NVIDIA Releases GeForce 185.66 BETA Drivers

[alexp999]

The day after releasing the GeForce 182.50 WHQL drivers, NVIDIA has also released a GeForce BETA driver with version 185.66, for both Windows Vista and XP.

New in Release 185.66:

• Adds support for the new GeForce GTX 275 GPU.
• Adds support for Ambient Occlusion - the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs. (Vista Only)
• Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See nvidia.com/cuda for more details.
• Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185 drivers vs. Release 182 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  - Up to 11% performance increase in Call of Duty: World at War
  - Up to 5% performance increase Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
  - Up to 22% performance increase Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled
  - Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled
  - Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2
  - Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror's Edge with antialiasing enabled
• Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
• Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes.

DOWNLOAD: GeForce 185.66 BETA for Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows Vista 32-bit | Windows Vista 64-bit

UPDATE: The day following the release of the 185.65 BETA drivers this article originally covered, NVIDIA removed the driver links and updated the BETA to 185.66, this article has therefore been updated accordingly.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[MilkyWay]

jesus that was quick it seems they have 3 sets of drivers one with ambient occlusion added one with open CL (is it GL) i dunno and one vanilla set

that was fast lol need to wait till the tweakforce set come out

 

[v12dock]

lol... and I just updated to the newest drivers today, time to install new drivers again.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Poor w1z. Time to update those reviews again

You know, 11%-22% performance gain is as much as going UP a graphics card, like GTX260 to GTX275, or 4870 to 4890.

 

[blkhogan]

Wow, and I thought staying up with ATI was difficult.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

I've been reading some responses over at Guru3d forums (as that's the only place were I've found user feedback on the drivers so far) and it appears that a few are having problems with this driver.
source

 

[Cold Storm]

I've been reading some responses over at Guru3d forums (as that's the only place were I've found user feedback on the drivers so far) and it appears that a few are having problems with this driver.
source

Evga is also show to have problems with BOTH drivers that came out today.. I've started a thread about the Voltage tool having problems.. But it's more then that... I still haven't been able to do a vantage run yet.. Even with AO off.. But, threw in the 182.50 beta's and it works...

 

[phanbuey]

I've been reading some responses over at Guru3d forums (as that's the only place were I've found user feedback on the drivers so far) and it appears that a few are having problems with this driver.
source

yeah it broke CSS for me...:shadedshu

 

[wolf]

they consistently pull a rabbit out of their hat, amazing work green team. totally about as good as an actual card upgrade lol, i have to try these.

 

[magibeg]

I kinda want to see benchmarks after these drivers are installed.... those are some lofty numbers.

 

[HammerON]

I downloaded, unistalled 182.08, used Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode, installed 185.65 and then I get nothing after the Windows Logo. Had to go into Safe Mode, into Control Panel and Uninstall 185.65.
I have been updating drivers with ATI cards and now Nvidia for 3 years with NO problems ~ what the hell

I don't know whether to try again or just stay with 182.08, which worked just fine for me with VISTA 32bit

Edit:
Okay ~ tried again with same result. I am going to try 182.50

 

[Boneface]

I installed them and was able to run Vantage, play Cod4 and world at war with no problem at all

 

[HammerON]

Okay ~ tried the 182.50 drivers.
Lot better

 

[chooky]

I could not complete 3DMark06 with 185.65 drivers, they hung in different places until I gave up.

 

[v12dock]

they killed WoW

 

[Kursah]

Tried these, video playback would flicker severely in full-screen mode. Did not try games, I figured at that point these drivers are not meant for general use...which might as well include gaming. I have installed the 182.50 whql's...I guess the AO feature will have to wait for a release more tuned to the general public (imo). The 182.50 drivers work great though! Seems my folding efficiency/ppd dropped by about 600ppd, I will monitor this and also how my gaming performance has been affected.

 

[alexp999]

I'm havin no problems on these yet, though I have to admit, I'm not testing them out till this morning.

EDIT:

Nope these broke my HL2

Back to 182.50 I go.

I know its beta, but official ones on their site are usually pretty good

 

[chooky]

One nice new feature is that after the install the PC reboots into a low resolution and asks if you would like to change to the native resolution. This is great for me because my SONIQ 27" LCD TV reports to windows a native resolution that it can not display. So every time I install a driver I have to plug in a CRT lower the resolution then plug the LCD back in. So nice one nVidia.

 

[The Witcher]

To be honest, this beta driver is almost perfect, I will tell you why.

I used to use these settings in Crysis Wars :

Everything Best visuals except the Shader which was Good visuals, 2xAA and 1280 x 1024, I got 35~48 fps.

But with this new driver I didn't feel the change until I raised the graphic settings and increased the AA to 4x.

Now my settings are Everything on Best visuals, 4xAA and 1280 x 1024, I lost only 7 fps .

The only bugs I had were :

1. EVGA voltage tool won't work anymore.

2. All HL2 games crash when you start it.

Other than that, this driver is a kickass !!! I really don't know how they did it.

I gave it 8.5

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

To be honest, this beta driver is almost perfect, I will tell you why.

I used to use these settings in Crysis Wars :

Everything Best visuals except the Shader which was Good visuals, 2xAA and 1280 x 1024, I got 35~48 fps.

But with this new driver I didn't feel the change until I raised the graphic settings and increased the AA to 4x.

Now my settings are Everything on Best visuals, 4xAA and 1280 x 1024, I lost only 7 fps .

The only bugs I had were :

1. EVGA voltage tool won't work anymore.

2. All HL2 games crash when you start it.

Other than that, this driver is a kickass !!! I really don't know how they did it.

I gave it 8.5

Yeah because Crysis uses ambient occlusion excessively like theres no tommorow. Not sure if the current update on the driver puts the ambient occlusion calculation on a whole new churning level.

 

[Arctucas]

185.66 BETA (Guru3D)

185.66

 

[Cold Storm]

185.66

I guess I'll try that tonight and see if it works!

 

[alexp999]

185.66

I have updated the article accordingly, as NVIDIA seems to have removed the 185.65 drivers.

I will have to give these another go and see if HL2 works again!

 

[infrared]

No support for the 8x00 series

Might try editing the inf file to get it to install. If they've improved performance with AntiAliasing it'll be worth installing.


EDIT: Installed. Just about to try it with cod5/crysis/f@h.

EDIT #2: wow, big diff in crysis warhead. DX10 mode, 64bit. 1680x1050, 4xAA, all settings @ enthusiast and it's playable!! kinda.. lol 14-20fps. Was getting around 8-12 before.

Attached is the modded inf I made. It supports the 8800GTX/Ultra/GTS

 

[Blacksniper87]

sweet good work mate its good to know the drivers are delivering on the performance claims though unlike sometimes when its complete bull