NVIDIA 344.48 WHQL Drivers Available; DSR Added To Fermi & Kepler
by Jarred Walton on October 22, 2014 3:32 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- Gaming
- NVIDIA
- Game Ready
NVIDIA just released their latest driver updates today, bringing us up to version 344.48. These are WHQL certified drivers, and they're also Game Ready for several upcoming titles. NVIDIA specifically calls out Civilization: Beyond Earth (launching tomorrow), Lords of the Fallen (coming October 28), and Elite: Dangerous (a Kickstarter game currently available in Beta form). You can snag the drivers at the usual place, or if you're like most people and are running a desktop GPU on Windows 7/8.1 64-bit, here's the direct link; the drivers are also available for most NVIDIA laptops.
Looking over the complete release notes, the 344.48 drivers also bring DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) support to Kepler and Fermi GPUs, there are a few tweaks to upcoming games (e.g. Assassin's Creed Unity notes that control panel FXAA is disabled), and SLI profiles have been added for ten new games. There are no specific details on performance improvements with the new drivers, which is insteresting as usually about a month or two after a major GPU launch (i.e. GM204), NVIDIA will further refine their drivers to extract more performance; perhaps we'll see some performance enhancements in the near future for GM204 owners.
Source: NVIDIA
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nathanddrews - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
From the notes:"NVIDIA GPU PhysX acceleration is not available if there is a non-NVIDIA graphics
processor in the system, even if it is not used for rendering."
So if you have enabled an Intel IGP, AMD APU, or AMD dGPU, you can't use PhysX? WTF Nvidia?
WithoutWeakness - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
This line has been in several releases of Nvidia's driver notes for a while now. This is Nvidia's shitty way of stopping people from using AMD cards with a secondary Nvidia card for processing PhysX. They want you to buy only Nvidia hardware if you want to play in their sandbox.This prevents hardware-accelerated PhysX from running but software-based PhysX still works in many games so your CPU can usually run the PhysX calculations if you have a non-Nvidia card. How well it runs depends on the game and how strong your CPU is.
Morawka - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
i have intel HD 4600 from my 4690K Enabled and a GTX 980. I can confirm that PhysX still works fine. Must just be for AMD cardsI keep my iGPU enabled for quick sync encoding in Handbrake.
MrSpadge - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
"still works fine" - on your GPU or CPU?Death666Angel - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
Been the case for as long as nVidia owned PhysX and figured that people used cheap nVidia card with powerful AMD cards just for the PhysX. There are hacked drivers that work, but it was enough of a hassle for me to forego any such tinkering (been using AMD exclusively since the HD3770X2). It's a scummy move.MrSpadge - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
I have 2 systems with nVidia GPUs and Intel IGPs, with all GPUs running number crunching code 24/7. And an occasional game on the nVidia. I'm glad I did not yet notice the PhysX limitation, i.e. I would not have any use for it anyway.eddman - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
It's nothing new, as others have already mentioned.As for IGPs; is it even possible for an IGP and dGPU to run at the same time?
AFAIK, that's not the case and the computer switches between the two, according to the graphics work load, meaning that GPU accelerated physx should work when the nvidia dGPU is in use.
P.S. non-accelerated physx runs on CPU and has nothing to do with the type of GPU you have.
Goty - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
An IGP and dGPU can run in tandem; AMD has their "hybrid crossfire" implementation that allows for both to be used for rendering simultaneously.fade2blac - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
I don't think they can be shared by the same program outside of SLI/Crossfire, but they can definitely be enabled and used simultaneously. I used to have my HD 3000 enabled so that when games would go full screen 3D on my main screen using my dGPU I could still have a web browser or media application active on a secondary display.eddman - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
@GotyI meant an Intel IGP and an nvidia dGPU. Of course AMD parts can work together.
@fade2blac
Yes, I meant in a single application/game, where the intel IGP and nvidia dGPU can work together. That's not possible. Two separate programs, sure.