{"id":4612,"date":"2009-03-23T05:34:17","date_gmt":"2009-03-23T05:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2009-03-24T03:18:27","modified_gmt":"2009-03-24T03:18:27","slug":"nvidia-18208-driver-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/nvidia-18208-driver-test\/","title":{"rendered":"nVidia 182.08 Driver Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--pagetitle:Introduction & Setup--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Introduction<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This article tests the performance of nVidia\u2019s latest official driver (<span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">182.08<\/span>) against the previous driver I was using (<span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">181.22<\/span>). This time around I\u2019ll test the Direct3D games at the settings I play them at, demonstrating changes in real-world situations for a gamer like myself. Doing so results in more mixed settings being used because games are tuned for best playable performance, so it\u2019s a slightly different way of approaching benchmarking to the standard fare.<\/p>\n<p>For OpenGL, I\u2019ll stick to my maximum resolution of 1920&#215;1440 along with 8xMSAA, because I want to see if nVidia has addressed their <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=1261&amp;page=6].\" target=\"_blank\">slow 8xAA performance in OpenGL<\/a>. That and 4xAA is far too easy for a GTX260+ in those games anyway.<\/p>\n<p>For your convenience, the charts are color coded as usual: <span style=\"color: #ccffcc;\">green<\/span> means the 181.22 driver is faster, while <span style=\"color: #ffff99;\">yellow<\/span> means 182.08 is faster. Also <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">MS<\/span> is transparency multi-sampling while <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">SS<\/span> is transparency\u00a0super-sampling. For more information about this, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=3188&amp;page=3\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><\/span> <\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">Hardware<\/span> <\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (reference 3 GHz clock).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>nVidia GeForce GTX260+ (896 MB, nVidia reference clocks).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>4 GB DDR2-800 RAM (4\u00d71 GB, dual-channel).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R (Intel G33 chipset, F7 BIOS).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Software<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Windows XP 32 bit SP3<\/li>\n<li>nVidia Forceware 181.22 &amp; 182.08, high quality filtering, all optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>DirectX November 2008.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>All games patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><\/strong> <\/span> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Settings<\/span> <\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>16xAF forced in the driver, vsync forced off in the driver.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>AA forced either through the driver or enabled in-game, whichever works better.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Since I\u2019m on XP, all DX10 titles were run under DX9 render paths.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>All results show an average framerate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Direct3D (0xAA & 2xAA)--> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (0xAA &#038; 2xAA)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">The first set of benchmarks cover some of the most demanding games I play, and as a result the AA levels are reduced to 2xAA, or even disabled in the case of <em>Stalker Clear Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4605\" title=\"d3d-2xaa-chart\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-chart.png?resize=304%2C253\" alt=\"d3d-2xaa-chart\" title=\"d3d-2xaa-chart\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-chart.png 304w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-chart-300x249.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br class=\"spacer_\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4606 aligncenter\" title=\"d3d-2xaa-graph\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-graph.png?resize=636%2C460\" alt=\"d3d-2xaa-graph\" title=\"d3d-2xaa-graph\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-graph.png 636w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-2xaa-graph-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/> <br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All of the games are within the margin of error except <em>Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl<\/em>, the first title in the series. The <span style=\"color: #99ccff;\">7.29%<\/span> performance gain at the settings I use in that game is both unexpected and welcome. Furthermore, the performance gain is relevant because the scores are playable.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Direct3D (4xAA)--> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Direct3D (4xAA)<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next benchmarks consist of slightly less demanding Direct3D titles, and hence they can be run at 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4607\" title=\"d3d-4xaa-chart\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-4xaa-chart.png?resize=265%2C186\" alt=\"d3d-4xaa-chart\" title=\"d3d-4xaa-chart\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4608\" title=\"d3d-4xaa-graph\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-4xaa-graph.png?resize=637%2C373\" alt=\"d3d-4xaa-graph\" title=\"d3d-4xaa-graph\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-4xaa-graph.png 637w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/d3d-4xaa-graph-300x175.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All tested scenarios fall within the margin of error.<!--nextpage--> <!--pagetitle:OpenGL--><strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">OpenGL<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Finally, I\u2019ll check to see if 8xMSAA performance has improved in OpenGL.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4609\" title=\"ogl-chart\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-chart.png?resize=325%2C222\" alt=\"ogl-chart\" title=\"ogl-chart\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-chart.png 325w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-chart-300x204.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4610\" title=\"ogl-graph\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-graph.png?resize=636%2C403\" alt=\"ogl-graph\" title=\"ogl-graph\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-graph.png 636w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/ogl-graph-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sadly it appears the lackluster performance in <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=1261&amp;page=6\" target=\"_blank\">OpenGL with 8xMSAA<\/a>\u00a0is unchanged. Interestingly, <em>Quake 4<\/em> and <em>Prey<\/em> are exactly the same speed with both drivers.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle:Conclusion--><!<strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><\/span> <\/span> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #99ccff;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Conclusion<\/span> <\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before I finish, there are two more points I&#8217;d like to add. The main purpose of these drivers is to make <em>Fear 2<\/em> run better. While I didn\u2019t benchmark the game today, I can confirm in actual gameplay the rendering glitches with the 181.22 drivers have vanished.<\/p>\n<p>The second point is that these drivers remove the annoying driver dialog box that pops up in <em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em> as of\u00a0patch 2.0.<\/p>\n<p>So in closing, I\u2019d recommend these drivers. Even if most games showed no change, they ran no worse either. Of course the extra performance in <em>Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl<\/em>, along with improvements to the <em>Fear 2<\/em> and <em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em> gaming experience, makes them worthwhile.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/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<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=4612\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: BFG10K\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/article-image1.png\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,7],"tags":[526,553,281],"class_list":["post-4612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-technology","tag-526","tag-553","tag-281"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}