How to Install the Modified 368.81 Driver on GTX 970, 980, 980 Ti, Titan X & Quadro M6000

Officially, NVIDIA ended Windows XP support for GPUs built on the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. Formally, the last supported card in the 900 series was the GTX 960 (along with its little sibling, the GTX 950).

However, the higher-end cards — the GTX 970, GTX 980, GTX 980 Ti, GTX Titan X, and the professional Quadro M6000 — are built on that exact same chip and architecture. By modifying the official driver’s .inf installation file, you can easily get them running on Windows XP.

Important limitation: This method works exclusively for Maxwell 2.0 (GeForce 900 series) cards! It fundamentally does NOT work for 10-series cards (Pascal: GTX 1050/1060/1070/1080, etc.). Attempting this hack on a Pascal card will either result in a basic driver with no 3D acceleration, or a blue screen (BSOD), since these GPUs lack hardware and display architecture support for the Windows XP kernel.

📥 Option 1: Download a Pre-Modified Driver

If you’d rather not edit the text configuration files by hand, you can download an already-built and patched archive:

This archive already includes the Device IDs for the GTX 970, 980, 980 Ti, Titan X, and Quadro M6000 (12GB / 24GB). All you need to do is extract it and run setup.exe.

🛠 The Manual Method: Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1. Preparation and Driver Selection

Don’t use older versions like 359.06. The final, most stable, and most fully-featured version of the NVIDIA drivers with XP support is 368.81 (released July 14, 2016).

  1. Download the official NVIDIA 368.81 driver installer from the NVIDIA website for the architecture you need (32-bit or 64-bit).
  2. Run the downloaded .exe file. By default, it will extract its files to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\368.81\WinXP\International.
  3. As soon as the installer’s welcome window opens, close it.

Step 2. Modifying the nv4_dispi.inf File

Navigate to the C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\368.81\WinXP\International\Display.Driver folder and open the nv4_dispi.inf file in plain Notepad.

1. Adding the Hardware IDs (Device ID)

Depending on your version of Windows XP, find the appropriate section:

  • For Windows XP 32-bit: look for the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTx86.5.1] section.
  • For Windows XP 64-bit: look for the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.5.2] section.
    x64 Troubleshooting: In some official builds of the 368.81 x64 driver, this section may be physically missing (or may be named NTamd64.5.1 instead). In that case, create the line [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.5.2] from scratch directly in the file and add the identifiers underneath it — otherwise 64-bit XP (which is built on the Windows Server 2003 kernel) will ignore the card list entirely.

Add the following lines to the end of the section you found:

%NVIDIA_DEV.13C2% = Section008, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C2
%NVIDIA_DEV.13C0% = Section008, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C0
%NVIDIA_DEV.17C8% = Section008, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_17C8
%NVIDIA_DEV.17C2% = Section008, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_17C2
%NVIDIA_DEV.17F0% = Section012, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_17F0
%NVIDIA_DEV.17F1% = Section012, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_17F1

Pay attention to the section numbers: These instructions use Section008 (the GTX 960 profile) for GeForce cards and Section012 for the Quadro. Keep in mind that if you decide to experiment with a different driver version, the section numbers (Section0XX) may be different — you’ll always need to double-check them against the GTX 960 entry in that specific .inf file.

2. Adding the Device String Names

Scroll all the way down to the [Strings] section and add the following lines:

NVIDIA_DEV.13C2 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970"
NVIDIA_DEV.13C0 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980"
NVIDIA_DEV.17C8 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti"
NVIDIA_DEV.17C2 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X"
NVIDIA_DEV.17F0 = "NVIDIA Quadro M6000 12GB"
NVIDIA_DEV.17F1 = "NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24GB"

Save your changes to the file and close it.

Step 3. Installing the Driver

  1. Run setup.exe from the C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\368.81\WinXP\International\ folder.
  2. The program will pass the hardware compatibility check successfully.
  3. Select Custom install mode and make sure to check “Perform a clean installation.”
  4. If a Windows pop-up warns about an invalid digital signature, click “Continue Anyway.”
  5. Reboot the PC.

⚠️ Known Issues, Bugs, and Limitations

1. DisplayPort 1.2 Limitation (DP 1.1a Only)

NVIDIA’s XP drivers can’t handle the DisplayPort 1.2+ protocol at the software level. Because of this, when connecting a modern monitor via DisplayPort, you’ll only get DP 1.1a mode. The practical bandwidth limit is 1920×1080 at 144Hz (or 2560×1440 at 60Hz). If you try to set 4K or a high refresh rate over DP, the monitor will drop the signal and show a black screen. For higher resolutions, it’s better to use DVI-D Dual-Link or HDMI instead.

2. RAM Limitation on 32-bit Systems (the BAR Region)

Losing usable system RAM under 32-bit Windows XP isn’t a bug, nor is it the graphics card wasting memory — it’s a basic addressing limitation of 32-bit systems. PCI device address space (MMIO / BAR) maps directly over the upper 4GB physical RAM region. On high-end cards like the GTX 980 Ti or Titan X, the BIOS allocates a large BAR region, which can leave you with only 2.5–3.0GB of usable RAM in 32-bit XP. If having 4GB of RAM or more is critical for you, install Windows XP Professional x64 instead.

3. Known Stability Issues (Especially on Windows XP x64)

  • Second monitor (BSOD): Hot-plugging a second display or enabling “Extended Desktop” mode on XP x64 often triggers a fatal crash with an error in the nv4_mini.sys driver. Stick to a single monitor.
  • Conflicts with peripherals over HDMI: Certain devices (in particular, Wacom graphics tablets with built-in screens, or capture devices connected via HDMI) can cause failures during graphics driver initialization.
  • General x64 instability: Overall, the 32-bit version of XP with the modded driver runs noticeably more stably and offers the best compatibility with older 2000s-era games.

4. What to Do If 3D Acceleration Disappears (OpenGL / DirectX Stop Working)

If, after rebooting, the desktop displays at high resolution but games complain about missing Direct3D/OpenGL or run at 1 FPS, it means Windows has fallen back to the standard Microsoft VGA driver instead of loading the NVIDIA driver.

Fix: Run setup.exe again, choose “Custom install” ➔ check “Perform a Clean Installation.” This will forcibly overwrite the basic Microsoft driver’s files.

5. BIOS Settings for Modern Motherboards (Dual-Boot)

When building a retro system on Intel/AMD chipsets newer than 2015, the following BIOS settings must be configured:

  • Boot mode: CSM / Legacy Boot (Windows XP won’t boot in Pure UEFI mode).
  • Secure Boot: Disabled.
  • SATA mode: IDE (doesn’t require additional drivers) or AHCI (requires F6 drivers to be integrated into the XP install media beforehand).

🔗 Sources and Credits