{"id":20068,"date":"2010-08-07T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-07T08:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20068"},"modified":"2010-08-13T03:19:21","modified_gmt":"2010-08-13T02:19:21","slug":"gtx470-performance-test-part-3-driver-258-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/gtx470-performance-test-part-3-driver-258-96\/","title":{"rendered":"GTX470 Performance Test Part 3: Driver 258.96"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that I\u2019m not particularly satisfied with the GTX470\u2019s level of performance compared to my previous GTX285. Sure, the GTX470 is a lot faster in a handful of games, but it\u2019s also horrifically slower in a few others. But for the most part it\u2019s about the same speed as the GTX285, and thus cannot be considered a convincing performance upgrade.<\/p>\n

I base this opinion on two of my previous articles which used an extensive selection of games. Part 1<\/a> tested Windows XP, while part 2<\/a> tested Windows 7 (64 bit). Overall the GTX470 performed a bit better on Windows 7, but it was still quite close to the GTX285 in most games.<\/p>\n

With the release of the 256 drivers from nVidia, it\u2019s time to run some more tests. These drivers specifically mention performance improvements with transparency anti-aliasing; the scheme is now implemented at the hardware level as opposed to the previous software implementation. Given I use TrAA in every Direct3D game I play, the previous slow TrAA performance could account for the poor performance I was seeing before.<\/p>\n

Where possible, archived driver results from the GTX285<\/span> running on XP (32 bit)<\/span> using driver version 197.13<\/span> will be used as a baseline. After all, performance gains on the GTX470 don\u2019t mean much if the card still can\u2019t significantly beat the GTX285.<\/p>\n