[dsio]

ive tested all of the 7x.xx drivers to date and the best one from a quality standpoint is the forceware 71.21

so far ive tried
70.90
71.10
71.20
70.21 yellow water bug fixed
71.24 very fast
71.40
71.50

on my card (6800GT) the 71.xx series gave better performance and MUCH better image quality particularly in the aniso filtering department than the 6x.xx series.

the fastest for me is the 71.24 series, and even better, the valance studios modified 71.24s are downright amazing.

theres about 12 extremely talented modders out there at the moment making nvidias driver crew look like complete amateurs.

the newest and best for quality is the 71.21 which fixes a big with the 71.xx series where the water in HL2 looks like dark yellow dog piss.
if your on a nv4x or nv3x go for the 71.24 valance studios extreme G driver and you will not regret it. man up and accept driving your airboat on urine and feel the speed


PS be AWARE of what your downloading. there are some absolute morons releasing moddified nvidia drivers claiming 40% performance gains on 6800 series cards. they DO work. but they overclock your card based on how far they predict it will go and then report FALSE readings of stock gpu/mem speed in rivatuner/driver applet. Noob coders with no optimisation abilities and high end video cards do not mix. period.