Here is a post by Iain (tinyvole)

This is the shortened “in a nutshell” version of my guide here.

So, here goes:

Backup your current configuration.
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.xonf.original

Install all build dependencies.
sudo apt-get install build-essential pkg-config linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Remove all traces of the Ubuntu version of NViDIA on your system
sudo aptitude purge $(dpkg -l | grep nvidia | awk ‘{print $2}’)

Download the driver from the nvidia download site.

For 32bit systems using the 185 Driver:
wget ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/185.18.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.36-pkg0.run -O NVIDIA-Linux-185.18.pkg.run

For 64bit systems using the 185 Driver:
wget ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/185.18.36/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-185.18.36-pkg0.run -O NVIDIA-Linux-185.18.pkg.run

If you use a legacy card that is not supported by the 185 driver, you can download the right one accordingly here for 32bit or here for 64bit.

Install the installer into the /usr/src directory and create an easy link to it.
sudo install NVIDIA-Linux-185.18.pkg.run /usr/src
sudo ln -fs /usr/src/NVIDIA-Linux-185.18.pkg.run /usr/src/nvidia-driver

Save and close all work, then kill X.
sudo service gdm stop

Login to a VT, and run the installer.
sudo sh /usr/src/nvidia-driver

Once the installer finishes, restore the backed up xorg.conf
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.original /etc/X11/xorg.conf

And restore X.
sudo service gdm start

Congratulations, you now are running on your own manually compiled drivers.

One caveat with this that you must recompile every time there is a kernel update. For a guide on how to automate this procedure, see here.

To upgrade from your manually compiled the 185 drivers to the latest 190 beta, you would run through the current procedure.

Download
wget ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/190.32/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-190.32-pkg0.run -O NVIDIA-Linux-190.32.pkg.run

Install into the /usr/src directory, and override your existing symlink
sudo install NVIDIA-Linux-190.32.pkg.run /usr/src
sudo ln -fs /usr/src/NVIDIA-Linux-190.32.pkg.run /usr/src/nvidia-driver

Save and close all work, then kill X.
sudo service gdm stop

Uninstall NViDIA, to ensure a smooth transition.
sudo nvidia-uninstall

Run the installer as per previous method.
sudo sh /usr/src/nvidia-driver

And restore X.

sudo service gdm start

simple, eh?

here is the complete guide:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1125400