Nvidia ForceWare 171.31 Released - Vista / XP (x86 and x64)

[Jon]

Nvidia has a tendency recently to keep popping out drivers like no other.  This is their third release within a 7 day period.  Be sure to bookmark the bottom link, as it's a direct link to an official Nvidia's driver page from one of their servers.

Some are reporting slightly better results with 174.12 instead, but the majority of people are reporting that many common black screen and BSOD errors have been fixed.




XP x86 (including modded .inf):
http://www.koehling.eu/forceware/nvidia_forceware_174.31_xp_x86.exe

XP x64 (including modded .inf):
http://www.koehling.eu/forceware/nvidia_forceware_174.31_xp_x64.exe

Vista x86 (including modded .inf):
http://www.koehling.eu/forceware/nvidia_forceware_174.31_vista_x86.exe

Vista x64 (including modded .inf):
http://www.koehling.eu/forceware/nvidia_forceware_174.31_vista_x64.exe

Nvidia's Driver Page:
http://74.50.4.243/nvidia/170series/

[aznstriker92]

Nvidias driver versions confuse me. Why can't they have it simple like ATIs.

[Muckpen]

What does it all mean Basil!?! HEH    A few more fixes to be sure.

[Jon]

These aren't confusing at all to say the least.  In fact, 90% of Nvidia's driver revisions are released in sequential numerical order - and then there are some, that I admit, aren't, and confuse the hell out of everyone.  But the point is, they are working very hard at giving the consumer a "satisfaction guarantee" in a sense by consistently pushing out new fixes and enhancements - in my opinion (yes I know you guys all bash them), I call this a new move for loyal support from their broad fanbase, consumer base, and OEM base.

As for these 174.31 drivers, I've found that they perform right on track with 174.20 but they fix address almost all BSOD and black screen issues - Call of Duty 4 runs perfectly smooth, Crysis still has a few hitches but it's consistently getting better, and Unreal Tournament 3 runs like a dream.  Nuff said.

[aznstriker92]

These aren't confusing at all to say the least.  In fact, 90% of Nvidia's driver revisions are released in sequential numerical order - and then there are some, that I admit, aren't, and confuse the hell out of everyone.  But the point is, they are working very hard at giving the consumer a "satisfaction guarantee" in a sense by consistently pushing out new fixes and enhancements - in my opinion (yes I know you guys all bash them), I call this a new move for loyal support from their broad fanbase, consumer base, and OEM base.

As for these 174.31 drivers, I've found that they perform right on track with 174.20 but they fix address almost all BSOD and black screen issues - Call of Duty 4 runs perfectly smooth, Crysis still has a few hitches but it's consistently getting better, and Unreal Tournament 3 runs like a dream.  Nuff said.

Well in that case, I can't wait and see what Catalyst 8.3 brings me.

[Flanno]

I'd like to know if nvidia are so dedicated at giving a "satisfaction guarantee" to their customer why they don't bother putting official whql drivers on their site.  I just checked and the  last official forceware release  was 169.25 on the 20th December last year for Vista. Since then, we have been relying on Beta leaks from guru3d and other sites.  I think Nvidia suck with driver support, and ATI are far superior.  I believe that is the general consensus too. Almost every forum I look on people complain about nvidias support and praise ATI for their monthly updates.  I for one may be ditching my GTX and giving the X2 a serious looks once the new Catalyst drivers are officially released.  The new 9 series does not impress at all, and just sounds like a reworked G92.

[Jon]

I'd like to know if nvidia are so dedicated at giving a "satisfaction guarantee" to their customer why they don't bother putting official whql drivers on their site.  I just checked and the  last official forceware release  was 169.25 on the 20th December last year for Vista. Since then, we have been relying on Beta leaks from guru3d and other sites.  I think Nvidia suck with driver support, and ATI are far superior.  I believe that is the general consensus too. Almost every forum I look on people complain about nvidias support and praise ATI for their monthly updates.  I for one may be ditching my GTX and giving the X2 a serious looks once the new Catalyst drivers are officially released.  The new 9 series does not impress at all, and just sounds like a reworked G92.

That's because the 9 series is a reworked G92.  We've already had several discussions on this in these forums and many others.  You won't be seeing Nvidia's true commitment to hardware innovation until around September or so with the "GT200" architecture, but as for now you can notice that we've all been relying on beta driver leaks (software support) as you said - that's because there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ForceWare 169.25 drivers that were released in December.  The consistency of WHQL drivers has come to a slow down because Nvidia wants to thoroughly refine their official driver releases so they don't have to release them as often - this is much more convenient to the average consumer who doesn't want to spend his or her time constantly updating to new WHQL releases.