NVIDIA Releases GeForce 185.68 BETA Drivers

[alexp999]

Less than a week since they released the 185.66 BETA drivers (which in themselves superceeded the 182.50 WHQL and 185.65 BETA drivers in the space of 24 hours), NVIDIA has released yet another GeForce BETA Driver of version number 185.68. From these latest BETA releases, it seems NVIDIA has dropped support for the 8-Series graphics cards which as of now are only supported using the 182.50 WHQL driver. With the recent release of so many driver revisions from NVIDIA, it could be their answer to what EVGA were trying to do with their SLI Enhancement Patches, to keep up to date with the latest releases. This driver supports GeForce 9-series, 100-series, and 200-series desktop GPUs, the only documented change in this version over the 185.66 BETA drivers is:

• Optimized performance for the PC game The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

DOWNLOAD: GeForce 185.68 BETA for Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows Vista 32-bit | Windows Vista 64-bit

[alexp999]

Thanks to Live OR Die for sending this in.

At the time of writing the article, the Vista x64 page seems to be down. However the International version is working, which can be found here

[3870x2]

how about releasing drivers that actually have compatibility for multiple monitors? or maybe something to replace the current nightmare they like to call nvidia control panel. Has there been an update to the nvidia control panel since 2002?
hate to say it, I would rather use CCC for my 9800GX2.

[alexp999]

I love the NVIDIA control panel personally. Dont change what aint broke

[3870x2]

It is probably just my 9800GX2, but I doubt it is my ignorance. We'll see.
Here's what I go through:

A. I hook up my 24" LCD to DVI 1
B. I hook up my 42" LCD to HDMI
C. I try to "Attach" monitor. Then press apply. Nothing happens, although no errors were given, it went through as if it worked, but nothing changed, and it remains unattached.
D. So, I disable SLI.
E. It lets me attach monitor now, but only if I set the secondary monitor primary.
F. While SLI says it is disabled, it is still in SLI mode as if nothing changed.
G. Now, I want to set the primary back to my main, it wont let me. So now, I have to unhook the HDMI and restart my computer.

This is only 1 example of all the problems I have with it. Sometimes it doesn't let me set my resolution to 1920x1080, and when I try to set a custom resolution, It sets it for my 24", not for my 42", then although it says it works, it doesn't show up in the list.

Everything is so messed up, the only thing that works is the 3d settings, and it works beautifully like a charm.

I love my 9800GX2, with recent and new driver updates, it is still the best 3 or 4 cards in the market(talk about a good investment) but I'm about to downgrade to a 4870 or 4890 for better compatibility and a control center that works.


Just a question, by installing those drivers, it updates the control center also right? just making sure...

[alexp999]

I love the fact you can customise 3d settings on a per app basis, its what made my switch to NVIDIA from my 3870.

I dont get what you are trying to achieve tho doing all the unplugging/plugging etc.

[richardbel]

so if you put nvidia card in... just let is it set on default?

[3870x2]

Lol, I'm achieving a picture on my LCD?¿? On a serious note, I never said anything about unplugging anything. The reason for that is to satisfy any comments on "how are the monitors hooked up" I could have been using a splitter, a KVM, 2 DVI slots, 1 DVI 1 HDMI, etc....
Just trying to find a resolution to my problem, maybe its a known issue with the 9800GX2. I know when it first came out there were problems with SLI enabled dual monitor support, but someone had told me they fixed it. I just think that the 9800GX2 is a fail with dual monitor, so I should give the control panel another try.


EDIT: Oh, I see what you mean, "attached" and "unattached" are options in the windows display options when using dual display and managing their resolutions. "attached" means you will be using that monitor. Leaving it unattached means that it is recognized as being physically there, but not attached. You must "attach" a monitor to use it.

If you have anything to point out, maybe something I'm doing wrong, please elaborate.

[alexp999]

Okay, so basically you want multi monitor support on your 9800GX2 but it doesnt seem to be working properly?

I all 18x.xx drivers support Multi monitor SLI, however that is probably mostly for dual card setups, Im not entierly sure whether they have full support for dual GPu cards. I'll do a bit of digging and see what I can come up with.

Have you contacted NVIDIA in the matter?

[Studabaker]

Decided to try flashing my 9800GTX+ to a GTS250 again last night, and downloaded these drivers for it. I got a TEN FPS average increase in FurMark. Very nice, doesn't help for COD4 though, but it didn't crash while playing like it did before, so, win? Not sure yet...

[Mistral]

Originally Posted by alexp999

...it seems NVIDIA has dropped support for the 8-Series graphics...

LOL wut? If they do that they might as well drop support for the 9-Series and anything else below the 260 too.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

It is probably just my 9800GX2, but I doubt it is my ignorance. We'll see.
Here's what I go through:

A. I hook up my 24" LCD to DVI 1
B. I hook up my 42" LCD to HDMI
C. I try to "Attach" monitor. Then press apply. Nothing happens, although no errors were given, it went through as if it worked, but nothing changed, and it remains unattached.
D. So, I disable SLI.
E. It lets me attach monitor now, but only if I set the secondary monitor primary.
F. While SLI says it is disabled, it is still in SLI mode as if nothing changed.
G. Now, I want to set the primary back to my main, it wont let me. So now, I have to unhook the HDMI and restart my computer.

This is only 1 example of all the problems I have with it. Sometimes it doesn't let me set my resolution to 1920x1080, and when I try to set a custom resolution, It sets it for my 24", not for my 42", then although it says it works, it doesn't show up in the list.

Everything is so messed up, the only thing that works is the 3d settings, and it works beautifully like a charm.

I love my 9800GX2, with recent and new driver updates, it is still the best 3 or 4 cards in the market(talk about a good investment) but I'm about to downgrade to a 4870 or 4890 for better compatibility and a control center that works.


Just a question, by installing those drivers, it updates the control center also right? just making sure...

If you look at the recent benchmarks here for the 4890 and in some cases 4870 (wasn't paying attention) it's not a downgrade. Nvidia's sandwich cards are allways a disaster, anyways.

Has this driver fixed support for Half Life 2 at all? Any less artifacts and other anomalies? Ill try this one out later today. 185.65/66 had a lot of potental but was very buggy.

[alexp999]

I dont know why they have done it. It can be easily added back in afaik.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Originally Posted by Mistral

LOL wut? If they do that they might as well drop support for the 9-Series and anything else below the 260 too.

It's a beta driver. It can be easily modded just like the guys at Guru3D did for 185.66 and I'm sure will do for this.

[a_ump]

now since my 7800GTX was released like 4 years ago, do any of these new drivers actually affect it any?

[dsdsdk]

this is a BETA driver... dont complain

Wasnt control panel updated in 07?

dual monitor in sli setup requires vista afaik..

[Lumpy]

If nvidia drops driver support 8 series so soon, My next card WILL be ATI for sure.
I have no need of a new card, all games out now and near future run just fine on My 8800gtxsc.
If nvidia thinks dropping driver support will "motivate" Me to upgrade..well then their just stupid.
and yes, i know most drivers can be moded to run most cards.But is that really "support"?

[alexp999]

It might only be for the BETA they have dropped support. But it seems AMD have also dropped anything older than the HD 2xxx series in their latest drivers too.

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by alexp999

It might only be for the BETA they have dropped support. But it seems AMD have also dropped anything older than the HD 2xxx series in their latest drivers too.

Yes but arent 2xxx alot older than the 8xxx?
ATI still supports My tv tunner card and Its over 3 years old.

[alexp999]

8 series is older than the HD 2xxx series.

[dsdsdk]

november 2006 for 8800 and 2900 came half a year later.

I doubt nvidia will drop 8800 support any time soon in whql drivers. They still support 6X00 cards!

Ati dropped 2xxx last month right?

[u2konline]

no support for 8 series? thats lame

[crazy pyro]

Your 8 series card gets a general lack of performance so it doesn't matter how many driver updates they throw at it. But yeah, if they drop support for 8XXX cards they may as well drop it for 9XXX and anything below the GTX260 since they're all the same thing.

[3870x2]

Originally Posted by BababooeyHTJ

If you look at the recent benchmarks here for the 4890 and in some cases 4870 (wasn't paying attention) it's not a downgrade. Nvidia's sandwich cards are allways a disaster, anyways.

Has this driver fixed support for Half Life 2 at all? Any less artifacts and other anomalies? Ill try this one out later today. 185.65/66 had a lot of potental but was very buggy.

not a downgrade? you are right, it is a massive downgrade. Faster gameplay vastly overwhelms software driver support for multiple monitors for me.

[PVTCaboose1337]

This is so sad that they only have support for 100 and 200 series now... what a mistake. The 8 series is still quite new...