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Version: 257.21 WHQL
Release Date: 2010.06.15

This is the first driver release from the Release 256 family of drivers (versions 256.xx to 259.xx). This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, and 400-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs. Learn more about Release 256 drivers here .

New in Version 257.21

* Adds support for Blu-ray 3D with NVIDIA 3D Vision technology. Learn more about the hardware and software requirements here .
* Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

o Up to 14% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920x1200 noAA/AF – Tessellation on)
o Up to 4% in Batman: Arkham Asylum (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF PhysX=High)
o Up to 5% in BattleForge (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Very High settings)
o Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF)
o Up to 4% in Crysis: Warhead (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Enthusiast setting)
o Up to 24% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (1920x1200 no AA/AF)
o Up to 9% in Far Cry 2 (2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF)
o Up to 25% in Just Cause 2 (2560x1600 no AA/AF - Concrete Jungle)
o Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1920x1200 no AA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
o Up to 40% in Metro 2033 with SLI ((1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
o Up to 8% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920x1200 no AA/AF – Day)
o Up to 110% in Stone Giant with SLI (2650x1600 – Tessellation on, DoF on)
o Up to 6% in The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (2560x1600 no AA/AF)
o Up to 9% in Unigine: Tropics (2560x1600 no AA/AF – OpenGL)
o Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Performance and Extreme Presets)
o Up to 19% with Transparency AA (1920x1200 4xTrSS – measured in Crysis)

* Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0223.
* Adds support for OpenGL 4.0 for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs.
* Adds support for CUDA Toolkit 3.1 which includes significant performance increases for double precision math operations. See CUDA Zone for more details.
* Adds support for new extreme Antialiasing modes for 3-way SLI PCs, including up to SLI48x AA for GeForce 200 series GPUs and up to SLI96x AA for GeForce GTX 400 series GPUs.
* Adds support for a new ‘Quality’ mode for NVIDIA’s Ambient Occlusion control panel feature.
* Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel setup page for SLI and PhysX for ultimate control over multi-gpu configurations.
* Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel feature for ultimate control over CUDA GPUs, allowing the user to effectively choose which GPU will power each CUDA application.
* 3D Vision customers can download the v257.21 3D Vision drivers here.
* Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

Additional Information:

* Installs HD Audio driver version 1.0.9.1 (for supported GPUs).
* Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5.
* Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here.
* Supports the new version of MotionDSP's video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.
* Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
* Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

With Drivers v257.21 Comes a New Highest Benchmark!

I'm happy to say that with the newest drivers 257.21 whql comes a new highest Vantage benchmark (P7455) to go along with it!

So for those thinking of installing these new drivers I highly recommend them if you want a good performance increase!

Thanks, Muff1n, I'll give these a try this weekend.

Mr. Chris wrote:Thanks, Muff1n, I'll give these a try this weekend.

I would wait on these drivers as it seems to have the same problem with turning OFF the FAN of the graphics card
as another bad driver did for some.
One of our forum members at AOA experienced this firsthand while gaming but caught it in time before
his card burned up!
So I would wait on the next released driver!

Even though I had no issues whatsoever with these drivers gaming for hours on end & OCing my card the whole time I still uninstalled them
to be on the safe side.
I've already uninstalled it & have gone back to v197.45 as I don't have $ to replace my card if it decided to stop the fan & burn up my card!

These are posts from the Nvidia forum on this new driver.
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=171530

1.
"Since driver 197.57 I have a issue with those drivers... I have a XFX GTX280, and I don't know why, but with those drivers I have small stutterings and glitches... but the worse off all is that it simply stops the freaking vga cooler... don't have a clue why is that, since driver 197.45 and down this kind of stuff never happen... with this driver since is WHQL, I had hope that it ends, but it simply stopped my vga cooler like the beta one.

The weird thing of all this is that when I turn the computer on the cooler is working normally, but when I go gaming it simply stops the cooler.

Config:
PII 940 - M3N HD HDMI - 8GB DDr2 - GTX280 - W7x64"

2.
"Anyone had temperature problems?
I have 71 degrees with normal use on my 2 9800gt in sli (internet ... office...)"

3.
"well.... I tried Fallout 3 for 10 minutes, more or less.... and I reached 95 C° degrees (It means 203 F) , .... no automatic fan control worked....
70-75 degrees without doing anything...


XPS (Dell Inc XPS 630i)
Windows 7 (Ultimate)32b
Nforce 650i sli
CPU Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
Video Adapter 2x NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT Memory 512 MBytes SLI"


4.
"Do NOT install this driver. It has some serious bugs.
It gave me a blue screen and after rebooting my videocard was broke.
I'm using a 8800GTX.

BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA8008B53010
BCP2: FFFFF88010119F9C
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000002
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1 "

OK, thanks for the heads up. I'll wait. The drivers I'm running right now seem to be fine anyways. Remember, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

ya im glad i waited too.. for me all the drivers after 182.06 are junk. none ive tried yet works right with my zdsoft recorders- i cant read the fps display. or see it turn from green to red when im recording.. its a dam shame nvid cant get it right..

also for the record and bench marks-- you can run the same bench and drivers 50x all scores are diff and can be up or down even by 100s of points.. your os can be doing something in the back ground etc. so bench marks really mean nothing unless- thats what you are into-- i do know its some folks that spend top dollar building systems normally for gaming- but just to bench mark with.. i think its kind of silly my self- but to each his own- and some folks have money to waste i guess..