# Nvidia 196.75 drivers causing graphics cards to die



## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/nvidia-196-75-drivers-causing-graphics-cards-to-die-2010035/

http://www.incgamers.com/News/21293/nvidia-19675-kills-video-cards

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

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## burntreality (Jul 30, 2008)

Another reason I do not upgrade my graphics card driver unless I am having problems lol.


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## loserOlimbs (Jun 19, 2004)

Glad I figured out a long time ago that NVidia has chronically bad drivers...

I bet those card owners are steaming mad, but use Beta at your own risk!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

loserOlimbs said:


> I bet those card owners are steaming mad, but use Beta at your own risk!


They weren't beta drivers!

*WHQL-certified 196.75 drivers*

FWIW, I've had as many problems with ATI drivers over the years as I have with nVidia drivers.


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## TechGuy (Feb 12, 1999)

How long were the drivers up before they got pulled? That's a pretty scary mistake! It's not often you hear about software that actually damages the hardware...


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## peck1234 (Aug 27, 2008)

Another reason I do not upgrade my graphics card driver unless I am having problems lol.

Really? You do you know that driver releases (especially GPU releases) most often contain large performance enhancements. 

How long were the drivers up before they got pulled? That's a pretty scary mistake! It's not often you hear about software that actually damages the hardware...

Drivers were up for about a day. The reason the software damaged the hardware in this case was due to the lack of automated fan control . The fan would stay idle under intense load therefore heating up the card and if the OS entered sleep mode on resume the fan would be off! Luckily I manage all my all my Nvidia fan settings manually and have realtemp running 24/7 with a custom high temp alarm set. Personally I feel that even when Nvidias automated fan control is working my card still gets to hot for my taste. I'm still on the 196.75 and loving it... The 30% increase in performance in Left 4 Dead and 20% increase in crysis is well worth it. : P


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## ryanthompson (Mar 15, 2010)

mmmm... this makes me confused whether to update or not my invidia driver


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## burntreality (Jul 30, 2008)

ryanthompson said:


> mmmm... this makes me confused whether to update or not my invidia driver


A rule of thumb I go by about Graphic Drivers, if it isn't broke don't mess with it. If your current drivers are providing you with a good experience, I would stick with them.


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## techkid (Sep 2, 2004)

What puzzles me is, do they not test these things before distribution?


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