{"id":28877,"date":"2012-03-17T13:37:38","date_gmt":"2012-03-17T13:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=28877"},"modified":"2012-03-26T04:14:09","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T03:14:09","slug":"geforce-296-10-whql-driver-performance-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-296-10-whql-driver-performance-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"GeForce 296.10 WHQL Driver Performance Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><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 type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As part of an ongoing feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor is comparing the performance of 20 modern benchmarks with the current GeForce 296.10 driver, with the previous\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=28678\">295.73 WHQL<\/a> driver from last month. The emphasis is on comparing driver changes on performance in DX10 and DX11 games. Due to\u00a0time constraint issues, this is a shortened version of our usual analysis.<\/p>\n<p>This driver performance evaluation will give us a natural comparison of the driver performance improvements for the GTX 500 series including multi-GPU over the last driver set. Representing the Nvidia cards, we will test the GTX 580 and the GTX 590 so as to give us a sampling of the highest performing cards.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Shogun2-2011-08-20-10-44-06.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We are testing with the GTX 590 which uses two down-clocked GTX 580 cores in SLI. The percentage of change from upgrading the drivers should remain about the same for any capable CPU platform. The settings are marked on the charts and &#8216;ultra&#8217; or the highest setting is always picked when there is a choice, except as noted. We use the same settings as for the previous <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=28678\">295.73 WHQL<\/a> driver performance evaluation and they are noted on the charts.<\/p>\n<p>We are going to test GeForce\u00a0296.10 versus the last GeForce 295.73 driver using our current abbreviated benchmark suite of\u00a017 modern PC games plus three synthetic benchmarks, Heaven, 3DMark11 and Vantage. We have added <em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em> to our results as well as <em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em>. Our Core i7-920 has been overclocked further to 4.2GHz as part of our benching platform beginning with this evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit using Intel Core i7-920 at 4.2GHz, 6 GB DD3, and our Nvidia video cards are a GTX 580 and\u00a0GTX 590. All of the games are tested at two resolutions: 2560&#215;1600 and\u00a01920&#215;1080; with 16xAF, and we use DX11\/10\/10.1 whenever possible.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get right to the test configuration, the driver&#8217;s release notes and the tests.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><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><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Hardware <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Intel Core i7 920 (reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 4,2GHz using the 21x multiplier); Turbo is off. <\/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 OCZ DDR3 PC 18000 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at 1200MHz; 2&#215;2 GB supplied was by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Nvidia GTX 580 (1.5 GB, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Galaxy GTX 590 (3 GB, reference clocks) supplied by Nvidia<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drive<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Philips DVD SATA writer<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">HP LP3065 2560&#215;1600 thirty inch LCD<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 295.73 and WHQL\u00a0296.10 for the GTX 580 and the GTX 590. High Quality<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/li>\n<li>DirectX July\/November 2010<\/li>\n<li>All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<li>vsync is forced off in the control panel.<\/li>\n<li>Varying AA enabled as noted on the charts; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied if possible; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis<\/em><em><\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>All results show average frame rates.<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As with all of our other games, in-game settings are maxed except where noted and levels of AA are noted on the performance summary charts<em><\/em>. The performance changes result solely from upgrading each driver from the previous one.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vantage<\/li>\n<li>3DMark 11<\/li>\n<li><em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Wolfenstein<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>World in Conflict<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Just Cause 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Alien vs. Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Battleforge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2010<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> H.A.W.X. 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Total War: Shogun II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>DiRT 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>New Features of GeForce 296.10<\/h2>\n<p>These are highlights only.<\/p>\n<p>The .pdf is 60 pages and can be downloaded from <a href=\"http:\/\/us.download.nvidia.com\/Windows\/296.10\/296.10-Win7-WinVista-Desktop-Release-Notes.pdf\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http:\/\/us.download.nvidia.com\/Windows\/296.10\/296.10-Win7-WinVista-Desktop-Release-Notes.pdf']);\" >here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win7-winvista-64bit-296.10-whql-driver.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win7-winvista-64bit-296.10-whql-driver.html', 'From Nvidia&#8217;s site']);\" >From Nvidia&#8217;s site<\/a> here are the release note highlights and the link to download the Windows 7 64-bit driver:<\/p>\n<p>This is the second <em>WHQL-certified<\/em> driver from the <em>R295<\/em> family of drivers (versions 295.xx\u00a0 to 299.xx).<\/p>\n<p>This driver is a recommended upgrade\u00a0 for all GeForce users, especially those playing the latest hot PC games like <em>Battlefield 3<\/em>, <em>Blacklight: Retribution<\/em>, <em>Diablo\u00a0 III<\/em>, <em>Mass Effect 3<\/em>, or <em>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim <\/em>and more. These\u00a0 drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements\u00a0 and are <em>Microsoft WHQL-certified<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New in\u00a0 Release 296.10<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Adds\u00a0 support for the new <em>GeForce GTX 560 SE<\/em> GPU.<\/li>\n<li>Updates\u00a0 PhysX System Software to version 9.12.0213.<\/li>\n<li>Boosts\u00a0 SLI performance in the following games:<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Blacklight:\u00a0 Retribution<\/em> \u2013 up to 1.8x performance increase<\/li>\n<li><em>DiRT 3<\/em> \u2013 updated DX11\u00a0 profile to improve menu performance<\/li>\n<li><em>Dishonored<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Dungeon Defenders<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2011 <\/em>\u2013 improves\u00a0 performance with game patch 1.2<\/li>\n<li><em>rFactor 2<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Adds\u00a0 3D Vision support for the following games:<\/li>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Dear Esther<\/em> \u2013 Rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Deep Black: Reloaded<\/em> \u2013 Rated 3D Vision\u00a0 Ready<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li>Includes\u00a0 numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release notes documentation for more details.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Highlight\u00a0 Summary for the R295 Family of Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>New\u00a0 features and performance since R285 WHQL-certified driver<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Game-changing\u00a0 performance boost of up to 45% in <em>The\u00a0 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/em>, \u201cthe fastest selling title in <em>Steam\u2019s<\/em> history\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Up\u00a0 to 2x performance <em>Mass Effect 3 <\/em>with<em> SLI technology.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>GeForce-exclusive<\/em> quality enhancements with ambient occlusion\u00a0 support for <em>Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3<\/em>, <em>Diablo III<\/em>, and <em>The\u00a0 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>New<em> 3D Vision<\/em> and <em>SLI<\/em> profiles for over 50 titles.<\/li>\n<li>New <em>PhysX<\/em> software for the best experience in top <em>PhysX<\/em> titles like <em>Alice:\u00a0 Madness Returns<\/em> and <em>Batman: Arkham City.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Enables <em>WHQL-certified<\/em> support for <em>NVIDIA Surround<\/em> on Intel X79\u00a0 SLI-certified motherboards.<\/li>\n<li>Updates\u00a0 HD Audio to version 1.3.12.0.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Other\u00a0 Details<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Supports\u00a0 multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran,\u00a0 OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.<\/li>\n<li>Supports\u00a0 single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and\u00a0 OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel\u00a0 and AMD motherboards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head to the performance charts.<br \/>\n<!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--> <!--pagetitle: Performance Charts &#038; Conclusion--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><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>Here are our results of 21 benchmarks &#8211; 17 games and 3 synthetics &#8211; compared between GeForce 295.73 and\u00a0296.10 using the GTX 580 and\u00a0the GTX 590<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-112.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28881\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-112.jpg?resize=527%2C464\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-112.jpg?resize=527%2C464 527w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-112-300x264.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-211.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28883\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-211.jpg?resize=528%2C510\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-211.jpg?resize=528%2C510 528w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Untitled-211-300x289.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We note some performance improvement with the new drivers including for Heaven benchmark. We also noted\u00a0more improvements for 3D Vision and we will be covering this in a follow-up article. We also appreciated the very useful features in Nvidia&#8217;s GeForce\u00a0296.10 drivers and we recommend that you download and upgrade to the very latest drivers no matter which Nvidia video card that you may have!<\/p>\n<p>We have to also give our recommendation to the latest GeForce drivers. They are stable and in some cases they provide slight performance increases with no real negatives that we have encountered.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for our next evaluation which includes the reason we were able to overclock our i7-920 beyond 4.0GHz as we test two new Thermaltake CPU coolers. And we have a\u00a0Powercolor HD 7970 video card review coming up this week that had a few surprises for us that we&#8217;d like to share with you along with a new mystery card.<\/p>\n<p>We will be back to compare performance of the new GeForce WHQL drivers when they are released. Happy gaming!<\/p>\n<p>Senior ABT Editor<\/p>\n<p>Mark Poppin<\/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=28877\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Article-Image296.10.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,5,4454,4453],"tags":[5115,5114,5113,5116,121],"class_list":["post-28877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-gaming","category-mini-reviews","category-software-2","tag-295-73","tag-296-10","tag-geforce-drivers-performance-analysis","tag-gtc-580-gtx-590","tag-nvidia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877","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=28877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}