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61.45 Forceware = Nvidias Magic Drivers

hopefully they will become WHQLed
looks like some good jumps in performance
 
Could be nice if hardocp compared the diffrent beta drivers floating around the web, in some really good shader benchmarks, like TRAOD, Villagemark, Shadermark 2.0, Farcry etc... :)
 
from article on topic:
The poor showing of NVIDIA under Far Cry and Warcraft III is some cause for concern
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farcry sm3 patch can't get here fast enough
 
The poor showing of NVIDIA under Far Cry and Warcraft III is some cause for concern
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i think that was from the pci-e part, as they said they dropped in performance from the x800xt (pci-e) and the 6800(pci-e), but the 6800(pci-e) dropped alot more.

Far Cry is actually the only game that we've tested where PCI Express has a significant performance penalty when compared to AGP 8X. ATI's performance actually doesn't drop much at all, but NVIDIA's PCI Express loses a whopping 30%; we're hoping that this is a driver bug, which it most likely is, since it's the only situation where such a large performance hit is seen.
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and
Warcraft III is interesting because without AA and AF enabled, we see that NVIDIA takes a reasonable performance hit with PCI Express
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nothing about agp taking hits.
 
I'd rather see [H] sticking with WHQL'd drivers with their current review schema, we'd never getr reviews of new stuff if they were trying to nail down beta drivers all the time.

Let driverheaven do the legwork on massive comparisons like that! :p
 
The new 61.45 drivers are looking great. The X800XT PE doesn't have its lead on the 6800 ultra any more. Without 4x AA + 8x AF enabled the 6800 ultra has as much as a 10 fps or more lead in alot of the games and with it enabled the cards are pretty much tied in performance.
 
So hopefully with the next driver release, it will surpass the XTPE. I am still in limbo as to what card I want to get.. Until I see some more numbers, I am not preordering anything. I can either go with the CDW XTPE preorder for $456 or whatever it is, or I can go with the BFG 6800 Ultra OC for $499.99. The deciding factor at this point is what card, overall is the better buy. I am not hung up on any one feature, but I want it to support any games that come out for at least a year from now.
 
Ah, the neverending "new driver" battle. I just gained 600 points in 3DMark03 with the beta 4.7 Cats over the official 4.6 which already improved performance over the 4.5 drivers on my X800XT PE.
 
Ya I am still debateing whether to get the 6800 ultra or the x800... but judgeing from the latest drivers tested with nvidia I starting to lean towards nvidia's card. I currently own a 9800pro
 
I would go with the 6800ultra myself. How's that 9800pro working for you Shane? I've been thinking of getting one for myself, a step up from my old ti 4200 turbo. I'm not about to spend the money for a 6800 unless the prices of the regular or GT look good.
 
I didnt read the article, just looked at that link, but are the new P4's destroying the 64 3400+ there? thats the first review ive seen come even close to saying that.
 
Vagrant Zero said:
Still waiting for the 61.5xs, they're supposed to be the magic drivers.
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Got a link? I have heard the same thing, just wanted to know where it came from.
 
Cali3350 said:
I didnt read the article, just looked at that link, but are the new P4's destroying the 64 3400+ there? thats the first review ive seen come even close to saying that.
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The other rig they used for the gaming benchmarks had a 3.4EE in it and the 3.4EE is faster then the 3400+ in a large portion of games.
 
creedAMD said:
Got a link? I have heard the same thing, just wanted to know where it came from.
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Technical [kinda]
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12691&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=80

Layman's
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=305630&highlight=#305630

newer drivers certainly fix up sm3 performance in sm2.1 so no problems there anymore

though 61.34 doesn't seem all that great yet there are a few later sets which perform really good and seems to have even less bugs than 61.34

I'm starting to like my 6800UE more every minute

running it at 475/1180 right now with the 61.51 drivers and performance/IQ is simply great

can't wait for the next far cry patch to see what performance/IQ is like

Typically I don't buy stuff like this from the random forum goer but whoever he is he's got the respect of the ati slanted beyond3d...so that's good enough for me.
 
I think it would take magic for them to get a recent driver WHQL'ed.
 
101 said:
I think it would take magic for them to get a recent driver WHQL'ed.
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Amen to that. I like my drivers working with everything, not just boosted to improve static benchmarks.
 
Yeah don´t jump into conclusions. I am still waiting for whql rating and thorough image quality tests.
 
Personally, I don't give a rat's ass about WHQL certified or not. nVidia puts out drivers, I try them, and if the drivers are better than the previous, then I keep them. Simple as that.

And lately, nVidia's drivers have been getting better and better, making my 5900nu perform greater / produce greater IQ. nVidia pumping out 1, 2, or even 3 drivers a week, to me, is like being a kid and getting free candy.
 
Too bad there is no X800PRO/6800GT/6800NU on that chart, then we'd get a full picture of the performance differences with the latest drivers.
 
Badger_sly said:
Personally, I don't give a rat's ass about WHQL certified or not. nVidia puts out drivers, I try them, and if the drivers are better than the previous, then I keep them. Simple as that.
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yeah i kinda have to agree with you there bro. i dont need to benchmark for 3dmark so i dont need WHQL'ed drivers anyway. ill use any drivers that offer performance increase without IQ loss.
 
That is one of the purpose with WHQL rating ;) If a driver is good enough with as less bugs as possible it gets the WHQL rating.
 
oqvist said:
That is one of the purpose with WHQL rating ;) If a driver is good enough with as less bugs as possible it gets the WHQL rating.
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Think some folks didn't understand what WHQL is lol.
 
I've tried WHQLed drivers before that had bugs. And, I've used the latest non-WHQLed 61.34 and 61.40, which, since the day the were "leaked", have been flawless.

So the lesson tought to some of you today........... WHQL doesn't mean a whole lot. :p
 
Badger_sly said:
I've tried WHQLed drivers before that had bugs. And, I've used the latest non-WHQLed 61.34 and 61.40, which, since the day the were "leaked", have been flawless.

So the lesson tought to some of you today........... WHQL doesn't mean a whole lot. :p
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not everyone plays the same games, or has the same standards as you. ;)
 
WHQL is the equivalent of an add-in partner telling you their cards are 'hand-picked'. Whopdee-fucking-doo.
 
Vagrant Zero said:
WHQL is the equivalent of an add-in partner telling you their cards are 'hand-picked'. Whopdee-fucking-doo.
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Exactly. And just as another comparable example to WHQL, of a certification or title that doesn't mean anything, is "THX Certified". It means absolutely nothing............. except a little sticker on the audio equipment, and $ in ol' Georgie's pocket.
 
Badger_sly said:
Exactly. And just as another comparable example to WHQL, of a certification or title that doesn't mean anything, is "THX Certified". It means absolutely nothing............. except a little sticker on the audio equipment, and $ in ol' Georgie's pocket.
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Oh ya, that reminded me of something. You know how most routers come with a wi-fi certified sticker on them. About 2 months ago I noticed the Linksys G wireless routers had a blank sticker covering the wi-fi certified sticker. Apparently they weren't, but it was funny nonetheless to see this glaring dark blue sticker on a green box.

Who wants to put money down on the fact that performance did not increase [or decrease] with the removal [application] of that sticker? If stickers increased performance I'd have a gazillion on my williamete, screw overclocking, oversticking is the way to go. ;)
 
WHQL = just means Nvidia submitted a driver for approval AND Microsoft has put their stamp of approval on them, which is just a political process. (ie: doesnt mean shlt)

They test for major bugs in some of the most popular apps & hardware. It by no means, means that they are bug free. And a lot of Nvidia beta drivers are never even attempted to be WHQL (not candidates) & it doesnt mean they arent good.

Its just Nvidia only submitts certain ones when they feel its a worthwhile performance improvement or they have new hardware coming out, or its been too long since their last release.

So beta drivers are often great drivers and whql does not necessarily = perfect/great
 
WHQL must mean something... I mean I think some Creative SB Live/Audigys other than the initial ones that came with the system don't even have a single set of WHQLs. And It shows every time a game stutters while waiting for the buggy drivers to catchup to what is happening on the screen (A lot of people think its their videocard, until I tell them to uninstall the soundcard drivers, pull out the soundcard and the issues go away)

3com network cards are also notorious for not having WHQL releases, and they are very buggy because of add in software that conflicts with a driver set (I can never install the additional software that comes with 3com cards, like the "virtual cable tester", because it always screws things up, even when inactive)
 
I asked this before, does anyone know if and how much of a fee Microsoft charges for WHQL? I bet if they charged a fee it would be a great moneymaking opportunity for them, because they could declare all the testing for WHQL costs money to provide. Since manufacturers need to rely on WHQL to look good, they then basically have to pay Microsoft. :)
 
Thatonen00b said:
I don't think microsoft needs another "great moneymaking opportunity"
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i think he is saying that nvidia and ati dont want to cough up money everytime they get a new driver number.

and microsoft trys to get money anyway they can lol.
 
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