nVidia 185.85 Driver Test
Today I’ll be testing nVidia’s latest official driver (version 185.85), and I’ll compare it to my previously installed driver (version 182.50).
The settings used largely mimic those used in my GTX285 vs GTX260+ vs 4850 performance test, but after this article I’ll start using different settings to better take advantage of the GTX285’s extra muscle.
As usual the % Change value is color-coded; green means 182.50 is faster, while yellow means 185.85 is faster.
Hardware
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (reference 3 GHz clock).
- nVidia GeForce GTX285 (1 GB, nVidia reference clocks).
- 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM (4×1 GB, dual-channel).
- Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R (Intel G33 chipset, F7 BIOS).
- Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic.
- 19” Sony CPD-G420 CRT (maximum resolution 1920×1440).
Software
- Windows XP 32 bit SP3
- nVidia driver 182.50 & 185.85, high quality filtering, all optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled.
- DirectX March 2009.
- All games patched to their latest versions.
Settings
- 16xAF forced in the driver, vsync forced off in the driver.
- AA forced either through the driver or enabled in-game, whichever works better.
- Since I’m on XP, all DX10 titles were run under DX9 render paths.
- Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
- All results show an average framerate.
