Well
Here's my 2c-worth of opinion:
<THE OPINION THAT FOLLOWS IS NOT WHQL-CERTIFIED>
I think any drivers higher than 71.84 are leaked by Nvidia to gauge reaction before going WHQL, which is to say MS-certified. Any driverset that is higher than Nvidia's own latest release, whether Beta, Official or WHQL, is a leaked driverset. Leaked either by Nvidia themselves or somebody with access to them. Generally the mod community rush like rabid hyenas and rip into them savagely, before regurgitating their opiions of the release. Nvidia then, officially and unofficially take note of the comments and may or may not fix what's broken or not broken and may add/disable functionality as they see fit.
The NEW!!!IMPROVED!!!LO-CARB!!!HI-ENERGY!!! drivers are then submitted to the Microsoft Windows Hardware Laboratory for validation and approval before being leaked and officially posted, where normal users download them, install them, use Windows System Restore to uninstall said drivers which has just well and truly borked their systems. <That was a joke....maybe.>
Now, the moral of the story is, if you want the latest set of drivers for your vidcard, download the leaked driversets and away you go, being aware that these sets are sometimes buggier than a swamp in July and could bork your system. If you want stable, tested, certified-guaranteed-to-work-with-your-system drivers, then grab the official Nvidia driverset....which may also bork your system, but the chances of that are lower than if you ran the leaked drivers.
To quote Samuel L Jackson, the coolest baddest mofo on the planet - "ya feelin' me now sucker?"
And I'm not calling anyone a sucker or being a n00b, its a sensayuma thing.
hehehehe
