how much do drivers improve performance over time

[biostud]

I was wondering if anyone with a 8800GTX could do some benchmarks with the 96.xx drivers and compare the results with 177.xx, just to get an estimate of how much improvement the drivers can deliver over 1.5 years.

 

[Extelleron]

That would definitely be an interesting comparison. You would need to use games that were already out in 2006 of course, otherwise they would not work with the early drivers much at all. It would also be interesting to see how the early DX10 drivers (DX10 was not available until the 100.65 drivers and on) perform in DX10 games compared to the new ones. I would think that there is more of an improvement in DX10 then there would have been in DX9 performance.

 

[ViRGE]

It's a bit old now, but AnandTech did a 3-part article a while back looking at driver improvements over time for the R300, R420, and NV40.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

 

[biostud]

so except for certain situations (doom3 openGL drivers), and miscellaneous driver fixes 10-15% seems to be the maximum gain.

 

[chizow]

I coulda swore I saw a more recent driver comparison version, maybe even with G80. I want to say THG but I'll keep looking.

I think there can be some serious game-specific gains, but typically only when the game is performing abnormally bad relative to other parts and games or if its a new architecture or API. Otherwise I don't expect too much out of driver gains after a few months.

I may run a few benches before my GTX 280 arrives, but I think the earliest I can go with G80 is 134.XX or so. That's when drivers got really good in XP, but I'm running Vista now and know drivers were a mess until around March or so with the 134s.