Nvidia GeForce 181.20 WHQL released!!

dajife

NVIDIA just issued their all new WHQL GeForce driver.
Exciting New Features:

Added support for GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285
Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with all SLI-certified GPUs
Enables NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Now you can easily switch between multi-monitor desktop mode and full screen 3D gaming mode. Learn more here.
Enables NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. (Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. This driver package automatically installs PhysX System Software version 8.10.13).
Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #2. Download these free PhysX and CUDA applications now!
Added support for the new NVIDIA CUDA Video Encoder with H.264 optimization

Blazing Fast Performance: Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 181 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):

Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin's Creed
Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

Download:

GeForce ForceWare 181.20 XP 64-bit WHQL

GeForce ForceWare 181.20 XP 32-bit WHQL

GeForce ForceWare 181.20 Vista 32-bit WHQL

GeForce ForceWare 181.20 Vista 64-bit WHQL

The Monkey Frog · 01-08-2009, 05:40 | posts: 36 | Location: Australia | User is Offline

Yay, am i right when i say these will have openGl 3.0 support?

Black_ice_Spain · 01-08-2009, 05:40 | posts: 1,305 | User is Offline

any vista user can test if AO is included too¿? xP

and... wtf its with numbers? :S

Jonny Manc · 01-08-2009, 05:41 | posts: 2,235 | Location: Cumbria, UK | User is Offline

Cheers for that...at least there was no 3 month wait for another set of WHQL's....

alphaphotek · 01-08-2009, 05:41 | posts: 579 | Location: PA/USSR | User is Offline

Anybody want to confirm if these drivers have AO?

bala_gamer · 01-08-2009, 05:53 | posts: 69 | Location: India | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphaphotek

Anybody want to confirm if these drivers have AO?

What is AO?

dajife · 01-08-2009, 05:54 | posts: 49 | User is Offline

ambient occlusion

bala_gamer · 01-08-2009, 06:00 | posts: 69 | Location: India | User is Offline

Why is Nvidia going back to 181 series driver again? The have already released the 185 series beta drivers and they are performing well too!! Any details regarding wddm 1.1 and windows 7 performance?

BaneComes · 01-08-2009, 06:06 | posts: 322 | Location: Earth | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphaphotek

Anybody want to confirm if these drivers have AO?

not in vista 32 bit anyway

morfeus02 · 01-08-2009, 06:13 | posts: 1,461 | Location: Italy | User is Offline

O.O

* Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 181 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
o Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
o Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin's Creed
o Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
o Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
o Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
o Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
o Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
o Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
o Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
o Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

Anarion · 01-08-2009, 06:20 | posts: 4,215 | Location: Helsinki, Finland | User is Offline

Quote:

Added support for the new NVIDIA CUDA Video Encoder with H.264 optimization

Just wondering how to make use of it.

UnrealGaming · 01-08-2009, 06:20 | posts: 1,202 | Location: Serbia | User is Online

Quote:

Originally Posted by morfeus02

O.O

* Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 181 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
o Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
o Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin's Creed
o Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
o Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
o Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
o Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
o Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
o Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
o Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
o Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

Same as 180.48 vs 178xx ...

bala_gamer · 01-08-2009, 06:23 | posts: 69 | Location: India | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by bala_gamer

Why is Nvidia going back to 181 series driver again? The have already released the 185 series beta drivers and they are performing well too!! Any details regarding wddm 1.1 and windows 7 performance?

Any idea about the above thing?

Vichello · 01-08-2009, 06:33 | posts: 56 | Location: Belgium | User is Offline

Great, gonna try these tonight ...
The 185.20 wernt so great for GTA4 for me

sheira · *Last edited by sheira; 01-08-2009 at 06:43.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by bala_gamer

Why is Nvidia going back to 181 series driver again? The have already released the 185 series beta drivers and they are performing well too!! Any details regarding wddm 1.1 and windows 7 performance?

They were never realeased officialy, but leaked as far i know.

S.E.D.L. · 01-08-2009, 06:42 | posts: 5 | Location: Denmark | User is Offline

185.20 was Quadro drivers as far as I know..
So 181.xxx is for us "normal" users ;-)

thug_angel · 01-08-2009, 06:53 | posts: 53 | Location: Karachi | User is Offline

Even if it doesn't improve performance for gta iv I hope it does something to saints row 2..

Nightcover · 01-08-2009, 07:08 | posts: 39 | Location: Denmark | User is Offline

Hope this doesn't have dual-screen issues like the 185 beta driver had.

sheira · 01-08-2009, 07:11 | posts: 108 | Location: EU | User is Offline

I'am not sure, but GTA4 looks better with these. Not sure if it is dynamic shadows or something else. My framerate is still quite low though, maybe improved by 4-5 fps.

Vichello · 01-08-2009, 07:22 | posts: 56 | Location: Belgium | User is Offline

Im having a small bug, when i right click on desktop it shows 'nVidia Control Panel' twice xD

°L° · 01-08-2009, 07:25 | posts: 56 | User is Offline

Hey yop!
Install it after the 185.20.
No AO now and view HDCP status missing.
I ve not test it for the moment.

Burnt_Ram

excellent! can't wait to try these. the 185's where decent ...

°L° · 01-08-2009, 07:41 | posts: 56 | User is Offline

Well done,
i ve do 2 tests:
Cryostasis: run but with some graphics errors in the screen (never seen that with the others forcewares)

Crysis: run better than the others forcewares(no problems)

UnrealGaming · 01-08-2009, 08:24 | posts: 1,202 | Location: Serbia | User is Online

Great driver !!! GTA 4 , textures do look a little sharper ( performance pretty good as with 185.20 ( settings 1440x900 all maxed, view distance 25) ) , but COD 4 is WOOW ... much sharper and better looking textures and light/shadow effects ( tested multiplayer only. performance great as with 185.20 ).
CoD 5, same improvement ( performance great as with 185.20 ).
The Witcher EE , performance improvements in some areas, also looks noticeably sharper as do above mentioned games.

noiradle · 01-08-2009, 08:25 | posts: 17 | User is Offline

farcry 2, identical benchmark/nvcpanel settings. (xp sp3, 4x aa, ultra high, vsync)

edit: crysis, farcry 2 and left 4 dead running smoothly from what i can tell. no big differences or improvements in general though. left 4 dead's 18x.xx stuttering issue continues.

181.00
* Average Framerate: 42.04
* Max. Framerate: 63.85
* Min. Framerate: 33.09

181.20 WHQL
* Average Framerate: 42.00
* Max. Framerate: 63.35
* Min. Framerate: 32.78

sorry i didn't have the latest non-whql drivers to test this against. had bsod problems with those.