64-bit Drivers Compared : New Releases From ATI and nVidia

[NFS4]

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=64bitgfx&page=1


Updated 6/16:

Gearing Up For 64bit: Beta Graphics Driver Comparison @ Anandtech

 

[Acanthus]

Not too hot from either showing.

Looks like we need more time for driver revisions. Or 64bit native games and benchies.

 

[NFS4]

It looked as though the performance was pretty comparable from what I read. It looked as though NVIDIA was the one with most of the issues even though they've had a driver out longer.

 

[Schadenfroh]

gamepc, they sound familliar, wernt they the ones that showed differant benchmarks when comparing them to AT and toms when the nv30 was released and so forth?

 

[mrwxyz]

atleast the 64bit drivers are pretty much equaling the 32bit ones. No where to go but up now...

 

[GTaudiophile]

I guess ATi STILL has no clue how to write drivers:

Both ATI?s and nVidia?s drivers had game compatibility issues, although we certainly saw more of these issues on the nVidia side, which is surprising considering that nVidia?s 64-bit drivers have gone through several revisions while ATI are on their first. We can?t be sure if our random lockups and crashes were caused by the immaturity of the graphics drivers, or perhaps the immaturity of the 64-bit DirectX 9.0 API, or even the immaturity of the operating system itself. Whatever the case may be, the drivers on both sides aren?t quite there yet, although ATI appears to have leapfrogged nVidia in terms of 64-bit driver/game compatibility.

 

[Regs]

That's a very small point GT. Both sides have drivers that don't work. There is nothing to gloat about.

 

[Transistor]

My thoughts on this are although this is interesting to look at and speculate about, you are talking about an OS that has not been released yet. It?s a beta OS and beta drivers. This has no relevance with regards to who has more stable drivers. Any opinions made now are premature. I'm waiting for the finished product and final driver revisions before I make any conclusions.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Regs
That's a very small point GT. Both sides have drivers that don't work. There is nothing to gloat about.

How about qualifying that: Both sides have drivers that don;t work perfectly. The new ATI drivers are better then the ones that came with the XP 64 bit beta, but still not as good as Catlyst 4.5, and more compatable than Nvidia's.

I think the main point here is that ATI appears to be ahead of Nvidia in 64 bit drivers, something that Nvidia has been known for, for years.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Regs
That's a very small point GT. Both sides have drivers that don't work. There is nothing to gloat about.

It's a very BIG point. ATI has just jumped into the game and their drivers are already more stable than NVIDIA which has had months to polish their releases.

 

[KillaKilla]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Regs
That's a very small point GT. Both sides have drivers that don't work. There is nothing to gloat about.

It's a very BIG point. ATI has just jumped into the game and their drivers are already more stable than NVIDIA which has had months to polish their releases.

Agreed.

In the gunmetal benchamrk, I wonder why the 5950 didn't work at 1024x768, but at 16x12...


Although this is still in a beta OS with beta drivers and a beta API running on games made for 32 Bit OSes.

 

[Regs]

I wish I would play devils Advocate more often.

All I see are drivers that are still beta. We don't even know what standards the drivers have to live up to yet. Where's the expected performance increase? This is what I'm more focused on.

Now what if Nvidia came out with a final revision in a month that showed both a level of high IQ/performance/ and stability in 8 revisions (unlikely), while ATI is still stuck on their 2nd revision? Or vice versa. ATI brings out the holy grail 64 bit driver but once Windows finalizes XP 64 they have to re work them again. It's still to early to tell. To me, this shows nothing.

Where's the bar? Did ATI surpass this imaginary bar of expectancy of an area we know nothing about yet?

 

[klah]

Don't forget that those Nvidia drivers were released over 2 months ago.

How long until we see this OS on store shelves, 6 months at the earliest. Probably closer to a year or more.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I guess ATi STILL has no clue how to write drivers:

Both ATI?s and nVidia?s drivers had game compatibility issues, although we certainly saw more of these issues on the nVidia side, which is surprising considering that nVidia?s 64-bit drivers have gone through several revisions while ATI are on their first. We can?t be sure if our random lockups and crashes were caused by the immaturity of the graphics drivers, or perhaps the immaturity of the 64-bit DirectX 9.0 API, or even the immaturity of the operating system itself. Whatever the case may be, the drivers on both sides aren?t quite there yet, although ATI appears to have leapfrogged nVidia in terms of 64-bit driver/game compatibility.

nvidia drivers release date

March 22, 2004

ATI driver release date

05/20/04

of course the ATI drivers would be more compatable. they are 2 months newer

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: klah
How long until we see this OS on store shelves, 6 months at the earliest. Probably closer to a year or more.

you wont see windows xp 64-bit on the shelves untill intel gives the go ahead for microsoft to launch of it

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I guess ATi STILL has no clue how to write drivers:

Both ATI?s and nVidia?s drivers had game compatibility issues, although we certainly saw more of these issues on the nVidia side, which is surprising considering that nVidia?s 64-bit drivers have gone through several revisions while ATI are on their first. We can?t be sure if our random lockups and crashes were caused by the immaturity of the graphics drivers, or perhaps the immaturity of the 64-bit DirectX 9.0 API, or even the immaturity of the operating system itself. Whatever the case may be, the drivers on both sides aren?t quite there yet, although ATI appears to have leapfrogged nVidia in terms of 64-bit driver/game compatibility.

nvidia drivers release date

March 22, 2004

ATI driver release date

05/20/04

of course the ATI drivers would be more compatable. they are 2 months newer

CORRECTION!!!!

Initial NVIDIA 64-bit Release: October 24, 2003
Initial ATI 64-bit Release: May 20th, 2004

And NVIDIA's drivers are still buggier...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I guess ATi STILL has no clue how to write drivers:

Both ATI?s and nVidia?s drivers had game compatibility issues, although we certainly saw more of these issues on the nVidia side, which is surprising considering that nVidia?s 64-bit drivers have gone through several revisions while ATI are on their first. We can?t be sure if our random lockups and crashes were caused by the immaturity of the graphics drivers, or perhaps the immaturity of the 64-bit DirectX 9.0 API, or even the immaturity of the operating system itself. Whatever the case may be, the drivers on both sides aren?t quite there yet, although ATI appears to have leapfrogged nVidia in terms of 64-bit driver/game compatibility.

You don't have to mention that my friend. All these ppl that still believe that ATI lacks in drivers development are either biased or uninformed. :beer:

I think though that we are still at a premature stage in 64bit drivers from both companies, but ATI has done a remarkable effort from what it seems .

 

[SickBeast]

I don't like to go against nearly everyone in this thread, but I am a 3D professional and I just wanted to add that ATi does NOT know how to program professional OpenGL drivers! I mean, my FireGL X1 (9700P) gets whooped by the GF3 series of cards. What does that say?

In any case, I agree with NFS4. To say otherwise is to act like an ignorant fanboy. nVidia has been developing these drivers far longer than ATi has (from what we know anyways) yet ATi is doing better at this stage.

 

[Lyfer]

Wow no difference at all.

 

[Acanthus]

Oh god are we going to get in a pissing contest over beta drivers on a beta OS now?

At least take the debate back to whats reasonable

 

[NFS4]

Updated 6/16:

Gearing Up For 64bit: Beta Graphics Driver Comparison @ Anandtech