Is 361.43 WHQL the most stable driver on Windows 10 right now?

[banzaigtv]

After having to reinstall Windows 10 due to failed boots caused by either Windows updates or 361.91 WHQL, I've been fighting with the video drivers and the ones I tried, including 358.91 WHQL, which was installed by default, caused BSODs when trying to wake the PC from sleep. Then I installed 361.43 WHQL, an older driver version from last December which added support for VR headsets, and after about five sleep/wake cycles, no issues so far. Does everyone else agree that this is a good driver worth keeping? If so, I'm scared to update the drivers again after all that has happened and with the recent bad batch of drivers. 361.82 WHQL works fine on Windows 8.1, but was problematic on Windows 10. Can anyone shed some light into this matter?

[CursedPanther]

364.51 is the latest hotfix, although no one will blame you for wanting to stay with the 361/362 versions for now.

[Revelene]

364.51 is the latest driver and is completely stable.

If you are having this much issue... then it sounds like you have an issue with your system.

Windows 10 is not Windows 8.1. Drivers that work on 8.1 may not work on 10, especially if the driver is older than Windows 10.

If you upgraded to Windows 10 via the upgrade process, rather than a clean install... it can cause issues.

You also need to update ALL drivers after installing Windows 10. Since you probably did the upgrade, you may very well have old drivers causing conflicts. You can get all the latest drivers from your motherboard's support webpage.

GPU driver should come from either the Nvidia or GeForce webpage.

Since you are having so much instability, I recommend running Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU by Wagnard) before installing the latest driver. Also, be sure to disconnect from the internet until the new driver is installed, to avoid Windows updating it for you (assuming you don't have Windows 10 setup to ignore hardware drivers).

[Azza ☠]

^ This

Look up your offical motherboard website > support > drivers (get the Win 10 latest ones).

Look up the offical Nvidia Geforce website:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers

[banzaigtv]

It is a clean install of Windows 10. I will say that I have allowed Windows to install the default drivers. I installed the replacement drivers using the clean install method. If Windows becomes unstable again, should I use DDU or Driver Fusion to remove all video drivers then reinstall the 361.43 WHQL drivers?

[Revelene]

Origineel geplaatst door banzaigtv:

It is a clean install of Windows 10. I will say that I have allowed Windows to install the default drivers. I installed the replacement drivers using the clean install method. If Windows becomes unstable again, should I use DDU or Driver Fusion to remove all video drivers then reinstall the 361.43 WHQL drivers?

What is unstable. the driver or Windows itself?

If it is the driver, then yes. If it is Windows, then you have a different issue.

[N0REGARD4LIFE]

If you're playing the Division, stay on 362.00. It runs like ass on the newest beta driver, even though it pegs my gpu usage to 100% almost all the time which is weird. I get much better fps with 362.00 on my 970/4770 set up.

[banzaigtv]

I do not intend to play any newer releases anytime soon. I'll continue to monitor the current driver's progress. It may be about three months old, but as long as it does OK, then I will keep this driver indefinitely. I seem to like it well compared to the other ones I used since 347.88.

[Revelene]

Origineel geplaatst door banzaigtv:

I do not intend to play any newer releases anytime soon. I'll continue to monitor the current driver's progress. It may be about three months old, but as long as it does OK, then I will keep this driver indefinitely. I seem to like it well compared to the other ones I used since 347.88.

If you are having this much issue with drivers, then you have something wrong with your system.

[Ocelote.12]

I had problems with 364.51. Sometimes after turning the computer on and booting Windows my GTX 670 works only at 20% of its capacity in all games, resulting in 10-15 fps in modern games. Rebooting the computer helps, sometimes until next reboot. I reverted back to 362.00 at it works fine and always (I think) at full fps. Never had any problems with any previous drivers for a long time (previous last time I saw a driver glitch was when Tesselation in Tomb Raider 2013 caused graphical glitches, it was in 2013 when TR2013 was released).

[[☥] - CJ -]

i'm using 362.00, had no issues at all with it.
I wont be updating to a new one until the next release, if i decide to.

Best thing to do would be to do a clean install using DDU, uninstalling everything nvidia related first, then have DDU disable the windows update automatic driver installs, then doing a CUSTOM install of the NVIDIA Drivers, this has helped me when i initially installed Win10.

So you may want to do it as well. the default win10 driver sucks.

All the crap the NVIDIA driver installs by default can cause issues in itself, so its best to do a custom install and only select what you need.

[banzaigtv]

OK, thanks. If the failed wake issue crops up again, then I'll use the DDU to clean install the drivers that way. Is Driver Fusion just as effective?

https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion

Other than that, the PC is running fine. Just a Windows 10 issue since Windows 8.1 on another disk partition works fine with no issues. I want to get a new Samsung 850 EVO SSD and clone the entire disk (Win 8.1+10, 361.43 WHQL drivers, and all), then save the original boot SSD as a hardware-driven backup of the operating systems. That way, if disaster strikes again on either operating system, then I can boot the original drive and copy the partitions back to the new drive.

[Revelene]

Origineel geplaatst door banzaigtv:

OK, thanks. If the failed wake issue crops up again, then I'll use the DDU to clean install the drivers that way. Is Driver Fusion just as effective?

https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion

Other than that, the PC is running fine. Just a Windows 10 issue since Windows 8.1 on another disk partition works fine with no issues. I want to get a new Samsung 850 EVO SSD and clone the entire disk (Win 8.1+10, 361.43 WHQL drivers, and all), then save the original boot SSD as a hardware-driven backup of the operating systems. That way, if disaster strikes again on either operating system, then I can boot the original drive and copy the partitions back to the new drive.

Driver Fusion and DDU are WAY different programs.

DDU is a specific tool to remove GPU drivers, all the way down to the registry entries and more.

Driver Fusion is just another "driver manager" and I would never recommend a program of the such.

If the issue is happening with just Windows 10, then you have something wrong. You need to check your drivers for everything. Something is obviously wrong and you need to find out what it is, rather than blame the OS.

I recommend taking it to a professional if you are unable to resolve the issue.... or a clean install (with complete drive reformat) and proper driver installation from the get-go. If you need guidance on this process, just ask.

FYI, cloning is not recommended. Cloning, especially using Samsung's cloning software, will not change the offset and will not be aligned correctly. You are better off with a clean install.

[banzaigtv]

So since it looks like Windows 10 has finally stabilized, it is better to create a disk image of the operating system to the HDD using Acronis True Image WD Edition and create a bootable rescue USB stick? Or just use the Windows 10 bootable USB stick to perform a Windows repair while maintaining programs? I don't know how the disk imaging will work on a dual-boot drive, though.

[Revelene]

Origineel geplaatst door banzaigtv:

So since it looks like Windows 10 has finally stabilized, it is better to create a disk image of the operating system to the HDD using Acronis True Image WD Edition and create a bootable rescue USB stick? Or just use the Windows 10 bootable USB stick to perform a Windows repair while maintaining programs? I don't know how the disk imaging will work on a dual-boot drive, though.

An OS just doesn't "stabilize" without intervention. If there is a reoccuring issue, you need to manually fix it... or it will crop up again.

...and what are you trying to do? Are you just wanting a backup?

You shouldn't have to backup the entire OS as well.. just take the important files that you cannot get back easily and copy them to an external storage, like a usb drive or Google Drive.

Full disk image was useful back in the day when it took an entire day to install an OS... but now, it is about pointless with how quickly you can install Windows.. especially Windows 10.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Origineel geplaatst door Revelene:

Origineel geplaatst door banzaigtv:

OK, thanks. If the failed wake issue crops up again, then I'll use the DDU to clean install the drivers that way. Is Driver Fusion just as effective?

https://treexy.com/products/driver-fusion

Other than that, the PC is running fine. Just a Windows 10 issue since Windows 8.1 on another disk partition works fine with no issues. I want to get a new Samsung 850 EVO SSD and clone the entire disk (Win 8.1+10, 361.43 WHQL drivers, and all), then save the original boot SSD as a hardware-driven backup of the operating systems. That way, if disaster strikes again on either operating system, then I can boot the original drive and copy the partitions back to the new drive.

Driver Fusion and DDU are WAY different programs.

DDU is a specific tool to remove GPU drivers, all the way down to the registry entries and more.

Driver Fusion is just another "driver manager" and I would never recommend a program of the such.

If the issue is happening with just Windows 10, then you have something wrong. You need to check your drivers for everything. Something is obviously wrong and you need to find out what it is, rather than blame the OS.

I recommend taking it to a professional if you are unable to resolve the issue.... or a clean install (with complete drive reformat) and proper driver installation from the get-go. If you need guidance on this process, just ask.

FYI, cloning is not recommended. Cloning, especially using Samsung's cloning software, will not change the offset and will not be aligned correctly. You are better off with a clean install.

This is incorrect.

Driver Fusions previous name was Driver Sweeper, which many of you have heard of i imagine. Treexy is the original creator of driver sweeper.

While Driver Fusion does do more than just clean Drivers, yes they basically do the same thing, though while DDU is specifically for Graphic drivers, Driver Fusion has a bigger selection of driver cleaning and isnt restricted to just NVIDIA/AMD Drivers.

To the OP, Driver Fusion will work just fine, but i suggest using DDU instead. i preferred DF for a while but then i switched over to DDU.

As i mentioned before, DDU will disable the automatic driver install when you go to use it, i dont think Driver Fusion does that, not sure though as i havent used it on Win10.

But either way, DDU would be a better option.