NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Drivers Updated For CoD: Black Ops Cold War

Other improvements include NVIDIA Reflex for Destiny 2, optimisations for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Godfall, and additional G-Sync Compatible panels.

Other improvements include NVIDIA Reflex for Destiny 2, optimisations for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Godfall, and additional G-Sync Compatible panels.

It’s going to be a busy few weeks for videos games as we approach US Thanksgiving, and NVIDIA are ensuring that the drivers are in good order prior to those titles being available. The new GeForce Game Ready update addresses a host of requirements, sprinkles in a few feature updates, and rounds it of by verifying four new monitors as G-SYNC Compatible.

The primary role of GeForce Game Ready 457.30 drivers is to provide an optimal experience in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the latest franchise installment from Activision. NVIDIA’s front-line gaming technologies all have a strong presence in the title – including NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Highlights – as well as leveraging hardware acceleration for DirectX Ultimate ray traced ambient occlusion, local shadows and sun shadows. Even the awesome power of the RTX 30-series will need well-behaving drivers to maintain consistently high frame rates with those demands, pretty much mandating a day-0 update.

There’s an additional pressure on NVIDIA’s software team in this instance. New purchases of the RTX 3080 and 3090 qualify for a free copy of the Black Ops Cold War; the last thing they’d want to see is sub-standard performance on a showcase promotion.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Godfall are launching this week (on the 10th and 12th respectively) and both receive an optimisation pass as part of this driver. While they don’t incorporate any of the green team’s proprietary tech., their action chops demand smooth frame rates and stunning visuals.

In something of a surprise reveal, Bungie’s MMO Destiny 2 has NVIDIA Reflex functionality unlocked with this update. Reflex streamlines the graphics pipeline to minimise click-to-screen latency, a feature that’s especially important in local and competitive FPS gameplay but perhaps a little less expected with MMO shooters.

NVIDIA claim that adding Reflex improves the game’s responsiveness by up to 49%, which is certainly a healthy chunk. Expect the Reflex update to be pushed by Bungie on Nov. 10th.

Finally, four additional monitors have been been certified as part of NVIDIA’s G-SYNC Compatible Display program. These Adaptive Sync panels all pass the rigorous validation tests qualifying them as G-SYNC Compatible, offering a ‘G-SYNC like’ experience without the associated module integrated into the monitor. These displays are:

Acer CP3271U V,
Asus XG27AQ,
MSI MAG274QR,
Xiaomi Mi 245 HF.

A total of 98 monitors have now been certified as G-Sync Compatible, the full list of which can be found here. Note that obtuse manufacturer naming schemes can sometimes double-dip on the model number (where one variant is comptible but another isn’t) so is in doubt refer to the hardware specification or lodge a query with the retailer if prior to purchase.

You can download the latest drivers for Windows 7 & 10 64-bit through the GeForce Experience app, or directly via NVIDIA’s ‘Find a Driver‘ tool. They are compatible with GeForce GPUs as far back as the GTX 600-series, although some features may be restricted to more recent generations of hardware.

Release Notes

What’s New in Version 457.30 WHQL

GeForce Game Ready Driver

Game Ready Drivers provide the best possible gaming experience for all major new releases. Prior to a new title launching, our driver team is working up until the last minute to ensure every performance tweak and bug fix is included for the best gameplay on day-1.

Game Ready for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

This new Game Ready Driver provides support for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In addition, this driver provides optimal day-1 support for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Godfall.

Learn more in our Game Ready Driver article here.

New Features and Other Changes

– Updated the SLI profile for Black Desert.

Changes and Fixed Issues in Version 457.30

The following sections list the important changes and the most common issues resolved in this version. This list is only a subset of the total number of changes made in this driver version. The NVIDIA bug number is provided for reference.

Fixed Issues in this Release

[Warzone][RTX 30 series]: Users may see a drop in performance during gameplay.[3132127]
[Notebook]: The internal panel flashes upon resume from sleep mode or from display off. [3150038]
[NVIDIA Ampere architecture][G-SYNC][HDR][Dual-head 8k display]: Display screen goes black.[200667525]

Windows 10 Issues

[Steam VR game]: Stuttering and lagging occur upon launching a game. [3152190]
[G-SYNC][NVIDIA Ampere GPU architecture]: GPU power consumption may increase in idle mode on systems using certain higher refresh-rate G-SYNC monitors. [200667566]
[Freestyle/Ansel]: After launching and then closing Star Wars: Squadrons, Freestyle/Ansel stops working on supported games. [3154362]
– To work around, reset the NVIDIA Control Panel global 3D settings. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings page, then select the Global Settings tab, click Restore and then click Yes at the confirmation dialog.
[Freestyle][Vulkan apps]: With the freestyle filters applied, a blue-screen crash occurs when pressing [Alt+Tab] while running Vulkan applications. [200667477]
[Sunset Overdrive]: The game may display random green corruption if Depth of Field is enabled from in-game settings. [2750770]
[Forza Motorsport 7]: The curb may display a black strip during a race on certain tracks. [2781776]
[YouTube]: Video playback stutters while scrolling down the YouTube page. [3129705]
– When setting the refresh rate higher than 100Hz, the color format switches from RGB to ycbcr422. [3053990]
[Notebook]: Some Pascal-based notebooks w/ high refresh rate displays may randomly drop to 60Hz during gameplay. [3009452]