If you've got Nvidia's 196.75 WHQL drivers, roll'em back.
By
je_saist,
Posted on: 2010-03-07 23:25 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Geez. It was drivers that drove me from Matrox to ATI, and drivers that drove me from ATI to nVidia.
Where to go now?
Quote:
back to ATi.|
Originally Posted by Mallard
Geez. It was drivers that drove me from Matrox to ATI, and drivers that drove me from ATI to nVidia.
Where to go now? |
The driver program has radically changed in the past several years from the detonating disaster that accompanied the Radeon 7000 and 8000 series cards. It's one of the reasons why I get all confused when somebody says ATi is the one with the driver issues. The recent 9.12 release aside, Nvidia's the one with the reputation for bugged out drivers... and to AMD's credit, they had a hotfix out for the 9.12 bungle pretty quickly.
Quote:
To recommend that someone switch platforms for a single driver flub it a bit extreme. You give credit to ATi/AMD for fixing a driver screwup but not to Nvidia for suggesting a rollback.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
back to ATi.
The driver program has radically changed in the past several years from the detonating disaster that accompanied the Radeon 7000 and 8000 series cards. It's one of the reasons why I get all confused when somebody says ATi is the one with the driver issues. The recent 9.12 release aside, Nvidia's the one with the reputation for bugged out drivers... and to AMD's credit, they had a hotfix out for the 9.12 bungle pretty quickly. |
Looks like all the vendors have their own issues but I wouldn't recommend throwing out the baby with the bathwater just yet.
If you were referring to a host of other issues that Nvidia is facing you might have some traction though...
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news...g-drivers.aspx
Yes, you've read that correctly - the drivers had an extreme version of issue nVidia already experienced last year with one of past WHQL-certified drives, when the drivers broke fan control on custom-built GeForce cards. Unfortunately for a lot of customers, Release 196.75 brought nothing else but tears, as Internet Forums started filling with complaints about graphics cards that started to die out, most notably during Blizzard's StarCraft II beta test. Activision Blizzard was also first to react and made an official comment on the state of the drivers, advising its customers and testers to immediately go back to previous driver revision, i.e. Release 196.21.
We contacted Bryan Del Rizzo, nVidia's PR Manager for GeForce for comment:
"We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our Web site in the meantime."
Given that the most users that reported their graphics cards have died were using a custom-built boards featuring nVidia's favorite renaming chip of all times, G92 GPU [8800GT, 8800GTS, 9800GT, 9800GTX and the subsequent 55nm die-shrink: 9800GTX+, GTS 250]: GeForce 9800GT, 9800GTX and GTS 250 were particular victims of this issue.
The biggest question that now remains is how fast nVidia will handle this situation with the physically damaged users, as it is clear that board vendors will have to accept RMAs for the cards, and if there's one thing that we heard from nVidia partners here at CeBIT, that was a collective opinion that they've lost faith in the company. This driver situation certainly didn't help the situation and we see no other but to address those concerns in a separate article.
We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers do not download this driver. Instead, please stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our website and we also are asking our partners and others to remove temporarily this 196.75 WHQL driver as well.
We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers do not download this driver. Instead, please stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our website and we also are asking our partners and others to remove temporarily this 196.75 WHQL driver as well.
Here's hoping nobody had any damage done to their GeForce cards! If your card is fried, then I hope something gets worked out. Bummer for my fellow gamers
And let me just say right now: no gloating, please.