GeForce/ION Driver Release 256 258.96

Version: 258.96 WHQL
Release Date: 2010.07.19
Operating System: Windows 7 32-bit, Windows Vista
Language: English (U.S.)
File Size: 94.3 MB

Release Highlights

This is a WHQL-certified release from the Release 256 family of drivers (versions 256.xx to 259.xx). This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, and 400-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs. Learn more about Release 256 drivers here .

New in Release 258.96

  • Adds support for GeForce GTX 460 .
  • Adds support for NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology. Learn more about this technology including the hardware and software requirements here.
  • Adds additional performance increases for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games (these improvements are in addition to the previously reported Release 256 improvements). The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:
    • 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)
  • Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0224.
  • Upgrades HD Audio driver version 1.0.15.0 (for supported GPUs).
  • Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.
  • Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

New in Release 256 Drivers

  • Adds support for Blu-ray 3D with NVIDIA 3D Vision technology. Learn more about the hardware and software requirements here .
  • Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:
    • Up to 14% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920x1200 noAA/AF – Tessellation on)
    • Up to 4% in Batman: Arkham Asylum (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF PhysX=High)
    • Up to 5% in BattleForge (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Very High settings)
    • Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF)
    • Up to 4% in Crysis: Warhead (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Enthusiast setting)
    • Up to 24% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (1920x1200 no AA/AF)
    • Up to 9% in Far Cry 2 (2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF)
    • Up to 25% in Just Cause 2 (2560x1600 no AA/AF - Concrete Jungle)
    • Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1920x1200 no AA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
    • Up to 40% in Metro 2033 with SLI ((1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
    • Up to 8% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920x1200 no AA/AF – Day)
    • Up to 110% in Stone Giant with SLI (2650x1600 – Tessellation on, DoF on)
    • Up to 6% in The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (2560x1600 no AA/AF)
    • Up to 9% in Unigine: Tropics (2560x1600 no AA/AF – OpenGL)
    • Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Performance and Extreme Presets)
    • Up to 19% with Transparency AA (1920x1200 4xTrSS – measured in Crysis)
  • Adds support for OpenGL 4.0 for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs.
  • Adds support for CUDA Toolkit 3.1 which includes significant performance increases for double precision math operations. See CUDA Zone for more details.
  • Adds support for new extreme Antialiasing modes for 3-way SLI PCs, including up to SLI48x AA for GeForce 200 series GPUs and up to SLI96x AA for GeForce GTX 400 series GPUs.
  • Adds support for a new ‘Quality’ mode for NVIDIA’s Ambient Occlusion control panel feature.
  • Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel setup page for SLI and PhysX for ultimate control over multi-gpu configurations.
  • Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel feature for ultimate control over CUDA GPUs, allowing the user to effectively choose which GPU will power each CUDA application.

Additional Information:

  • Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5 .
  • Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here .
  • Supports the new version of MotionDSP's video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here .
  • Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
  • Supports OpenCL 1.0 ( Open Computing Language ) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
  • Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
  • Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
  • Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software .

Supported products

GeForce 400 series:
GTX 480, GTX 470, GTX 465, GTX 460

GeForce 300 series:
GT 340, GT 330, GT 320, 315, 310

GeForce 200 series:
GTX 295, GTX 285, GTX 280, GTX 275, GTX 260, GTS 250, GTS 240, GT 240, GT 230, GT 220, G210, 210, 205

GeForce 100 series:
GT 140, GT 130, GT 120, G 100

GeForce 9 series:
9800 GX2, 9800 GTX/GTX+, 9800 GT, 9600 GT, 9600 GSO, 9600 GS, 9500 GT, 9500 GS, 9400 GT, 9400, 9300 GS, 9300 GE, 9300, 9200, 9100

GeForce 8 series:
8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512, 8800 GTS, 8800 GT, 8800 GS, 8600 GTS, 8600 GT, 8600 GS, 8500 GT, 8400 SE, 8400 GS, 8400, 8300 GS, 8300, 8200 / nForce 730a, 8200, 8100 / nForce 720a

GeForce 7 series:
7950 GX2, 7950 GT, 7900 GTX, 7900 GT/GTO, 7900 GS, 7800 SLI, 7800 GTX, 7800 GS, 7650 GS, 7600 LE, 7600 GT, 7600 GS, 7550 LE, 7500 LE, 7350 LE, 7300 SE / 7200 GS, 7300 LE, 7300 GT, 7300 GS, 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7100 GS, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i, 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a, 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i, 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a

GeForce 6 series:
6800 XT, 6800 XE, 6800 Ultra, 6800 LE, 6800 GT, 6800 GS/XT, 6800 GS, 6800, 6700 XL, 6610 XL, 6600 VE, 6600 LE, 6600 GT, 6600, 6500, 6250, 6200 TurboCache, 6200SE TurboCache, 6200 LE, 6200 A-LE, 6200, 6150SE nForce 430, 6150LE / Quadro NVS 210S, 6150 LE, 6150, 6100 nForce 420, 6100 nForce 405, 6100 nForce 400, 6100

ION series:
ION LE, ION