Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Nvidia’s new GeForce driver is perfect for ‘Watch Dogs 2’, ‘Dead Rising 4’, more

By
Watch Dogs 2: PC Trailer – NVIDIA GameWorks
Nvidia released a new GeForce Game Ready driver certified for Windows on Monday that is optimized for Watch Dogs 2,
Recommended Videos
Dead Rising 4, and
Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy
Steep. Listed as version 376.09, the release notes weren’t available as of publication, so we can’t state what other goodies the driver brings to the PC gaming scene such as SLI profiles, fixes, and improvements for new and old titles alike.

News of the driver release arrives through the GeForce website, which talks about how v376.09 improves the three upcoming optimized games for the PC. Watch Dogs 2, in particular, arrives on Tuesday and comes packed with 20 graphics settings, support for HBAO+, HFTS, PCSS, and TXAA, and support for SLI configurations, GameStream, GeForce Experience Share, and so on.

Just in case you missed the minimum and recommended specs, here they are, provided by Ubisoft:

Minimum Recommended
Operating system: Windows 7 SP1/8.1/10 64-bit Windows 7 SP1/8.1/10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5GHz
AMD FX 6120 @ 3.5GHz		 Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.2GHz
AMD FX 8120 @ 3.9GHz
Memory: 6GB 8GB
Storage: 50GB 50GB
Video card: GeForce GTX 660 2GB
AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB)		 GeForce GTX 780 3GB
GeForce GTX 970 4GB
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB

Of course, Nvidia’s blog suggests that customers wanting to run the game at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution with “High” detail enabled should use the GTX 1060. To crank the detail up to “Very High” at the same resolution, customers should rely on the GTX 1070 instead. The maximum Watch Dogs 2 experience will be 2,560 x 1,440 at “Very High” using the GTX 1080.

On the Dead Rising 4 front, the zombie-infested PC version lands on the Windows Store on December 6. The system requirements include the GeForce GTX 760 serving as the minimum and the GTX 970 as the recommended graphics cards. However, Nvidia suggests that customers use the GTX 1060 card or its more powerful siblings for even better performance.

Minimum Recommended
Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.1GHz
AMD FX-6300 @ 3.5GHz		 Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.4GHz
AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0GHz
Memory: 6GB 8GB
Storage: 50GB 50GB
Video card: GeForce GTX 760 2GB
AMD Radeon R9 270X		 GeForce GTX 970
AMD Radeon R9 390

Finally, Ubisoft’s Steep arrives a day before Dead Rising 4 on December 5. The system requirements appear to be in the same general ballpark, with the GeForce GTX 660 serving as the minimum requirement and the GeForce GTX 980 as the recommended card. However, unlike Dead Rising 4, Steep won’t be locked to the Windows Store, but served up to PC gamers on Steam just like Watch Dogs 2.

Minimum Recommended
Operating system: Windows 7 SP1/8.1/10 64-bit Windows 7 SP1/8.1/10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5GHz
AMD FX-6350 @ 3.9GHz		 Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.5GHz
AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0GHz
Memory: 6GB 8GB
Storage: 25GB 25GB
Video card: GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon R7 260X		 GeForce GTX 980
AMD Radeon R9 Fury

To get ready for these three highly-anticipated games, manually grab the GeForce Game Ready 376.09 WHQL driver here, or download and install the driver through Nvidia’s GeForce Experience desktop client.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain
Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

 
What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Read more
I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close
Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Read more
How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams
Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.

Read more