Nvidia 8800 GT 512MB Driver issue (x64 Vista)

[Akumajin]

So I just installed 64 bit vista with SP1, got all the updates and it ran good for a while. After playing some games and now when I'm just browsing, the computer's FPS drops like mad then crashes. Windows is reporting it as an Nvidia driver issue. For the video card, I used the newest official drivers and had this problem. Then changed to some newer beta drivers from Guru3D and those didn't work for long before it happened again. I have:

8800 GT 512MB
ABIT P35 Deluxe Mobo
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800

This computer ran fine before on 64 bit vista when I tried it months ago, now with SP1 it doesn't. Any ideas what drivers I should use?/what I should do?

 

[KSoD]

You should find the 169 series drivers. From what i have seen and heard those are the most stable version of the 8800 series drivers out there.

 

[Akumajin]

I'll try one from guru and let you know. Thanks.

K I tried 169.38 and it still crashed, trying 169.09 now...

 

[veedubfreak]

were you using the 175.16's that are the actual whql drivers? I didnt run into any issues with my GT and vista 64. Sounds like the card could be overheating, as i get a "driver crash" whenever i push my cards too hard in vista.

 

[Akumajin]

What are whql drivers? And this has happened when idle and when just watching a movie.

 

[veedubfreak]

GeForce Release 175

These drivers.

 

[alexsabree]

WHQL, Meaning its passed Microsoft's quality check for drivers.

I was getting frequent crashing in Crysis and COD4 and only those two games. My game would pause, sound and all and then Vista would reset my nvdriver (or whatever) with a pop-up. Turns out my 8800gt did NOT like being overclocked and the overclock only caused problems on those two games.. still don't understand why.

But I swore up and down that It was a combination of vista + nvidia drivers. Because it seemed that way at the time.

 

[Akumajin]

It was the newest 175.16 and it was the link posted above that this problem first arised from. I tried 169.09 or somesuch and it still had the problem when I loaded a DVD. u.u

 

[Akumajin]

If I wanted to check my system's crash logs, where can I find them?

 

[Akumajin]

Ok so I was transferring a lot of data to and between my externals and my CPU usage would spike after a few seconds, freeze up for a second, go back to normal, then do it again a few seconds later. Everything transferred ok though.

Also, my mouse and sometimes my keyboard would stop working, then later would crash. My USB devices take a while to respond when plugging in too. And this only specifically has only happened in the past few days. Could this be a bad mobo, and if so is there a way for me to check/tell?