Just after NVIDIA launched its first mainstream graphics card, the GTX 460, the company brought out the beta version of the latest series of video drivers. Said drivers enabled support for the new card, added some functionality features, fixed numerous bugs and even boosted performance in several high-tier games. That BETA version did not have WHQL certification, however. Now, the video board supplier has finished the WHQL version and has set it up on its official download page. The driver supports products from the GeForce GTX 400 series (GTX 480, 470, 465 and 460) and also GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200 and 300 models. ION GPUs are also compatible with this new release. What the driver does is upgrade the PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0224. it also takes the HD Audio driver to version 1.0.15.0, so long as the GPU itself supports it. These benefits come in addition to the support for 3D Vision Surround technology (on Windows Vista and Windows 7), which allows games to be played, on SLI systems, in 3D and on three monitors at once. No doubt enthusiasts will be pleased with the expended feature support and the many bug fixes, but the fact remains that gamers will actually be more interested in how high a boost in frame rates the new release enables. Fortunately, the GeForce/ION Driver Release 258.96 actually does enhance performance, at maximum settings, in a significant amount of titles, including Crysis: Warhead, Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2, among others. The percentages by which the experience is improved in each game are the following. -Up to 11% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on) -Up to 7% in Crysis: Warhead (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Gamer) -Up to 4% in H.A.W.X (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Very High) -Up to 10% in Just Cause 2 (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF - Concrete Jungle) -Up to 6% in Metro 2033 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on) -Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on) -Up to 10% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF) -Up to 12% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF) -Up to 4% in World in Conflict (SLI – 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF) End-users can download the corresponding driver version by following one of the links below. Nvidia GeForce/ION Display Driver 258.96 WHQL for XP Nvidia GeForce/ION Display Driver 258.96 WHQL for XP64 Nvidia GeForce/ION Display Driver 258.96 WHQL for Vista/Win7 Nvidia GeForce/ION Display Driver 258.96 WHQL for Vista64/Win7 x64