GeForce 285.62 3D Vision Performance Analysis
Benchmarks & Conclusion
Here are our results of 10 benchmarks – games rated mostly Excellent and 3D Vision Ready with two rated Fair – compared between GeForce 280.26 and 285.62 using the GTX 580. The third results column shows the performance of the game played at the same settings in 2D.
“Wins” are in bold; if there is a tie, both results will be in bold type. We tested at 1920×1080 which appears to be the most popular 3D Vision resolution. 
We note some performance improvement with the new drivers for DiRT 3 but the most amazing thing are the visual results from upgrading the driver. DiRT 3 has transformed from an ugly duckling into a swan. We can now play with details maxed out and the game looks stunning in 3D! We saw the same thing happen last month with Super Street Fighter IV.
Let’s look at these same figures expressed in a graph. 
We also noted improvements in the visuals for 3D Vision, not so much performance increases. There was definitely less crosstalk in DiRT 3 and the eyestrain was gone. Metro 2033 looks spectacular in 3D but really needs a GTX 590 or mult-GPU to experience it fluidly, Lost Planet 2 has real issues with 3D Vision and there is much in the foreground to distract the player from the overall experience. We will probably not include Lost Planet 2 in upcoming 3D Vision testing.
As you can see with Super Street Fighter IV, the framerate is locked by the 3D Vision drivers at 60 fps (as are many of the 3D Vision games) no matter how high the detail or AA settings are set. This game could probably be played well with 3D Vision on a midrange GTX. Since the framerates are locked, we will not continue to test this game except with lower-end hardware or mobile products. We always try to make our settings as demanding as possible – but not so as to bog the game down so that fluidity is affected. Mafia II is played with PhysX on high and if you are going to use a GTX 580 for 3D Vision, we would suggest you use a dedicated PhysX processor or to lower PhysX to the medium setting.
We also appreciated the updated 3D Vision GeForce 285.26 drivers and we recommend that you download and upgrade to the very latest drivers no matter which Nvidia video card that you may have! We have to also give our highest recommendation to the latest GeForce 3D Vision drivers. In many cases, they provide slight performance increases and improved IQ with no real negatives that we have encountered.
We have had many requests for 3D Vision-related information since our 3D Vision Mega Evaluation – Gimmick or Gaming’s Future? Feel free to join us in our forum and help us grow our 3D section. We are also going to be testing AMD’s HD3D next month and will probably have a similar Radeon performance driver analysis if our audience wishes it.
Next up is an evaluation of Core i3-2105 in gaming (versus Phenom II) coming up and Part 3 of our SLI versus CrossFire Series. We also expect to have a driver test of the WHQL Catalyst 10-1o after it is released next week. Happy gaming! Senior ABT Editor Mark Poppin
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Thanks for this article! I will definitely be upgrading to 285.62, along with a GTX 580 (if I win the lottery)!! About the 60fps limit, I wonder if it’s possible for NV to do a sequential alternating with different frames for the left and right eyes rather than splitting the same frame for both eyes at 60Hz down from a 120Hz display — i.e., just skip the “split” frame for the right eye once it has been shown for the left eye, and go to the next frame for the right eye, so that we’ll be seeing 120 distinct frames per second (and the FPS counter will be showing 120 rather than 60)? I guess this point is rather moot since only two games here could hover around 60 sustained fps anyways.
You are welcome. We believe that 3D is the future of gaming and we will also cover HD3D next month at ABT.
The games that do not strain the HW will be dropped from the main 3D Vision driver evaluation with the GTX 580. But we will expand our coverage to the mobile S3D platforms (and lesser GTXes)that will be challenged by these games.
L4D is getting replaced by L4D 2 and as soon as there is a 3D profile for Battlefield 3, we will add it to our benching suite. We are just getting started!
