New Octane III 17'' with GTX 1080 - how do you update GPU drivers

alex_123_fra

Active member
Hi all, I just received a new Octane III with a 6700k and a GTX1080. I got it with windows 10 and it looks like all drivers are installed. I noticed though that the Nvidia GPU drivers are old. When downloading the appropriate GPU drivers from Nvidia, they won't install as it says I need to install the manufacturer's drivers directly.

When logging into my PC specialist account, all drivers are listed under "downloads" except GPU/display drivers. Am I missing something here?

Do I have to get these from the Clevo site? If so, that would be a PITA.

Thanks
Alesx
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
It sounds like you are downloading the desktop drivers rather than the netbook ones. Be sure to select the mobile/laptop/notebook option when configuring your download. GeForce 10 series (notebook) is generally the answer to this query.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
If you want the most recent driver updates, for instance game-ready drivers for the newest releases etc, get them off the Nvidia website: http://www.geforce.co.uk/drivers As above, select the right options for your PC. :)

I'd use the Manual Driver Search rather than auto-detecting. Select the appropriate options from the various drop-down fields:

geforce.png
 
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alex_123_fra

Active member
Thanks guys. I did this and tried the laptop and desktop versions for win 10 64-bit and I get a compatibility error with both. The driver currently installed is from August 2016 when I guess the laptop gtx1080 was released. I tried auto-detecting too and it says I need drivers fromust the manufacturer's site. When trying via ge force experience, it says that my drivers are up to date.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I'm getting deja vu from that information. I'm pretty sure I had exactly the same problem at one point. Let me have a think about it, I'm fairly sure it was something silly.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Ok, I've remembered. You need to update your windows installation. I believe I was running an older version of Windows 10 than the GTX drivers would allow. I think you need to be on version 1511 or above?
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
Ok, I've remembered. You need to update your windows installation. I believe I was running an older version of Windows 10 than the GTX drivers would allow. I think you need to be on version 1511 or above?

Thanks Scotster. Will check this when I'm at home later. Not sure if it will work as the first thing I did when turning on the laptop was run windows update and it installed all updates fine.

I have a bad feeling I may have to start modifying the inf file in the Nvidia drivers which I really want to avoid on a brand new laptop that should just work out of the box. In previous Alienwares where I've had to do this, it resulted in onboard sound problems and I had to use external soundcards etc.

I guess one other thing I could try is to install an Nvidia driver a couple of versions older to see if it takes that.
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
Ok tried manual install of latest version. It did it instantly so I think I was already on it. I am on Version 1607 Build 14393.447.

Sadly even despite this, GPU drivers won't install. Still says it can't find compatible hardware on my machine.

At this point, the only 2 options I can think of are reinstalling windows and try again or modifying the inf file. Could the latter cause issues?
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
Ok I finally got this to work. I uninstalled the Bullguard internet security trial. It still wouldn't install. Was getting ready to reinstall windows and tried drivers 375.95 just to see if a slightly older (still from Nov 16) NVidia driver version would work. It worked! Not 100% sure if the lack of Bullguard software helped.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
The PCS version of Windows may not have been the latest but it was definitely a later version than required by NVidia. It was only when I reformatted that I ran into the version issue.

How recent are the drivers? I'm not sure what version I'm currently running but I can give the latest set a go when I get home.

Incidentally I've found the GForce experience to be useless for determining when there is a new driver out. I periodically check the site and more often than not there's a newer version available. When I check via GForce it tells me I'm on the latest set.

Out of curiosity, did you try installing the latest drivers over the Nov issue?
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
The PCS version of Windows may not have been the latest but it was definitely a later version than required by NVidia. It was only when I reformatted that I ran into the version issue.

How recent are the drivers? I'm not sure what version I'm currently running but I can give the latest set a go when I get home.

Incidentally I've found the GForce experience to be useless for determining when there is a new driver out. I periodically check the site and more often than not there's a newer version available. When I check via GForce it tells me I'm on the latest set.

Out of curiosity, did you try installing the latest drivers over the Nov issue?

It is all very odd. The latest Nvidia drivers for the gtx1080 laptop (376.06) are simply not recognising the hardware in my system. The one before it (375.95) installs fine.

Now, I thought all was fixed but when running benchmarks, I found that the GTX1080 randomly dropped its clocks to less than half of what it should be and the benchmarks stuttered. Laptop was plugged to mains and I had it in performance mode in control centre. Happened with 3DMark and 3DMark11. I tried unistalling various things but it simply got worse until I restored the system back to the "day 1" settings via system restore. Now benchmarks run fine again. The GPU drivers in this state are 372.54.

My control centre software is broken though. When I try to click the CPU overclocking button, control centre crashes and stops responding (and sends an error to microsoft). I have found a version of this software on the Clevo site so will install that and see what happens.

Haven't managed to install or play a single game yet! Hope these gremlins clear.

Scotster, would be interesting to see whether the new Nvidia drivers recognise your system as I think we have pretty identical Octane IIIs
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
Another update. I have homed in on the problem. Drivers 375.95 do not work well at all with my system. They stutter like hell. 372.54 are rock solid in all benchmarks I have tested. You guys with Octane IIIs may want to run Firestrike and 3DMark 11 so we can compare some scores and try to get to the bottom of this. I thought Nvidia had sorted their rubbish laptop drivers but clearly not.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Current one is 375.63, I asked it to search for updates and it found none. I've downloaded 376.09 and I'm about to install it. I ran a basic firestrike test and hit high 16700 as per usual. It will be interesting to see what effect the new drivers has.

Edit: Same result as yourself so it seems to be an issue with their driver itself. I won't bother updating to the other one you tried due to you having issues :)
 

alex_123_fra

Active member
Current one is 375.63, I asked it to search for updates and it found none. I've downloaded 376.09 and I'm about to install it. I ran a basic firestrike test and hit high 16700 as per usual. It will be interesting to see what effect the new drivers has.

Edit: Same result as yourself so it seems to be an issue with their driver itself. I won't bother updating to the other one you tried due to you having issues :)

Yes I am now on the same (375.63) and it works fine (similar benchmark scores to you). So the latest 2 versions of nvidia drivers don't play ball with the clevo motherboard/gtx 1080 combination. I hope this isn't a repeat of nvidia's antics with the 780m, 880m and 980m which were artificially throttled by the drivers for no good reason.
 
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