Monday, April 9th 2012

NVIDIA Releases the GeForce 301.24 Beta Driver

NVIDIA has today made available a new graphics drive, the beta-tagged GeForce 301.24 which includes support for the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 Series cards, as well as for the GeForce GTX 680.

Download: Windows 7/Vista (32-bit) | Windows 7/Vista (64-bit) | Windows XP (32-bit) | Windows XP (64-bit)

GeForce 301.24 beta highlights


- New GPU Support - Adds support for the new GeForce GTX 680, the fastest, most efficient GPU ever built.

- Performance Boost - Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. GeForce 296.10 WHQL-certified drivers. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 570/580:

● Up to 23% in Just Cause 2 with SLI
● Up to 21% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
● Up to 17% in StarCraft II with SLI
● Up to 14% in Far Cry 2 with SLI
● Up to 9% in Bulletstorm
● Up to 7% in Civilization V
● Up to 6% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution with SLI
● Up to 6% in Dragon Age 2 with SLI
● Up to 5% in Metro 2033 with SLI
● Up to 5% in Total War: Shogun 2

GeForce GTX 560/560 Ti:

● Up to 20% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
● Up to 15% in Just Cause 2 with SLI
● Up to 13% in Far Cry 2 with SLI
● Up to 12% in Bulletstorm
● Up to 11% in Civilization V
● Up to 10% in StarCraft II with SLI
● Up to 9% in Batman: Arkham City
● Up to 4% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution with SLI
● Up to 4% in Dragon Age 2 with SLI
● Up to 4% in Metro 2033 with SLI
● Up to 4% in Total War: Shogun 2

- NVIDIA FXAA Technology - shader-based anti-aliasing technology available from the NVIDIA Control Panel that enables ultra-fast anti-aliasing in hundreds of PC games. FXAA delivers similar quality to 4x multi-sample antialiasing (MSAA) but is up to 60% faster, enabling substantially higher performance in games. FXAA is supported on all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs. Note: This feature is disabled for games that already have built-in support for FXAA.

- NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync - dynamically enables vertical sync based on your current frame rates for the smoothest gaming experience. Adaptive VSync is supported on all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.

- NVIDIA Frame Rate Target - dynamically adjusts frame rate to a user specified target. Support for this feature is enabled via third party applications via NVAPI.

- NVIDIA Surround Technology - Adds the following new Surround capabilities.

● Add in a fourth accessory display to get access to your email, web, or other applications while you game.
● Maximize an application to a single physical display when in Surround mode (enabled by default).
● Confine the Windows Taskbar to the center display (enabled by default).
● Enable bezel peeking - a feature which enables users to temporarily 'peak' behind the monitor bezels using a hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + B). This feature is designed to be used in conjunction with bezel corrected resolutions.
● Add or remove resolutions from the list of Surround resolutions (only those selected will be available to applications).
● Full center display acceleration for single wide display modes (center display must be connected to the master GPU).

- NVIDIA SLI Technology - Adds or updates the following SLI profiles:

● Alan Wake
● Call of Juarez: The Cartel
● Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
● Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link
● Left 4 Dead
● Orcs Must Die!
● Portal 2
● Risen 2: Dark Waters
● The Darkness II

- NVIDIA 3D Vision - Adds or updates the following 3D Vision profiles:

● All Zombies Must Die! - rated Fair
● Ghosts 'n Goblins Online - rated Good
● Oil Rush - rated 3D Vision Ready
● Postal III - rated Good
● Rayman Origins - rated Good
● SevenCore - rated Fair
● Stacking - rated Good
● Unigine Heaven Benchmark v3.0 - rated 3D Vision Ready
● Wargame: European Escalation - rated Good
● Warp - rated Good
● Wings of Prey - rated Fair
● Krater - rated Poor

Other Details

● Installs PhysX System Software v9.12.0213.
● Installs HD Audio v1.3.12.0.
● Supports OpenGL 4.2
● Supports DisplayPort 1.2 for GeForce GTX 680.
● Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.
● Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel and AMD motherboards.
Add your own comment

40 Comments on NVIDIA Releases the GeForce 301.24 Beta Driver

#26
Protagonist
I have just tried them, and wow nice improvement now to wait for the windows certified, ill keep using the beta version til it comes out. I tried them on ridge racer unbounded massive improvement considering i had a fluid game play at maxed out settings before installing this drivers, the drivers make it even more seamless, Not that it was already seamless before the drivers but i have noticed a change, which makes the drivers good,...
Posted on Reply
#27
Covert_Death
i'm having some pretty big issues with this update

running SLI GTX 460's

during the install my screen goes black and won't come back on. after waiting 15 minutes or so i shutdown the pc (still no screen) and when i boot back up it is stuck on the windows boot screen, the PC continues to boot but the graphics never get past the boot logo.

forcing a boot into safe mode i can uninstall drivers but i have yet to get these to install properly yet.

ill keep everyone updated.
Posted on Reply
#28
Prima.Vera
So how is the FXAA? Anyone test it yet? I am more interested in quality than performance. Is the image a little blurred like MLAA?
Posted on Reply
#29
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Report this issue to Nvidia, but id suggest goin back to the previous driver
Covert_Deathi'm having some pretty big issues with this update

running SLI GTX 460's

during the install my screen goes black and won't come back on. after waiting 15 minutes or so i shutdown the pc (still no screen) and when i boot back up it is stuck on the windows boot screen, the PC continues to boot but the graphics never get past the boot logo.

forcing a boot into safe mode i can uninstall drivers but i have yet to get these to install properly yet.

ill keep everyone updated.
Posted on Reply
#30
Covert_Death
eidairaman1Report this issue to Nvidia, but id suggest goin back to the previous driver
i think i finally got it to install, overall performance seems better in games.

only issue now is aero wont work in windows for some reason...
Posted on Reply
#31
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Covert_Deathi think i finally got it to install, overall performance seems better in games.

only issue now is aero wont work in windows for some reason...
id honestly report all these troubles and plus id recommend a system restore n wait till the drivers go full release
Posted on Reply
#32
Covert_Death
eidairaman1id honestly report all these troubles and plus id recommend a system restore n wait till the drivers go full release
already typing up a ticket :)

they call em beta for a reason, just gotta test em :P
Posted on Reply
#33
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Covert_Deathalready typing up a ticket :)

they call em beta for a reason, just gotta test em :P
Well i know beta n so forth but i prefer stability. If it blanks screens, prevents certain things from running, or bsods/locks up despite seeing performance gains its junk
Posted on Reply
#34
Badelhas
Anyone tried FXAA yet with older cards? I have 2 gtx570 on SLI and would like to know if this driver is worth it.
I´m still using the 285 one because the last 2 drivers broke my 3D in movies (only games worked in 3D Vision). Anyone else had this issue?

Cheers
Posted on Reply
#35
Covert_Death
okay so i have a better idea of whats going on now, my computer is booting in a system wide compatibility mode... anyone know how to disable this? that would explain not having aero
Posted on Reply
#36
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Covert_Deathokay so i have a better idea of whats going on now, my computer is booting in a system wide compatibility mode... anyone know how to disable this? that would explain not having aero
First, have you tried re-running the Windows performance test thing under system properties? I've seen a few instances where updating video drivers would cause that to freak out and lock out Aero. Re-running it with functional drivers fixes it usually.

If that doesn't work I'd try the latest driver sweeper(3.2.0) and wipe anything nVidia, including PhysX. Then try installing 301.24 fresh.
Posted on Reply
#37
Covert_Death
yea i've tried both of those, what makes me believe its a system wide compatibility issue is that an error message popped up saying "steam may not run properly in compatibility mode" so i right clicked on it, compatibility tab, and sure enough compatibility was checked BUT it was greyed out so i couldn't UNcheck it.... this holds true for EVERY program on my desktop. anyone know how to get rid of this? im back on WHQL drivers now and its still like this
Posted on Reply
#38
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
you very well may have to bite the bullet and start fresh
Posted on Reply
#39
EnergyFX
OMG the surround features!!! FINALLY! I had given up hope on getting any decent desktop features for a surround setup. THANK YOU NVIDIA!

Can't wait to hook up my extra display for monitoring features now!
Posted on Reply
#40
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Covert_Deathyea i've tried both of those, what makes me believe its a system wide compatibility issue is that an error message popped up saying "steam may not run properly in compatibility mode" so i right clicked on it, compatibility tab, and sure enough compatibility was checked BUT it was greyed out so i couldn't UNcheck it.... this holds true for EVERY program on my desktop. anyone know how to get rid of this? im back on WHQL drivers now and its still like this
There should be a box at the bottom that says "Change settings for all users", I bet if you go in there it will let you turn it off. Seems to be a rare issue with Windows doing this.
Posted on Reply
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