NVIDIA has finally released a WHQL-certified driver from the Release 256 family.

More than just a performance driver, v257.21, downloadable here, promises to deliver the following improvements:

New in Version 257.21

• Adds support for Blu-ray 3D with NVIDIA 3D Vision technology. Learn more about the hardware and software requirements here .
• Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

• Up to 14% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920x1200 noAA/AF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 4% in Batman: Arkham Asylum (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF PhysX=High)
• Up to 5% in BattleForge (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Very High settings)
• Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF)
• Up to 4% in Crysis: Warhead (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Enthusiast setting)
• Up to 24% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (1920x1200 no AA/AF)
• Up to 9% in Far Cry 2 (2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF)
• Up to 25% in Just Cause 2 (2560x1600 no AA/AF - Concrete Jungle)
• Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1920x1200 no AA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 40% in Metro 2033 with SLI ((1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 8% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920x1200 no AA/AF – Day)
• Up to 110% in Stone Giant with SLI (2650x1600 – Tessellation on, DoF on)
• Up to 6% in The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (2560x1600 no AA/AF)
• Up to 9% in Unigine: Tropics (2560x1600 no AA/AF – OpenGL)
• Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Performance and Extreme Presets)
• Up to 19% with Transparency AA (1920x1200 4xTrSS – measured in Crysis)

• Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0223.
• Adds support for OpenGL 4.0 for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs.
• Adds support for CUDA Toolkit 3.1 which includes significant performance increases for double precision math operations. See CUDA Zone for more details.
• Adds support for new extreme Antialiasing modes for 3-way SLI PCs, including up to SLI48x AA for GeForce 200 series GPUs and up to SLI96x AA for GeForce GTX 400 series GPUs.
• Adds support for a new ‘Quality’ mode for NVIDIA’s Ambient Occlusion control panel feature.
• Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel setup page for SLI and PhysX for ultimate control over multi-gpu configurations.
• Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel feature for ultimate control over CUDA GPUs, allowing the user to effectively choose which GPU will power each CUDA application.
• 3D Vision customers can download the v257.21 3D Vision drivers here.
• Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.

The driver is performance-tuned for the GeForce GTX 480, GTX 470, and GTX 465 cards, providing across-the-board increases in popular games - many of which form the staple diet of benchmarked titles for review sites, by the way.

NVIDIA also adds in updated support for 3D Vision, downloaded separately, but there's no explicit mention of the much-anticipated 3D Vision Surround.

Full release notes can be found here. Please let us know how you get on with this new set in the HEXUS.community.