I'm running on the hypothesis that 182.5 is no longer 'ok' with new vegas since I can't find anything else that might be f-ing things up.

So... which drivers are y'all finding work well with new vegas if you have a 9800 series nvidia card? Is the latest one best or an earlier one?

Thanks

- I'm using windows xp if that matters

Not sure if this helps, but until very recently I had a 9600 GT, which gave me no trouble using the newest drivers.

It helps. I was put off upgrading after teh 182.5 as there were some terrible drivers including that graphics card killer 196 one ><

There isnt any reason not to update your card driver. Current install programs have a clean install option also you can use.