M14x - nVIDIA 296.10 WHQL drivers released !

New GeForce 296.10 Notebook, impressions on performance? and temps.

hi

Edit:

Just 20 minutes to be installed, and idle (using only the web with chrome) the temps vary from 38 to 42 degrees with highs of 47. check the temps with msi afterburner.

 

Before downloading this driver:

Please check to make sure that your notebook has a supported GPU (refer to the Products Supported tab below).
It is recommended that you backup your current system configuration. Click here for instructions.
If you own a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, Dell XPS M1530, or Dell Latitude D630/D630c it is highly recommended that you first install this Dell software update.

RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS :

This is the second WHQL-certified driver from the R295 family of drivers (versions 295.xx to 299.xx).

Product Support
This driver supports the following NVIDIA notebook GPUs (please refer to the Products Supported tab for exceptions):

ION notebook GPUs.
GeForce 8M, 9M, 100M, 200M, 300M, 400M, and 500M-series notebook GPUs.
Quadro 5010M, 5000M, 4000M 3000M, 2000M and 1000M notebook GPUs.
Quadro NVS-series notebook GPUs (only those that support DirectX 10 or higher).
Quadro FX-series notebook GPUs (only those that support DirectX 10 or higher).
NVS-series notebook GPUs (only those that support DirectX 10 or higher).

This driver is a recommended upgrade for all GeForce users, especially those playing the latest hot PC games like Battlefield 3, Blacklight: Retribution, Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and more. These drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements and are Microsoft WHQL-certified.

New in Release 296.10

Updates PhysX System Software to version 9.12.0213.
Boosts SLI performance in the following games:
Blacklight: Retribution – up to 1.8x performance increase
DiRT 3 – updated DX11 profile to improve menu performance
Dishonored
Dungeon Defenders
F1 2011 – improves performance with game patch 1.2
rFactor 2
Adds 3D Vision support for the following games:
Dear Esther – Rated Good
Deep Black: Reloaded – Rated 3D Vision Ready
Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes documentation for more details.

Highlight Summary for the R295 Family of Drivers
New features and performance since R285 WHQL-certified driver

Game-changing performance boost of up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, “the fastest selling title in Steam’s history”
Up to 2x performance Mass Effect 3 with SLI technology.
GeForce-exclusive quality enhancements with ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo III, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
New 3D Vision and SLI profiles for over 50 titles.
New PhysX software for the best experience in top PhysX titles like Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.
Enables WHQL-certified support for NVIDIA Surround on Intel X79 SLI-certified motherboards.
Updates HD Audio to version 1.3.12.0.

Other Details

Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.
Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL.

NVIDIA DRIVERS 296.10 WHQL UK Version

http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-296.10-whql-driver.html USA Version

 

Thanks for the quick head-up, I'm currently download the driver and will update as soon as I can.

EDIT:

I have just successfully install and restart, like state in the description Skyrim's really get a performance boost, my average fps on High-Ultra was around 30 ~ 39, but now it was 43 ~ 50, that's an unbelievable number, the temp seem to stay the same as usual (never go above 75C for the CPU, 65C for the GPU) meaning this driver's really worth the upgrade. Btw I'm using the 3GB GF106 of the GT555M.

 

Do these drivers run at 3D clock all the time like the previous update?

 

Nice! Downloading now.

..shame theres no mention of performance increase for battlefield 3 though.

edit: Sorry Id didn't read the first post properly as it does mention bf3! lol

 

Will try tonight with Dota 2 and post if they made any change at all.

 

Anyone test these in Windows 8 CP? Wondering if they fix the restart to blank screen issue.

 

Dl-ed drivers and installed w/o a problem. Temp at idle is 45 (chrome running)
In game it's about 65C in SWTOR. FPS is a steady 50. High as 75 on ship

 

is optimus working correctly?

 

Yes, though I dont think the Optimus is control by the NVIDIA Driver, it is control by the BIOS as what the M17x does, so updating driver wouldnt affecting the Optimus.

 

Just played BF3 SP. It runs perfect, for me definitely better than previous driver, not too much FPS increase, but NO STUTTERING AT ALL. Well done Nvidia.
Optimus is working ok, and GPU seems to be running at steady @66c under load (BF3). WTJ
And it installs flawless. My card downclocks when idle, @ darklimits.

 

thanks for the reply. that is good to know. for some reason i remember people having trouble with the gfx card switching on the beta drivers.

 

Should I uninstall the first driver before downloading this?

 

I did not with last 10 drivers, never had a problem. Once I did clean install and thing went wrong for me. Had to install the oldest one from Dell drivers page and then all drivers installed ok. During custom installation I unclick Nvidia updates and 3D.

 

Installed this, all okay so far.

I play my games off a 24" BenQ 120Hz monitor to get the best experience. I benchmarked GTAIV and hit 50fps on high setting. This is a great improvement over the 40-45fps I was getting before.

My temps only hit 55-65c too.. This little laptop is a beast.

EDIT: I use a U3 notebook cooler as well, forgot to mention that.

 

Installed the drivers, after uninstalling all previous Nvidia programs. The performance increase is obvious and I am really happy.

 

Me too, I have install over the old driver like more than 10, and the GPU seem to chose the one where I install last.

QFT.

 

Can anybody answer this guys? It's really important....

With the previous version 295.73 the GPU was always running at 3D speeds (590/1180/900), causing a drop in the battery of about an hour and a half.

Does it happens even with this new 296.10 version?

 

Not really any performance difference for Dota 2.

 

This is not the issue of the driver, there is a settings in the Alienfusion section to run on power mode while unplugged to drop your clock speeds. It was dropping my clocks properly at 295 and it now drops them properly too. Check your power settings for this.

 

Mmm that's weird because here ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/647228-m14x-nvidia-295-73-whql-drivers-released-discussion-5.html ), from page 5, several people were lamenting this problem...
So I guess that the problem was that even if you had set the balanced (downclocked) profile when on battery through AlienFusion, the GPU was still running at 3D speed when not plugged in...
Actually I didn't try that myself, but I'll do try this time with this newest driver and I will let you know.

Also if anybody else can try and post here results it will be much appreciated!

 

I'm about to install them and will post back. c69k posted earlier confirming they do downclock.

 

Me too, right after I'm done with lunch!

Did it. Everything perfect, and they downclock properly, GPU NOT running at 3D speed when on battery. ^_^

So this is the driver to have.

Download and install with no worries everybody!

 

What about when on AC, i noticed the last drivers, the GPU would run on 3D speeds on AC. 285.XX drivers would downclock to 2D speeds when browsing or light use.

 

I think that happens because your browser is set to work with the GT555M.
If you go in the Nvidia control panel and you select the Intel integrated graphics for it, the GPU will no longer do that.

Anyway it's either fine if on AC everything runs at max.

 

this driver is nice, i had screen tearing issues with the 295 using vlc now with the 296 all works fine,
i tested with diablo 3 beta and have an amazing performance now with everything on high and 1600*900 no AA and low FX vsync on
steady 45-60 fps

only thing i noticed is hdmi audio problems when starting the m14x with the cable plugged in, but after reconnecting the hdmi it works fine, anyone else with this?

 

You are actually right. The GPU was running constantly on 590Mhz speed with 295 driver when it was plugged but was only using web browser etc. Though I thought that it was the way it was meant to be because 295 was my first driver that I used(bought my laptop recently). I even asked a question about this on a topic, but couldnt get an answer so I assumed it was how it is.

With 296 as you stated even when I am plugged the GPU clock speeds downclock to as low as 51/101 Mhz to save energy(even if I O/Ced my GPU too). It is a great thing that now my battery times even got better.

 

Just hit 1983 with the new 296.10 instead of 1978 with the 295.73 in 3DMark11 with A05 Vmod and evgaprecision 829 - 1658 ; 1080

If someone as a tip to hit the 2000

 

Hmm, just ran 3D Mark 11 and all I could get is 1394. Seemed to be running super slow.

 

that is a normal nonoverclocked score

 

wow, just seems slow compared to actual gaming

 

Ok now I'm in 1987 in 3DMark11

With this new driver now It is possible to exceed 830 of Core Clock with a modified BIOS
Well I'm speaking for 3Dmark11 - I will see later how it goes in game

Actually my settings are 831, ; 1662 ; 1080

I will test today the possibility of OC my GPU with the new driver.

[Edit]

That's it I exceeded P2000 in 3DMark11 exactly P2004 with as configuration 839; 1678; 1080


I ran another test with 3DMark11 my score is now 2019 with my 846 ; 1692 ; 1080 settings for my GPU

No artefacts at all and my Temps are good Max CPU : 88° ; Max GPU : 68°

It seems to me that this new driver are pretty good.

I will run some others tests later.

 

This is some good info. +rep

 

The limit of OC seems to be more than 860 for core clock -> 1720 for Shader clock.

I stay for the moment at 850 ; 1700 ; 1080

My 3DMark11 score is 2026 but I was able to achieved 2047 with some little artefacs.

 

How do you guys install the new drivers and not have to use the Dell drivers manager? Where can I find out about how to edit the ini file with the 124D line?

Thanks!

 

Normally when I go to update I just do it through the Nvidia control panel. When I went to the updates page it says that there's a new update available. Now when I click the blue link nothing happens. So I went to Nvidia's website and manually downloaded the driver. It unzips fine and begins to install but when I get to the part where I agree to the license agreement it closes or minimizes and does nothing. I became exasperated by this and uninstalled everything Nvidia. When I restarted my computer, windows automatically updated the driver to 290.36. I tried updating it to 296.1 and encountered the same issue. Any ideas?

 

Drivers are not the Dell. You can find them on the Nvidia website and installed with no modifications, and why you have to edit the ini file with the 124D line?

Hi

 

I meant the inf file, sorry. I downloaded the new driver through the NVIDIA application but when I install it I get a message that my card and drivers are incompatible. I've read that people are editing one of the inf files within the driver files in order to add the card ID (124D) so that the drivers locate and recognize the card. I'm curious how you guys went about and installed these new drivers without modding? Thanks for your help!

 

since 285.62 the nonbeta drivers haven't needed modification

 

You have the GT555M 3GB? because it seems that whoever has this gpu setup issues with the latest Nvidia drv.

Hi

 

I have the GT555M 1.5GB. I guess I'm going to have to wait until Dell post up the very latest on their website (if that ever happens). Or until somebody finds out how to mod for this version. At least I have one version prior to this one.

 

Nope, not all of them, only those who has the GF116 version of the 3GB GT555M that having those problem, older owner like me who own the GF106 version of the 3GB GT555M have absolutely no trouble installing any driver. However those with GF116 may have to sacrifice the SATA 3 speed by using the A08 BIOS if they dont want to find a .inf file all the time, it is a major trade off if you using a SSD, but not much of a big problem for HDD users though.

 

What I would try if I were you is uninstall your current driver through device manager, restart, download and install oldest driver from Dell site (Apr 2011), restart, then download and install newest WHQL driver OVER the old one.

Only once I had a problem installing Nvidia driver off Nvidia site and this fixed it.

Hope this helps. Have a nice weekend.

 

I have GF116 version of the 3GB GT555M, and never had a problem with my drivers yet.

 

Thanks for your help. I gave it a shot and this is what happened. I uninstalled the current drivers (Version Feb 2012) and I guess I defaulted back to Nov 2011 drivers. I uninstalled those again such that Windows immediately labeled my card as a VGA Adapter, since it didn't really recognize the component. After that, I tried installing the April 2011 drivers from the Dell website and got the same message I always get when running the NVIDIA driver installer, that the card is not compatible (doesn't recognize it). In conclusion, it didn't work. I ended up restoring my laptop to a couple of hours in the past and that undid the driver deletion, so it just took me back to my feb 2012 drivers, so no harm done.

I'm just surprised none of you have experienced this. Maybe its because my laptop is only a week old and the new NVIDIA drivers just came out? I don't know. I'll leave it like this for now. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks everyone.

 

If you have the 3GB card, then I'm pretty sure that it is a GF116, because all the later card that come with the M14x all have that one, and that's what me and some users here are talking about, that the GF116 having problem with installing the driver IF you did not use a custom/modded .inf file. Here is the link to download the driver & the custom/modded .inf: NVIDIA Driver 296.10 with modded .inf.

Once downloaded, you'll have to run the installer as normal but let it check for the compatibility again and allow it to say the driver incompatibility again then once you see that error message quit the installer and copy the modded .inf file to this path " C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\296.10\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver " This is the default driver setup's files if you have it extract somewhere else then just navigate to that Display.Driver folder. Then after you place/overwrite the .inf file, then run the installer again you shouldnt have anymore problem now. Good luck.

 

@ Jcb51

Ok, now I understand. Time has past, my machine is June 2011 lol
Are you on Verde 295.73 Driver off Nvidia? The newest one 296.10 gave me complete smoothness and no stuttering whatsoever in BF3 for sure compared to 295.73.

Now my question is have you tried installing the latest driver as 'not a clean install'? This should work.

 

You my friend, are awesome. Worked beautifully. I didn't even have to drop in the modded inf. file. The installer from that website was able to identify the card. Do you know why? Anyway, thanks for your help everybody!

 

Just wanted to report that I've had a performance loss (7-8~ FPS) in SW:TOR due to this driver, so you might want to avoid it or rollback if you plan on doing raids/warzones.

nVidia likes to fix some games and break others with their driver updates lol.

Edit: Stuttering as well. Avoid this driver if you play SWTOR.

 

I also want to report that performance on Skyrim sure seem to significantly increase however, I also receive a significant amount of freeze/Not responding/crash in the last few day of using this driver, so I'm rolling back to the 295.73. Perhaps because of this new driver doesnt like me OC my GPU to high because If I'm on 800/1600, then it will be like what I said above, but if I lower to 750/1500, it will still give me stuttering/crash, but less frequent and none of this happen with the 295.73.