{"id":19207,"date":"2010-06-22T14:27:31","date_gmt":"2010-06-22T13:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=19207"},"modified":"2010-06-23T14:22:13","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T13:22:13","slug":"catalyst-10-6-and-geforce-257-21-performance-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/catalyst-10-6-and-geforce-257-21-performance-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalyst 10.6 and GeForce 257.21 performance analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                    google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">As part of an ongoing feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor will be comparing the performance of 21 benchmarks with the current monthly Catalyst driver release versus the one from the previous month.  Catalyst 10-6 was released last week and we naturally ask ourselves if there are any performance improvements for the Radeon 5870 series in games.\u00a0 Beside testing with a single HD 5870, we are also going to compare HD 5870 CrossFire performance with the latest Catalyst drivers.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">As part of something new, since we are also benching GTX 480 for an unrelated review, we will give separate performance charts showing the performance changes in the latest WHQL GeForce drivers, 257.21 versus 197.75.  We will not directly compare the Radeon to the GeForce performance as difference sets of criteria were used for the benching of each card.  Since we are testing performance of Catalyst 10-6 for other articles and reviews, the HD 5870 was mostly benched with 4xAA and the GTX 480 was largely benched at 8xAA.  However, you can see the <em>relative performance<\/em> change of each driver by looking at the charts.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We are going to test Catalyst 10.5 against Catalyst 10.6 using our current benchmark suite of 20 games plus one synthetic benchmark, <em>Heaven 1.0<\/em>. We also added <em>Alien versus Predator <\/em>benchmark and we are now using the full retail version of <em>DIRT2&#8217;s<\/em> DX11 path instead of our earlier DX9c path from the demo version in previous reviews.  Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit using Core i7 920 at 3.80 GHz, 6 GB DD3, and our video cards are HD 5870 and GTX 480.  All of our games are tested at 2560&#215;1600, 1920&#215;1200 and 1680&#215;1050 resolutions and with maxed-out in-game settings plus 4xAA or 8xAA\/16xAF and we use DX11\/10\/10.1 whenever possible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Let\u2019s get right to the test configuration and the tests.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Test Configuration &amp; Driver Release Notes<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Intel Hardware Core i7<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Intel Core i7 920 reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 3.8 GHz); Turbo (21X multiplier for 3.97 GHz of a single core) is on. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Gigabyte <\/span>EX58-UD3R <span style=\"font-size: small\">(Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">6 GB DDR3 PC 1800 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at PC 1600 speeds; 2&#215;2 GB supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Radeon HD 5870 PCS+ by PowerColor at reference clocks, 850\/1200 MHz<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">GeForce GTX 480 (NVIDIA reference version stock clocks)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">2 &#8211; 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Thermaltake ToughPowerXT 775 watt power supply <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\">and Element G case supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">HP LP 3065 2560&#215;1600 30 inch LCD<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Catalyst 10-5 and 10-6 (WHQL); highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver, Catalyst AI set to \u201cStandard\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">GeForce 197.75 and 257.21 (WHQL) &#8220;High Quality&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">DirectX February 2010.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">vsync is off in the control panel and is never set in-game.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">4xAA enabled in all games (unless specified as 8xAA) and &#8220;forced&#8221; in Catalyst Control Center for<em> UT3<\/em>; all in-game settings at &#8220;maximum&#8221; or &#8220;ultra&#8221; with 16xAF always applied<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths and DX9c, etc.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Far Cry 2<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Crysis<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">F.E.A.R.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Unreal Tournament 3<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Just Cause 2<br \/>\n<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">World in Conflict<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Call of Juarez<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Batman: Arkham Asylum<br \/>\n<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Left4Dead<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Lost Planet<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Call of Duty 4<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">X3:Terran Conflict<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Enemy Territories: Quake Wars<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">ARMA2<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">H.A.W.X.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Battleforge<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Dirt 2<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Resident Evil 5<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"font-size: small\">Alien versus Predator<br \/>\n<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Heaven (Unigine) 1.0<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Release highlight notes for WHQL GeForce 257.21<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is the first driver release from the Release 256 family of drivers (versions 256.xx to 259.xx). This driver package supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, and 400-series desktop GPUs as well as ION desktop GPUs. Learn more about Release 256 drivers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win7-winvista-64bit-257.21-whql-driver.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win7-winvista-64bit-257.21-whql-driver.html', 'here']);\" >here<\/a> and you can download for your appropriate operating system\u00a0 the drivers by starting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/Download\/index5.aspx?lang=en-us\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/Download\/index5.aspx?lang=en-us', 'here']);\" >here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>New in Version 257.21<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li> Adds support for Blu-ray 3D with NVIDIA 3D Vision technology. Learn more about the hardware and software requirements here .<\/li>\n<li> Increases performance for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games. The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li> Up to 14% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920&#215;1200 noAA\/AF \u2013 Tessellation on)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 4% in Batman: Arkham Asylum (1920&#215;1200 4xAA\/16xAF PhysX=High)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 5% in BattleForge (1920&#215;1200 4xAA\/16xAF \u2013 Very High settings)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (1920&#215;1200 4xAA\/16xAF)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 4% in Crysis: Warhead (1920&#215;1200 4xAA\/16xAF \u2013 Enthusiast setting)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 24% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (1920&#215;1200 no AA\/AF)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 9% in Far Cry 2 (2560&#215;1600 8xAA\/16xAF)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 25% in Just Cause 2 (2560&#215;1600 no AA\/AF &#8211; Concrete Jungle)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (1920&#215;1200 no AA\/16xAF \u2013 Tessellation on)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 40% in Metro 2033 with SLI ((1920&#215;1200 4xAA\/16xAF \u2013 Tessellation on)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 8% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920&#215;1200 no AA\/AF \u2013 Day)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 110% in Stone Giant with SLI (2650&#215;1600 \u2013 Tessellation on, DoF on)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 6% in The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena (2560&#215;1600 no AA\/AF)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 9% in Unigine: Tropics (2560&#215;1600 no AA\/AF \u2013 OpenGL)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 5% in 3DMark Vantage (Performance and Extreme Presets)<\/li>\n<li> Up to 19% with Transparency AA (1920&#215;1200 4xTrSS \u2013 measured in Crysis)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li> Upgrades PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0223.<\/li>\n<li> Adds support for OpenGL 4.0 for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs.<\/li>\n<li> Adds support for CUDA Toolkit 3.1 which includes significant performance increases for double precision math operations. See CUDA Zone for more details.<\/li>\n<li> Adds support for new extreme Antialiasing modes for 3-way SLI PCs, including up to SLI48x AA for GeForce 200 series GPUs and up to SLI96x AA for GeForce GTX 400 series GPUs.<\/li>\n<li> Adds support for a new \u2018Quality\u2019 mode for NVIDIA\u2019s Ambient Occlusion control panel feature.<\/li>\n<li> Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel setup page for SLI and PhysX for ultimate control over multi-gpu configurations.<\/li>\n<li> Adds a new NVIDIA Control Panel feature for ultimate control over CUDA GPUs, allowing the user to effectively choose which GPU will power each CUDA application.<\/li>\n<li> 3D Vision customers can download the v257.21 3D Vision drivers here.<\/li>\n<li> Includes numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes on the documentation tab for information about the key bug fixes in this release.<\/li>\n<li> Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Additional Information:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li> Installs HD Audio driver version 1.0.9.1 (for supported GPUs).<\/li>\n<li> Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5.<\/li>\n<li> Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here.<\/li>\n<li> Supports the new version of MotionDSP&#8217;s video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.<\/li>\n<li> Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.<\/li>\n<li> Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.<\/li>\n<li> Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.<\/li>\n<li> Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.<\/li>\n<li> Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Release Notes for Catalyst 10-6<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst\u2122 10.6.\u00a0 Start <a href=\"http:\/\/game.amd.com\/us-en\/drivers_catalyst.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/game.amd.com\/us-en\/drivers_catalyst.aspx', 'here']);\" >here<\/a> to download the drivers or to read more about them:<\/p>\n<p><strong>3DMark Vantage<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Overall scores improve up to 5% on a single ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Performance improves up to 5% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800<\/li>\n<li>Series products<\/li>\n<li> Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970<\/li>\n<li>configurations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Aliens vs. Predator DirectX\u00ae 11 Benchmark<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Performance improves up to 4% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800<\/li>\n<li>Series products<\/li>\n<li> Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<li> Performance improves up to 3% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5700 Series products<\/li>\n<li> Company of Heroes \u2013 DX10 Performance improves up to 7% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800 Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li> Performance improves up to 5% with single card and CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> Crysis Warhead<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> CrossFire\u2122 performance improves by up to 7% on ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5000 Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> DiRT 2 \u2013 DX9 <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800 Series products<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 4% on single card ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5700 Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Chronicles of Riddick &#8211; Assault on Dark Athena <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performance improves up to 15% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800 Series products<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 13% on CrossFire\u2122 and single card ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 8% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5700 Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Unigine Tropics<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> CrossFire\u2122 performance improves by up to 8% on ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5000<\/li>\n<li>Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> World in Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performance improves up to 6% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800<\/li>\n<li>Series productsPerformance improves up to 8% on CrossFire\u2122 and single card ATI<\/li>\n<li>Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Wolfenstein<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5800<\/li>\n<li>Series products<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire\u2122 and single card ATI<\/li>\n<li>Radeon\u2122 HD 5970 configurations<\/li>\n<li>Performance improves up to 11% on CrossFire\u2122 ATI Radeon\u2122 HD 5700<\/li>\n<li>Series products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Resolved Issues for All Windows Operating Systems<\/strong><br \/>\nThis section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst\u2122<br \/>\nSoftware Suite for Windows. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Battlefield 2: Bad Company&#8221; maps no longer takes unusually long to load<\/li>\n<li>Assigned hotkeys are now retained for &#8220;Desktops &amp; Displays&#8221; after Catalyst Control<\/li>\n<li>Center restart<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head right for the results of our performance testing of Catalyst 10-5 versus 10-6 and GeForce 197.75 versus 257.21.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Benchmarks &amp; Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here are our results of 21 benchmarks &#8211; 20 games and one synthetic &#8211; compared between Catalyst 10-5 and 10-6 and GeForce 197.75 versus 257.21<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8220;Wins&#8221; are in <strong>bold<\/strong>; if there is a tie, both results will be in bold type.\u00a0 First up is GTX 480 benched with GeForce 257.21 vs 197.75:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV1.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19246\" title=\"nV1\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV1.JPG?resize=334%2C549\" alt=\"nV1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19247\" title=\"nV2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV2.JPG?resize=335%2C613\" alt=\"nV2\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV32.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19310\" title=\"nV3(2)\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV32.JPG?resize=334%2C604\" alt=\"nV3(2)\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV4.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19253\" title=\"nV4\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV4.JPG?resize=331%2C415\" alt=\"nV4\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV4.JPG?resize=331%2C415 331w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/nV4-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Here is the HD 5870 and HD 5870 CrossFire benched with Catalyst 10-5 versus 10-6<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi12.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19311\" title=\"ATi1(2)\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi12.JPG?resize=504%2C548\" alt=\"ATi1(2)\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi12.JPG?resize=504%2C548 504w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi12-275x300.jpg 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19249\" title=\"ATi2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi2.JPG?resize=503%2C592\" alt=\"ATi2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi2.JPG?resize=503%2C592 503w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi2-254x300.jpg 254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi3.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19250\" title=\"ATi3\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi3.JPG?resize=506%2C596\" alt=\"ATi3\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi3.JPG?resize=506%2C596 506w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi3-254x300.jpg 254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi4.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19251\" title=\"ATi4\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi4.JPG?resize=504%2C412\" alt=\"ATi4\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi4.JPG?resize=504%2C412 504w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ATi4-300x245.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see some performance improvement over Catalyst 10-5 with Catalyst 10-6 in some games but very little real change. <em>Call of Duty<\/em> showed an increase in performance with Catalyst 10-6 that it lost with 10-5 and <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> continues to make small gains.  However, we would recommend upgrading to Catalyst 10-6 because there is no real disadvantage and whatever slight pluses we found outweigh any slight negatives and it makes reasonable sense to use the latest WHQL drivers .  Of course, if you have a 5870 series Radeon, it would be wise to upgrade just for the features of Catalyst 10-6.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, we finally see good reason to upgrade from GeForce 197.75 to 257.21.\u00a0 There are many games that benefit from the newer drivers.<\/p>\n<p>We will be back next month to compare performance of Catalyst 10-7 versus 10-6 and perhaps we can also cover the new GeForce WHQLs when they are released later this month or next.   Happy gaming!<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Conclusion--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=19207\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Catalyst-10-6-Nvidia-257.21.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,6],"tags":[3799,3797,3727,3796,3819,3731,3798,3058,2079,3800],"class_list":["post-19207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-news","tag-197-75-vs-257-21","tag-catalyst-10-5-vs-10-6","tag-catalyst-10-5","tag-catalyst-10-6","tag-driver-analysis","tag-geforce-197-75","tag-geforce-257-21","tag-gtx-480","tag-hd-5870","tag-hd-5870-crossfire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19207","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}