Best drivers for 6800 series, and other questions ..

[Bartflaster]

Hi all.
Hopefully I am returning to Nvidia after a couple of years with ATi.
So my question is, in order of priority, the best drivers for:
1. Stability
2. IQ
3. Framerates

Secondly, is there a game profile editor (for instance so I can have a shortcut for game a at 2xAA 4x AF and game B at 4xAA 8xAF etc) similar to the Radlinker tool for ATi ?

Is 4xSS available in control panel, or can it be added if not (I remember it being a good jaggie remover with a smaller performance hit IIRC)

And finally, I have heard that coolbits is still better than coolbits 2 (problems with settings sticking wih 2 ??) is this correct ?

Many Thanks.

[saturnotaku]

Hi all.
Hopefully I am returning to Nvidia after a couple of years with ATi.
So my question is, in order of priority, the best drivers for:
1. Stability
2. IQ
3. Framerates

Like with a lot of things, there is no definite answer for this. One set that might work perfectly for me could give you lots of headaches. I've had the best luck with 61.45 on my 6800 GT. But you could try the following in no particular order: 61.21, 61.34 and 61.71. Unfortunately trial and error is about the only way you're going to find out what works best for you.

Secondly, is there a game profile editor (for instance so I can have a shortcut for game a at 2xAA 4x AF and game B at 4xAA 8xAF etc) similar to the Radlinker tool for ATi ?

Such a feature is already built into the drivers. But you can also use RivaTuner or aTuner (Google is your friend) if the NVIDIA interface is not to your liking.

Is 4xSS available in control panel, or can it be added if not (I remember it being a good jaggie remover with a smaller performance hit IIRC)

4xS can only be enabled through RivaTuner or aTuner as its performance his is much larger than regular 4x. However, since NVIDIA's regular 4x is almost the same sampling pattern as ATI's 4x, the quality is much better and the performance hit is much less. Though 4xS still offers the best image quality of any FSAA mode (be it NVIDIA or ATI) it's not worth the performance penalty even on a card as powerful as the 6800. But that's just my opinion, you might like it better. Again, try it and see for yourself.

And finally, I have heard that coolbits is still better than coolbits 2 (problems with settings sticking wih 2 ??) is this correct ?

The settings not sticking problem will happen with just the overclocking tab enabled. The way around this is to set your desired 3D clock frequencies for 2D mode first, then apply the same settings for 3D.

[Bartflaster]

Thanks Sat :)
I have 61.45, 61.76 and 62.20 downloaded, I dont really want to be messing with drivers too much after I first get the card, will want to be playing with stuff ;) I think I may try 61.45 and see how it goes from there.

Perhaps I was confused with 4xSS, I seem to remember it had less performance hit when I tried on a 5900 of a friends, maybe just my memory (growing old disgracefully ;p).