GeForce 295.73 WHQL Driver Performance Analysis
Test Configuration & Driver Release Notes
Test Configuration
Test Configuration – Hardware
- Intel Core i7 920 (reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 4,2GHz using the 21x multiplier); Turbo is off.
- Gigabyte EX58-UD3R (Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x).
- 6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 18000 Kingston RAM (3×2 GB, tri-channel at 1200MHz; 2×2 GB supplied was by Kingston)
- Nvidia GTX 580 (1.5 GB, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
- Galaxy GTX 590 (3 GB, reference clocks) supplied by Nvidia
- EVGA GTX 550 Ti (1GB factory overclocked to 951/2178MHz), supplied by EVGA
- Onboard Realtek Audio
- 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drive
- Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
- Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake
- Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler
- Philips DVD SATA writer
- HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD
Test Configuration – Software
- NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 285.62 and WHQL 295.73 for the GTX 550 Ti, the GTX 580 and the GTX 590. High Quality
- Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
- DirectX July/November 2010
- All games are patched to their latest versions.
- vsync is forced off in the control panel.
- 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 Crysis.
- All results show average frame rates.
- Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
- 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.
The Benchmarks
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. The performance changes result solely from upgrading each driver from the previous one.
- Vantage
- 3DMark 11
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Batman: Arkham City
- Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)
- Wolfenstein
- Left 4 Dead
- Mafia II
- Crysis
- World in Conflict
- Far Cry 2
- Just Cause 2
- Resident Evil 5
- Alien vs. Predator
- Battleforge
- STALKER, Call of Pripyat
- F1 2010
- Metro 2033
- Lost Planet 2
- H.A.W.X. 2
- Civilization 5
- Total War: Shogun II
- DiRT 3
- Crysis 2
- Heaven 2.5
New Features of GeForce 295.73
These are highlights only.
The .pdf is 60 pages and can be downloaded from here.
From Nvidia’s site here are the release note highlights and the link to download the Windows 7 64-bit driver:
- This is the first WHQL-certified driver from the R295 family of drivers for Windows 7 and Windows Vista (for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, this is a preview driver). It is the recommended upgrade for all GeForce users, especially those playing the latest hot PC games like Battlefield 3, Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements and are now Microsoft WHQL-certified. Read the full GeForce 295.73 driver article on GeForce.com.R295 Highlight Summary
New features and performance since last WHQL-certified driver- Game-changing performance boost of up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, “the fastest selling title in Steam’s history”
- Up to 2x performance Mass Effect 3 with SLI technology.
- GeForce-exclusive quality enhancements with ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo III, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
- New 3D Vision and SLI profiles for over 50 titles.
- New PhysX software for the best experience in top PhysX titles like Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.
R295 Highlight Details
Performance
- Increases performance by up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (measured with GeForce GTX 560 at 1080p Ultra settings in indoor scenes vs. 285.62).
- Updates the NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to a higher performance profile.
- Boosts Mass Effect 3 SLI performance to up to 2x.
Ambient Occlusion
- Adds ambient occlusion support for Diablo III. See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.
- Updates the ambient occlusion support for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to a higher performance profile (also in 290 beta drivers). See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.
- Adds ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (also in 290 beta drivers). See the comparison screenshots on GeForce.com.
NVIDIA SLI
- Adds or updates SLI profiles for:
- Mass Effect 3
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- The Darkness II
- F1 2011
- Oil Rush
- Red Faction: Armageddon
- 7554
- Trine 2
- WRC 2: FIA World Rally Championship 2011
- Afterfall: InSanity.
- ArcheAge
- Core Blaze
NVIDIA 3D Vision
- Adds support for 3D Vision windowed mode on DLP HDTVs and on Optimized for GeForce passive 3D monitors.
- Added new 3D Vision laser sight /crosshair options to better match Skyrim crosshairs.
- Adds or updates 3D Vision profiles for:
- The Adventures of Tintin – rated Good
- Afterfall: Insanity – rated Fair
- ANNO 2070 – rated Not Recommended
- Apache: Air Assault – rated Fair
- Black Prophecy – rated Not Recommended
- Chaos Online – rated Fair
- Choplifter HD – rated Good
- Cities XL 2012 – rated Good
- Da Vinci Online – rated Fair
- Dino D-Day – rated Good
- DotA 2 – rating upgraded to Fair
- Dungeon and Dragons: Daggerdale – rated Fair
- Edge – rated Excellent
- Ferrari Project – rated Not Recommended
- The First Templar – rated Fair
- Fractal – rated Excellent
- FreeStyle 2 – rated Good
- The Haunted Halls Reach – rated Excellent
- Insane 2 – rated Excellent
- King Arthur II – rated Not Recommended
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – rated Fair
- Kong Fu Ying Xiong – rated Fair
- Love Beat – rated Good
- Marvel Super Hero Squad Online – rated Good
- Microsoft Flight – rated Fair
- Perpetuum – rated Fair
- Post Apocalyptic Mayhem – rated Fair
- Prototype 2 – rated Fair
- Q.U.B.E. – rated Excellent
- Quan Qiu Shi Ming – rated Excellent
- Red Bull X-Fighters – rated Excellent
- rFactor 2 (mod mode) – rated Good and updated convergence
- Risen 2: Dark Waters – rated Fair
- Saints Row: The Third – Rated Not Recommended
- Shadow Company: Left for Dead – rated Not Recommended
- Special Force – Rated Good
- Tera – rated Good
- Top Gun: Hard Lock – rated Not Recommended
- Tropico 4 – rated Good
- Worms Blast – rated Good
- If you are using 3D Vision with the 3D Vision USB emitter, please read this FAQ for more details on installation.
NVIDIA PhysX
- Updates PhysX System Software to 9.12.0209 for improved compatibility with Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.
NVIDIA Surround
- Enables WHQL-certified support for NVIDIA Surround on Intel X79 SLI-certified motherboards.
HD Audio
- Updates HD Audio to version 1.3.12.0.
Battlefield 3
- Fixes instances of texture corruption/artifacts in Battlefield 3 when memory constrained (typically 1GB or less graphics cards running Ultra settings and high resolutions).
Other Details
- Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.
- 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 and AMD motherboards.
Let’s head to the performance charts.
Hey, thanks for another nice Drivers-review!
Btw, what happend to CrossFire vs. SLI – Part III? Is that still in the works? I’ve been longing to see some nice micro-stuttering tests and some CPU-bottleneck investigations!
I just love things that programmers don’t do the minimum of checking on;