Nvidia 196.75 drivers killing cards

[Dave3d]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=7551

[RoachBurn]

Nice find Dave! I haven't updated in awhile but I was considering it recently. Screw that now.

[Sir Golitech]

Good find indeed, I almost upgraded to that driver yesterday. Decided to do a clean up of the system first, then install them, but I had not got around to the install part yet.

[ol'norton]

I lost a 280 GTX & an 8800 GTX in 2 days to the 195.62 drivers a while back & it was happening to a lot of others then.

Now Pete's just lost a 280 GTX.

[Just Learnin']

Yes but I was using the 196.21 drivers which they say are ok though.

Nice find Dave! I haven't updated in awhile but I was considering it recently. Screw that now.

They actually pulled that driver set from their site yesterday RB.

[ol'norton]

Yes but I was using the 196.21 drivers which they say are ok though.

Dam, I just downloaded those for my sisters 285 GTX to replace the 196.75's I put in the other day.

[Just Learnin']

Dam, I just downloaded those for my sisters 285 GTX to replace the 196.75's I put in the other day.

Well two 9800 GX2's another GTX 280 as well as a GTX 295 are running the 196.21 drivers here and have been since they came out so I don't think it is the drivers that caused it to die. They said the issue with the 196.75's was that the cards fried due to improper fan control. They re-listed the 196.21's as the latest drivers and pulled the 196.75's.

[ol'norton]

They said the issue with the 196.75's was that the cards fried due to improper fan control.

That what they were saying about the 195.62's
Example

[Reese]

I was running the 196.21's but was having graphical errors, and some programs wouldn't even load. Therefore I upgraded to the 196.34 Betas.

I had to shut my pc down the other night due to excessive heat, while running the 196.34's. I don't know if it is related to the drivers, but the vent on the back of my card was too hot to touch, and it has never gotten like that, prior to upgrading my drivers.

Has anyone heard anything about the 196.34's?

[Just Learnin']

That what they were saying about the 195.62's
Example

Did you read that whole thread Johnny? Seems his GFX card temps jumped by 30 degrees when he put the side panel on his case. Don't think it was just a driver issue he had. Interesting the oven bake fixed it as well. Anyone recall all the laptop cards Nvidia had to replace due to improper solder? Think the regular PC cards were really any different? Also the the guy is accusing Nvidia of flashing the BIOS on his card with a set of drivers!

[venger]

I've been running the 195.62's on a 8800gts g92 for a long time. I don't know about my fan speeds, but I haven't had any heat issues that I know of or lockups. I suppose if the fan speed was only running at a minimal speed there is potential for throttling. Is ntune the best app to monitor fan speeds or perhaps speedfan?

EDIT: I decided to try out Nvidia System Monitor and enabled logging and performed a very quick test. On auto- idle 46%@52C and after loading up a game it went to 63%@61C

[Dave3d]

I use rivatuner to manage my fan settings.
On my gaming rig, I have the fan running at 100% all the time, since I dont have the option to have an aftermarket heatsink on it (stupid pci-e ports are too close together).

On my non-gaming, or old skool gaming rigs, I leave the fans stock, so the video card will manage it.