nVidia v295.73 released

[Bad_Machine]

Vista/7 x32 http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-wi...ql-driver.html
Vista/7 x64 http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-wi...ql-driver.html

This is the first WHQL-certified driver from the R295 family of drivers. It is the recommended upgrade for all GeForce users, especially those playing the latest hot PC games like Battlefield 3, Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements and are now Microsoft WHQL-certified. Read the full GeForce 295.73 driver article on GeForce.com.
R295 Highlight Summary
New features and performance since last WHQL-certified driver

• Game-changing performance boost of up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, “the fastest selling title in Steam’s history”
• Up to 2x performance Mass Effect 3 with SLI technology.
• GeForce-exclusive quality enhancements with ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo III, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
• New 3D Vision and SLI profiles for over 50 titles.
• New PhysX software for the best experience in top PhysX titles like Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.

R295 Highlight Details
Performance

• Increases performance by up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (measured with GeForce GTX 560 at 1080p Ultra settings in indoor scenes vs. 285.62).
• Updates the NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to a higher performance profile.
• Boosts Mass Effect 3 SLI performance to up to 2x.

Ambient Occlusion

• Adds ambient occlusion support for Diablo III. See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.
• Updates the ambient occlusion support for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to a higher performance profile (also in 290 beta drivers). See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.
• Adds ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (also in 290 beta drivers). See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.

NVIDIA SLI

• Adds or updates SLI profiles for:
  • Mass Effect 3
  • Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
  • The Darkness II
  • F1 2011
  • Oil Rush
  • Red Faction: Armageddon
  • 7554
  • Trine 2
  • WRC 2: FIA World Rally Championship 2011
  • Afterfall: InSanity.
  • ArcheAge
  • Core Blaze

NVIDIA 3D Vision

• Adds support for 3D Vision windowed mode on DLP HDTVs and on Optimized for GeForce passive 3D monitors.
• Added new 3D Vision laser sight /crosshair options to better match Skyrim crosshairs.
• Adds or updates 3D Vision profiles for:
  • The Adventures of Tintin – rated Good
  • Afterfall: Insanity – rated Fair
  • ANNO 2070 - rated Not Recommended
  • Apache: Air Assault – rated Fair
  • Black Prophecy – rated Not Recommended
  • Chaos Online – rated Fair
  • Choplifter HD - rated Good
  • Cities XL 2012 - rated Good
  • Da Vinci Online – rated Fair
  • Dino D-Day - rated Good
  • DotA 2 – rating upgraded to Fair
  • Dungeon and Dragons: Daggerdale – rated Fair
  • Edge - rated Excellent
  • Ferrari Project – rated Not Recommended
  • The First Templar – rated Fair
  • Fractal – rated Excellent
  • FreeStyle 2 – rated Good
  • The Haunted Halls Reach – rated Excellent
  • Insane 2 - rated Excellent
  • King Arthur II – rated Not Recommended
  • Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – rated Fair
  • Kong Fu Ying Xiong – rated Fair
  • Love Beat – rated Good
  • Marvel Super Hero Squad Online – rated Good
  • Microsoft Flight – rated Fair
  • Perpetuum – rated Fair
  • Post Apocalyptic Mayhem – rated Fair
  • Prototype 2 – rated Fair
  • Q.U.B.E. – rated Excellent
  • Quan Qiu Shi Ming – rated Excellent
  • Red Bull X-Fighters - rated Excellent
  • rFactor 2 (mod mode) – rated Good and updated convergence
  • Risen 2: Dark Waters - rated Fair
  • Saints Row: The Third – Rated Not Recommended
  • Shadow Company: Left for Dead – rated Not Recommended
  • Special Force – Rated Good
  • Tera – rated Good
  • Top Gun: Hard Lock – rated Not Recommended
  • Tropico 4 – rated Good
  • Worms Blast – rated Good
• If you are using 3D Vision with the 3D Vision USB emitter, please read this FAQ for more details on installation.

NVIDIA PhysX

• Updates PhysX System Software to 9.12.0209 for improved compatibility with Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.

NVIDIA Surround

• Enables WHQL-certified support for NVIDIA Surround on Intel X79 SLI-certified motherboards.

HD Audio

• Updates HD Audio to version 1.3.12.0.

Battlefield 3

• Fixes instances of texture corruption/artifacts in Battlefield 3 when memory constrained (typically 1GB or less graphics cards running Ultra settings and high resolutions).

Other Details

• Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.
• 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 and AMD motherboards.

[Hameister]

I still don't understand the big deal about "Ambient Occlusion".

Most of the time I can see no difference, on or off, and even in the side by side frame comparison it's barely noticeable.

That aside, this driver does offer a lot of improvements.

[Computurd]

you know, squish once spent 30 minutes in a video chat explaining ambient occlusion to me. Interesting, but like you my friend, i have a hard time discerning the difference. even around 'halo' light street fixtures and whatnot.

these are the things i do when im supposed to be writing LOL. lets hope les doesnt read this...

[Hameister]

you know, squish once spent 30 minutes in a video chat explaining ambient occlusion to me. Interesting, but like you my friend, i have a hard time discerning the difference. even around 'halo' light street fixtures and whatnot.

these are the things i do when im supposed to be writing LOL. lets hope les doesnt read this...

What ever happened to Squish? I liked his style. He was here as a regular for about 6 weeks, and then just disappeared???

[stratosrally]

I'm not running the full battery of tests at this time, but a quick run of Heaven 2.5 netted me a 5fps performance boost with these new drivers.

As I just completed the install, I have not yet used them in any of my usual gaming titles yet. If I run into issues I'll post them here.

BTW - I didn't install the PhysX driver that came w/the package, because they (strangely) released a newer version of PhysX the same day. I installed it instead.

All this is probably moot - I am not playing Skyrim or BF3, which seem to be the focus of the last handful of driver releases.