Seems like I remember a thread saying that there were timeing problems with the 7.17 drivers that caused permanent monitor damage I had them for about an hour and they ran terrible on my system.
There is some information on a few sites that an Italian Nvidia site states that a new set of Nvidia reference drivers (7.27) will give a 30% increase in Quake 3 and other OpenGL game due to HSR. I can't remember if its supposed to work with D3D or not. When I get home from work I'll try to post a link to that site. This is after Nvidia PR said HSR would not be released for any of Nvidia's current video cards. The 7.27 drivers are supposed to be released in about 10 days according to the Italian site. I visited the site last night, but I can't read Italian. Who knows, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Here's the link to the site that has a link to the Italian site.
Keep in mind guys that NVidia drivers are VERY mature now. You're not likely to see more than a few fps more out of any future drivers.
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
the nvidia drivers were mature at 5.xx too but when s3tc was added to 6.xx then big speed increases occurred. If the new betas have hsr and it works without too mny glitches then 20-30% in opengl would be a nice fishmas gift!