Nvidia releases game-ready driver for The Witcher 3

By Krystle Vermes May 18, 2015

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - VGX Trailer

Source: YouTube

To coordinate with the upcoming launch of The Witcher 3, Nvidia announced on May 18 that it has released a new game-ready driver. This edition is designed to enhance performance when HairWorks or other graphic additions are in use.

Driver Version 352.86 works with the GeForce 400, 500, 600, 700 and 900 Series. Version 352.86 can be applied to desktops or notebooks that have Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. On desktops, it functions with Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003 platforms as well. As of May 18, it can be downloaded for free on the GeForce website.

The Witcher 3 will be released on May 19 for PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One. The game takes approximately 70 hours to beat, and it includes up to 200 hours of gameplay, according to Forbes.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

However, The Witcher 3 isn’t the only game that Nvidia has focused on as of late. The driver release will also address viewpoint problems associated with Grand Theft Auto 5, as well as texture shimmering in World of Warcraft.

On May 15, Nvidia updated its blog to announce that Windows Hardware Qualification Lab certification has arrived for its DirectX 12 drivers on Windows 10. In the future, this could reduce bugs that users face following the initial launch of a game.

“Next to the operating system, the graphics driver is one of the most complex pieces of code on a PC,” the company wrote. “We worked closely with Microsoft to develop the new DX12 standard. And that effort has paid off with day-one WHQL certification.”

Nvidia went on to say that its engineers continue to work closely with Microsoft. This could be critical for the company as more games use DirectX 12 API.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Krystle Vermes is a professional writer, blogger and podcaster with a background in both online and print journalism. Her…

Computing

Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics cards: news, release date, price, and more

RTX 4070 seen from the side.

Nvidia already makes some of the best graphics cards, but it's also not resting on its laurels. Although the RTX 40-series, which has been bolstered by a refresh, is still very recent, Nvidia is also working on its next-gen GPUs from the RTX 50-series.

The release date of RTX 50-series GPUs is still at least a few months away, but various rumors and leaks give us a better idea of what to expect. Here's everything we know about Nvidia's upcoming generation of graphics cards.
RTX 50-series: pricing and release date

Computing

GPU prices are back on the rise again

RTX 4060 Ti sitting next to the RTX 4070.

We haven't had to worry about the prices of some of the best graphics cards for quite some time. With most GPUs sold around their recommended retail price, there are plenty of options for PC builders in need of a new graphics card. However, a new report indicates that we might see an increase in GPU prices, especially on the cards made by Nvidia's add-in board partners (AIBs). Is it time to start worrying about another GPU shortage? Not quite, but it might be better to shop now before it gets worse.

The grim news comes from IT Home, a Chinese tech publication that cites anonymous "industry sources" as it predicts that Nvidia's AIBs are about to raise their prices by up to 10% on average -- and this won't be limited to high-end GPUs along the lines of the RTX 4090. In fact, IT Home reports that the RTX 4070 Super has already received a price increase of about 100 yuan, which equals roughly $14 at the time of this writing. This is a subtle price increase given that the GPU costs $550 to $600, but according to the report, it might just be the beginning.

Computing

The sad reality of AMD’s next-gen GPUs comes into view

The AMD RX 7900 graphics card on a pink background.

For months now, various leakers agreed on one thing -- AMD is tapping out of the high-end GPU race in this generation, leaving Nvidia to focus on making the best graphics cards with no competitor. Today's new finding may confirm that theory, as the first RDNA 4 GPU to make an official appearance is one that has been speculated about for months: Navi48.

Following the typical naming convention for AMD, the flagship in the RDNA 4 generation should have been called Navi41 -- and it very well might have been, but according to various sources, that GPU will not be making an appearance in this generation. Hence, the flagship is now said to be the Navi48, and the latest finding shared by Kepler_L2 on X tells us that might indeed be the case.