Updated 28 March 2012
Will add pictures for this soon

5/6/7/8/9/200/400/500/600 Series Trouble Shooting/Updating/Install Guide for Drivers
This works with XP/Vista/Win 7 32/64bit operating systems
Ok first thing is go to Phyxion and get Driver Sweeper
Driver Sweeper from Phyxion.net


Vista and Windows 7
1. Of course download the Latest Drivers for your gpu & get Driver Sweeper
http://www.evga.com/support/download/ or http://www.geforce.com/Drivers

2.  You next have three options going into Device Manager->Display Adapters RMB on your video card
and uninstalling Drivers click the box to remove software, or going into Add and Remove Programs / Programs and Features
and uninstalling the driver from there. Or you can run the new installer run a custom setup and make sure you have
Clean Install checked but doing this method can leave things behind in the registry, that may or may not cause issues.
 
3. In Add and Remove Programs / Programs and Features make sure you uninstall NVIDIA PhyX System Software,
NVIDIA Update, NVIDIA 3D VISION Driver & Software pretty much everything releated to your gpu.
 
4. Restart your computer after the post screen press F8 and boot into safemode, then run driver sweeper
as admin. Only selection options for nvidia display drivers, physx.
 
5. Reboot
 
6. Run the installer for the Drivers for your gpu, I would suggest running a custom installer, checking clean install
Only select drivers your going to use, if you your not using the gpu's audio, its 3d vision, I would not letting those
drivers install and disabling them in the custom install.
 
7. I would suggest rebooting after this Happy Gaming.
 
Suggestion, during the driver install going into the device manager and disabling the High Definition Audio
device. This is the cards audio for HDMI, if your not using HDMI for sound disable it. I know on EVGA motherboards with realtek
the two can not get along. Also you may want to reinstall your audio drivers on an evga board after installing/updating/fixing your
drivers. 
 
Never Let Microsoft Windows Update/install drivers on your pc
 

600 Series Overclocking
Read this Guide from Guru3d GeForce GTX 680 Overclock Guide
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Heat: If your video card is running way too hot you may want to get  one of the Utilities below to setup
a custom fan profile or just control your gpus fan manually.

EVGA Precision Get it now
"600 Series Owners"
EVGA Precision X Get it now
EVGA OC Scanner X Get it now
To rev up your fans. Also for Overclocking. For EVGA Customers here is Precision, Great app for those of you who have not used it.

Not an EVGA Customer get RivaTuner or MSI Afterburner
 
Use fan profiles with Precision This will help keep your cards cool as long as you have good airflow and decent ambient temps.


I suggest trying to keep your gpu under or around 70c at full load. It should give it a longer lifespan.
-------------------------------------GPU STILL HOT? ----------------------------------------------
Make sure you have good airflow/a good airflow case, make sure your hardware is clean and free of dust bunnies, there is an example
below on how a gpu can get clogged
Check out this post
Also See attached image in this post.
 

TIM aka Thermal Interface Material/Thermal Paste
I have found the folling tims to work at least for me on particular gpus and their heatsinks. Most TIM degrades over time with heat, seen it happen most with factory tim it can wear down in 6-8 months to years depending on temps/factory application of the TIM.
200 series and below Artic Silver 5, MX 2, MX 4,
400 Series: IC Diamond esp on the 480's or MX 2, MX 4,
500 Series: MX 2, MX 4, CM Thermalfusion 400" on the vaporchambers works great." only on smooth surfaces
600 Series: Have not played with yet


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Say No to Ntune knowing is half the battle
If your using an older socket 775 motherboard just dont use it I am sure most are on newer hardware now.

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Something else to try: Check all the connections inside your rig, power cables, hard drive cables you name it, also check to make sure your hardware cpu, ram, video card are seated in correctly. Make sure your NB is not blowing hot air directly into your video card if so find a way to move that hot air out of their fast.
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Helpful Hint on Gaming Slow Downs if Running 2 or more Monitors: If your running any video card that you can plug two monitors into and actually have 2 monitors plugged into one video card. And your games are running slow, or have some lag in them, unplug a monitor! Trust me this will save you a lot of time and effort.


------------------------Cheap Effective GPU Cooler For Any Series of GPU's--------------------------
This is very simple to make it takes a good pci slot fan cooler, some quick steel "at Target Walmart, a hardware store or you can use any type of epoxy putty", a good High powered 120mm fan 90CFM+. The picture is pretty much Self Explanatory on how to construct. I was able to get my 8800 Ultra up to 700 Core clock linked with this. Great little cheap thing to make for someone When you cannot afford a heavy duty aftermarket cooler for their gpus. 
This is old and outdated but have used it on 400/500 series cards still works great.
 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cooler in use, does not look snug due to camera angle of my notebooks built in webcam




This is from my old old setup and is a bit messy but you get the idea

Those of you with a bit more cash on hand want to have something that looks better in their computer but takes up two slots
Lian Li BS-08B PCI Slot Case Cooler or search for stores on a search engine to get it cheaper.

You will need to open it up and flip the fans around you can also change them out fully with some 120mm 90 CFM fans. Also if your doing sli have a big enough case to have two make sure your second card has a backplate so the metal of this does not make contact of the pcb of your second card.

Sticky approved by rjohnson11 EVGA Moderator

Nice guide man tyvm 

Very nice, I love the creativity! lol

Thank you for the info my friend!

Still recommending Driver Sweeper? 

ty_ger07


Still recommending Driver Sweeper? 

Yup due to files that are left here and there in the registry and so on. Thats about all i use it for, esp when after a driver update something is not right.

donta1979

ty_ger07


Still recommending Driver Sweeper? 

Yup due to files that are left here and there in the registry and so on. Thats about all i use it for, esp when after a driver update something is not right.

How about after a Driver Sweep and something is no longer right? 
 
I haven't used Driver Sweep since I saw all the recent warnings and horror stories.  I also figured that I can just use the driver sweeper NVIDIA started to include with the driver installation.

ty_ger07


How about after a Driver Sweep and something is no longer right? 

I haven't used Driver Sweep since I saw all the recent warnings and horror stories.  I also figured that I can just use the driver sweeper NVIDIA started to include with the driver installation.

 
Not sure Nvidia include a driver sweeper, though I could be wrong, if you're referring to the 'clean install' tick box, I believe all that does is wipe any previous settings in NCP.

Thank you very much for this guide.  I have been a Driver Cleaner. Net fan http://www.drivercleaner.net/ for many years now.  It does a very nice job cleaning drivers from my system. 

ty_ger07

donta1979

ty_ger07


Still recommending Driver Sweeper? 

Yup due to files that are left here and there in the registry and so on. Thats about all i use it for, esp when after a driver update something is not right.

How about after a Driver Sweep and something is no longer right? 

I haven't used Driver Sweep since I saw all the recent warnings and horror stories.  I also figured that I can just use the driver sweeper NVIDIA started to include with the driver installation.

This means when I do not use driver sweeper,  update/install/change card series with drivers something is not right like say sluggish gaming, game crashing, driver stopped responding, games not opening because of some file that got left behind that the nvidia uninstaller/cleaner didnt take care of. This guide will take care of it period=) if infact there is nothing physically wrong with your system or gpu.

So, in other words, this is a last resort to fix an issue which is not fixable by any other means.  Oh alright.  I just would be careful to recommend a Driver Sweeper to the masses who probably don't need it and may be subject to the negative consequences of using a Driver Sweeper program.

OneEyedBob

ty_ger07


How about after a Driver Sweep and something is no longer right? 

I haven't used Driver Sweep since I saw all the recent warnings and horror stories.  I also figured that I can just use the driver sweeper NVIDIA started to include with the driver installation.

Not sure Nvidia include a driver sweeper, though I could be wrong, if you're referring to the 'clean install' tick box, I believe all that does is wipe any previous settings in NCP.

NVIDIA certainly would not call it a Driver Sweeper and yes it does behave differently.  But it is in essence the same thing as a Driver Sweeper, but with a more focused / narrower scope.  I think the word is "safer".

If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

ty_ger07

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

I would tend to agree about the warning. Since I have never used drive sweeper and being new here, I had already downloaded drive sweeper and the latest update for my new 680's, getting ready do the update. I never thought to search for possible problems with drive sweeper. I may need to do some more research on using the software.

BarryBGB

ty_ger07

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

I would tend to agree about the warning. Since I have never used drive sweeper and being new here, I had already downloaded drive sweeper and the latest update for my new 680's, getting ready do the update. I never thought to search for possible problems with drive sweeper. I may need to do some more research on using the software.

There is no issue with driver sweeper, the only one is user error when they remove nvidia or intel chipsset drivers for the motherboard using it. thus on reboot windows will not restart and you will have to reinstall windows.

donta1979

BarryBGB

ty_ger07

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

I would tend to agree about the warning. Since I have never used drive sweeper and being new here, I had already downloaded drive sweeper and the latest update for my new 680's, getting ready do the update. I never thought to search for possible problems with drive sweeper. I may need to do some more research on using the software.

There is no issue with driver sweeper, the only one is user error when they remove nvidia or intel chipsset drivers for the motherboard using it. thus on reboot windows will not restart and you will have to reinstall windows.

I agree with Donta, most of the times is the user's fault when using this type of programs.  This is why it is very imperative to be focused and patienced when using driver sweeper. Most people just check and press erase right away instead of clicking analyze first to see the list you checked ready to be deleted. Once you review the registry list and see that only Nvidia display drivers were chosen, then you can proceed to delete the entries.

donta1979

BarryBGB

ty_ger07

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

I would tend to agree about the warning. Since I have never used drive sweeper and being new here, I had already downloaded drive sweeper and the latest update for my new 680's, getting ready do the update. I never thought to search for possible problems with drive sweeper. I may need to do some more research on using the software.

There is no issue with driver sweeper, the only one is user error when they remove nvidia or intel chipsset drivers for the motherboard using it. thus on reboot windows will not restart and you will have to reinstall windows.

 
+1
I will admit to this in my "early computer years" and I didn't pay attention to what I was doing.  There is NO issue with this program when used properly.

Johnny_Utah

donta1979

BarryBGB

ty_ger07

donta1979


If you want to argue please keep it to pms to me dont want to clog up this post with bickering.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.  I am trying to inform the public who may wander across your thread that using a Driver Sweeper can be a dangerous practice.   This is especially true for those using Windows 7.   Many people have had to re-install Windows after prolonged Driver Sweeper use.  So, you probably should note that in your post somewhere that this is a last resort thing where re-installing Windows would have been the next step anyways.

I would tend to agree about the warning. Since I have never used drive sweeper and being new here, I had already downloaded drive sweeper and the latest update for my new 680's, getting ready do the update. I never thought to search for possible problems with drive sweeper. I may need to do some more research on using the software.

There is no issue with driver sweeper, the only one is user error when they remove nvidia or intel chipsset drivers for the motherboard using it. thus on reboot windows will not restart and you will have to reinstall windows.

+1
I will admit to this in my "early computer years" and I didn't pay attention to what I was doing.  There is NO issue with this program when used properly.

Well, that is good to know. I must admit I have rushed into things in the distant past only to have to reload everything. That is going way back to Dos 3 and RLL hard drives.
I did do some research and cannot find any problems with the software other than it not removing some files but that was on earlier versions. I am glad that I now know to uninstall, reboot in safe mode and then run driver sweeper with admin rights.
Is it necessary to run the program several times or should it find all the nvidia drivers the first time?
 

I tried installing the latest WHQL driver and the latest beta driver. Both of them gave me 7zip errors when trying to extract about 62% of the way in. I tried using WinRAR. Also gave me errors. Tried uninstalling and re-installing 7zip, still no dice.
 
Most obvious this is a corrupt download, right? Well, I downloaded this thing at least 5 different times, on two different computers, and on my cell phone. I ended up having to extract the drivers on my laptop, then copy the extracted files onto my PC to get the install to go through.
 
What the heck is going on? I've had this problem on a few occasions with random things that I've tried to extract -- claims it's corrupt, but after everything I've done, I just don't see how.

Nitemare3219


I tried installing the latest WHQL driver and the latest beta driver. Both of them gave me 7zip errors when trying to extract about 62% of the way in. I tried using WinRAR. Also gave me errors. Tried uninstalling and re-installing 7zip, still no dice.

Most obvious this is a corrupt download, right? Well, I downloaded this thing at least 5 different times, on two different computers, and on my cell phone. I ended up having to extract the drivers on my laptop, then copy the extracted files onto my PC to get the install to go through.

What the heck is going on? I've had this problem on a few occasions with random things that I've tried to extract -- claims it's corrupt, but after everything I've done, I just don't see how.

I wish I could help you with that. I also had the same problem with it uncompressing. I can't remember which version of the driver it was. Could have been the 301.42.
I tried downloading it from NVidia and here with the same problem. It would always start the uncompressing and get to about 80% then would just stop saying the file was corrupted.
I kept downloading it several times and the last time, I believe I deleted the original download and tried again.
The last time it did finish and I loaded it. BTW, I am using WinRar for the files which shouldn't make any difference.

I also had to remove it the next day or so and go back to the 301.10 because of the constant freezing and lockups of my system. I also had the freezing with 301.24 I believe.
The only version that doesn't cause freezing is the 301.10 which is what I am running now.
 
I haven't tried the lastest Beta 304.84 yet but did download it.
May try to install it tonight. I just hope they have the freezing problem fixed in this one.

Hi Guys! I just recently purchased my EVGA GTX 680 SC Signature 2! I am just having problems with my FPS in Guildwars 2! I am getting only an average of 30-50 but sometimes FPS drops as low as 8 everytime I move my character around and move the camera angle as well. I have already tried several NVIDIA drivers but still nothing. HELP!

Window or full screen?

I am running it on full screen. Using the latest drivers from nvidia which is 306.02. Below are my specs so you can just have an idea with my current set up. thank you!
 
Here's my specs for more information:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6
Motherboard: Asus 990fx sabertooth
RAM: Corsair vengeance 4x4gb
PSU: Corsair 650W
Monitor: LG 1920x1080

You might need to submit a bug report to ncsoft and nvidia.

would you be able to know if there is a hardware issue going on with my new evga gtx 680 sc signature 2?

Run 3dmark 11, vantage, evga oc scanner along with some other games to see if it happens.

I have already emailed EVGA support regarding this matter. They advised that my video card is working as intended. I thought I am having a hardware issue. They've told me to run a unigine benchmark test and below are the results:

Then it's something with the game or drivers vs the game.