Release 186 Graphics Drivers

ReleaseNotes

Version 186.81

Rev. A

For WindowsVista 32-bit

and WindowsVista 64-bit

NVIDIA Corporation

September 3, 2009

Published by

NVIDIA Corporation

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Copyright

© 2008, 2009 by NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

Release 186 Graphics Drivers

ReleaseNotes

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to ReleaseNotes

Structure of the Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Changes in this Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Release 186 Driver Changes

Version 186.81 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What’s New in Release 186 . . . . . . . . . . 3

What’s New in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . 5

Limitations in This Release. . . . . . . . . . . 5

Changes in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit . . . . . . 6

Changes in Version 186.03 . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit . . . . . . 7

Changes in Version 185.85 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit . . . . . . 8

Changes in Version 185.81 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit . . . . . . 9

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 64-bit . . . . . . 9

Open Issues in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . 10

WindowsVista 32-bit Issues . . . . . . . . . 10

WindowsVista 64-bit Issues . . . . . . . . . 11

Not NVIDIA Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

WindowsVista Limitations . . . . . . . . . . 12

Unsupported Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

OpenGL Application Issues . . . . . . . . . 14

Application Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Known Product Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Image Sharpening Control not Available with

GeForce 8 Series and later GPUs . . . . . 16

Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard . . . . . . . 16

3. The Release 186 Driver

Hardware and Software Support . . . . . . . . 17

Supported Operating Systems . . . . . . . . 17

Supported NVIDIA Products . . . . . . . . . 18

Supported Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Minimum Hard Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . 22

Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

A. Mode Support for Windows

General Mode Support Information . . . . . . . 24

Default Modes Supported by GPU . . . . . . . 25

Understanding the Mode Format. . . . . . . 25

GeForce 9M, 8M, 100M, 200M and Quadro NVS

and Quadro FX Notebook GPUs. . . . . . 26

Modes Supported by TV Encoders . . . . . . . 29

NVIDIA Corporation

i

Release 186 Graphics Drivers

ReleaseNotes

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Table 3.2 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Table 3.3 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table A.1 Modes Supported for High Resolution Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Table A.2 Non-standard Modes Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Table A.3 Mode Support for S-Video and Composite Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Table A.4 Mode Support for Component YPrPb Out and DVI Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

NVIDIA Corporation ii CONFIDENTIAL

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

C HAPTER

INTRODUCTION TO RELEASE NOTES

This edition of ReleaseNotes describes the Release 186 Graphics Drivers for Microsoft ®

Windows ® Vista. NVIDIA provides these notes to describe performance

improvements and bug fixes in each documented version of the driver.

This is a reference driver that can be installed on supported NVIDIA GeForce,

Quadro NVS, and Quadro FX notebook GPUs. However, please note that your

notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides certified drivers for your

specific notebook on their website. NVIDIA recommends that you check with your

notebook OEM about recommended software updates for your notebook. OEMs may

not provide technical support for issues that arise from the use of this driver.

Structure of the Document

This document is organized in the following sections:

• “Release 186 Driver Changes” on page 2 gives a summary of changes, and fixed and

open issues in this version.

• “The Release 186 Driver” on page 17 describes the NVIDIA products and languages

supported by this driver, the system requirements, and how to install the driver.

• “Mode Support for Windows” on page 23 lists the default resolutions supported by

the driver.

Changes in this Edition

This edition of the ReleaseNotes for WindowsVista includes information about

NVIDIA graphics driver version 186.81, and lists changes made to the driver since

version 179.48. These changes are discussed beginning with the chapter “Release 186

Driver Changes” on page 2.

NVIDIA Corporation 1

Graphics Drivers, Release 186 Version 186.81

C HAPTER

RELEASE 186 DRIVER CHANGES

This chapter describes open issues for version 186.81, and resolved issues and

driver enhancements for versions of the Release 186 driver up to version 186.81.

The chapter contains these sections:

• “Version 186.81 Highlights” on page 3

• “Changes in Version 186.81” on page 6

• “Changes in Version 186.03” on page 7

• “Changes in Version 185.85” on page 8

• “Changes in Version 185.81” on page 9

• “Open Issues in Version 186.81” on page 10

• “Not NVIDIA Issues” on page 13

• “Known Product Limitations” on page 16

NVIDIA Corporation CONFIDENTIAL 2

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Version 186.81 Highlights

This section provides highlights of version 186.81 of the NVIDIA Release 186 Driver

for WindowsVista.

• What’s New in Release 186

• What’s New in Version 186.81

• Limitations in This Release

What’s New in Release 186

•This is a reference driver for Quadro FX, Quadro NVS series, GeForce 8M,

9M, 100M, and 200M series notebook GPUs.

Some notebooks are not supported by this release. Refer to the “Supported NVIDIA

Products” on page 18 for the list of supported GPUs and notebooks.

NVIDIA Control Panel Updates

3D Settings

• Ambient Occlusion setting (new in the Manage 3D Settings page for Windows

Vista)

Ambient occlusion enhances depth perception and adds realism to 3D scenes by

providing a soft shadow effect to objects based on their placement in the scene.

• SLI Antialiasing (new in the Manage 3D Settings page for WindowsVista)

Now available under WindowsVista as well as Windows XP.

• Workstation/Quad‐buffered 3D Stereo (new Stereo‐Display mode settings in the

Manage 3D Settings page)

Added support for the following stereoscopic 3D hardware and modes:

• GeForce 3D Vision hardware–generic active stereo, via on‐board DIN connector,

passive (Clone mode) modes, and 3D DLP display

• Generic active stereo

• Horizontal interlaced stereo displays

• Sub‐field stereo displays

• Side‐field stereo displays

• SeeFront Autostereoscopic LCD

• Texas Instruments 3D Ready DLP® (Digital Light Processing technology)

displays

• Tridelity Multi‐View and Single‐Viewer displays

NVIDIA Corporation 3

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues

Version 186.81 Highlights

• Planar StereoMirror TM displays

Display

• Set up Multiple Displays (revised under WindowsVista)

In Release 185, when SLI mode is enabled, users can now select a display from

different GPUs as long as the GPUs are in the same SLI group.

• Displays must still be connected to the same GPU under Clone mode.

• Quad SLI: When using GeForce X2, Quadro X2, or the GeForce GTX 295

graphics cards, only GPUs that have two display connectors can be used to drive

displays. Typically, display connectors lined up on the same slot position are

connected to the same GPU.

• NVIDIA recommends connecting displays to the same GPU to shorten the driver

reload time on the initial setup.

• Adjust Desktop Color Settings page (revised under WindowsVista)

Applications now have the option of controlling the desktop color settings.

Video & Television

• HDCP Status

New page for verifying whether the system is HDCP‐capable

• Adjust TV Color Settings page (revised under WindowsVista)

Applications now have the option of controlling the TV color settings.

Display Driver Updates

Device Support

Added support for EDID‐like devices.

Hotplug Behavior

When hotplugging or hot‐unplugging a digital display, the driver detects the display

and then configures the multi‐display mode and display resolution based on the

recent record of the displays connected. If no record exists, then the driver applies

default settings. A popup message appears at the system notification tray to alert the

user of the change.

The automatic display configuration also occurs upon powering on the computer and

booting into WindowsVista if the driver detects a change in display connections since

the last Windows session.

Notebook-Specific Updates

NVIDIA Display Power Saving technology option appears in the WindowsVista

Power Options‐>Advanced settings tab .

4 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Video Updates

• Compute‐based DVD upscaling

• CUDA Video Encoder 1.1: Added support for CUDA‐enabled GPUs with less than

32 cores to the NVIDIA Video Encoding library.

CUDA Updates

• CUDA 2.2

• CUDA Video Encoder V1.1: Added support for CUDA‐enabled GPUs with less

than 32 cores to the NVIDIA Video Encoding library.

OpenGL Updates

• Support for OpenGL 3.0

• Implemented NVX_shader_buffer_load (OpenGL Shading Language).

What’s New in Version 186.81

• Supports NVIDIA PhysX hardware acceleration on GeForce notebook GPUs

with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory and a minimum of

32 processor cores.

This driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v9.09.0428.

• Added support for the following Hybrid SLI notebooks:

• Dell Studio XPS1340

• MSI EX630

• Qosmio X305‐Q706

• Qosmio X305‐Q708

•See “Changes in Version 186.81” on page 6 for a list of resolved issues.

Limitations in This Release

The following are features that are not currently supported or have limited support in

this driver release:

NVIDIA Control Panel features that are Not Yet Available

Support for the following control panel features is under development and not yet

available under WindowsVista:

•Display Category

• The Graph tab on the Adjust Desktop Color Settings page is not available.

NVIDIA Corporation 5

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Changes in Version 186.81

Changes in Version 186.81

The following sections list the changes made and issues resolved since driver version

186.03.

The NVIDIA bug number and driver module are provided for reference.

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit

Multi- GPU Issues Resolved

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: The PhysX option is disabled by default after driver

installation. [544945]

6 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Changes in Version 186.03

The following sections list the changes made and issues resolved since driver version

185.85.

The NVIDIA bug number and driver module are provided for reference.

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit

Single- GPU Issues Resolved

• GeForce 8800M GTX: The graphics driver installation fails on some GeForce 8800M

GTX notebooks. [552077]

NVIDIA Corporation 7

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Changes in Version 185.85

Changes in Version 185.85

The following sections list the changes made and issues resolved since driver version

185.81.

The NVIDIA bug number and driver module are provided for reference.

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit

Single- GPU Issues

• Company of Heroes DirectX 10– scrolling the camera side to side causes hitching

despite a high frame rate when stationary. [538673]

8 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Changes in Version 185.81

The following sections list the changes made and issues resolved since driver version

179.48.

The NVIDIA bug number and driver module are provided for reference.

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 32-bit

Single- GPU Issues

• GeForce 9500M/9400M: The multi‐display mode switches from Dualview to singledisplay

mode after changing the resolution and scaling option for the secondary

display. [510300]

• GeForce 8800M GTX: External HDMI TV cannot be set to single‐display mode, and

cannot be set as the primary Clone mode or Dualview mode display.[470434]

Multi- GPU Issues

• [SLI], GeForce8800M GTX: Bioshock–the game hangs with a blank screen when

toggling to the full‐screen mode using Alt+Tab at 1920x1200. [486274]

Fixed Issues–WindowsVista 64-bit

Single- GPU Issues

• GeForce 8800M GTX: With HDTV connected to component‐out and enabled in

single‐display mode, the display switches to the LVDS upon resume from Sleep or

Hibernate mode. [457620]

NVIDIA Corporation 9

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Open Issues in Version 186.81

Open Issues in Version 186.81

As with every released driver, version 186.81 of the Release 186 driver has open issues

and enhancement requests associated with it. This section includes lists of issues that

are either not fixed or not implemented in this version. Some problems listed may not

have been thoroughly investigated and, in fact, may not be NVIDIA issues. Others

may have workaround solutions. Many of these issues are system‐specific and may

not be seen on your particular notebook.

• “WindowsVista 32‐bit Issues” on page 10

• “WindowsVista 64‐bit Issues” on page 11

WindowsVista 32-bit Issues

Single GPU Issues

• ION system: With an external display connected, the display numbering changes

after resuming from Sleep/Hibernate mode, whether in single‐display or Dualview

mode. [572614]

Quadro FX Series

• Quadro FX 3700M: When resuming from lid‐close activated Sleep mode, keyboard

and mouse response is very sluggish. [521241]

• Quadro FX 2700M:The NVIDIA Control Panel shows an extra display on the ”Set

up multiple displays” page. [540993]

GeForce 9M Series

• GeForce 9700M GTS: The system does not resume from Standby/Sleep mode.

[542034]

• GeForce 9600M GT: The shortcut keys for selecting the color option in the NVIDIA

Control Panel ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work. [515450]

• GeForce 9600M GT: With Clone mode enabled and the LVDS set to “Do not scale”,

the LVDS resolution cannot be changed.[469380]

• GeForce 9600M GT: Hot keys (keyboard shortcut) for selecting the ʹcolorʹ option in

the ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work.[515450]

• GeForce 9400M G: With the system set to single‐display mode, clicking “Restore

Defaults” from the NVIDIA Control Panel Setup Multiple Displays page results in

the page showing that the secondary display is enabled. [561570]

• GeForce 9400M G: Hot‐key display switching fails on first attempt after switching

displays using the NVIDIA Control Panel. [569456]

• GeForce 9400M G: The settings on the “Change Flat Panel Scaling” page are not

updated properly after resizing the desktop and then restoring the default settings.

[510854]

10 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

• GeForce 9400M G: Under Clone mode, each display has different video color

settings from the NVIDIA Control Panel “Adjust Video Color Settings” page.

[505275]

GeForce 8M Series

• GeForce 8700M GT: VGA hotplug/unplug is not detected without refreshing the

NVIDIA Control Panel or the Device Manager. [461613]

• GeForce 8600M GS: When a display is connected via component‐out and Clone

mode is enabled, the system switches to Dualview mode upon resume from

Hibernate [490576]

Multi-GPU Issues

• [Hybrid SLI], GeForce 9400M: The Resize HDTV desktop settings are not preserved

after resuming from Standby/Hibernate mode right after switching to Hybrid Save

power mode. [576168]

• [Hybrid SLI], Dell Studio XPS 13 (GeForce 9500M): After overinstalling the driver,

only one adapter is listed in Device Manager and Hybrid SLI functionality is not

available. [590063]

To workaround the issue, first uninstall your existing driver before installing this new

driver.

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: Far Cry 2 (DirectX 10)–sky textures show flickering

corruption when changing the in‐game resolution during gameplay. [492934]

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: The display list on the Set SLI Configuration page is not

updated properly when hot‐plugging or hot‐unplugging a display. [478691]

NVIDIA Corporation 11

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Open Issues in Version 186.81

WindowsVista 64-bit Issues

Single GPU Issues

• GeForce 9600M GT: The shortcut keys for selecting the color option in the NVIDIA

Control Panel ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work. [515450]

• GeForce 9400M G: Hot‐key display switching fails on first attempt after switching

displays using the NVIDIA Control Panel. [569456]

• GeForce 9400M G: The settings on the “Change Flat Panel Scaling” page are not

updated properly after resizing the desktop and then restoring the default settings.

[510854]

Multi-GPU Issues

• [Hybrid SLI], Dell Studio XPS 13 (GeForce 9500M): After overinstalling the driver,

only one adapter is listed in Device Manager and Hybrid SLI functionality is not

available. [590063]

To workaround the issue, first uninstall your existing driver before installing this new

driver.

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: Multi‐display mode is not preserved between users

after performing a Fast User Switch. [541252]

12 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Not NVIDIA Issues

This section lists issues that are not due to the NVIDIA driver as well as features that

are not meant to be supported by the NVIDIA driver for WindowsVista.

• “WindowsVista Limitations” on page 12

• “Unsupported Features” on page 13

• “OpenGL Application Issues” on page 14

• “Application Issues” on page 15

WindowsVista Limitations

These are behaviors that may be different from Windows XP and are related directly to

the WindowsVista operating system.

• NVIDIA TurboCache

WindowsVista now controls the allocation of system memory to the GPU for

TurboCache functions. The WindowsVista Display Properties pages show the

shared system memory (SSM), or how much memory is allocated for NVIDIA GPUs

to use for TurboCache.

For more information on graphics memory reporting under WindowsVista, visit

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphicsmemory.mspx.

NVIDIA Corporation 13

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues

Not NVIDIA Issues

Unsupported Features

The following are features and functionality that were available in driver releases

supporting Windows XP, but are not–and will not be–available in driver releases for

WindowsVista:

• High resolution scaling desktop (HRSD)

• MultiView Display Mode (for NVIDIA Quadro NVS graphics cards)

• NVKeystone

• Unified back buffer (UBB) controls

• OpenGL Video Overlays

This is an operating system limitation.

Vista window manager features will provide new ways of accomplishing overlays,

but will require application porting.

• Overclocking

GPU overclocking is no longer supported in the default GPU driver control panel.

This feature is available in the NVIDIA System Tools software, which you can

download from NVIDIA.com.

• GPU Temperature Monitoring

Temperature monitoring is no longer supported in the default GPU driver control

panel. This feature is available in the NVIDIA System Tools software, which you

can download from NVIDIA.com.

• AGP Settings Adjustment

• Video Zoom

• Pan & Scan ‐ the process of panning across the desktop in order to display a

desktop on a monitor with lower resolution

• Per‐display Desktop Color Setting Adjustments

For Clone mode, the desktop color setting adjustments through the NVIDIA

Control Panel can only be made across all displays in a system, and not on a perdisplay

basis.

• Per‐display Video Color Setting Adjustments

For Dualview mode, the video color setting adjustments through the NVIDIA

Control Panel can only be made across all displays in a system, and not on a perdisplay

basis.

• Edge Blending

• Run display optimization wizard

• Run multiple display wizard

14 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

• Run television setup wizard

• nView Horizontal and Vertical Span Modes

Due to architectural changes in the new WindowsVista Window Display Driver

Model (WDDM), span mode cannot be supported in NVIDIA graphics drivers.

NVIDIA recommends using the built‐in WindowsVista multi‐display modes.

• Display/Connection Wizard (such as was provided with Windows Media Center

Edition)

• DVD/MPEG Extensions (such as was provided with Windows Media Center

Edition)

• Audio Extensions (such as was provided with Windows Media Center Edition)

• NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager

The nView Desktop Manager will not be included in drivers for GeForce products.

OpenGL Application Issues

The following are known compatibility issues for OpenGL applications developed

under Windows XP:

• Mixed GDI and OpenGL rendering does not work.

A number of applications use GDI to render UI components and object

highlighting. This is not supported in the WindowsVista driver model.

NVIDIA recommends converting GDI rendering to OpenGL.

The following are some applications that are known to have this issue:

• Maya 7.01

• Applications, Tools, and Benchmarks not Supported Under WindowsVista

• GLperf

• 3ds max 8 (later releases may be supported)

• CATIA V5R15 (V5R16 is supported)

• PTC’s CDRS 2001

• Front buffered rendering may be slow, especially when DWM is enabled.

Flushing the rendering queue while rendering to the front buffer may cause the

window manager to recomposite. Applications should therefore minimize the

frequency with which they flush the rendering queue.

NVIDIA Corporation 15

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues

Not NVIDIA Issues

Application Issues

• GeForce 8600M GT: Warmonger 2.1–the game intermittently stops responding after

changing in‐game resolution. [482889]

• GeForce 8600M GT: Dead Space ‐ a “your graphics card does not meet Dead Space

minimum requirement” error message appears after launching the game.

[491410]

This is a limitation of the application, and only occurs if your monitor does not support 60

Hz refresh rate.

• GeForce 8600M GT: MPEG1 and MPEG2 playback using iTunes is choppy. [537550]

The application does not use hardware acceleration.

16 NVIDIA Corporation

Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues

Known Product Limitations

Known Product Limitations

This section describes problems that will not be fixed. Usually, the source of the

problem is beyond the control of NVIDIA. Following is the list of problems and where

they are discussed in this document:

• “Image Sharpening Control not Available with GeForce 8 Series and later

GPUs” on page 16

• “Gigabyte GA‐6BX Motherboard” on page 16

Image Sharpening Control not Available with GeForce 8

Series and later GPUs

With GeForce 8 Series and later graphics cards, the Image sharpening slider on the

NVIDIA Control Panel‐> Display‐>Adjust Desktop Color Settings page is grayed out.

This control is intentionally disabled because image sharpening is not supported on

GeForce 8 series and later GPUs.

Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard

This motherboard uses a LinFinity regulator on the 3.3‐V rail that is rated to only 5 A—

less than the AGP specification, which requires 6 A. When diagnostics or applications

are running, the temperature of the regulator rises, causing the voltage to the NVIDIA

chip to drop as low as 2.2 V. Under these circumstances, the regulator cannot supply

the current on the 3.3‐V rail that the NVIDIA chip requires.

This problem does not occur when the graphics board has a switching regulator or

when an external power supply is connected to the 3.3‐V rail.

16 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

C HAPTER

THE RELEASE 186 DRIVER

This chapter covers the following main topics:

• “Hardware and Software Support” on page 17

• “Driver Installation” on page 22

Hardware and Software Support

Supported Operating Systems

The Release 186 driver, version 186.81, has been tested with Microsoft Windows®

Vista RTM OS builds version 6000 or higher, and supports both 32‐bit and 64‐bit

versions of WindowsVista Editions:

• WindowsVista Home Basic

• WindowsVista Home Premium

• WindowsVista Business

• WindowsVista Enterprise Edition

• WindowsVista Ultimate

NVIDIA Corporation 17

Chapter 3: Release 186 Driver Issues

Hardware and Software Support

Supported NVIDIA Products

• “Supported GeForce GPUs” on page 18

• “Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs” on page 19

• “Supported NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs” on page 20

Supported GeForce GPUs

Table 3.1 lists the NVIDIA products supported by the Release 186 driver, version

186.81

Table 3.1

Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs

Consumer Products

GeForce GTX 280M

GeForce GTX 260M

GeForce GTS 160M

GeForce GT 130M

GeForce GT 120M

GeForce G 102M

GeForce G 110M

GeForce G 107M

GeForce G 105M

GeForce G 103M

GeForce 9800M GTX

GeForce 9800M GTS

GeForce 9800M GT

GeForce 9800M GS

GeForce 9700M GTS

GeForce 9700M GT

GeForce 9650M GT

GeForce 9650M GS

GeForce 9600M GT

GeForce 9600M GS

GeForce 9500M GS

GeForce 9500M G

GeForce 9400M G

GeForce 9400M

GeForce 9300M GS

GeForce 9300M G

GeForce 9200M GS

GeForce 9200M GE

GeForce 9100M G

GeForce 8800M GTX

GeForce 8800M GTS

GeForce 8800M GS

GeForce 8700M GT

18 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Table 3.1 Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs

Consumer Products

GeForce 8600M GT

GeForce 8600M GS

GeForce 8400M GT

GeForce 8400M GS

GeForce 8400M G

GeForce 8200M G

The driver supports notebooks based on the GPUs listed in Table 3.1. However, the

following notebooks are not supported in this release:

• Hybrid SLI notebooks:

• Acer Aspire 7530

• BenQ Joybook S42

• Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 3650

• Fujitsu notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for

these notebooks)

• Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver

support for these notebooks)

• Sony VAIO notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for

these notebooks)

• Any notebook that is launched after the release of this driver version.

Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs

Table 3.2 lists the NVIDIA products supported by the Release 186 driver, version

186.81

Table 3.2 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs

Consumer Products

Quadro NVS 320

Quadro NVS 160M

Quadro NVS 150M

Quadro NVS 140M

Quadro NVS 135M

Quadro NVS 130M

The driver supports notebooks based on the GPUs listed in Table 3.2. However, the

following notebooks are not supported in this release:

NVIDIA Corporation 19

Chapter 3: Release 186 Driver Issues

Hardware and Software Support

• Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver

support for these notebooks)

• Any notebook that is launched after the release of this driver version.

Supported NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs

Table 3.3 lists the NVIDIA products supported by the Release 186 driver, version

186.81

Table 3.3

Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs

Consumer Products

Quadro FX 3700M

Quadro FX 3600M

Quadro FX 2700M

Quadro FX 1700M

Quadro FX 1600M

Quadro FX 770M

Quadro FX 570M

Quadro FX 370M

Quadro FX 360M

Supported Languages

The Release 186 Graphics Drivers supports the following languages in the main driver

Control Panel:

English (USA) German Portuguese (Euro/Iberian)

English (UK) Greek Russian

Arabic Hebrew Slovak

Chinese (Simplified) Hungarian Slovenian

Chinese (Traditional) Italian Spanish

Czech Japanese Spanish (Latin America)

Danish Korean Swedish

Dutch Norwegian Thai

Finnish Polish Turkish

French

Portuguese (Brazil)

20 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

Driver Installation

Minimum Hard Disk Space

The hard disk space requirement is minimum 200 MB.

Before You Begin

• If you have previously installed NVIDIA nTune, NVIDIA recommends that you

uninstall nTune before installing this driver. After the driver install is complete, you

can reinstall NVIDIA nTune.

• Check to make sure that your notebook has a supported GPU and is not listed in the

exclusion list (see “Supported NVIDIA Products” on page 18).

• It is recommended that you back up your current system configuration.

• If you own a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, or Dell XPS M1530, Dell

LatitudeD630 or D630c, it is highly recommended that you first install this Dell

software update.

Installation Instructions

1 Follow the instructions on the NVIDIA .com Web site driver download page to

locate the appropriate driver to download, based on your hardware and operating

system.

2 Click the driver download link.

3 The license agreement dialog box appears.

4 Click Accept if you accept the terms of the agreement, then either open the file or

save the file to your PC and open it later.

5 Extract the zip files to a temporary folder on your PC.

6 Open the NVIDIA driver installation .EXE file to launch the NVIDIA InstallShield

Wizard.

7 Follow the instructions in the NVIDIA InstallShield Wizard to complete the

installation.

Note: After the driver installation, Windows may default to 16‐bpp color and disable

the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). To work around this issue, set the color

to 32‐bpp and then reboot the PC.

NVIDIA Corporation 21

Chapter 3: Release 186 Driver Issues

Driver Installation

22 NVIDIA Corporation

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81

A PPENDIX

MODE SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS

This chapter details the Windows modes supported by the Release 186 driver for

NVIDIA products. It contains these sections:

• “General Mode Support Information” on page 24

• “Default Modes Supported by GPU” on page 25

• “Modes Supported by TV Encoders” on page 29

NVIDIA Corporation 23

Chapter A: Release 186 Driver Issues