90's Series Driver Comparison

[TheRyuu]

90's series Driver Comparison (includes 84.37's)

With all the buz about the new 90's series drivers. I thought that I'd post this here to show which one is the best of the three, and how they compare to the older 84.37's (which is probably the best 80's series driver ever).

So everyone who is loving that 91.33 driver, might want to think again.

Conclusion:

Despite the recent FW 80 drivers that have surfaced recently, the 90 series is here to stay. Surprisingly most of the entries have come direct from Nvidia, so it's possible that there's many more lurking in the wings waiting to be released. Or maybe Nvidia are just being cautious about what gets released. Either way they're shaping up to be very impressive drivers (as long as you pick the right candidate). My personal favourite is 91.31 v2. It equals or beats 91.28 in image quality in every test, and while it's not always the best performer, it's never that far from the top. It has the added advantage of being far more stable than 91.28 ? other than the sli bug, I've yet to have a problem with it.

Nvidia's latest offering, 91.33, leaves much to be desired. At best it's a mediocre performer, and is let down by lacklustre image quality. From what I've heard from other members, they're having similar performance.

When it comes to DVD playback, I'm well and truly hooked on the 90's. If you even watch the occasional DVD on your computer, you owe it to yourself to use these (it's the nearest you're going to get to a hardware upgrade without putting your hand in your pocket or doing strange things to your card with a pencil). Again, 91.31 comes up trumps here. I mentioned in my last review that 91.28 doesn't do much for DVD's unless you enable the optimisations. Thankfully, even without the optimisations, 91.31 delivers breathtaking picture quality.

It's worth noting that the sli bug has been fixed in 91.33, so you won't need to rush out and buy a second card to stop being tormented!

Also, after some experience with these drivers, some people might have to use RivaTuner to enable "Low Power 3d Clocks" to avoid the false "temperature" warning.

Also (agian), sometimes the driver likes to install with the LOD way too high. Just use RivaTuner to bring it down to 0 and you'll be set.

 

[dug777]

Can i just use coolbits to overclock with these?

i know i couldn't with the 90s beta...

 

[Powermoloch]

The bug fix for the 91.33 drivers are a easy fix...just download the required registry @ nvidia to shoot it down :evil:

 

[Nextman916]

currently using XG 91.28.v2 :thumbsup: Question, What does the Q stand for? v2 tweaks? quality?

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Nextman916
currently using XG 91.28.v2 :thumbsup: Question, What does the Q stand for? v2 tweaks? quality?

looks like quality to me

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch

Originally posted by: Nextman916
currently using XG 91.28.v2 :thumbsup: Question, What does the Q stand for? v2 tweaks? quality?

looks like quality to me

Well after carefully examining the article it seems to actually stand for v2. After rounding up the F.E.A.R performance they refer to the 91.28 v2's performance as high. Dont know why they only list out v2 on the 91.31 and only substitute Q on the rest.....maybe its the tweakerizer? hmmmm

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Nextman916

Originally posted by: Powermoloch

Originally posted by: Nextman916
currently using XG 91.28.v2 :thumbsup: Question, What does the Q stand for? v2 tweaks? quality?

looks like quality to me

Well after carefully examining the article it seems to actually stand for v2. After rounding up the F.E.A.R performance they refer to the 91.28 v2's performance as high. Dont know why they only list out v2 on the 91.31 and only substitute Q on the rest.....maybe its the tweakerizer? hmmmm

It's a tad confusing. Apparently sometimes there are different versions.

This is what IT USE TO STAND FOR:
v2-Classic v2 tweaks, proven IQ boost and performance
P-Performance which use to be the new v3 tweaks, but now I don't think they do it anymore
Q-Quality which use to be the v2 tweaks, but v2 tweaks are better than Quality!?

The standard rule is, the XG Forceware release (full with driver) is probably the v2, and the Tweakerizer should give you an option.

And I always thought there was ONE version of the 91.31's and that was the "select" or tweaked version. I was never aware that any other version was out there.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: dug777
Can i just use coolbits to overclock with these?

i know i couldn't with the 90s beta...

I could do it just fine with the XTreme-G 91.31's. (it comes with Coolbits).

I even applied Coolbits 2 so I could get the "max frames render ahead thing". Not sure what's up with yours.

You could try using RivaTuner since it also gives you a lot of other features as well. The new 90's series driver has some problem with OCing were it defaults back to original speeds due to "temperature" even though this may not be true.

So what you can do is use RivaTuner and set "Low Power 3d Clocks" to whatever your normal 3d clocks are so whenever it defaults back to slower clocks it's actually defaulting back to the same clocks as your OC.

You have to first enable through the "Power User" Tab (set value to 1 to allow Low Power 3d Mode). Also, I disable the stupid "test" thing while I'm there too. I know not to OC too much and if your careful, you can disable it too (since it's really annoying).

Then, just use RivaTuner to OC. You'll have to use Alternate Startup Daemon in the overclocking section though (it tells you to also). I make my 2d clocks, 3d clocks and low power 3d clocks all the same so that I know it's always OCed and I'll never have any problems with it. Just make sure to hit the "save" buttom for each clock and it should startup that way.