Hardware DirectX Level changes in Source games when I change settings

[gvazdas]

Hey guys, I seem to have this problem with my source games. For example, Half-Life 2.
I reformatted my hard drive and re-installed Windows 7. I also re-downloaded all my Steam games.
I start Half-Life 2, go to video options. I max out EVERYTHING. Then I click on apply, OK and leave the menu.
I check the console, type in mat_dxlevel and I see that it's set to 70. Then, I check the video options menu - some of the options are greyed out (shadows, motion blur, color correction, etc).
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/R3k8oL0.jpg[/img_thumb]
After this, I change the options to mat_dxlevel 98. I go back to the video options menu and change it back to max and click apply - same thing happens. My hardware directx level is 70 and my graphics options are once again downgraded. I tried settings the dxlevel manually in the menu, but it reverts the graphics changes when I quit the game.
I have a GTX 550 TI, I've never had this problem before until I re-installed and re-formatted my PC. I have updated my nvidia drivers and directX to no avail.
Oh, and by the way, I'm using the SteamPipe Beta for all of the available games. Could this be the problem?
EDIT:
I read about this problem on github. It seems other people are having the same problem with dxlevel as well.

[VikeeVeekie]

Try to downgrade your GPU drivers back to the time before you formatted your hard drive. Sounds like a bad driver update of nVidia. But they should roll a new update out soon or later.

[gvazdas]

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;40908808]Try to downgrade your GPU drivers back to the time before you formatted your hard drive. Sounds like a bad driver update of nVidia. But they should roll a new update out soon or later.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I am using the exact same driver I used before reformatting (there was no update to the drivers between my re-installation and now).

[gvazdas]

I opted out of betas for Half-Life 2 and the problem keeps occuring.
I can't change my graphics options - it keeps going back to hardware directx 7.0 for no goddamn reason!