In a press article today, NVIDIA announced that it has released new graphics drivers for Windows 7 Beta, which it says will be "the start of regular NVIDIA driver updates for the forthcoming operating system". The new drivers, released today, have support for the new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) v1.1 which is used in Windows 7 Beta. The new WDDM offers improved performance in both 2D and 3D applications. The new GeForce drivers, version 181.71, are currently available from the NVIDIA website. "Our customers are demanding an experience that is faster and more visual, and with the addition of many new GPU-accelerated features, including DirectX Compute, we believe Windows 7 will be well positioned to meet those needs," said Dwight Diercks, vice president of software engineering at NVIDIA.
The early support for graphics drivers should increase customer confidence when Windows 7 is out on the shelves, and prevent the driver worries that customers had when Windows Vista was initially released. NVIDIA's drivers were noted for poor compatibility and performance when Vista was first released, and they are clearly aiming to avoid such issues again.
For those who have had a chance to try the Windows 7 Beta, what has your experience of it been? Have you had no driver issues at all, or have you been plagued with them? Let us know!
As windows 7 is starting to look like one of the best OS's to date.
As windows 7 is starting to look like one of the best OS's to date.
Still a toned down Vista no matter how you look at it.
As windows 7 is starting to look like one of the best OS's to date.
Still a toned down Vista no matter how you look at it.
No matter how you look at it. But that's probably because you never used it enough. I know I see huge improvements.
Just because there's no fancy new UI, it doesn't mean it's the same OS.
I have a Geforce Go 7600, so there's no reason for me to update :/
Also, for unknown reasons, some display modes are not listed (resolution/color_depth/refresh_rate), despite being supported by the hardware. For example: for 1024x768 resolution mode I can currently only get 32bit color depth and 100 Hz refresh rate - no other modes. There are other modes (refresh rates/color depths) but for other resolutions. Need for Speed: Undercover won't run @100Hz so I can't run it at all at this resolution. This generally leads to a situation when a game running at a particular, unlisted mode won't find it (the OS won't report it as supported) and you're forced to play at another resolution than intended.
I have CRT connected to my secondary system and I'm wondering whether they test these drivers/ Windows 7 on CRTs at all?
Last edited by tom5 on 02 Mar 2009 - 20:15
And BTW: Need for Speed: Undercover stopped working after updating to this new 181.71 drivers: the game loads but there's no picture (black screen) for most of the time, I can hear sounds, sometimes the picture/menu appears but everything is extremely sloow. And in the end - when it loads completely and I'm on the road - it crashes. Crash report sent to MS.
most newer games run fine, if not better than XP and even Vista. (Games for me have typically run better on Vista) But I did see a nice framerate increase in GTA IV and Crysis in Windows 7. I also had problems on Vista with The Witcher:EE, but it worked fine in Windows 7.
Specs:
Intel Q9450 @ 3.4Ghz
8gb DDR2-PC6400 RAM
Radeon HD 4870 X2
It wasn't supported under Vista. Why would it be supported under something newer?
I don't think so. You can find the full list of supported products here, on the NVIDIA download page (32-bit).
Version: 181.71
Release Date: March 03, 2009
Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Language: International
File Size: 110 MB
Nvidia has a time travel machine!!
Version: 181.71
Release Date: March 03, 2009
Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Language: International
File Size: 110 MB
Nvidia has a time travel machine!!
Based on asia/pacific time rather then US which is day behind us.
As for learning from their mistakes i dunno drivers so far haven't been that great beta or not ATi's ones have been solid as.
They are not signed because the drivers are beta
i have played these games without too much flaw, though settings are completely down or otherwise its just a bog.
-all nfs games, they all work
-thps4
-fear2
-qake3
-doom3
all on a crappy nforce 610m or 7000m. i would say not too bad. i also think it helps that 7 keeps the processes down to a bare minimum. there are like a max of 'minimum' processes running (7 or 8 ). vista i believe was different. 7 is how vista should have been, and i have had no problems yet. excellent work this time around indeed!
In other words, you paid the painful price with Vista, so you won't have to with Windows 7.
-Return of 2D GUI hardware acceleration for use by GDI and Direct2D
-BitBlt, StretchBlt, TransparentBlt
-AlphaBlend, ColorFill
-ClearType font support
-DXVA-HD DDI
-Hardware video overlay DDI
-Optional AES 128 encryption
-Optional decoding of encrypted video content
I get kicked by PB within a couple of minutes for "unknown Windows API function"
Evenbalance just say they don't support beta OS.
imho they should make the effort on such a widely used beta, surely it's in their own interests.
I get kicked by PB within a couple of minutes for "unknown Windows API function"
Evenbalance just say they don't support beta OS.
imho they should make the effort on such a widely used beta, surely it's in their own interests.
Is it only certain people having problems or what? Because I play COD4 on punkbuster servers with 7 beta all the time and never get kicked...
Anyone using W7 as their main desktop?
WDDM 1.1 is for DirectX 10.
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