Driver Update: Nvidia GeForce/Ion 197.13 WHQL

Nvidia has now gone through and re-released version 197.13 of the GeForce/Ion drivers through the whql certification process at Microsoft. The drivers were released in beta in the middle of this month and are suitable for the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200 and 300 series, and the Ion GPUs. They are available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 in both 32bit and 64bit versions. The main change is that the serious fan bug that plagued the 196.75 drivers has been fixed in this release. A number of new GeForce GT 3xx series models are also supported.

New in Version 197.13:

• Adds support for Next Generation ION.
• Adds support for GeForce GT 320, GeForce GT 330, and GeForce GT 340.
• Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0129.
• Upgrades HD Audio driver to version 1.0.9.1 (for supported GPUs).
• Increases performance in several PC games from v196.21 WHQL. The following are examples of measured improvements. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:
  • Up to 13% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with a single GPU
  • Up to 30% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with SLI technology
  • Up to 13% performance increase in HAWX with single GPU
  • Up to 15% performance increase in HAWX with SLI technology
  • Up to 30% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with single GPU
  • Up to 28% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with SLI technology
• Adds SLI and multi-GPU support for top new gaming titles including Assassin Creed II, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Zombie Driver.
• Enhanced SLI support for Metro 2033, Supreme Commander 2, Unigine, and World of Warcraft
• Adds override anti-aliasing support for Mass Effect 2.
• 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.

Existing Support:

• Supports GPU acceleration for smoother online HD videos with the new Adobe Flash 10.1 beta. Learn more here.
• Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
• Supports OpenGL 3.2 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
• Supports CUDA Toolkit 3.0 features and performance enhancements. see CUDA Zone for more details.
• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology* on DirectX 9 and OpenGL.
• Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here.
• Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

The following downloads are available:
nVidia ForceWare 197.13 WHQL for Windows XP (32bit)
nVidia ForceWare 197.13 WHQL for Windows XP and Server 2003 (64bit)
nVidia ForceWare 197.13 WHQL for Windows Vista/7 (32bit)
nVidia ForceWare 197.13 WHQL for Windows Vista/7 (64bit)