14 DAY TRIAL // NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480 graphics cards, based on the DirectX 11-capable Fermi architecture, were delayed several times before they finally made it to the market. While issues of cooling, power consumption and overall performance were definitely behind these delays, driver development also played a role. Since the cards started selling, however, the GPU maker updated the software on several occasions, and there were few issues that needed to be resolved. Instead, the hardware developer had a chance to focus on increasing functionality. The latest version is the GeForce Driver Release 197.75 WHQL.
The GeForce Driver Release 197.75 version became available last week in beta form and has now gained Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification. This driver only supports the Santa Clara, California-based hardware maker's DirectX 11 adapters. While the change log does not exactly include any sort of major adjustments or resource-allocation changes, it does note the addition of a feature for the high-end GeForce GTX 480, namely 4-way SLI support.
Fermi may have been designed as the most powerful GPU on the market, but NVIDIA also made a point of enhancing multi-GPU performance when it constructed its adapters. When the video boards were first introduced, they only supported 3-way SLI setups. With this newest software, however, true enthusiasts will be able to see just how massive a performance is possible to attain with four GTX 480 cards on the same motherboard.
The GeForce Driver Release 197.75 WHQL:
- Adds 4-way SLI support for GeForce GTX 480. - Is the recommended driver for the beta release of the PC game APB, short for the MMO game All Points Bulletin, developed by Realtime Worlds and based on the Unreal Engine 3.
The software can be downloaded from NVIDIA's website or directly from the links below.
Nvidia GeForce Display Driver 197.75 WHQL for XP
Nvidia GeForce Display Driver 197.75 WHQL for XP64
Nvidia GeForce Display Driver 197.75 WHQL for Vista/Win7
Nvidia GeForce Display Driver 197.75 WHQL for Vista64/Win7x64