14 DAY TRIAL // Since their inception, NVIDIA's video controllers from the Quadro series have been used by a variety of professionals, in fields such as media, entertainment, manufacturing, design and sciences. Over the years, they have been employed to create virtual 3D models, the special effects of Hollywood movies or to conduct virtual simulations in museums or laboratories. Now, in order to keep these cards up-to-date and improve their performance, the Santa Clara, California-based GPU maker has released the latest drivers, namely the WHQL-certified Quadro Driver 197.28 for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
Informed professionals and consumers alike might recognize NVIDIA's Quadro line as the means by which the special effects and 3D rendering were accomplished in films like Avatar, I Am Legend, Tabula Rasa, Open Season, The Da Vinci Code and Spider-Man 3, among others. In sciences, the same series of adapters has been and is being used for tasks such as real-time medical imaging, simulation of surgery biomechanics and neural circuitry in the brain, as well as visualizing complex molecular systems and their processes.
Most of these applications rely on the CUDA technology, which, inherent in Quadro cards, enables and optimizes GPU computing. In order to increase productivity and further optimize this capability, the new drivers bring support for more advanced CUDA, improve compatibility, fix several bugs and allow an overall increase in performance. Depending on the exact Quadro model that end-users own, the new drivers will accomplish the following:
Add support for CUDA 3.0 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications;
Resolve fan speed issues reported with version 196.75 drivers;
Add support for the Open Computing Language (OpenCL) 1.0 in Quadro FX Series x700 and newer as well as the FX4600 and FX5600;
Bring Workstation application compatibility fixes and performance improvement.
The new drivers are available for download directly from the company's official website or following the links below.
Nvidia Quadro Display Driver 197.28 WHQL for XP Nvidia Quadro Display Driver 197.28 WHQL for XP64 Nvidia Quadro Display Driver 197.28 WHQL for Vista/Win7 Nvidia Quadro Display Driver 197.28 WHQL for Vista64/Win7x64