The Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69, released on July 6, 2016, marked a significant update in Nvidia’s driver ecosystem. It was specifically designed to provide gamers with the best possible experience for the latest game releases, with a strong emphasis on virtual reality (VR) titles. This driver aimed to deliver optimized performance, bug fixes, and support for new technologies, ensuring a smoother and more immersive gaming experience.
The Game Ready Driver Philosophy
Nvidia’s Game Ready Drivers, like the Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69, are developed under a philosophy of continuous improvement and optimization. Prior to the launch of major game titles, Nvidia’s driver team dedicates significant effort to fine-tuning the driver to ensure that it delivers the best possible performance on day one. This includes implementing performance tweaks, addressing bugs, and integrating support for new features that enhance the gaming experience. The goal is to provide gamers with a seamless and enjoyable experience from the moment they start playing a new game.
Virtual Reality Enhancements
A key focus of the Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 was to enhance the VR gaming experience. At the time of its release, VR was rapidly gaining popularity, and Nvidia recognized the need to optimize its drivers to support this emerging technology.
The driver specifically targeted DiRT Rally VR, providing users with the optimal experience for this immersive racing simulation. This involved optimizing the driver for the game’s specific rendering techniques and ensuring smooth performance on VR headsets.
Furthermore, the Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 introduced support for VRWorks features on the new GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 graphics cards. These features included:
- Lens Matched Shading: This technology optimizes rendering by adjusting the shading rate based on the lens distortion of VR headsets, improving performance and visual fidelity.
- Single Pass Stereo: This technique renders both eyes of a VR scene in a single pass, reducing the rendering workload and improving performance.
The driver also included support for GameWorks VR 1.0, a suite of tools and technologies designed to help developers create immersive VR experiences. This included Multi-Res Shading, which allows developers to selectively render different parts of the VR scene at different resolutions, further optimizing performance. Support was also added for Windows 10, ensuring compatibility with the latest operating system.
Support for New Hardware
The Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 brought with it support for the latest Nvidia hardware releases. Most notably, it included support for the GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card, which was based on the Pascal architecture.
The GeForce GTX 1070 offered a significant leap in performance compared to previous generations, delivering the speed and power necessary for demanding gaming and VR applications. The driver ensured that users could take full advantage of the GTX 1070’s capabilities, unlocking its potential for smooth and immersive gaming experiences.
Additionally, the driver provided support for the GeForce GTX 980 for notebooks, based on the second-generation Maxwell architecture. This allowed gamers to enjoy high-performance gaming on their laptops, with the driver optimizing performance and ensuring compatibility.
Gaming Technology Improvements
Beyond VR and hardware support, the Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 also included a range of improvements to existing gaming technologies:
- G-SYNC Technology in Windowed Mode: This allowed gamers to enjoy the benefits of G-SYNC, which eliminates screen tearing and reduces input lag, even when playing games in windowed mode.
- G-SYNC (V-SYNC On/Off) Options: The driver provided users with the flexibility to choose between G-SYNC with V-SYNC enabled or disabled, allowing them to fine-tune their gaming experience based on their preferences.
- Ultra-Low Motion Blur (ULMB): This technology reduces motion blur, resulting in a clearer and more responsive gaming experience. The driver provided users with the ability to enable and configure ULMB through the Nvidia Control Panel.
- Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) for Notebooks: DSR allows users to render games at a higher resolution than their monitor’s native resolution, then downscale the image to fit the screen. This results in a sharper and more detailed image, even on notebooks with discrete GeForce GPUs.
- Optimizations and Bug Fixes for Kepler-Based GPUs: The driver included optimizations and bug fixes specifically targeted at Kepler-based GPUs, improving performance and stability for users with older hardware.
Legacy Driver Versions
The original document also included a list of links to older driver versions. This information is provided below for archival purposes. Please note that these drivers are likely outdated and may not provide the best performance or compatibility with modern games and hardware.
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 365.19 (May 13, 2016)
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 365.10 (May 2, 2016)
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 364.51 (March 10, 2016)
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 364.47 (March 7, 2016)
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 361.91 (February 15, 2016)
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 361.43
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 359.06
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 359.00
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 358.91
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 358.87
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 358.50
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 355.98
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 355.82
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 355.60
- Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 353.62
Conclusion
The Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 was a significant release that focused on optimizing gaming and VR performance. It provided support for new hardware, introduced VR-specific features, and included a range of improvements to existing gaming technologies. While newer drivers have since been released with further enhancements and optimizations, the Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 368.69 remains a notable milestone in Nvidia’s driver development history.
Download Link:
368.69-desktop-win10-64bit-international-whql.exe
Alternative Download Link (Guru3D):