30-40 fps with 178.24 or 178.24 dox)
and also I have tried most of the 18x.xx and I used to have graphical glitches which is why I used to downgrade, but this one solved the problem that's why its the most stable 18x.xx

After a day of testing I have had no crashes , waiting for your benchmarks and tests guys (tell us what games you test and how is the performance (better,worse) and an FPS would be great.

 

have you tried 2 wake from sleep or hibernation with these drivers thats the only problem i have with the lapvid2go drivers i always get the back screen when it wakes up. So i just use the latest 1 from the Nvidia site for now

 

I dont really use sleep or hibernation but I just tested the two of them and they worked, However I have 8600m gt and I see that u have a 8400M GS so I dont know if it will work for u

 

I got 3DMark06 over 6k with my current drivers and games are all very stable so no, these drivers are not "best" for 8600M GT. ;]

 

Did you overclock your card ?

BTW when I used DOXs 180.84 I had graphical glitches (little squares that appear on the desktop) and it crashed once while trying to play GTA IV that's why I stopped using it

An old benchmark of 180.84 in GTA IV:
Statistics
Average FPS: 20.76
Duration: 37.09 sec
CPU Usage: 75%
System memory usage: 71%
Video memory usage: 100%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1280 x 800 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Low
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 10
Detail Distance: 10

Hardware
Microsoft® Windows Vista" Home Premium
Service Pack 2, v.113
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT [Dox Optimised 180.84: Alternative]
Video Driver version: 180.84
Audio Adapter: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9500 @ 2.60GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

 

An actual promising driver from LV2G? Really? That is good news!


There's nothing more annoying than hit & miss drivers but I will definitely check this one out.

 

I still have sleep problem with 185.20.
I’m using Vista x64.

Yeah, you can install without using the modded inf for 8600M GT but beware because original inf is not included settings for Powermizer.
I found out that 185’s inf file has new style of coding.

 

thanks for the Info mate I agree with unlogic this driver has some sleep issues but i never faced any crashes or sleep issues is 179.28 Driver

 

Not stable for me, BSOD with GTA IV after 1 hour of usage , and alt tabbing.

 

Hmm I am not having any problems, I guess Vista x32 version is stable or I am just lucky lol

 

All 18x.x drivers released so far have sleep issues with both Vista and XP.

 

What's the latest and most stable driver to date? I am using 176.44

 

Thanks for the info DarkFnh.

Interesting to here how you got on with the Dox 180.84 drivers, i experienced the same glitches. Got so fed up with trying out new drivers that I reformatted and went back to my trusty old 174.31!

Anyway, 185.20 sounds promising so may give it a try l8r today, cheers.

 

I have used many driver and have done a lot of research. There is no best driver's than the drivers which Nvidia is providing on their website. I would advise all you people to use the drivers from nvidia website.

Without overclocking i am getting a score of 4896 and GTA4, assasins creed, L4D all are running smooth. Without any glitches i was able to play Call of Duty 4 (Modern Warfare) very smoothly and its really an awesome game

I have really given up trying these drivers from laptopvideo2go.com.

In my next post i will upload my benchmark results on the Nvidia driver [179.28]