Best nVidia drivers for Vista 64?

[Spike]

Just curious what are the best drivers right now for the best stability while gaming in vista 64 using a 8800GTS 512? I see the 174.74 beta's available, are they worth it over the 169.25 WHQL drivers?

And is there a version of ntune that works yet? I'm tired of accidentally hitting properties in ntune and causing my system to blue screen and do a memory dump.

Thanks!

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

umm...can you even install drivers that arent WHQL in 64-bit?

 

[videopho]

174.74 is best yet for Vista 64.
The answer to installing unsigned 64 driver is yes you can because I knew I did and many of us here have too.

 

[flexy]

i agree. 174.74

 

[Stumps]

ummm none really, but with that said the current 174,74 seem to work ok...problem is Nvidia and vista x64 just don't seem to mix well....drivers are the main reason I'm using an ATI/intel setup with my C2Q...I wouldn't mind upgrading to a 780i or 790i and GF 9 series setup if it would work correctly in Vista x64, but in my line of work (I hate my job by the way, it's freaking boring) building high end systems, driver are the one thing that hold Nvidia based setups back...and the strange bug which affects 780i based rigs with 4gb of ram with vista x64.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: flexy
i agree. 174.74

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: Stumps
and the strange bug which affects 780i based rigs with 4gb of ram with vista x64.

Anyone that can't find the hotfix for this bug or simply install SP1 to fix the problem shouldn't be building computers.

 

[Brian48]

Not sure if it's the best, but I haven't had any major issues with 174.74 under Vista 64. 169.44 was pretty good too for that matter as well.

 

[JustaGeek]

I have not had any problems with 169.25 WHQL driver.

Currently am waiting for the 174 series WHQL driver. Apparently it improves the Crysis frame rates.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
umm...can you even install drivers that arent WHQL in 64-bit?

why not? there isn't anything magically different about 64bit vista... WHQL works exactly the same as 32bit...

Also... 174 is better... the WHQL stamp is meaningless really. Just a microsoft racketeering scheme.

 

[CP5670]

I think non-WHQL is okay, but there is supposed to be some silly limitation in Vista 64 where you can't install unsigned drivers.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I too have been using 169.25. I had problems with the 174 series drivers and Neverwinter Nights 2. Heck I still have problems with 169.25, but it is not NEARLY as bad as with the 174 series drivers.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
umm...can you even install drivers that arent WHQL in 64-bit?

You're thinking of signed drivers, not WHQL. Totally different things.

 

[Spike]

Thanks for all the answers. I just saw the 174.85, would you guys recomend these over the 174.74? And any idea on ntune? all I can find is the version from before that I have which causes vista 64 to crash hardcore.

Thanks again!

 

[surfsatwerk]

Don't install Ntune.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: surfsatwerk
Don't install Ntune.

Can you uninstall it once it's installed?

EDIT just uninstalled it, now onto the new drivers.

 

[videopho]

174.74 is the best yet for beta driver, period.
Crysis, COD4, FSx etc. Working solid as a rock.
Rest my case!!!

 

[Spike]

Installed them (174.74) this morning before heading off to work. I'll do some testing tonight so see how they perform.

Thanks all for the info!