New 197.15 x64 drivers = Smoothest Gaming yet and lower temps!

Upgraded to 197.15 a few days ago and finally my overheating issues are fixed!
It appears that with these drivers I can finally run Crysis @ custom high settings, 1920x1200 for very extended periods of time (played a couple of hours last night, tried a few custom maps).

The fps are still amazing like in the 196.xx, if not slightly better.

Pick these up if you want to enhance your gaming experience and check out my latest gaming vids that I posted on Youtube. Crysis runs amazingly well now, so much better than when I first bought my Gateway p-7805u last year and was running stock without tweaks/ CPU upgrade. You can tell by my first vid uploaded a long time ago, I was getting 21-25 fps average back then. Now I get 35-40 fps

 

I have to agree with you on these ones so far. Note that 197.25 is out now too. I will be testing those ones next. Thanks for the heads up!

 

all of the 19x.xx drivers give me worse performance than the 186.81 drivers. i might give this a try.

 

I've seen them too but I am so content with the 197.15 that I am going to stick with them for now

Some of the 19x.xx used to give me worse performance too. If I were you I would give em a try, and if you don't like 'em you can always revert.

 

Every single 19X.XX Driver also gave me worse performance, particularly stuttering in GTA IV and PowerMizer problems but all of that changed when I tried the Dell Mobile 196.86 and now 197.15. I am in the process of installing and testing out 197.25 now. I found 196.86 and 197.15 gave me better performance than 186.81 which is something I thought would never happen in my lifetime.

 

in your lifetime? really? drivers get better all the time.

 

lol a slight exaggeration by myself but when every single new Driver you test out apart from 186.81 gives you poor performance and stuttering, it doesn't give you much confidence in the newer ones.

 

Moving to 197.25 gave me a one point decrease in my Unigine 1.0 score. Well, let's see how it likes games.

 

Hmm so crysis runs smoother, then everything would run smoother. Sounds good gonna try once i get home.

 

Does it downclock properly? I'm still a bit bummed that my GPU goes all out when connecting to a monitor/tv. Could just be Win 7 but who knows.

 

What about the brightness controls? anyone tested them yet? Apparently most 19x.xx's I tried couldn't get the brightness down.

 

I just tested my brightness controls and I have no problems. I have never had any brightness control problems with 19X.XX though and my GPU also downclocks correctly. I am using 197.25 now and all is good.

 

Not much of a noticeable difference in Left 4 dead 2. Then again, I have Vsync on. Let's see how it likes the formeedabul Crysis.

 

Yes, luckily it does. Part of my high temperatures problem with the 196.xx drivers, was that it would not downclock properly and would run at 99% gpu load almost at all times. Now I can see with GPU-Z that it has been resolved and the GPU load varies like it should, still keeping the extra smooth framerate that I pride over

 

Just installed it and my brightness control isn't working Abit weird...haha. However it's in a good contrast anyway so I don't mind it.

 

It would be nice to know from where one could download these drivers, because Nvidia website doesn't have them ... nor does Laptopvideo2go

 

Eh? As of this posting, it's on the front page.

197.25 for 64-bit

 

Yeah that's not a driver thing. Your GPU will run at full speed when hooked to an external.

 

^via HDMI, because AFAIK VGA out is fine.

 

Could I use the 197.15 driver if my GPU is a GTX 260m?

 

Yes, I'm using 197.25 with my 280m. Go here:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26407-v19725-windows-7vista-64bit-nvidia-desktop/

and download the drivers. Extract them to a folder. Download the modified .INF and replace the one in the folder. Go into your device manager and 'Update Driver Software' for your video card. Click on 'Browse my computer' then 'Let me pick' and finally 'Have disk'. Point windows to the .INF file and you're done.

 

Yes, I should have specified.

 

Ok I will try that out after work. Do you notice a difference in performance when using this driver? Does the Nivida control panel change too?

 

That is very strange, especially since I have the same laptop model as you. When you uninstalled your old Nvidia Drivers, did you also reboot into Safe Mode and use DriverCleaner Pro to remove the left over registry entries?

I wonder if the brightness controls have something to do with the installation of the Hotkey Driver as opposed to the Nvidia Drivers.

 

These any good? Sager owners?

 

Hmm last time I connected via VGA my GPU ran at full speed as well. Going through the LV2G forums, someone says powermizer is enabled for HDMI but for 197.25. I'll give those drivers a try a post results.

 

I have to say the 197.25 is really good drivers. Metro 2033 got a very nice boost out of these on my XPS M1730 I recorded a video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ldr7PuYaLo

It´s even playable at Very High settings.

 

thanks for the info new to all this so wasn't sure how to go about installing the driver

 

the modded inf file doesn't work.

 

wow, I'm impressed, these drivers actually downclock properly on my G51's 260mGTX! The only other driver that did that reliably was the 186.82's, which were good drivers but getting a bit old.

Will try game performance tomorrow, but excited just with the downclocking issue fixed! I'm finally not stuck at full 3D clocks constantly! woohooo!

 

Have you double checked the Nvidia Control Panel ''Adjust desktop colour settings'' to make sure that is all ok?

 

Hey i need help andros i cant overclock my 7805u to your settings each time i try it fails. Help me out here

 

Not all GPUs are created equal.

 

Nice, glad they worked fine for you too. I had to post about these drivers because they are a gem

 

Are you using Ntune to overclock or other software. I personally use a modded Bios to overclock but that might not be the best option for you right now. Let me know what you are using to OC and I might be able to help you.

 

Not quite.

The GPU should only run at full speed all the time if both the laptop LCD and an external screen are being used (or two external monitors simultaneously). It downclocks for me when only my external monitor is showing the desktop, even at 1920x1200.

 

Is your monitor connected via HDMI or VGA? or same result?

 

It's ok, but I had to use the NVIDIA's brightness setting to get it to my preference instead of the FN+F8/F9 buttons. No biggie though

 

Press Windows Key + X for mobility center. There should be a brightness slider.

 

Doesn't matter, it's the same with both HDMI and VGA. My GPU usually downclocks to 'throttle' clocks with Aero on at 1920x1200, or all the way down to 2d clocks with Aero off.

 

Throwing in my extreme nod of approval for the 197.25 drivers. Just tried overclocking my 260M and got 12,050 in 3DMark06 - which is more than I got with any other drivers. The brightness control works, so does downclocking (on an external monitor as well). Played Bioshock 2 maxed out without the overclock and it was smooth as butter for the 30 minutes that I played. Will try playing with the overclock tomorrow.

 

Andros Im using a modded bios but the display crashes sometimes. Ive undervolted which seems to be working im using the bios that you posted but when i try to overclock to ur settings 720/915/1850 the game artifacts and the display crashes and goes back to the orig settings

 

Most of the 19X.XX series drive cause CTD's with Bad Company 2, just an FYI

 

Did this still happen before the recent BFBC2 update?

 

Yeah I think it was the update, R8 server side.

 

Okay, I have done some tests, and I have my thoughts to share on the 'smoothness' of these drivers.

First point: Just to get it all out of the way. The games that work, do work nicely.

Second and important point: Hybrid SLi is a mess. Not to mention, quite a few games are acting glitchy, showing the same inherent flaws found in the 195.xx series. My point would be highlighted best by directing attention to the Resident Evil 5 benchmark. Refer to area 4 and see how SLi performance drops. There is no way to fix this problem, regardless of numerous SLi updates and tweaks via nhancer. I can also say that while PowerMizer does work, quite a few times, my second GPU does not always downclock regardless of whether I set the performance state to adaptive or maximum. So it is safe for me to say that these drivers--197.15/16/25--still have some of those issues found in the earlier 195 drivers, which isn't good for everyone.

On the whole, for SLi users--especially those using M17x-R1--186.82 is still the most practical and stable choice coupled with the SLi updates and Windows Vista 64 as primary OS.

 

Here, I made this one just for you
http://senduit.com/6e4fae
You won't need to use any software to overclock once you update to this Bios, the clocks will automatically rise to 720/915/1825 while gaming, make sure your Laptop is properly cooled and enjoy.

 

hi guys, using sager 8690 and just upgraded to forceware 197.25 from 195.62 sucessfully, same problem for me too, the brightness control does not seem to work.

any suggestion for the problem?

 

Nope, it's a known problem in the 19x.xx series drivers but seemingly some users are reporting that brightness control works. But I have yet to see that happen in any of the 19x.xx I tried.

 

So there's a brightness slider, but it doesn't work, or there isn't a brightness slider?

Maybe have a look in the registry for backlight control policy.