Nvidia has just released GeForce R304 beta drivers for Windows 7. Versions compatible with Windows XP and Windows 8 will be also available soon, Nvidia said.

Performance Improvements

The GeForce 304.48 beta drivers include new performance optimizations that give all GeForce 400, 500, and 600 Series users faster frame rates in some of the most popular titles.

On the GTX 680 Nvidia measured gains of up to 17.6% in Batman: Arkham City, 12.4% in Dragon Age 2, 4% in Lost Planet 2, and 9.8% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Detail Settings & Results:

• Batman: Arkham City: 2560x1600, Very High detail level, Tessellation High, PhysX Off, FXAA Very High. Performance increased by 17.6% (17.1% with Tessellation and PhysX disabled, 9.7% with PhysX High, and 7.5% with both Tessellation High and PhysX High enabled simultaneously).
• Dragon Age 2: 2560x1600, max settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 12.4%.
• Lost Planet 2: 1920x1080, DirectX 11, max settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 4%.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat: 2560x1600, DirectX 11, Extreme settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 9.6%, and by 9.8% when anti-aliasing was disabled.

Using a second GTX 680 in SLI, we measured gains of up to 5.8% in Batman: Arkham City, 15% in Dragon Age 2, and 6.4% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Detail Settings & Results:

• Batman: Arkham City: 2560x1600, Very High detail level, Tessellation High, PhysX Off, FXAA Very High. Performance increased by 5.9% (5.5% with Tessellation and PhysX disabled, 2.4% with PhysX High when using FXAA Very High, 4.3% with PhysX High when using 4xMSAA, and 4% with Tessellation High, PhysX High and FXAA Very High enabled simultaneously).
• Dragon Age 2: 2560x1600, max settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 12.2%, and by 15% when anti-aliasing was disabled.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat: 2560x1600, DirectX 11, Extreme settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 6%, and by 6.4% when anti-aliasing was disabled.

On the GTX 560 we measured gains of up to 14% in Batman: Arkham City, 5.5% in Dragon Age 2, and 6.7% in Lost Planet 2.

Detail Settings & Results:

• Batman: Arkham City: 2560x1600, Very High detail level, Tessellation Off, PhysX Off, FXAA Very High. Performance increased by 14% (12% with Tessellation High, 8% with PhysX High, and 10.1% with both enabled simultaneously).
• Dragon Age 2: 1920x1080, max settings, no anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 2.8%, and by 5.5% at 2560x1600, using max settings and 4xMSAA anti-aliasing.
• Lost Planet 2: 1920x1080, DirectX 11, max settings, no anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 6.7%.

Using a second GTX 560 in SLI, we measured gains of up to 11.9% in Batman: Arkham Asylum, 5.2% in Battlefield 3, 6.1% in Dragon Age 2, 4% in Lost Planet 2, 5.3% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and 7.9% in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

Detail Settings & Results:

• Batman: Arkham City: 2560x1600, Very High detail level, Tessellation High, PhysX Off, 4xMSAA. Performance increased by 11.9% (10.8% without Tessellation or PhysX, 4% with PhysX High, and 5% with both PhysX High and Tessellation High enabled).
• Battlefield 3: 1920x1080, Ultra detail level, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 5.2%.
• Dragon Age 2: 2560x1600, max settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 6.1%, and by 6.4% when anti-aliasing was disabled.
• Lost Planet 2: 1920x1080, DirectX 11, max settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 4%.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat: 2560x1600, DirectX 11, Extreme settings, 4xMSAA anti-aliasing. Performance increased by 5.3%.
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: 1920x1080, max settings, Ubersampling Off, Anti-Aliasing On. Performance increased by 6.8%, and by 7.9% when anti-aliasing was disabled.

In addition to improving performance in the aforementioned titles, the GeForce 304.48 beta drivers also fix a bug introduced by the latest Shogun 2: Total War update that reduced frame rates by up to 60%.

User Experience Enhancements

When users enabled FXAA globally they found that certain applications, like Windows Live Mail, were being anti-aliased also, making text unreadable. To rectify this issue Nvidia is now disabling FXAA?s use in the programs identified.

On the GeForce GTX 670, 680 and 690, some users identified an occasional micro-stutter when gaming with VSync or Adaptive VSync enabled. Nvidia has introduced a fix that will improve the smoothness of VSync gaming.

When using GeForce 3xx drivers and factory-overclocked graphics cards from Nvidia's partners, some users received poor levels of performance, a result of the graphics card?s clock speed being reduced to idle levels. As with the VSync issue above, this problem is also rectified by the new GeForce 304.48 beta drivers.

NVIDIA Control Panel Game Enhancements

With the release of the GeForce 304.48 beta drivers Nvidia is enabling NVIDIA Control Panel Ambient Occlusion support in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Multisampe Anti-Aliasing support in Diablo III, L.A. Noire, Rayman Origins, and The Secret World.

To enable MSAA in Diablo III, navigate to ?Manage 3D settings? in the NVIDIA Control Panel, select the ?Program Settings? tab, select ?Diablo III? in the dropdown, and customize the settings as shown in the example below. If you cannot locate the Diablo III entry, click ?Add? and navigate to the Diablo III .exe, located by default in C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo III.

New & Updated SLI Profiles

The new GeForce driver also includes new and updated profiles for today?s top titles, increasing performance and unleashing the full power of SLI systems.

• F1 2011 - Updated profile
• Final Fantasy XIV - Updated profile
• PlanetSide 2
• Saints Row: The Third - Updated profile
• Spec Ops: The Line
• Torchlight II
• Tribes: Ascend

New & Updated 3D Vision Profiles

New and updated 3D Vision profiles are also included in the GeForce 304.48 beta drivers.

• Alan Wake's American Nightmare - Rated Poor
• Borderlands 2 - Updated profile with new convergence settings
• Depth Hunter - Updated rating to 3D Vision Ready
• Mass Effect 3 - Updated in-game compatibility message and profile to be more compatible with community 3D mods
• Max Payne 3 - Updated rating to Excellent and updated in-game compatibility message to inform players to use DirectX 11, to disable MSAA and use FXAA Very High instead, and to use SSAO instead of HDAO.
• Street Fighter X Tekken - Rated 3D Vision Ready
• The Walking Dead - Rated Good
• Tiger Woods PGA 12: The Masters - Rated Good
• Tribes: Ascend - Rated Fair

Fixed Single-GPU Issues

• 3DTV Play: Add support for the Vestel 42PF8219 display.
• GeForce 500 series: Antialiasing from the NVIDIA Control Panel does not work when games are played at a 3DTV play resolution.
• GeForce 500 series: DiRT 3 - The application fails to launch with FXAA and 3D Vision enabled.
• GeForce 500M series: Faint horizontal lines appear within darker color regions of the screen.
• GeForce 600 series: ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard - GPU does not work with the ASUS KGPE-D16 motherboard.
• GeForce 600 series: F1 2011 - Performance degradation issue.
• GeForce 600 series: The system hangs and does not post after reboot during driver installation if a DisplayPort 1.2 branch device is connected to the DisplayPort connector.
• Media Player Classic Home Cinema displays a black screen during playback when using the MadVR video renderer.
• The monitor resolution presented in the NVIDIA Control Panel is not refreshed when hot swapping a monitor.

You can download the GeForce 304.48 beta drivers with one click from the GeForce.com homepage.