GeForce WHQL 331.58 Performance Analysis

Benchmarks & Performance Analysus

Here are our results of thirty games and 4 synthetics compared between GeForce 331.58 WHQL and GeForce 327.23 WHQL drivers using the GTX 770 and the GTX 780.  For reference, Catalyst 13.9 WHQL results are provided for the reference HD 7970 as we will be benching it and the new R9 280X this week with the latest beta drivers.

Each set of WHQL drivers is compared against the other in the first two results column and the higher performance number is in bold. If there is a tie, both results are given in bold type.

We note some solid performance improvements with Nvidia’s new GeForce 331.58 over 327.23 in a few games.  The last WHQLs particularly benefited the GTX 780 and this time, the GTX 770 is also seeing some good performance gains.  We saw the performance gains for the GTX 770 as Nvidia suggested but it was a bit more mixed for the GTX 780.

We did not see the up to 8% performance boost in Sleeping Dogs that Nvidia got with the latest WHQLs although we did see them in the other 3 noted games.  We saw Sniper Elite V2 performance increase with the GTX 770 while Metro: Last Light saw improvement with the GTX 780. DiRT Showdown and DiRT 3 shared across-the-board performance improvements. BioShock: Infinite saw an increase in framerates that Aliens: Colonial Marines, another Unreal 3 engine game, also got.  Even an older title like Crysis saw a fair increase on the GTX 780.  GRiD 2 and Tomb Raider 2013 continue to see improvements with the latest GeForce drivers.

The negatives include Serious Sam 3 and the Witcher, both DX9 games. Unlike last time, the biggest improvement appears to be with the GK104-based GTX 770 although the GTX 780 also got some solid gains.

Conclusion:

So far, we would recommend upgrading to the latest GeForce 331.58 driver because there are real advantages, and no large performance-impacting negatives that we encountered.

Stay tuned, next up is an evaluation of a non-mechanical keyboard by Genius that is aimed at gamers.  We will also bring you the latest Catalyst performance improvements with the new betas using a VisionTek R9 280X which we will fully examine for our readers this week.

In the meantime, join ABT’s forum for the best tech discussions anywhere and also feel free to comment on this Performance Analysis in the comments section below, or on ABT forum.

Happy gaming!