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

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by andros_forever, Mar 27, 2010.

  1. andros_forever

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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    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 :D
     
  2. LaptopNut

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    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!
     
  3. xxERIKxx

    xxERIKxx Notebook Deity

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

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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    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.
     
  5. LaptopNut

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    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.
     
  6. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    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.
     
  8. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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    Moving to 197.25 gave me a one point decrease in my Unigine 1.0 score. Well, let's see how it likes games.
     
  9. rot112

    rot112 El Rompe ToTo

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

    Kfactor Notebook Consultant

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    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.
     
  11. Thisisalamp

    Thisisalamp Notebook Deity

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

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    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.
     
  13. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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    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.
     
  14. andros_forever

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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    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 :)
     
  15. Thisisalamp

    Thisisalamp Notebook Deity

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

    Deks Notebook Prophet

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    It would be nice to know from where one could download these drivers, because Nvidia website doesn't have them ... nor does Laptopvideo2go
     
  17. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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  18. Kevin

    Kevin Egregious

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

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    ^via HDMI, because AFAIK VGA out is fine.
     
  20. AirSinner

    AirSinner Notebook Evangelist

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

    LaZZer Notebook Guru

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    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.
     
  22. Kevin

    Kevin Egregious

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    Yes, I should have specified.
     
  23. AirSinner

    AirSinner Notebook Evangelist

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    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?
     
  24. LaptopNut

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    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.
     
  25. naticus

    naticus Notebook Deity

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    These any good? Sager owners?
     
  26. Kfactor

    Kfactor Notebook Consultant

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    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.
     
  27. Magnus72

    Magnus72 Notebook Virtuoso

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    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.
     
  28. Gray Wolf

    Gray Wolf Notebook Consultant

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    thanks for the info :D new to all this so wasn't sure how to go about installing the driver :eek:
     
  29. dttran83

    dttran83 Notebook Deity

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    the modded inf file doesn't work.
     
  30. be77solo

    be77solo pc's and planes

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    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!
     
  31. LaptopNut

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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

    Fkabbz Newbie

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    Hey i need help andros i cant overclock my 7805u to your settings each time i try it fails. Help me out here :mad:
     
  33. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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    Not all GPUs are created equal.
     
  34. andros_forever

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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    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.
     
  36. jenesuispasbavard

    jenesuispasbavard Notebook Evangelist

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    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.
     
  37. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Is your monitor connected via HDMI or VGA? or same result?
     
  38. Thisisalamp

    Thisisalamp Notebook Deity

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    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 :p
     
  39. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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

    jenesuispasbavard Notebook Evangelist

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    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.
     
  41. amik777

    amik777 Notebook Geek

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    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.
     
  42. Fkabbz

    Fkabbz Newbie

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    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
     
  43. naticus

    naticus Notebook Deity

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

    LaptopNut Notebook Virtuoso

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    Did this still happen before the recent BFBC2 update?
     
  45. naticus

    naticus Notebook Deity

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

    Kade Storm The Devil's Advocate

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    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.
     
  47. andros_forever

    andros_forever Notebook Deity

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    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.
     
  48. genocidew

    genocidew Notebook Evangelist

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    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?
     
  49. Thisisalamp

    Thisisalamp Notebook Deity

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    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.
     
  50. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    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.
     
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