GeForce 258.96 Performance Analysis – Dragon Platform
As part of an ongoing feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor will be comparing the performance of 21 benchmarks with the current WHQL GeForce driver release versus the one from the previous month. GeForce 258.96 was released last week and we naturally ask ourselves if there are any performance improvements for the GTX 400 series in games. We are testing with a single GTX 480 at stock speeds using our overclocked Phenom II CPU instead of our usual Core i7 and it will show relative performance changes of the driver for the Dragon platform which should be similar for Intel’s platforms.
On the Serious 3 Engine
GTX 480 was largely benched at 8xAA except where noted at 4xAA. We also added Serious Sam Second Encounter (HD) and Cryostasis Tech Demo benchmark to our regular benchmark suite and we are also using the full retail version of DIRT2’s DX11 path instead of our earlier DX9c path from the demo version in previous reviews. Serious Sam Second Encounter was completely updated this year to the latest Serious 3 engine.
Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit using Phenom II 550-X2 at 3.80 GHz, 4 GB DD3, and our video card is GTX 480. All of our games are tested at 2560×1600, 1920×1200 and 1680×1050 resolutions and with maxed-out in-game settings plus 4xAA or (mostly) 8xAA/16xAF and we use DX11/10/10.1 whenever possible.
Let’s get right to the test configuration and the tests.
k this is a complete joke… Ur rig consists of a 550be… Wow talk about a bottleneck… Dirt 2 for example… I get 80fps in benchmark with 8xAA at 1920×1080… Horrible… No wonder the 5870 testing actually comes close… I7 vs phenom x2… Like sending a wrinkled up old lady to play in the NFL
Nonsense. I am not comparing HD 5870 to GTX 480 😛
And please educate yourself on Dual- vs. Quad-core:
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=19601
Phenom II 550 X2 at 3.8 GHz is not a bottleneck for any of the games that I tested – and certainly not for a single GTX 480. Of these benches, only World-in-Conflict really benefits practically from a Quad-core over a Dual-core. These current benches will give you the *relative* performance of the new driver compared to the last set. I have also had a lot of requests to test GTX 480 on the Dragon Platform; not everyone needs to nor wants to run GTX 480 with Core i7.
You also appear to have no clue about the Phenom II in gaming. When it is highly overclocked, it trades blows in many cases with my Core i7-920 at the same 3.80 GHz. Phenom II is certainly on a par with Intel’s Penryn CPUs.
Watch for my upcoming series of articles that will compare Phenom II X2 vs. X4 vs Core i7 – all at 2.6 GHz, 3.2 GHz and at 3.8 GHz. The tests are run with GTX 480 and HD 5870 and 5870 CrossFire.
In the meantime, perhaps these articles will help you:
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=2854
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=2852
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=4090
The last one uses HD 4870 TriFire:
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt//viewtopic.php?t=19777