NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Anything related to video and my tools that is not a support request.
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What GeForce drivers are you using?

Always the latest
4
29%
34x.xx versions (2015)
2
14%
35x.xx versions (2015)
1
7%
36x.xx versions (2016)
3
21%
362.xx versions (2016)
3
21%
364.xx versions (2016)
0
No votes
Outdated versions (for outdated cards)
1
7%
 
Total votes: 14
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sparktank
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NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by sparktank »

:twisted: Disclaimer: Okay, let's start off that this is going to look messy as a post. :twisted:
Point form:
  • your card, OS, driver
  • your issues with certain driver versions
  • your recommended driver version(s)
  • info lots of info
So it's no surprise NVidia drivers have their "fun" moments.
I'm curious as to what experiences people are having, and under what circumstances.

I think it would be neat to see what cards and drivers people use.
Please specify what older drivers you use and why (problems with newest drivers, etc).
Please list card, OS (x86/x64), driver verison. And any additional info you feel necessary.

Also please mention things about current driver support. (crashes, limiations, sli-related, multiple monitor-realted, etc) :bug:

The PDF "release notes" never really seem to give me any real information except for specific games and/or players for circumstances that I would never use the drivers for (mostly related to M$ software players/functions, etc). Even if they did release more technical information, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know what it means. :lol:
But, I'd like to hear what developers and advanced users think about the current state of NVidia drivers.

I was initially going to ask what the latest hubbub is about the recent driver updates for 36x.xx and newer.
..I just lost my train of thought.
(thouht x) recent driver issues -> (thought Y) ??? -> (thought Z) find out what people are using, how, and why. and etc. :scratch:

I saw these comments so I'm curious for more background on them.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=485&p=4770#p4768
admin wrote:In another domain, did you guys see the latest POS nVidia driver? I'm almost to the point of ditching nVidia and going full bore with Intel MSDK. Woe is me, what to do? Patience is a virtue and all that, but it just keeps getting worse and worse.
admin wrote:
Groucho2004 wrote: I'm still using 350.12, no problem whatsoever.
Trust me, do not upgrade to 364.xx!
I'm also interested in hearing what versions of the drivers people recommend.
Since most of them seem to be fore video game updates, I'm not too hyped to update on same-day release of newer drivers.
Although, the recommendation is probably most relevant to user's OS.

Lately I've just been going blindly into driver updates.

Sorry, if this seems convoluted and disorganized.

As of this post, latest NVidia driver is:
364.47 March 7, 2016
---------------------------------------------------

Me, I'm using:
Windows 7 64-bit build 7601 [Service Pack 1]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
R362.00 (r361_74-13) / 10.18.13.6200 (2-23-2016)
DGDecNV v2051 (32bit) [slipstream: Mar 02, 2016]
AviSynth+ 0.1 (r1779, MT, i386)

I do basic processing with dgnv in avisynth.
I don't use QTGMC.
About the only plugin I use that depends on NVidia driver is...
KNLMeansCL.
EDIT2: I also use SVP (Smooth Video Project) constantly, which will use NVidia opencl. And barely ever crash.
Only issues I face with SVP is if I rapidly seek without letting it refresh (to be expected).

EDIT: And the biggest problems I have so far are memory issues in Avspmod. (not out of memory, using SetMemoryMax(512/768) all the time.
But that might be more about the instability of MT versions of AVS+. Largley on seeking rapidly in Avspmod.
OR it might be more about recent python updates and compatibility with whatever version avspmod was built for at the then time. :?:
I don't believe I've had much random crashes in avspmod when using AVS_260.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

"36x" is not enough because 362 is "OK" but 364 is a nightmare.

nVidia and me? Hmm, OK. Well, I just got banned at the nVidia Geforce drivers forum for complaining too much and I suppose inciting discontent. Or maybe my suggesting that outsourcing their driver development wasn't such a good idea hit their tender spot. :lol:

To answer your post, I have a 950 on Win 10 64-bit and a 620 on Win 8.1 64-bit, running 362.00 on both. My upgrade attempt to 364.47 on the 950 system was a disaster this morning, as it was for many others. You should read the thread at the geforce forum. I got a little too cheeky I suppose and they banned me. No loss really though because I've never received any support over there. Posts just go unanswered forever.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by sparktank »

Updated poll.

Ouch. That's really bad.
I've checked out the forums several times before but never found anything useful there.
It seems largely oriented towards gamers.

I remember when every update just started being called "game ready".

It's quite unfortunate to hear the limited direction they're going.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

Yes, sparktank, for sure. We'll just have to ride things out. The key for me will be if they ever release 10-bit support for CUVID. There's no reason why they couldn't do it right now, it's trivial. And that makes me wonder about support for CUVID in the future, despite my earlier knee-jerk reaction dismissing such concerns. If they just released 10-bit and kept supporting CUVID in the drivers then we could be good for at least 2-3 years. But just forget about support for older cards on Win 10, it's not going to happen. We have to be realistic and accept that as a small niche user group we have to hold out our beggar's bowl and hope for the best.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

Wow, you're still on WinXP. :wow:

I have to try to keep up with the latest driver to test fixes, new features (like HEVC), etc., otherwise I would follow your sensible policy.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by sparktank »

With UHD-BD's coming out, someone is bound to crack the AACS 2.0 and allow wider PC support.
They really ought to reconsider themselves or expand their team. Let the gamers game.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

Unfortunately gamers are the big market segment, much bigger than us.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by Aleron Ives »

I'm on Windows 7 x64 with a GTX 760 using driver 326.80, because the 33x series of drivers introduced a regression for OpenCL applications that cuts performance by 30 - 50% and was never fixed, as nVidia doesn't care about GK104 cards anymore. The only way to avoid the bug is to use a driver no later than the 327 series or to use an architecture newer than GK104. The GTX 760 meets my needs well, so I haven't seen any reason to buy a newer card.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

Hey Aleron, I hope you are well.

May I ask what OpenCL applications you use?
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by Aleron Ives »

Folding@home is the only one. I also using my GTX 760 for gaming, but I don't play any games new enough to benefit from nVidia's constant tweaking for Direct3D, and there is a workaround for the one instance where new drivers would improve my OpenGL performance, so I prefer to use that workaround for OpenGL and keep my OpenCL performance, as there is no workaround for OpenCL if you use drivers with the bug.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

Makes sense, thanks.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by admin »

nVidia released a hasty beta to replace the horribly broken WHQL driver 364.47. At their forum lots of people were asking two things: 1) how could such a broken driver ever have passed WHQL, and 2) why did nVidia leave it up for over a day after they were aware it was bricking PCs world-wide. Neither of these questions were answered by the cowardly PeterS, nor did he apologize for the debacle. [start rant] Could it be the result of 3rd-world incompetent outsourced developers doing crappy work and then fabricating the WHQL documentation to satisfy a game release deadline? Hey guys, I lived in India for 4 years. I very well know that such nonsense goes on there all the time. I also worked for a major semiconductor manuafacturer and had to work with software developed in India. It was a nightmare, not only due to the 12-hour time difference but due to the horrible quality. We had to redo a lot of stuff, but the bean counters never take that into consideration. I should also observe that the Indian developers based in the US that I know are fine highly competent developers, probably because they are properly managed and become integrated into environments that value and demand quality. nVidia seems now to be driven by game release dates rather than by achieving viable quality release goals. nVidia better be careful or they will go the way of Chipotle. Make software great again, greater than ever before! [end rant]

The beta 364.51 so far appears to be OK on my 950 win 10 64 system. So we now have a situation where WHQL and beta have reversed significance.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by sparktank »

When was the last time it wasn't safe to update to newest WHQL drivers?
Any time there was an update, my friends would always joke about when they should update next. They still feel that away and I think one of them just turned away from NVidia entirely. He's quit the gaming life and uses an Intel laptop for recreation now (decent integrated graphics, capable of playing his bluray remuxes).

Considering most are for games, they should call most of them betas and only release a WHQL release when there's something new about it.
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by Aleron Ives »

I never rely on WHQL certification when it comes to deciding which driver to use; I read user reports of each driver version specifically related to which driver provides the best performance on my particular GPU and the particular application where performance matters most to me. After I've collected samples from several forums, I install whichever driver is most often confirmed to a) provide good performance and b) not set my PC on fire. After that, I never update my GPU driver again unless a) I want to use another application that demands a feature only found in a new driver or b) I buy a new GPU that doesn't support my current driver.

My update strategy when it comes to both hardware and software is to never change anything unless I have a specific reason to do so. I do not update for the sake of updating; just because a new version of something is out does not mean that it will make things better, but there is always a real chance that it will make things worse. If Windows 10 should teach us anything, it's that this philosophy holds true for operating systems, too. ;)
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Sharc
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by Sharc »

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (Yorkfield)
GPU: GeForce 9600 GS Codename G94
GPU Driver Version: 341.92 (9.18.13.4192 of 13-Oct-2015)

No issues, just outdated ;)
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Re: NVidia and You(?) (complete with poll)

Post by Sharc »

Anon17 wrote:
Sharc wrote:No issues, just outdated ;)
That should read "Outdated, therefore no issues". The causality should be obvious. ;)
Good point !
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