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Posted by Brandon Sandman Bell on Wednesday November 19, 2008 - 09:16 AM

(Post a comment)

» NVIDIA posts WHQL-certified Big Bang II driver

Today NVIDIA officially pulled the wraps off their so-called "Big Bang II" graphics driver. The new drivers contain numerous performance improvements as well as the ability to run SLI with two monitors (previously you had to disable SLI in the driver control panel to enable this functionality). Here's the complete list of what's new from NVIDIA:

Exciting New Features:

  • Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX.
  • 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).

    Blazing Fast Performance:

  • Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 180 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

    And More:

  • Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
  • Supports CUDA.
  • Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.
  • Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
  • Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.
  • Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

    The new drivers support all GeForce GTX 200 series, GeForce 9, and GeForce 8800 series GPUs.

    Download Links:
    Windows XP
    Windows XP x64
    Windows Vista x86
    Windows Vista x64

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    7 User Comment(s) • 2 root comment(s)
    Click to view Grayskull's User Page Grayskull (10)  Talk to Grayskull in the Shout! Box Nov 20, 2008 - 11:58 am | Edited on Nov 20, 2008 - 12:04 pm
    » Still buggy ???
    i tried these drivers yesturday morning, and i'm back to running vers 178.24.

    In WoW, i had a rather long video freeze, then a complete system lock, only way to get out of it, was to hit the reset but-ton. after the reboot, i went back into WoW, and BSOD with the " a fatal error has occured, and to prevent damage, you system was shut down " error msg, the only thing that changed was the vid card drivers, went back to 178.24, comp has been solid since .

    any one else have any issues?? i'm running dual 8800 GTs on an Asus A8N-Sli Premium board with an FX 60 and 2 gigs of KVR

    » Login to reply to this
    Click to view Jinxter78's User Page Jinxter78 (1)  Talk to Jinxter78 in the Shout! Box Nov 20, 2008 - 12:14 pm
    » I´m back to 178.24 too
    I also have a 8800GT. Started to get graphic errors on the desktop in WinXP and occasional lockups. Also, the fan spins faster/louder when idling.

    » Login to reply to this



    Click to view soydeedo's User Page soydeedo (160)  Click to view soydeedo's User Profile Talk to soydeedo in the Shout! Box Nov 19, 2008 - 02:46 pm
    Those are some hefty and compelling performance improvements.

    » Login to reply to this
    Click to view Yoshi's User Page Yoshi (2319)  Click to view Yoshi's User Profile Talk to Yoshi in the Shout! Box Nov 19, 2008 - 09:27 pm
    Something tells me that preformance tests are needed along with image quality tests as well. Remember the Quack/Quake driver tests? I think they might be needed again.

    If image quality isn't lost then way to go NVIDIA.

    » Login to reply to this
    Click to view Kerrick's User Page Kerrick (217)  Talk to Kerrick in the Shout! Box Nov 20, 2008 - 06:07 am
    I remember the quack/quake issue. Too bad that was ATI!

    I'm just glad they finally got dual monitor support in sli! Now I can spring for that other 8800gt!

    » Login to reply to this
     Anonymous (-) Nov 28, 2008 - 04:02 pm
    » brilinear
    @bkslopper

    Actually, ATI was doing the same thing with their filtering but they would detect a colored mipmap (the testing method typically used to determine filtering quality) and render with better filtering. So everyone thought ATI had better filtering when really they were doing the same "brilinear" cheating as nVidia.

    » Login to reply to this


    Click to view bkslopper's User Page bkslopper (47)  Talk to bkslopper in the Shout! Box Nov 21, 2008 - 05:52 pm
    Nvidia was pretty bad when it came to image quality in the Geforce FX days. Anyone who has seen "brilinear" filtering will know what I'm talking about. I had a 5700, and the trilinear filtering was atrocious. I'm not exactly an ATI fanboy, since all my cards have been Nvidia minus the 9800 pro. (Great card in its heyday, BTW).

    » Login to reply to this





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