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v171.16 VISTA 32bit |


mobilenvidia

  

62 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you satisfied by the quality of this driver and can you recommend it for other users?

    • No
      6
    • Yes
      44
    • Yes, even though i noticed a few bugs.
      12


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  • whitetigerx7

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  • Anchel

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  • ffantasy

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Anthony, I'm afraid your files don't make any difference for me.

Rivatuner keeps doing the same thing even with those files in the folder you mentioned (changing Programmes by "Archivos de Programa" in the spanish Windows Vista version).

But just in case, what are those files supposed to do? Maybe there is something I needed to do as well?

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Its true- i also have an HP laptop with an 8600gs and can only overclock with the 169.04s. I noticed this wasn't the case with my friend's dell laptop as well.

I tried Anthony's files for rivatuner several times, along with ntune but neither work in applying the settings.

Apparently its a common issue but no one has resolved it yet from what i've seen.

If anyone knows how to get around this without having to flash the bios, please let us know.

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I tried OCing with this driver, and just as with all drivers after 169.04, after I press OK, the clock speeds reset to default values.

So no OCing for me, and I'm back to 169.04. This is with Rivatuver v2.06 btw.

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Is everyone using AC and not battery power when trying to overclock?

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I'm always on battery power and I've tested this with all the possible battery power settings in Vista. It just doesn't work.

When using 169.04 allows for OC and 169.28 not, then that means that we are following the right steps, but not all laptops allow for OC with all drivers. So the problem must be something else.

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After some testing, there are a few bug a BSOD in same rare case, i return to 169.25.

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It simply doesn't overclock on battery power, AC must be connected (for me at least).

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Anchel, if you have a corrupted install or mis-installed nTune then here's a solution. Re-install it, reboot, and then re-install it again. It should fix it.

As for overclocking on some cards, all cards can be overclocked to an extent if they support it well enough to work in the overclocked frequencies. Some cards will work, some won't, and the BIOS will probably determine if cards even can be overclocked because some do have "locks" on them for the clock rates of the GPU and Memory. There is no way except to attempt the overclock to determine if you even can overclock.

The best way to do this is to use the "Fine Tuning Test" to test the card's full abilities. It'll take a while but it will overclock your GPU and VRAM to it's best potential (usually 10% over the factory shipment) and adjust any system settings as well.

RivaTuner may work and it may not work because Vista changed how the profile's behaved with the system. Not only that the NvStrap driver is not Vista compliant. Compatible yes, but not compliant. This will mean that RivaTuner may or may not work.

The main issue with overclocking is two things:

1. Your motherboard and if it will even allow overclocking of a PCIE/AGP/PCI module.

2. Windows Vista and if you have any of the safety net featured active like UAC. Turn off UAC if you attempt to overclock. I will not repeat myself on this. The UAC will prevent hardware device tampering which is what overclocking is doing.

You may even be required also to adjust the voltage of the card as well to feed the power requirement of the overclcoked card. This is why I say run Fine Tuning to adjust EVERYTHING.

Lastly if you overclock BE WARNED because laptop hardware is not as REPLACEABLE as desktop video cards and such, overclocking on a laptop is NOT recommended because it will shorten the lifespan of the chipset drastically.

If you run an MXM or Modularized card and have the option of Automatic Overclocking, USE IT.

Edited by whitetigerx7
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@ Whitetigerx7. I'm running an 8400m GS and stock it's 400/400 I OC'd it to 500/500 with 169.04 drivers. Your saying it will ruin my laptop eventually if its like this. and I only load the 500/500 profile when playing a game, when I'm just browsing I reset the profile. I dont think there is a problem with this.

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If you used Fine Tuning to get 500/500 for the GPU and VRAM then it should be okay but it will shorten the lifespan of the graphics card marginally with extended usage. You did a good thing by profiling it.

Graphics cards are marketed with a preset clock rate because it was found to have the best performance with the lowest heat signature and the greatest stability. Overclocking by nature increases heat dramatically on a graphics card and great care must be taken to ensure that the GPU and VRAM have the proper heat reduction and air flow to operate successfully. This increase of heat damages the chip and the transistors in the chip forcing them to work at greater capacity. Eventually they will break down and burn out.

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And what your saying is, that when it burns out, kaboom. There goes your vid card?

How long are you talking about. when you say it shortens lifespan. what number are we talking about. 2-3 yrs?

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It depends on how you overclock (such as profiled or automatic) and how much you overclock it (such as speed and voltage). Normally a graphics card may last at least 10+ years with proper cooling and may last even longer if the system is well maintained and cared for.

If you overclock at least by 20% then reduce the lifespan of the graphics card from say 10 years average to about 5 years. Remember more voltage and higher clocks equal more heat.

It's like the oil in your car. You keep the engine cooler and maintain it and run it normally, the oil will last 5000 miles at least.

You add a turbo or supercharger to boost the power and make it run harder and you can expect to change the oil every 500 to 1000 miles.

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Ok so first of all, my mistake in saying I always run on battery power. I'm not a native English speaker so I confused battery power with AC power (better not ask why I confused those :) ).

Then about the rest of concerns, if I have been able to OC with 169.04 then that means that my motherboard allows it. The problem is whenever I try to use any drivers other than those. It just won't work. And that is the same for many people.

UAC is disabled for me, but it just won't do either. And anyways, when I DID have it activated before, I could still OC with 169.04 and not the others, so UAC is not the problem either.

I have tried OCing with both RivaTuner and nTune, but both of them could only OC 169.04 drivers.

As for OCing reducing the hardware's lifespan: the Vaio FZ21S is quite a silent laptop. It makes no noise even when gaming. At first I was worried at that because it was impossible that the laptop wouldn't be using the fan. After I OCed for the first time with 169.04, I heard the fan for the first time EVER. Could that mean that Sony reduce the stock rates of the video card just to ensure customers that their laptop is going to be quiet? Just so the fan doesn't start too often or too fast? Anyways, when OCing the laptop was getting even cooler than when gaming without OC just because the fan DID activate after that. It seemed as if the fans only activated once they reached a certain temperature and then kept at it until the video processing was done. That was just by applying 600/1200 instead of 500/1000 which were the stock clock speeds. And it was quite stable, so much that I could even OC up to 660, played for 2 hours straight and no artifacts or errors whatsoever (with the temperature never going over 78º). You can understand then why I think I am being fooled by Sony. They reduced clock speeds just to reduce NOISE! Not to prevent overheating, but to prevent a stupid noise.

So I just don't get it. I am able to OC with just that set of drivers, never with anything newer or better. It is completely stupid to allow OCing just some drivers and not others. Oh, and by the way, nTune's "fine tuning test" only works with 169.04 drivers as well. Other drivers just say that my card does not support the test ("nTune only supports nForce 2 or superior cards") and, while it does not stop the test, it just stays for 20 minutes doing NOTHING (no changes, no messages, just a table full of zeros in clock speeds or anything else).

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i was wondering which driver is best for gears of war or bioshock? 169.25, 167.45 or 171.16? im using asus f8sv-a1 with 2.2ghz 8600gt and 3gb. Anyone have the same laptop as me? sorry if this a noob question

thanks

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Guest Nathaniel

I've been using these drivers for about a week and a half now. They worked great, improving my 3dmark06 by bout 100 and my fps in crysis. However just this last wed when i was playing my screen suddenly became covered in red static and locked up. I just powered it off and rebooted. Thought i'd ignore it for the time being but it happened again. Red static covering my screen but this time i got a BSOD saying something bout my video driver being out of sync. Does that mean that i have a corrupted driver and should uninstall and reinstall the thing? or should i just go back to 169.28 which worked fine for me. Or could it be my graphics card?

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Try reinstalling the driver from Safe Mode. That might clear it up.

As for Gears of War and Bioshock. As always we recommend using the latest available drivers as they may have bug fixes and compatibility boosting optimizations than previous drivers. So in effect these 171.16s are the most recommended.

Truth be told the latest drivers is ALWAYS the best driver for games and hardware of all kinds. As for speed issues, sometime snew drivers fix things such as some of the 169s did to the Demo of Crysis to run correctly. With rendering corrections there are sometimes frame rate loss as the scene is now being rendered correctly.

While speed and optimal performance is a constant focus of driver teams, they will not sacrifice quality and correctness of rendering to boost performance. So remember slower frame rates is not always a bad thing. the only time they will sacrifice a feature is when the feature is so deprecated in DirectX or OpenGL they will remove it from the hardware functions and emulate it in Software. Most of the time even with emulation of a feature such as "Fog Tabling" for example there is no or very little if even a noticeable performance hit against the GPU.

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hey i was just wondering when you install the new driver 171.16. Does it actually say Version 171.16 in your driver version or 7.15.11.7116 ? sorry for just noob question. Cuz after installing the new drive i still cant play gears of war =(

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whenever i try to use ntune's overclock feature (fine tuning), it gives me an error message that it is only supported on nforce based chipsets 2 and higher- some message like that- yet i'm using a dell vostro 1500 with a 8600m card (and windows vista).

any ideas why this is happening?

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Could that mean that Sony reduce the stock rates of the video card just to ensure customers that their laptop is going to be quiet?

I really doubt that, to check just compare with the clock speeds given on the nVidia site.

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Some driver versions simply do not allowing overclocking on certain cards. Why? I'm honestly not sure. I wish someone would figure it out though, because I bet it would be easy to fix in all driver versions if we could just figure out what to modify, and where to modify it.

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It's not the drivers that have the lockout. It's in the video BIOS itself. It's a long known fact between a lot of graphics cards manufacturers and users that certain cards have these lockouts but they have them for a reason. Certain cards simply just will not work in an overclocked state or will become radically unstable.

As for Gears not working, did you absolutely make sure you enough of a system to meet the minimum specifications? Any variance will cause the game to not work. I highly advise looking for patches to the game if any exist and contacting the Tech Support people who made the game and published it. They'll have a better response than we can tell you any day.

Remember the game requires at least

Windows XP or Vista with DirectX 9 or 10 installed

2.0 GHz AMD/2.4 GHz Intel CPU or higher

1 GB RAM

Nvidia GeForce 6600/ATI X700 or higher with 256mb of Dedicated Video RAM

if ANY of these specs are not met the game will not work... PERIOD.

Edited by ®®®
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But if those locks are there for a reason as you say, then why do some drivers allow for overclocking and others not??

It just makes no sense at all...

There must be something in the code of those drivers defining wether those cards can OC or not. Maybe it's in the INF as well?

Perhaps somebody more experienced could find that for us? (I myself have tried to have a look at the INF, but I could not find anything that I could understand... I just know enough about computing for my browsing, gaming and communicating needs...).

And yes, nVidia's stock settings on their website are higher than the ones my laptop comes with, and as such, reducing the noise that comes from the fan almost to being non-existant

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