NVIDIA GeForce 177.92 beta delivers big speed boost

NVIDIA rolled out GeForce 177.92 beta drivers for Windows XP and Windows Vista, you can grab them over here. I haven't tested the driver but if the information in the release log is correct this driver should give NVIDIA's cards a much needed performance boost.

There are performance gains for single GPU and SLI setups, the most notable improvements are 15% gains in Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock DX10. Crysis isn't mentioned in the changelog, looks like they couldn't squeeze more performance out of that game.

Here's the changelog of the Windows XP driver:

Supports GeForce 6-series, 7-series, 8-series, 9-series, and 200-series GPUs, including the newly released GeForce 9800 GTX+, 9800 GT, 9500 GT, and 9400 GT GPUs.

Adds support for NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory (this driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.08.18).

Experience GPU PhysX acceleration in several full games and demos today by downloading the GeForce Power Pack.

Adds support for 2-way NVIDIA SLI technology with GeForce GTX 200-series GPUs on Intel D5400XS motherboards.

Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9 and OpenGL.

Supports CUDA.

Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.

Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

Includes several 3D application performance improvements. The following are examples of improvements measured with v177.92 WHQL versus v175.19 WHQL driver:

• Single GPU increases up to 11% in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
• Single GPU increases up to 11% in Assassin's Creed DX10
• Single GPU increases up to 15% in Bioshock DX10
• Single GPU increases up to 15% in Call of Duty 4
• Single GPU increases up to 8% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• 2-way SLI increases up to 7% in Bioshock DX10
• 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts DX10
• 2-way SLI increases up to 12% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in World in Conflict DX10

Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.