Post by Dan on Jan 27, 2012 0:58:54 GMT -6
The Nvidia Guide
By Dan May with Contributions from Maniac -VVV-
Including clean driver installation, application profiles & recommended settings
Author's Note:
Dear Reader,
Believe it or not, this isn't just a copy-n'-paste job, this guide is something I wrote, formatted (twice, goddamn proboards formatting options!) and will maintain in the future. Advance warning, that scroll bar isn't lying, this guide is FUCKING HUGE! Originally, a TMS user by the name of Chino PM'd me, asking for instructions on how to get rid of his jaggies. So I started writing. I just kept adding things until the word count past 3k, and then decided that it was time to post this monster before it got unwieldy.
This guide would be much less complete without the knowledge of the great Mainiac -VVV- on the EVGA forums. His huge guides taught me much of what I know, and I've used some of his handier tips verbatim here. Maniac is an awesome dude, and hopefully he will one day finsih his BF3 guide....
Anyway, I hope this guide helps you, Chino! The section you care about is about 2,500 words south of here!
Dan
Printer Friendly PDF here: dl.dropbox.com/u/5492456/Nvidia%20Guide.pdf
Hey there! This guide is still under construction! Check back for future updates, including pictures & side by-side comparisons of Nvidia & AMD graphics cards!
Beta Driver Update [May 5th, 2012]
301.24 BETA Drivers for 7/8/9/200/400/500 Series Cards
(Released on April 9th, 2012)
New Features 301.24 Brings most new features introduced with 600 series cards to legacy hardware.
These improvements include:
GPU Boost Technology - Dynamically maximizes the GPU clock speeds based on the workload of the game to achieve the best performance of every game. Basically, When enabled, the card will overclock itself (if required based on temperature, application demands, and user-set target framerate. Using this will NOT void your warranty.
Adaptive Vertical Sync - Dynamically enables vertical sync based on your current frame rates to achieve the smoothest gaming experience. You can have the benefits of VSYNC when you need it (at high frame rates) but at low frame rates, it is disabled, to increase performance. This control is available on the NVIDIA Control Panel.
Fast Approximate Antialiasing (FXAA) Technology - Shader‐based anti‐aliasing technology enabled from the NVIDIA Control Panel for games that do not have built‐in support for FXAA. FXAA delivers quality similar to 4x multi‐sample antialiasing (MSAA), but is up to 60% faster, providing substantially higher performance in games. FXAA Looks great, and runs amazingly well.
The easy to enable FXAA injector by itself makes trying this driver release worthwhile, adaptive VSYNC and GPU boot are icing on an already excellent cake.
Stability
In the month I've been running this driver release, the driver has stopped working twice, but has recovered in both cases. I have not been able to pinpoint the issue, but for the most part, this driver release appears to be very stable.
Bottom Line: I've had excellent results with 301.24, and I would highly recommend tech savvy users give the new drivers a try.
Download Link
Driver Selection
The first step to having good perfromance is to select the correct video card drivers. To get the best drivers for your card, get your drivers online, don’t bother with the ones that came on a CD. For Nvidia owners, the best place to find these drivers is www.geforce.com/drivers.
On the page, there are three options to download drivers: Automatic Driver Detection, Manual Driver Search and Beta/Legacy Driver Search.
Automatic Driver Detection
Selecting this option will let Nvidia scan your computer and attempt to detect your graphics cardand operating system. If it sucessfully detects a card, it will recommend the Latest Offical Driver. It will NOT recommend beta drivers. Automatic Driver Detection may attempt to install a third-party application to scan your hardware, depending on your web browser.
Manual Driver Search
Manual Driver Search allows you to manually specify your graphics card, operating system, and language and will select the Latest Offical Driver. It will NOT select beta drivers.
Beta/Legacy Driver Search (Reccomended)
Beta driver search allows you to manually specify your graphics card, operating system, and language and will display ALL (beta, current, legacy) drivers available for your card.
Beta vs. WHQL Drivers
According to Nvidia, “Beta drivers are provided by NVIDIA as preview releases for quick bug fixes and access to new features. Beta drivers are under qualification testing, and may include significant issues. Ensure that newer Recommended/Certified drivers are not already posted on NVIDIA.com before installing Beta drivers. Beta drivers posted do not carry any warranties nor support services.” That said, I’ve always used the latest availible drivers from my GTX460 1GB and have never experienced any fatal issues. Also note that using beta drivers WILL NOT invalidate your GPU’s warranty.
If you only play older, less demanding games, you’re probally best off using WHQL(Windows Hardware Quality Labs) certified drivers. If you play modern games like Skyrim or Battlefield 3, and feel like living on the cutting edge, beta drivers are what your after.
Regardless of which driver you choose, it’s a good idea to look at the “Release Highlights” shown on the driver download page, to get a feel of what kind of changes are in the update.
When you’ve seleted your driver, download it, and save it to your desktop.
Preperation for Driver Installation
Before launching the driver installer, a number of tasks need to be preformed, specifically:
• Change Windows Update Settings
• Verify you have administrator privelages
• Shut down any GPU monitoring utilities
• Cleanup and uninstall previous driver installations
Change Windows Update Settings
First, we need to make sure that after we uninstall our current driver, Windows does not attempt to download a new (and most likely incorrect) driver. To do this in Windows 7, preform the following steps:
• Open the start menu
• Click the “Computer” button in the menu on the right side of the start menu
• Click the “System Properties” button near the top of the window
• Click the “Windows Update” button in the lower left corner of the window
• Click the “Change Settings” button on the left side
• Under “Important Updates” select “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” from the drop down menu
• Click “Ok”
Verify you have administrator privileges
It is extremely important that the user account you are using when adding or removing Nvidia drivers is the primary user account, with full administrative privileges. To verify that you are using this type of an account:
• Open the start menu
• Click on the “Control Panel” menu item
• Click on the green section header named “User Accounts and Family Safety”
• Click on “User Accounts”
• If you are an administrator, your name will have “Administrator” below it. Continue to the next section.
• If you are not an administrator, you must log into an administrator account before continuing this guide. *You should also move the installer to a shared location, and move it back to the desktop when you are logged into an administrator account*
Shut down any GPU monitoring utilities
If you have this software installed, you will know how to perform this step. Programs like EVGA Precision, MSI Afterburner and GPU temperature monitoring gadgets should be prevented from starting automatically and shut down. The methodology is different for every program, so check any manuals you may have. Otherwise, search online for solutions.
Cleanup and uninstall previous driver installations
Before we uninstall the drivers themselves, we need to remove any extracted Nvidia Driver Installer Packages on your hard drive. These files are extracted to the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder by default. If such a folder exists, delete the numbered folders it contains (ie delete the folder “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/190.62”)
Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to uninstall the old graphics drivers. To uninstall them:
• Open the start menu
• Click on the “Control Panel” menu item
• Click on “Uninstall a Program”
• The list of programs is sorted alphabetically. Scroll down to the programs who’s names begin with “N”.
• Wait for the list to populate
• Eventually, you should see multiple entries With NVIDIA in the name.
*Some Items will require a restart after uninstallation, let the computer reboot, and pick up where you left off afterwards*[/center]
• After all other NVIDIA applications (or ATI, if you’re installing a new card) are removed, uninstall the NVIDIA Graphics Driver
• Once the uninstaller finishes, reboot your computer
• Once you get back to your desktop, Windows should notify you that it detected new hardware and is installing “Standard VGA adapter” that’s normal.
Now, we are finally ready to install our new drivers. Perk up soldier, the hard part’s over!
Install New Drivers
Double click on the Installer package to start the installation process
• After double-clicking on the installer, you are prompted to specify an extraction path. Don’t modify this location! This is not where the drivers are being installed! You are specifying a temporary folder for the installation files to be extracted to.
• Click “OK”
• Once the installer finishes unpacking, agree to the license agreement by clicking “Agree and Continue”
• Select the “Custom(Advanced)” radial button, and then click “Next”
• The installer allows you to select which components you would like to install. Descriptions for each are listed below
o Graphics Driver (Required) - This is the bulk of the installation and cannot be deselected
o 3D Vision Controller Driver (Optional) - This is a component of the Nvidia 3D vision configuration, which you only need if you have a monitor capable of producing 3D images, glasses, and specialized equipment. It is recommended you do not install this component.
o 3D Vision Driver (Optional) - This is a component of the Nvidia 3D vision configuration, which you only need if you have a monitor capable of producing 3D images, glasses, and specialized equipment. It is recommended you do not install this component.
o HD Audio Driver (NOT RECOMMENDED) – This component is known to cause serious problems in some configurations, and can only really be used if you own a standalone HDMI 1.4 audio receiver. I personally have used it for over a year with no issues, but others have had problems. Install it at your own risk! It is recommended you do not install this component.
o NVIDIA Update (Optional) - This component keeps your PC up-to-date with the latest NVIDIA drivers by notifying you when a new driver is available and directing you to the driver on www.nvidia.com. Starting with R275 drivers, NVIDIA Update also provides automatic updates for game and program profiles, including SLI profiles. Installing this component is up to personal preference.
o NVIDIA PhysX System Software (Optional) - PhysX allows games to compute the physical behavior of objects in real time instead of using pre-computed animations (which can appear noticeably similar after a while). It does not apply to all games however, and is only utilized with specific titles. A complete list of games that use PhysX technology can be found at wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX#PhysX_in_video_games
• Select the ”Perform a clean installation” checkbox, then click “Next”
• Once the installation has finished, click the “Close” button, and manually reboot your computer.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully updated your graphics driver!
Now, let’s do a bit of housecleaning.
Post-Install Cleanup
There are two things we should do after updating our drivers: remove temporary installation files, and check for DirectX updates.
Remove Temporary Installation Files
We now need to remove the leftover extracted Nvidia Driver Installer Package on your hard drive. These files are extracted to the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder by default. If such a folder exists, delete the numbered folders it contains (ie delete the folder “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/190.62”)
Update DirectX
It’s a good idea to also check for DirectX updates on a regular basis. They don’t come out very often, but when they do, they can be extremely beneficial. To check for updates:
• Go to www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35 and download the installer.
• Run “dxwebsetup.exe”
• Accept the agreement
• Uncheck the box to install the Bing Bar! (Unless you want it for some reason… weirdo!)
• Click next, and wait for setup to complete
You’ve installed new drivers; now let’s look at customizing your settings for maximum graphical fidelity and performance.
Settings Customization
Using the Nvidia Control Panel
To customize your graphics card settings you need to open up the Nvidia Control Panel. This can be done by right-clicking on a blank area on your desktop, and selecting the “Nvidia Control Panel” menu option. Once you open the NCP, there will be a list of available tasks on the left hand side of the window. Each option is described below, but if you want to adjust global and application-based settings, click on “Manage 3D settings”.
• 3D Settings
o Adjust Image Settings With Preview - An extremely basic version of “Manage 3D settings” using a slider and a graphical preview. Not recommended.
o Manage 3D Settings – Allows for detailed control of both global and application-based settings. Nine out of ten times you use the NCP; you’ll want to go to this window. Recommended.
o Set PhysX Configuration – allows the user to specify which device (Primary GPU, Secondary GPU [when available], CPU, and Auto-assign) handles PhysX calculations. Leave this set to Auto-Select unless you have a secondary GPU you want to run PhysX.
• Display
o Change Resolution – Allows you to change your monitor resolution. Identical to the windows utility.
o Adjust Desktop Color Settings – Allows you to fine-tune your monitors color settings
o Rotate Display – Allows you to rotate the picture on your monitor.
o View HDCP Status – Checks to see if your hardware can play HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) enabled movies.
o Adjust Desktop Size and Position – Allows you to set custom resolution and scaling options for uncommon resolution monitors
o Set Up Multiple Displays – Configures multi-monitor setups (identical to the windows management utility)
• Video
o Adjust Video Color Settings – Allows for fine-tuned color settings that only apply to video content played on your monitor.
o Adjust Video Image Settings – Allows you to adjust video playback enhancement settings, such as on-the-fly Edge sharpening and noise reduction.
Global Settings
When you click on the “manage 3D settings” menu item, you are directed to the global settings page. These settings will be applied to all applications. Below are explanations of the various settings:
Recommended Global Settings
To achieve maximum performance across all applications, and provide a stable platform for customized application profiles, some of the default global values should be edited. Specifically:
• Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames should be change to “2”
• Multi-Display/Mixed-GPU acceleration should be set to “Single Display Performance Mode”
• Power Management Mode Should be changed to “Prefer Maximum performance”
• Texture Filtering – Negative LOD Bias Should be set to “Clamp”
Application Profiles
Application profiles overwrite global settings for specific applications. To view application profiles, click the “Program Settings” tab in the “Manage 3D settings” window. Nvidia has hundreds of profiles for popular applications such as Photoshop, Battlefield 2, and Fallout 3. It also allows users to create a profile for any application on their computer. Below is a step-by-step walkthrough for creating an application profile for 18 WoS Haulin’
Creating an 18 WoS Haulin’ Application Profile
• Open the “Program settings” tab of the “Manage 3D Settings” window in the Nvidia Control Panel
• Click the “Add” button
• Select your “prism3d.exe”, found in the main directory of your 18WoS Haulin installation.
o Not sure where that folder is? Right click on the shortcut you use to launch Haulin and click the properties button. In the “Shortcut” tab, click the “Open File Location” button. “Prism3d.exe” will be in that folder
• Click the “open” button
• NCP should recognize the executable as “Hunting 4”, don’t worry, that’s normal.
Dan’s Recommended Haulin’ Settings
Low-End PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “4x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “2x”
Midrange PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “16x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “8x”
• Antialiasing – Transparency Should be changed to “2x”
High-End PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “16x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “32x CSAA”
• Antialiasing – Transparency Should be changed to “4x”
By Dan May with Contributions from Maniac -VVV-
Including clean driver installation, application profiles & recommended settings
Author's Note:
Dear Reader,
Believe it or not, this isn't just a copy-n'-paste job, this guide is something I wrote, formatted (twice, goddamn proboards formatting options!) and will maintain in the future. Advance warning, that scroll bar isn't lying, this guide is FUCKING HUGE! Originally, a TMS user by the name of Chino PM'd me, asking for instructions on how to get rid of his jaggies. So I started writing. I just kept adding things until the word count past 3k, and then decided that it was time to post this monster before it got unwieldy.
This guide would be much less complete without the knowledge of the great Mainiac -VVV- on the EVGA forums. His huge guides taught me much of what I know, and I've used some of his handier tips verbatim here. Maniac is an awesome dude, and hopefully he will one day finsih his BF3 guide....
Anyway, I hope this guide helps you, Chino! The section you care about is about 2,500 words south of here!
Dan
Printer Friendly PDF here: dl.dropbox.com/u/5492456/Nvidia%20Guide.pdf
Hey there! This guide is still under construction! Check back for future updates, including pictures & side by-side comparisons of Nvidia & AMD graphics cards!
Beta Driver Update [May 5th, 2012]
301.24 BETA Drivers for 7/8/9/200/400/500 Series Cards
(Released on April 9th, 2012)
New Features 301.24 Brings most new features introduced with 600 series cards to legacy hardware.
These improvements include:
GPU Boost Technology - Dynamically maximizes the GPU clock speeds based on the workload of the game to achieve the best performance of every game. Basically, When enabled, the card will overclock itself (if required based on temperature, application demands, and user-set target framerate. Using this will NOT void your warranty.
Adaptive Vertical Sync - Dynamically enables vertical sync based on your current frame rates to achieve the smoothest gaming experience. You can have the benefits of VSYNC when you need it (at high frame rates) but at low frame rates, it is disabled, to increase performance. This control is available on the NVIDIA Control Panel.
Fast Approximate Antialiasing (FXAA) Technology - Shader‐based anti‐aliasing technology enabled from the NVIDIA Control Panel for games that do not have built‐in support for FXAA. FXAA delivers quality similar to 4x multi‐sample antialiasing (MSAA), but is up to 60% faster, providing substantially higher performance in games. FXAA Looks great, and runs amazingly well.
The easy to enable FXAA injector by itself makes trying this driver release worthwhile, adaptive VSYNC and GPU boot are icing on an already excellent cake.
Stability
In the month I've been running this driver release, the driver has stopped working twice, but has recovered in both cases. I have not been able to pinpoint the issue, but for the most part, this driver release appears to be very stable.
Bottom Line: I've had excellent results with 301.24, and I would highly recommend tech savvy users give the new drivers a try.
Download Link
Driver Selection
The first step to having good perfromance is to select the correct video card drivers. To get the best drivers for your card, get your drivers online, don’t bother with the ones that came on a CD. For Nvidia owners, the best place to find these drivers is www.geforce.com/drivers.
On the page, there are three options to download drivers: Automatic Driver Detection, Manual Driver Search and Beta/Legacy Driver Search.
Automatic Driver Detection
Selecting this option will let Nvidia scan your computer and attempt to detect your graphics cardand operating system. If it sucessfully detects a card, it will recommend the Latest Offical Driver. It will NOT recommend beta drivers. Automatic Driver Detection may attempt to install a third-party application to scan your hardware, depending on your web browser.
Manual Driver Search
Manual Driver Search allows you to manually specify your graphics card, operating system, and language and will select the Latest Offical Driver. It will NOT select beta drivers.
Beta/Legacy Driver Search (Reccomended)
Beta driver search allows you to manually specify your graphics card, operating system, and language and will display ALL (beta, current, legacy) drivers available for your card.
Beta vs. WHQL Drivers
According to Nvidia, “Beta drivers are provided by NVIDIA as preview releases for quick bug fixes and access to new features. Beta drivers are under qualification testing, and may include significant issues. Ensure that newer Recommended/Certified drivers are not already posted on NVIDIA.com before installing Beta drivers. Beta drivers posted do not carry any warranties nor support services.” That said, I’ve always used the latest availible drivers from my GTX460 1GB and have never experienced any fatal issues. Also note that using beta drivers WILL NOT invalidate your GPU’s warranty.
If you only play older, less demanding games, you’re probally best off using WHQL(Windows Hardware Quality Labs) certified drivers. If you play modern games like Skyrim or Battlefield 3, and feel like living on the cutting edge, beta drivers are what your after.
Regardless of which driver you choose, it’s a good idea to look at the “Release Highlights” shown on the driver download page, to get a feel of what kind of changes are in the update.
When you’ve seleted your driver, download it, and save it to your desktop.
NOTE: It is VERY IMPORTANT that before installing the driver you downloaded, that you COPY the file and PASTE it onto your desktop. You should try to make running installers from the desktop a habit, because problems can occur from not doing so!
Preperation for Driver Installation
Before launching the driver installer, a number of tasks need to be preformed, specifically:
• Change Windows Update Settings
• Verify you have administrator privelages
• Shut down any GPU monitoring utilities
• Cleanup and uninstall previous driver installations
You may think you know all the steps required, but Nvidia has changed their driver installation and removal process greatly in 2011, please take the time to –at the very least- skim this section and make sure you have all your bases covered.
Change Windows Update Settings
First, we need to make sure that after we uninstall our current driver, Windows does not attempt to download a new (and most likely incorrect) driver. To do this in Windows 7, preform the following steps:
• Open the start menu
• Click the “Computer” button in the menu on the right side of the start menu
• Click the “System Properties” button near the top of the window
• Click the “Windows Update” button in the lower left corner of the window
• Click the “Change Settings” button on the left side
• Under “Important Updates” select “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” from the drop down menu
• Click “Ok”
Verify you have administrator privileges
It is extremely important that the user account you are using when adding or removing Nvidia drivers is the primary user account, with full administrative privileges. To verify that you are using this type of an account:
• Open the start menu
• Click on the “Control Panel” menu item
• Click on the green section header named “User Accounts and Family Safety”
• Click on “User Accounts”
• If you are an administrator, your name will have “Administrator” below it. Continue to the next section.
• If you are not an administrator, you must log into an administrator account before continuing this guide. *You should also move the installer to a shared location, and move it back to the desktop when you are logged into an administrator account*
Shut down any GPU monitoring utilities
If you have this software installed, you will know how to perform this step. Programs like EVGA Precision, MSI Afterburner and GPU temperature monitoring gadgets should be prevented from starting automatically and shut down. The methodology is different for every program, so check any manuals you may have. Otherwise, search online for solutions.
Cleanup and uninstall previous driver installations
Before we uninstall the drivers themselves, we need to remove any extracted Nvidia Driver Installer Packages on your hard drive. These files are extracted to the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder by default. If such a folder exists, delete the numbered folders it contains (ie delete the folder “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/190.62”)
*DO NOT delete the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder ONLY what it contains!*
*If during any previous install you DID NOT use the default driver unpacking location, you MUST go to that location and preform these steps.*
*If during any previous install you DID NOT use the default driver unpacking location, you MUST go to that location and preform these steps.*
Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to uninstall the old graphics drivers. To uninstall them:
• Open the start menu
• Click on the “Control Panel” menu item
• Click on “Uninstall a Program”
• The list of programs is sorted alphabetically. Scroll down to the programs who’s names begin with “N”.
• Wait for the list to populate
• Eventually, you should see multiple entries With NVIDIA in the name.
*Remove the program named “NVIDIA Graphics Driver xxx.xx” AFTER ALL other NVIDIA entries are removed*
*This step is VERY important. Read that instruction up there!*
*This step is VERY important. Read that instruction up there!*
*Some Items will require a restart after uninstallation, let the computer reboot, and pick up where you left off afterwards*[/center]
• After all other NVIDIA applications (or ATI, if you’re installing a new card) are removed, uninstall the NVIDIA Graphics Driver
• Once the uninstaller finishes, reboot your computer
• Once you get back to your desktop, Windows should notify you that it detected new hardware and is installing “Standard VGA adapter” that’s normal.
*IF Windows wants to install a “3d Display Device Driver”, you are using an account that does not have administrator privileges. Attempt to cancel out of the install, and log in using another account.*
Now, we are finally ready to install our new drivers. Perk up soldier, the hard part’s over!
Install New Drivers
Double click on the Installer package to start the installation process
*If you see a security message, allow the installer to run with administrative rights*
• After double-clicking on the installer, you are prompted to specify an extraction path. Don’t modify this location! This is not where the drivers are being installed! You are specifying a temporary folder for the installation files to be extracted to.
• Click “OK”
• Once the installer finishes unpacking, agree to the license agreement by clicking “Agree and Continue”
• Select the “Custom(Advanced)” radial button, and then click “Next”
*WARNING: Using the "Express Install Option" in some cases can lead to not being able to boot into Windows.*
*Installing your drivers with Nvidia's "Express Install Option" can be a nightmare for a novice user and is no fun for an expert, and should be avoided AT ALL COSTS!!*
*Installing your drivers with Nvidia's "Express Install Option" can be a nightmare for a novice user and is no fun for an expert, and should be avoided AT ALL COSTS!!*
• The installer allows you to select which components you would like to install. Descriptions for each are listed below
o Graphics Driver (Required) - This is the bulk of the installation and cannot be deselected
o 3D Vision Controller Driver (Optional) - This is a component of the Nvidia 3D vision configuration, which you only need if you have a monitor capable of producing 3D images, glasses, and specialized equipment. It is recommended you do not install this component.
o 3D Vision Driver (Optional) - This is a component of the Nvidia 3D vision configuration, which you only need if you have a monitor capable of producing 3D images, glasses, and specialized equipment. It is recommended you do not install this component.
o HD Audio Driver (NOT RECOMMENDED) – This component is known to cause serious problems in some configurations, and can only really be used if you own a standalone HDMI 1.4 audio receiver. I personally have used it for over a year with no issues, but others have had problems. Install it at your own risk! It is recommended you do not install this component.
o NVIDIA Update (Optional) - This component keeps your PC up-to-date with the latest NVIDIA drivers by notifying you when a new driver is available and directing you to the driver on www.nvidia.com. Starting with R275 drivers, NVIDIA Update also provides automatic updates for game and program profiles, including SLI profiles. Installing this component is up to personal preference.
o NVIDIA PhysX System Software (Optional) - PhysX allows games to compute the physical behavior of objects in real time instead of using pre-computed animations (which can appear noticeably similar after a while). It does not apply to all games however, and is only utilized with specific titles. A complete list of games that use PhysX technology can be found at wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX#PhysX_in_video_games
• Select the ”Perform a clean installation” checkbox, then click “Next”
• Once the installation has finished, click the “Close” button, and manually reboot your computer.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully updated your graphics driver!
Now, let’s do a bit of housecleaning.
Post-Install Cleanup
There are two things we should do after updating our drivers: remove temporary installation files, and check for DirectX updates.
Remove Temporary Installation Files
We now need to remove the leftover extracted Nvidia Driver Installer Package on your hard drive. These files are extracted to the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder by default. If such a folder exists, delete the numbered folders it contains (ie delete the folder “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/190.62”)
*DO NOT delete the “C:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/” folder ONLY what it contains!*
*If during any previous install you DID NOT use the default driver unpacking location, you MUST go to that location and preform these steps.*
*If during any previous install you DID NOT use the default driver unpacking location, you MUST go to that location and preform these steps.*
Update DirectX
It’s a good idea to also check for DirectX updates on a regular basis. They don’t come out very often, but when they do, they can be extremely beneficial. To check for updates:
• Go to www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35 and download the installer.
• Run “dxwebsetup.exe”
• Accept the agreement
• Uncheck the box to install the Bing Bar! (Unless you want it for some reason… weirdo!)
• Click next, and wait for setup to complete
You’ve installed new drivers; now let’s look at customizing your settings for maximum graphical fidelity and performance.
Settings Customization
Using the Nvidia Control Panel
To customize your graphics card settings you need to open up the Nvidia Control Panel. This can be done by right-clicking on a blank area on your desktop, and selecting the “Nvidia Control Panel” menu option. Once you open the NCP, there will be a list of available tasks on the left hand side of the window. Each option is described below, but if you want to adjust global and application-based settings, click on “Manage 3D settings”.
• 3D Settings
o Adjust Image Settings With Preview - An extremely basic version of “Manage 3D settings” using a slider and a graphical preview. Not recommended.
o Manage 3D Settings – Allows for detailed control of both global and application-based settings. Nine out of ten times you use the NCP; you’ll want to go to this window. Recommended.
o Set PhysX Configuration – allows the user to specify which device (Primary GPU, Secondary GPU [when available], CPU, and Auto-assign) handles PhysX calculations. Leave this set to Auto-Select unless you have a secondary GPU you want to run PhysX.
• Display
o Change Resolution – Allows you to change your monitor resolution. Identical to the windows utility.
o Adjust Desktop Color Settings – Allows you to fine-tune your monitors color settings
o Rotate Display – Allows you to rotate the picture on your monitor.
o View HDCP Status – Checks to see if your hardware can play HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) enabled movies.
o Adjust Desktop Size and Position – Allows you to set custom resolution and scaling options for uncommon resolution monitors
o Set Up Multiple Displays – Configures multi-monitor setups (identical to the windows management utility)
• Video
o Adjust Video Color Settings – Allows for fine-tuned color settings that only apply to video content played on your monitor.
o Adjust Video Image Settings – Allows you to adjust video playback enhancement settings, such as on-the-fly Edge sharpening and noise reduction.
Global Settings
When you click on the “manage 3D settings” menu item, you are directed to the global settings page. These settings will be applied to all applications. Below are explanations of the various settings:
{Spoiler}
Under Construction
Ambient Occlusion
• What it does: Adds darker, more realistic shadows. HIGH PERFORMANCE IMPACT. Not supported by all applications.
• Comparison Shots:
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/ambient-occlusion
Anisotropic Filtering
• What it does: Sharpens textures in the distance. MINIMAL PERFORMANCE IMPACT
• Comparison Shots:Coming Soon!
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/AA-AF-guide
Antialiasing – Gamma Correction
• Coming Soon!
Antialiasing – Mode
• What it Does: Removes “jaggies” by adding additional pixels.
• Modes:
o Application Controlled – Application ingame settings control level
o Off – No antialiasing REGARDLESS of in game setting will be applied
o Enhance Application Setting – Increases AA level by indicated increment.
o Override Application setting – Forces application to use specified AA level
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/AA-AF-guide
Antialiasing – Setting
• Coming Soon!
Under Construction
Ambient Occlusion
• What it does: Adds darker, more realistic shadows. HIGH PERFORMANCE IMPACT. Not supported by all applications.
• Comparison Shots:
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/ambient-occlusion
Anisotropic Filtering
• What it does: Sharpens textures in the distance. MINIMAL PERFORMANCE IMPACT
• Comparison Shots:Coming Soon!
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/AA-AF-guide
Antialiasing – Gamma Correction
• Coming Soon!
Antialiasing – Mode
• What it Does: Removes “jaggies” by adding additional pixels.
• Modes:
o Application Controlled – Application ingame settings control level
o Off – No antialiasing REGARDLESS of in game setting will be applied
o Enhance Application Setting – Increases AA level by indicated increment.
o Override Application setting – Forces application to use specified AA level
• More Info: www.geforce.com/Optimize/Guides/AA-AF-guide
Antialiasing – Setting
• Coming Soon!
Recommended Global Settings
To achieve maximum performance across all applications, and provide a stable platform for customized application profiles, some of the default global values should be edited. Specifically:
• Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames should be change to “2”
• Multi-Display/Mixed-GPU acceleration should be set to “Single Display Performance Mode”
• Power Management Mode Should be changed to “Prefer Maximum performance”
• Texture Filtering – Negative LOD Bias Should be set to “Clamp”
Application Profiles
Application profiles overwrite global settings for specific applications. To view application profiles, click the “Program Settings” tab in the “Manage 3D settings” window. Nvidia has hundreds of profiles for popular applications such as Photoshop, Battlefield 2, and Fallout 3. It also allows users to create a profile for any application on their computer. Below is a step-by-step walkthrough for creating an application profile for 18 WoS Haulin’
Creating an 18 WoS Haulin’ Application Profile
• Open the “Program settings” tab of the “Manage 3D Settings” window in the Nvidia Control Panel
• Click the “Add” button
• Select your “prism3d.exe”, found in the main directory of your 18WoS Haulin installation.
o Not sure where that folder is? Right click on the shortcut you use to launch Haulin and click the properties button. In the “Shortcut” tab, click the “Open File Location” button. “Prism3d.exe” will be in that folder
• Click the “open” button
• NCP should recognize the executable as “Hunting 4”, don’t worry, that’s normal.
Dan’s Recommended Haulin’ Settings
Low-End PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “4x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “2x”
Midrange PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “16x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “8x”
• Antialiasing – Transparency Should be changed to “2x”
High-End PC
NOTE: These settings assume you have already changed the global settings to recommended values as directed above.
• Anisotropic Filtering Should be changed to “16x”
• Antialiasing – Mode Should be changed to “Override the Application Setting”
• Antialiasing – Setting Should be changed to “32x CSAA”
• Antialiasing – Transparency Should be changed to “4x”