{"id":41378,"date":"2014-04-08T15:13:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T14:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=41378"},"modified":"2014-04-27T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-27T14:37:27","slug":"nvidias-detonator-337-50-versus-catalyst-14-2-beta-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/nvidias-detonator-337-50-versus-catalyst-14-2-beta-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Nvidia&#8217;s &#8220;Detonator&#8221; 337.50 versus Catalyst 14.2 Beta 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nvidia has released their new GeForce Beta driver 337.50 to gain performance especially in CPU-limited situations for DX11 games. Partly, this effort is in response to AMD&#8217;s new Mantle API which attempts to gain performance by coding &#8220;closer to the metal&#8221; at the expense of fragmenting the industry as it will only run on GCN architecture Radeons.\u00a0 Currently Mantle is being featured in only two games, <em>Thief<\/em> and <em>Battlefield 4<\/em>.\u00a0 By benchmarking 22 games, we are going to compare the AMD driver sets, Catalyst 13.12 and the latest 14.2 Beta 3, to Nvidia&#8217;s WHQL 325.23 and Beta 335.70.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia has claimed some impressive performance increases for DX11 with these drivers for both single and multi-GPU.\u00a0 Nvidia claims &#8220;up to 64%&#8221; improvement for single GPU, although the greatest improvement seems to be &#8220;up to 71%&#8221; with SLI. We are going to test single-GPU configurations by focusing on the GTX 780 Ti, the GTX 760, and the GTX 750 Ti today; and we will follow up with Part II by focusing on SLI. We will naturally compare the GTX 780 Ti to AMD&#8217;s R9 290X in Uber mode, as well as compare the GTX 760 and the mildly overclocked PowerColor R9 270X PCS+ as they are direct competitors, approximately in the same $250 price range.<\/p>\n<p>So as not to bottleneck our graphics, we are using Intel&#8217;s Haswell platform with our Core i7-4770K overclocked to 4.0GHz which is a good match for Ivy Bridge at 4.5GHz. We also use 16GB of Kingston&#8217;s &#8220;Beast&#8221; DDR3 clocked to 2133MHz, ECS&#8217; flagship Z87 Golden Motherboard and two identical 2TB Toshiba HDDs; one for AMD and one for Nvidia.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 150%; line-height: normal;\"><strong><br \/>\nTest Configuration &#8211; Hardware<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel Core i7-4770K (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; overclocked to 4.0GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.<\/li>\n<li>ECS GANK Domination Z87H3-A2X motherboard (Intel Z87 chipset, latest BIOS, PCOe 3.0 specification, CrossFire\/SLI 8x+8x) supplied by ECS<\/li>\n<li>Kingston 16 GB HyperX Beast DDR3 (2\u00d78 GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz, supplied by Kingston)<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 2GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 760, 2GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 780 Ti, 3 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>PowerColor R9 270X PCS+, 2GB, at PCS+ speeds (1100\/1425MHz), supplied by PowerColor<\/li>\n<li>PowerColor R9 290X, 4GB at Uber speeds; no throttling<\/li>\n<li>Two 2TB Toshiba 7200 rpm HDDs<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake ToughPower 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake<\/li>\n<li>Onboard Realtek Audio<\/li>\n<li>Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake<\/li>\n<li>Philips DVD SATA writer<\/li>\n<li>HP LP3065 2560\u00d71600 thirty inch LCD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nTest Configuration &#8211; Software<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nvidia GeForce 335.23 WHQL and 337.50 drivers. High Quality, prefer maximum performance, single display.<\/li>\n<li>AMD 13.12 WHQL and 14.2 Beta 3 Catalyst drivers; latest CAPs. High Quality &#8211; optimizations off; use application settings.<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/li>\n<li>Latest DirectX<\/li>\n<li>All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<li>VSync is off in the control panel.<\/li>\n<li>AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.<\/li>\n<li>All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nThe Benchmarks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synthetic<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3DMark 11<\/li>\n<li>Firestrike &#8211; Basic &amp; Extreme<\/li>\n<li>Heaven 4.0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>DX9<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em> The Witcher 2<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Borderlands 2<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Aliens: Colonial Marines<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>DX10<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>DX11<\/strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization V<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Max Payne 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>the Secret World<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sleeping Dogs<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper Elite V2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Tomb Raider: 2013<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Crysis 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>BioShock: Infinite<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro: Last Light<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>GRID 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Splinter Cell: Blacklist<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Total War: Rome II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Batman: Arkham Origins<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assassin\u2019s Creed IV: Black Flag<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Thief<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before we look at the performance, let&#8217;s check out Nvidia&#8217;s release notes:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/download\/driverResults.aspx\/74636\/en-us\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/download\/driverResults.aspx\/74636\/en-us', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/download\/driverResults.aspx\/74636\/en-us']);\" class=\"postlink\">http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/download\/driverResults.aspx\/74636\/en-us<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"quotecontent\">\n<div class=\"tabcontent\" id=\"tab1_content\" style=\"visibility: visible; display: block;\">\n<p><strong>New in GeForce 337.50 Beta drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Performance<\/strong> &#8211; Introduces key DirectX optimizations which result in reduced game-loading times and significant performance increases across a wide variety of games.Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration. Here are some examples of measured gains versus the previous 335.23 WHQL driver:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GeForce GTX 700 Series (Single GPU):<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Up to 64% in Total War: Rome II<\/li>\n<li>Up to 25% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/li>\n<li>Up to 23% in Sleeping Dogs<\/li>\n<li>Up to 21% in Star Swarm<\/li>\n<li>Up to 15% in Batman: Arkham Origins<\/li>\n<li>Up to 10% in Metro: Last Light<\/li>\n<li>Up to 8% in Hitman Absolution<\/li>\n<li>Up to 7% in Sniper Elite V2<\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in Tomb Raider<\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in F1 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GeForce GTX 700 Series (SLI):<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Up to 71% in Total War: Rome II<\/li>\n<li>Up to 53% in Sniper Elite V2<\/li>\n<li>Up to 45% in Aliens vs. Predator<\/li>\n<li>Up to 31% in Sleeping Dogs<\/li>\n<li>Up to 20% in CoD: Black Ops 2<\/li>\n<li>Up to 10% in Hitman Absolution<\/li>\n<li>Up to 9% in F1 2013<\/li>\n<li>Up to 7% in Far Cry 3<\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in Metro: Last Light<\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in Batman: Arkham Origins<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SLI Technology<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Total War: Rome II \u2013 added profile<\/li>\n<li>War Thunder \u2013 added profile<\/li>\n<li>Watch Dogs \u2013 updated profile<\/li>\n<li>Diablo III \u2013 updated profile<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gaming Technology<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Supports <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/whats-new\/articles\/geforce-shadowplay-beta-available-october-28\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/whats-new\/articles\/geforce-shadowplay-beta-available-october-28', 'GeForce ShadowPlay\u2122']);\" >GeForce ShadowPlay\u2122<\/a> technology<\/li>\n<li>Supports <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/whats-new\/articles\/shadowplay-twitch-streaming\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/whats-new\/articles\/shadowplay-twitch-streaming', 'GeForce ShadowPlay\u2122 Twitch Streaming']);\" >GeForce ShadowPlay\u2122 Twitch Streaming<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SHIELD<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Supports <a href=\"http:\/\/shield.nvidia.com\/play-pc-games\/\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/shield.nvidia.com\/play-pc-games\/', 'NVIDIA GameStream\u2122']);\" target=\"_blank\">NVIDIA GameStream\u2122<\/a> technology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3D Vision<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Supports new \u201c3D Compatibility Mode\u201d for 3D Vision that enables us to improve the 3D experience for many key DirectX 10 and 11 games.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3D Vision Profiles<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Path of Exile \u2013 rated \u201cGood\u201d<\/li>\n<li>KickBeat \u2013 rating now \u201cExcellent\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3D Compatiblity Mode Profiles<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Assassin\u2019s Creed Liberation \u2013 previously \u201cNot Recommended\u201d, now rated as \u201cExcellent\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army\u00a0 \u2013 previously \u201cGood\u201d, now rated as \u201cExcellent\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2 \u2013 previously \u201cGood\u201d, now rated as \u201cExcellent<\/li>\n<li>Strike Suit Zero \u2013 previously \u201cNot Recommended\u201d, now rated as \u201cGood\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Watchdogs \u2013 rated as \u201cGood\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>We see some pretty impressive claims for performance increases given by Nvidia and we will test some of these games using the GTX 750 Ti, GTX 760 and the GTX 780 Ti to cover a wide performance range of video cards since the last WHQLs 335.23. Of course, the increases are given as &#8220;up to&#8221; and are not necessarily applicable to our system which is not generally CPU-limited. We will also look at AMD&#8217;s progress with Catalyst 14.2 Beta 3 since we last tested with WHQL 13.12.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 150%; line-height: normal;\">The Results and the Conclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Big Picture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First up, we have what we call &#8220;the Big Picture&#8221; with all of our information on one big chart.\u00a0 This chart will be sub-divided into smaller charts as it tends to be confusing with a lot of data in one place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"resize_me reimg-width-portrait reimg-link aligncenter\" title=\"Zoom in (real dimensions: 1085 x 1144)\" alt=\"Image\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/download\/file.php?id=699\" width=\"569\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u00a0UPDATE 4\/27\/14<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Sleeping Dogs was able to complete the benchmarks and it was not a driver issue as we originally suspected.\u00a0 The R9 270 achieved 41.8 fps at 2560&#215;1600 and 76.3 fps at 1920&#215;1080 with Catalyst 14.3 Beta 3.\u00a0 Using Extreme AA, the R9 290X at Uber speeds recorded 38.1 fps at 2560&#215;1600 and 68.7 fps at 1920&#215;1080 with Catalyst 14.3 Beta 3. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>AMD&#8217;s 14.2 Beta 3 &#8216;Mantle Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s focus on the performance increases that AMD has made since WHQL 13.12, last year:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AMD-drivers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41384\" alt=\"AMD-drivers\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AMD-drivers.jpg?resize=592%2C1144\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AMD-drivers.jpg?resize=592%2C1144 592w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AMD-drivers-77x150.jpg 77w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AMD-drivers-155x300.jpg 155w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAs you can see, performance is all over the place. There are some improvements and also some losses. The <em>Sleeping Dogs<\/em> benchmark crashed with the latest drivers with both the 270X and the 290X.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at <em>Thief<\/em> and the Mantle pathway included with 14.2 Beta 3. Mantle worked fine for Hawaii&#8217;s 290X to give a small performance increase, but it chugged and stuttered using the 270X. At any rate, the GTX 760 is a bit faster generally than the overclocked R9 270X in DX11, while the GTX 780 Ti was solidly faster than even the R9 290X&#8217; Mantle performance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"resize_me reimg-width reimg-link aligncenter\" title=\"Zoom in (real dimensions: 758 x 82)\" alt=\"Image\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/download\/file.php?id=705\" width=\"600\" height=\"65\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s look at Nvidia&#8217;s new beta drivers compared with the last WHQL:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"resize_me reimg-width-portrait reimg-link aligncenter\" title=\"Zoom in (real dimensions: 714 x 1144)\" alt=\"Image\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/download\/file.php?id=702\" width=\"374\" height=\"600\" \/><br \/>\nWe don&#8217;t see the huge increases indicated by Nvidia with <em>Rome II<\/em>, but then we are also not CPU-limited. Also, <em>Rome II<\/em> game patches have been regularly updated and they have brought their own performance increases which may affect comparisons between the drivers now.<\/p>\n<p>Next, let&#8217;s compare the latest AMD latest Catalyst 14.2 beta 3 to Nvidia&#8217;s GeForce 337.50 betas:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"resize_me reimg-width-portrait reimg-link aligncenter\" title=\"Zoom in (real dimensions: 637 x 1123)\" alt=\"Image\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/download\/file.php?id=704\" width=\"340\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 780 Ti continues to gain performance over the R9 290X while the GTX 760 also gains over the mildly overclocked R9 270X.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 150%; line-height: normal;\"><strong> Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Nvidia new GeForce 337.50 beta driver has brought some serious performance increases to the GTX 750 Ti, the GTX 760, and to the GTX 780 Ti.\u00a0 Although the emphasis was placed on eliminating the CPU bottleneck in DX 11 games which we do not generally suffer from, we saw good performance increases nearly across-the-board. They are worthy of an unofficial &#8220;detonator&#8221; designation as they bring great free performance.\u00a0 Although they are beta, we encountered no issues and we highly recommend these drivers.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, we cannot recommend AMD&#8217;s latest Beta drivers unless you are playing <em>Battlefield 4<\/em> and need the performance. <em>Thief<\/em> does not practically benefit by using Mantle for the R9 290X which already has enough performance, and it causes serious issues with our R9 270X.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia expects that there will be further optimizations for GeForce drivers and we look forward to testing SLI in part two, including GTX 680 SLI and GTX 760 SLI when we receive a new Galaxy video card this week.\u00a0 We have also been seriously delayed by our now-fixed web site&#8217;s issues in publishing the GTC wrap-up, and hope to have it up by this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Gaming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nvidia has released their new GeForce Beta driver 337.50 to gain performance especially in CPU-limited situations for DX11 games. Partly, this effort is in response to AMD&#8217;s new Mantle API which attempts to gain&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":41386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,3330],"tags":[7457,7466,7472,7470,7465,7400,6740,7152,121,7471,7062,7225],"class_list":["post-41378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured-content","tag-335-23","tag-catalyst-13-12","tag-catalyst-14-2-beta-3","tag-dx11-optimization","tag-geforce-337-50","tag-gtx-750-ti","tag-gtx-760","tag-gtx-780-ti","tag-nvidia","tag-r9-270x","tag-r9-290x","tag-uber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41378","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=41378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}