{"id":16408,"date":"2010-03-27T12:44:32","date_gmt":"2010-03-27T12:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=16408"},"modified":"2010-05-02T22:08:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T21:08:00","slug":"nvidia-197-13-mega-driver-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/nvidia-197-13-mega-driver-test\/","title":{"rendered":"nVidia 197.13 Driver Mega Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\";\n\/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"1949837292\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle:Introduction &#038; Setup--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-2560.PNG\"><\/a>Introduction<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Today I\u2019ll be testing nVidia\u2019s latest official driver (<span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">197.13<\/span>), and I\u2019ll compare it to my previously installed driver (<span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">196.21<\/span>).<\/p>\n<p>Initially I was planning to put up the usual small selection of games I use for regular driver tests, but I started seeing some very surprising results. So I decided to re-benchmark all of the results covered in my <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=15920\" target=\"_blank\">i5 750 performance test<\/a>, using the exact same settings. Keep reading to discover the findings I made in the 17 tested games.<\/p>\n<p>TrAA will be used where possible, with <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">SS<\/span> denoting super-sampling, and <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">MS<\/span> denoting multi-sampling.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Hardware<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel Core i5 750 (2.8 GHz, 21x multiplier, Turbo Boost on).<\/li>\n<li>4 GB DDR3-1333 RAM (2\u00d72 GB, dual-channel).<\/li>\n<li>Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 (Intel P55 chipset, F6 BIOS).<\/li>\n<li>nVidia GeForce GTX285 (1 GB, reference clocks).<\/li>\n<li>Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic.<\/li>\n<li>30\u201d HP LP3065.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Software<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Windows XP 32 bit SP3<\/li>\n<li>nVidia driver 197.13 and 196.21, high quality filtering, all optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled.<\/li>\n<li>DirectX February 2010.<\/li>\n<li>All games patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Settings<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>16xAF forced in the driver, vsync forced off in the driver.<\/li>\n<li>AA forced either through the driver or enabled in-game, whichever works better.<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>All results show an average framerate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--pagetitle:2xAA--><!--nextpage--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2xAA<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16424\" title=\"Text 2xAA\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-2xAA1.png?resize=245%2C222\" alt=\"Text 2xAA\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16410\" title=\"Graph 2xAA\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-2xAA1.png?resize=528%2C441\" alt=\"Graph 2xAA\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-2xAA1.png?resize=528%2C441 528w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-2xAA1-300x250.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re off to a good start with small but significant performance gains across the board. Every title here shows a benefit, with an average performance gain of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">5.74%<\/span> overall. The biggest performance gain comes in <em>Crysis<\/em> with a <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">7.82%<\/span> increase. In such a heavy title, free performance is always quite welcome.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle:1920x1200--><!--nextpage--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">1920&#215;1200<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16425\" title=\"Text 1920\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-19201.png?resize=268%2C186\" alt=\"Text 1920\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16411\" title=\"Graph 1920\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-19201.png?resize=526%2C354\" alt=\"Graph 1920\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-19201.png?resize=526%2C354 526w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Graph-19201-300x201.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the next set of games we see a smaller but still significant gain of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">4.52%<\/span> overall. <em>Wolfenstein<\/em> shows no performance gain, but <em>Call of Duty 4<\/em> shows a significant performance gain of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">8.29%<\/span>, and the result was tested three times to ensure repeatability. This is the sort of performance gain you\u2019d see from a successful GPU overclock, but it\u2019s coming for free from the driver. Nice.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle:2560x1600--><!--nextpage--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2560&#215;1600<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16423\" title=\"Text 2560\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-25601.png?resize=269%2C324\" alt=\"Text 2560\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-25601.png?resize=269%2C324 269w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Text-25601-249x300.png 249w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18060 aligncenter\" title=\"Graph-25601\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/graph-25601.PNG?resize=529%2C561\" alt=\"Graph-25601\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/graph-25601.PNG?resize=529%2C561 529w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/graph-25601-282x300.PNG 282w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At the most demanding resolution of 2560&#215;1600 we also see the largest performance gain overall seen so far, that of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">6.14%<\/span>. We also see the largest individual performance gain to date, that of <em>Fear 2<\/em>\u2019s <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">9%<\/span> (tested three times to ensure repeatability). Again, this is the sort of gain you\u2019d expect from a good GPU overclock, but it\u2019s coming for free from the driver.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m also amazed <em>Prey<\/em> is showing a <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">7.66%<\/span> performance gain considering it\u2019s a four year old game, and OpenGL at that. Interestingly <em>Quake Wars<\/em> is a newer OpenGL game, but its result is within the margin of benchmarking error.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle:Conclusion--><!--nextpage--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 197.13 drivers are absolutely amazing. Out of a mix of 17 tested games, almost all of them showed a significant performance gain, at an average of <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">5.47%<\/span> overall. I can\u2019t remember the last time I saw a driver update that provided such far-reaching performance gains across so many titles and settings. It\u2019s possible that nVidia has made some generic optimizations (such as shader and\/or texturing) which potentially impact many games on a positive note.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s also ironic is that in these benchmarks, I\u2019ve gotten a bigger performance gain overall from a free driver update from nVidia than I did from dropping down hundreds of dollars into an i5 750 system. The importance of the graphics card and optimal device drivers for gaming cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n<p>Go and install these drivers right now and enjoy some free performance gains, courtesy of nVidia.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=16408 \"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: BFG10K\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Article-Image1.PNG\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,7],"tags":[3144,3249,900,121],"class_list":["post-16408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-technology","tag-196-21","tag-197-13","tag-gtx285","tag-nvidia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}