UPDATE: Benchmarked the Nvidia 163.71 WHQL drivers and the Framerate Drivers 3.0 XP32. The stock Nvidia drivers churned out some of the better scores I have seen in weeks, but due to their nature, lags behind severely in image quality. The Framerate 3.0 surprised me; to date it offers image quality that is second to only, if not equals, the Xtreme-G 163.67 SEs but falls behind in —- ironically — framerates. I guess the programmers were pushing for image quality this time.
See the benchmark results at the end of the main article.
PAST UPDATES:
1.Benchmarked Xtreme-G 163.69. IQ is not as good as the 163.67 SEs but it offers better framerates; +1FPS in T:V and +3 in Nexuiz. Updated results are shown at the end of the original article.
2. I finally found the time to benchmark Framerate Drivers 2.0 163.69. Some noticeable improvement in FPS and the colors seem cooler (ie leaning more on the blue end of the color spectrum). Also, my monitor seems to be brighter; staying at previous settings will produce glaring, washed-out results. Nothing that a gamma and brightness fix can’t solve though. See the FPS results at the end of the main article. More benchmarks to come in the next few days.
Benchmarked the NGO 1.16369. Observations: right off the bat, without messing with the Display Optimization Wizard, I can tell these drivers were levels above the stock Nvidia ones; IQ improved. However, I still find the IQ of the Xtreme-G 163.67 SE drivers to be better. If I were to make an analogy of the last three drivers I benchmarked, I’d say that the 163.67 SEs were the High Quality ones with a corresponding drop in performance relative to the other two, the Framerate Drivers 2.0 are the High Performance drivers (but it has washed-out colors if compared to the other two) and the NGO 1.16369 falls in the middle.
The Image Quality ratings are pretty much subjective though but in my opinion the Xtreme-Gs tend to make the colors "leap out" of the screen. The NGOs still deliver in terms of IQ but I find that some greens are washed out.
MAIN ARTICLE
Once more into the breach dear friends…..
Weeks ago, I installed the (then) latest driver from Nvidia, Forceware v162.18. Image quality (IQ) improved greatly (relative to 93.71) but DVD and VCD playback functions were shot. I rolled back to 94.24, but longed for the vastly sharpened IQ that the 162 driver offered.
What to do?
I killed Mace Windu and turned my back on Konoha.
I dove into the dangerous depths of beta and third-party drivers.
I tried 163.44 and much to my chagrin, it lowered my PC’s performance in rendering 3D games and apps. I then went to Guru3D and looked up the latest tweaked Forceware version they had. I opted for the DNA-Force 3.7.16316, a driver based on Nvidia’s (you guessed it) Forceware v163.16 (or did you? Lol!).
I measured the three drivers’ performances and the results are a mixed up bunch:
(format is:
GAME TITLE
MINIMUM FPS AVERAGE FPS MAXIMUM FPS
Games used: Nexuiz (built in timedemo) and Tribes: Vengeance (I recorded FPSs of a demo using FRAPS) )
94.24
Nexuiz
8 58 80
Tribes: Vengeance
20 28 40
163.44 (Nvidia Beta)
Nexuiz
1 50 60
Tribes:Vengeance
20 28 40
DNA-Force 3.7.16316 (Quality Settings)
Nexuiz
29 52 59
Tribes: Vengeance
23 31 41
What is "Frames per Second" (FPS)? I’ll discuss that later. For now, suffice to say, it’s a measure of how your system can effectively render a whole slew of "images" in a single second; the higher the number the better. (Higher numbers mean smoother gameplay)
As I have said, the results are a mixed bunch. Throwing away the 163.44, which garnered a rock-bottom result in Nexuiz, we are left with the 94.24 and the DNA-Force drivers. The 94.24 does deliver higher maximum FPS but falls short in the minimum FPS department. For me, the minimum mark is important as performance below the 27-FPS mark hurts my eyes if I play for more than 40 minutes.
I opted for the DNA-Force drivers and so far everything is stable.
LATER NOTE: Most tweaked drivers are made to improve IQ. Drivers alter Image Quality in terms of how they render colors and levels of gamma; viewing them with another PC won’t show the viewer anything that his/her driver has not shown before.
Case in point: the picture below shows two columns; the left one contains shots using the 94.24s, the right with the DNA-Force 3.7.16316s. The two columns show no difference as anyone viewing them will view the screenshots as they are being rendered with whatever current drivers the user is using in his/her computer.
The pictures below show no change in other users’ computers whenever I change drivers as needless to say, video drivers only affect how my system outputs colors.
Maybe in the future I’ll get an external video recorder (a cel or a digi cam) and finally show proper comparative screenshots.
END OF NOTE
I hope this article has shown readers that there are free means out there in improving your system. Drivers ARE free! I mean look at it this way: the moment your TV blurs up, you buy a new one. You shell out cash. Cash! These drivers are F. R. E. E. Why deprive yourself of updates? 
However for beginners:
I do not recommend changing to third-party drivers. Some users report problems and while they are very much reversible, some people forget — or do not know — to do restore points with ERUNT and/or how to clean their registries. If you are one of these, I would suggest the official Forceware drivers from Nvidia. You won’t get the oftentimes substantial FPS and/or IQ boost but at least you get guaranteed stability. Just make sure your videocard is supported though.
Then again, you could change all this by learning. Visit forums. Use search engines. Never stop learning! Never be content.
END OF MAIN ARTICLE
UPDATES:
Benchmarks used: Cinebench R10, 3DMark 2001 SE, Nexuiz, and Tribes: Vengeance.
Settings for Nexuiz:
(Ingame) Resolution: 1024; Skins: Best; All settings off. (Nvidia Control Panel) AF: Application-controlled; AA: None; Force Mipmaps: Trilinear; Texture Filtering- Trilinear Optimization: On; Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance; Texture Filtering - Anisotropic xx: all On.
Settings for Tribes: Vengeance:
(Ingame) Resolution: 1024; Bump Map Details: High; Textures: High; Terrain xx: all On; Fluid Surface Details: Medium; Fog: Ultra-high; Shadows: Off; Glow: Medium; World Details: Medium; 2.0 Shaders: On. (Nvidia Control Panel) AF: Off; AA: 2X; Force Mipmaps: Trilinear; Texture Filtering - Quality: High Quality.
Results (take note I am using old hardware; results here are only for comparative results among old and new driver versions):
Xtreme-G 163.44
3DMark 2001 SE: 11619 3D Marks
Cinebench R10: 2368
Nexuiz: Min: 29 Ave: 54 Max: 68
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 27.433 Max: 40
————–
Nvidia Forceware 163.67 Beta
3DMark 2001 SE: 11703 3D Marks
Cinebench R10: 2367
Nexuiz: Min: 34 Ave: 48 Max: 61
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 27.633 Max: 40
————–
Xtreme-G 163.67 SE
3DMark 2001 SE: 11487 3D Marks
Cinebench R10: 2366
Nexuiz: Min: 34 Ave: 49 Max: 60
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 27.617 Max: 40
————-
Framerate Drivers 2.0 163.69
3DMark 2001 SE: 11769
Cinebench R10: 2359
Nexuiz: Min: 34 Ave: 49 Max: 61
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 28.583 Max: 40
————-
NGO Driver 1.16369
3DMark 2001 SE: 11698
Cinebench R10: 2346
Nexuiz: Min: 11 Ave: 53 Max: 62
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 28.383 Max: 40
————
Xtreme-G 163.69
3DMark 2001 SE: 11579
Cinebench R10: 2369
Nexuiz: Min: 34 Ave: 52 Max: 60
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 28.550 Max: 41
Nvidia 163.71 WHQL
3DMark 2001 SE: 11727
Cinebench R10: 2344
Nexuiz: Min: 34 Ave: 51 Max: 61
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 28.083 Max: 40
————
Framerate Drivers 3.0XP32
3DMark 2001 SE: 11216
Cinebench R10: 2326
Nexuiz: Min: 29 Ave: 47 Max: 60
Tribes: Vengeance: Min: 20 Ave: 27.917 Max: 40
Homes of Third-party Drivers:
Xtreme-G Drivers
DNA-drivers
NGO Drivers
Z-Tweaked Drivers
Framerate Drivers
Before using any drivers from the above sites, please take note of the warning I wrote above. Almost all the tweaked drivers offer better graphics and performance than stock Nvidia drivers though, so for those adventurous enough (certainly, third-party anythings pose risks!), enjoy whatever performance/IQ boost you may gain! 
