Nvidia Driver Choice: Opinions which is better?

[hangar 658]

I noticed there are new drivers. Now I have a GTX 1080 and have not changed drivers since 440 series...now I figure I have 2 choice if I'd like to try updating:

466.11 - newly released and apparently causing P3D crashes (I dont own P3D so doesnt effect me)

465.89 - most recent driver prior to the 466.11

As far as MSFS2020 is concerned (and other gaming besides the P3D issue)...does anyone have a preference with one of these over the other?

[Twenty6 692]

Unless the newer drivers offer something you feel is missing in the 440.XX series, stay where you're at. Don't go pokin' the bear.

Unless you like to do things like that in which case bring along someone you can run faster than.

[Ixoye 1,812]

457.30 is probably the one that is ranked highest on all forums, I use it myself and it works well.

[blueshark747 1,843]

457.30 just may be the best driver for folks on 10 series and below GPUs in MSFS

Edited April 14, 2021 by blueshark747

[bobcat999 8,442]

7 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

457.30 is probably the one that is ranked highest on all forums, I use it myself and it works well.

I have used the same one for a while now.  As you say, no issues.  Stable. Not even any CTD's lately.

I have the pauses and other performance issues, but they are due to the sim issues in certain areas.  Where these problems don't exist, I get silky smooth frame rates and excellent performance, even in busy areas (when they are not affected by the sim performance issues).

1080Ti, 4k, 70% scaling, mostly high settings but some ultra, 30FPS on internal Vsync - silky smooth!     

Edited April 14, 2021 by bobcat999

[Ixoye 1,812]

8 minutes ago, blueshark747 said:

457.30 just may be the best driver for folks on 10 series and below GPUs in MSFS

I think it was the last driver that was optimized for the 10 & 20 series cards.

[hangar 658]

10 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

I think it was the last driver that was optimized for the 10

this is what typically has kept me from using the latest drivers all the time...i have found over the years of building systems that quite often the newest drivers on an older card is not always a good idea and in fact could even hurt your performance. That is when I began believing that they probably update the drivers for the newer cards, thereby forcing older card owners to "feel" like they should upgrade to a new card 🙂

But I figured my old 440 series drivers might really be too old where I could still benefit from a newer driver but I'm never sure how to tell which drivers are optimized for my series of card. How are you supposed to look that info up?

Edited April 14, 2021 by hangar

[Ixoye 1,812]

51 minutes ago, hangar said:

this is what typically has kept me from using the latest drivers all the time...i have found over the years of building systems that quite often the newest drivers on an older card is not always a good idea and in fact could even hurt your performance. That is when I began believing that they probably update the drivers for the newer cards, thereby forcing older card owners to "feel" like they should upgrade to a new card 🙂

But I figured my old 440 series drivers might really be too old where I could still benefit from a newer driver but I'm never sure how to tell which drivers are optimized for my series of card. How are you supposed to look that info up?

I really don't know for sure, but i remember i read it on a forum somewhere, i think it was the last driver before the release of the 30 series.

[cianpars 1,162]

The 457.30 was best for my rig.  I've installed all the new drivers since and they have not been quite so good.  The new one seems good though that has been out for a couple of weeks - I'm happy with that one.

For those running VR a different driver might be appropriate though.

[blueshark747 1,843]

3 minutes ago, cianpars said:

The 457.30 was best for my rig.  I've installed all the new drivers since and they have not been quite so good.  The new one seems good though that has been out for a couple of weeks - I'm happy with that one.

For those running VR a different driver might be appropriate though.

I'm getting butter smooth performance in VR with ole faithful 457.30 and the latest update.

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

Even the 30xx series cards seem better off with 457.30. I have a 3090, and the latest drivers made it a stutter-fest, particularly in VR. I’m sticking with Ol’ Faithful from now on.

[The Moose 1,177]

I'm on 465.89 and with my 2060 Super it gets better FPS, is smoother and is better visually than the 457.30.   I'm sticking with this version for the time being. It's butter.

[Stealthystevie 21]

29 minutes ago, The_Moose said:

I'm on 465.89 and with my 2060 Super it gets better FPS, is smoother and is better visually than the 457.30.   I'm sticking with this version for the time being. It's butter.

I'd agree with this, and I've a GTX1080.  The 465.89 is better for me than the old 457.30.  However, I've tried the very latest driver this morning (466.11) and it seems equally as good.  No crashes with any of them, so far.  

[OSM 683]

I have i7, 64 RAM, Win10, GTX 1080 Ti and I always have latest Win 10 update and NVIDIA driver update. From September 2020 till now I never had any problem or CTD with FS2020 and sim always runs stable and smooth.

Edited April 15, 2021 by OSM

[OHN767 82]

I play many of the  newest games, so everytime they notify me of a new driver i update, never had any problems with that.