Nvidia has announced the availability of WHQL-certified GeForce drivers for Windows 8.1 Release Preview systems. This version 326.01 driver can be installed from Windows update after you have finished installing the Release Preview update. Also Nvidia has released a new set of drivers supporting the newly released GeForce GTX 760, these are the 320.49 Beta drivers for Windows Vista or newer. (link supplied is for the 64-bit versions)
Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 Release Preview users now have WHQL-certified GeForce drivers available for their systems in the shape of the new GeForce driver version 326.01 for Windows 8.1. The new drivers will be available to you after you install the Windows 8.1 Release Preview- you will get a notification concerning the update via Windows Update.
A statement on the official Nvidia blog says that “NVIDIA has long been committed to working with Microsoft to ensure the best possible Windows experience for GeForce users. Our close working relationship with Microsoft allows us to provide WHQL-certified GeForce drivers via Windows Update on Day 1 for key milestones such as this Release Preview”. However I would advise caution in using this update, especially if you have an Nvidia Optimus graphic chip switching equipped laptop. Nearly all the comments on the Nvidia blog say that only the Intel integrated portion of the graphics hardware is recognised.
GeForce 320.49 Beta Driver
These drivers are flagged as the “launch drivers for the newly released GeForce GTX 760” by Nvidia. They contain fixes to issues reported in the 320.18 drivers and many performance enhancements compared to the GeForce 314.22 WHQL-certified drivers.
As well as official support for the GTX 760 these drivers bring upgraded performance to many other supported graphics cards (400/500/600 series GPUs). Nvidia lists an example of performance gains in the popular mid-range GeForce GTX 660 graphic card both on its own and in SLI mode. The new beta driver boosts the GTX 660 performance, up to 20 per cent, as follows:
|
GeForce GTX 660:
|
GeForce GTX 660 SLI:
|
There are several added and updated SLI profiles also provided in the new beta 320.49 driver. Check here for more details, here are the full release notes (PDF)
