NVIDIA Unleashes Detonator 40

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Yummy. Downloading now for my Ti4200

I don't suppose you'd be interested in doing some before & after (non-3DMark) screenshots and benchmarks, would ya?

 

[Hardware]

My score is 13212 untweaked B330

 

[ElFenix]

didn't do a thing for my ti4200 in 3dmark. high 7400s both runs

 

[lung]

Not that I am really going to complain about getting a boost for free, but does this seem at least somewhat fishy to anyone else? I mean really, here we are going along with the 30.xx series, the Radeon 9700 Pro is released and suddenly we have the 40.xx series that boosts performance by quite a bit in some cases? I have a sneaking suspicion that Nvidia is basically doling otu the performance increases in small does so that when someone does come along with a bit of competition, Nvidia can drop the hammer with these "kick ass" drivers. Rather convenient timing if you ask me..

By the way, I have beena very staunch Nvidia supporter over the last few years, starting with a GF Pro, GF2 GTS, GF4 MX440. I do admit that tomorrow I am buying a 9700 Pro, but that has nothing to do with my questioning of Nvidia's driver release tactics...

Anyone agree?

 

[Brian48]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried these drivers with anything else besides 3dmark2001? Any Q3A, JkII, UT, etc., etc. benchmarks yet?

 

[Prince of Persia]

I upgraded, and Battlefied 1942 seems to have worse image quality... What are other ppl's experience in the game?

 

[boi]

Originally posted by: Prince of Persia
I upgraded, and Battlefied 1942 seems to have worse image quality... What are other ppl's experience in the game?

Im getting more artifacts w/ the new detonators in Battlefield 1942 =( Im gonna switch back to the 30.82's.

 

[Dug]

I've noticed more artifacts. This can be especially seen in the DEMO on 3dmark2001se.
The equivalent of the nature scene in the demo portion doesn't seem like its running any faster like on the benchmark.

And call me crazy, but it seems like the visual quality isn't as good. But maybe its just me.

 

[splice]

Originally posted by: lung
Not that I am really going to complain about getting a boost for free, but does this seem at least somewhat fishy to anyone else? I mean really, here we are going along with the 30.xx series, the Radeon 9700 Pro is released and suddenly we have the 40.xx series that boosts performance by quite a bit in some cases? I have a sneaking suspicion that Nvidia is basically doling otu the performance increases in small does so that when someone does come along with a bit of competition, Nvidia can drop the hammer with these "kick ass" drivers. Rather convenient timing if you ask me..

By the way, I have beena very staunch Nvidia supporter over the last few years, starting with a GF Pro, GF2 GTS, GF4 MX440. I do admit that tomorrow I am buying a 9700 Pro, but that has nothing to do with my questioning of Nvidia's driver release tactics...

Anyone agree?

Maybe, but probably not. Programming, esp. optimizing is an evolutionary process. When you are on a tight process schdule to get drivers/software released it's often the case to get it working first and refine later... Play with compiler optimization flags, rework parts of the code, hand optimize certain portions of the code with inline assembly, etc. Proper software development takes a lot of time, esp. if they do code reviews.

 

[onelin]

I figured out the reason for my negative performance, the new "advanced monitor support" option or whatever for dual monitors...major perf. hit. with it unchecked, it returned to what it was...of course, this is after I reverted back to 30.82 and decided to test that feature to see if that was the cause. Still, too many small glitches so I'll wait it out. Q3 didn't seem washed out to me in-game...though the menus did seem a bit dull looking in the det40's

 

[lung]

Splice: True, but Nvidia's trend seems to be that they get drivers ready for release miraculously just around the time of other companies' big releases. I really don't think it is coincidence at all. It is a logical business practice though. Just like Sony dropping the price of the PS2 just before the already known Microsoft price drop on the Xbox. They release a performance increase, price drop, etc just before your competitor so that they look like they are the ones playing catch up. Simple. At the same time though, it would be nice to see Nvidia not seemingly hold on to the big driver releases until a competitor is about to steal some of their thunder.

 

[Boogak]

W00T, found a refresh rate fix that works with the new drivers. Get 'em here!

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

11451 on the 29.42s

12516 on the 40s

P4 1.6A@150fsb (2.4ghz)
1GB PC2400
Ti4400 (300/670)

 

[vash]

Bump for reports from the people whom hate the 60hz problem! Which fixer works?

vash

 

[Zeeliv]

The one Boogak posted works vash. Thanks Boogak!

 

[MSantiago]

Originally posted by: Boogak
W00T, found a refresh rate fix that works with the new drivers. Get 'em here!

Awesome! Thanks, Boogak. Really wonder why nvidia hasn't already built something like this into their drivers.

 

[Mem]

The one Boogak posted works vash.

Nice find Boogak,but it`s still not working for me,anybody else still stuck at 60hz? .

 

[Shagga]

I was just going to pull a quote from the nVidia site about the fact that the 40.41's are optimised for various applications and benchamark software (Probably 3DMark2001SE is one of them) when I came across this on Warp2Search

Reports are coming in that the supposed, "Up to a 25% increase in performance" is only showing in 3DMark2001 benchmark. While playing games, Quake 3 is appearing darker then usual. More and more reports will be coming in regarding the new Detonator 40 driver. From the looks of it, it's not what people where really interested in as you can't play 3DMark2001.

Didn't ATI get some stick for this recently?

 

[prontospyder]

comparision between the 2 drivers courtesty of rage3d:

GLQuake - Tenebrae mod
1024x768x32 - NoAA, NoAniso

Maps vis'ed - used Tenebrae's demo1

Relevant settings that are identical for both driver sets :
gl_picmip 0
gl_playermip 0
gl_texturemode GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR
gl_finish 0
gl_flashblend 0
gl_polyblend 1
gl_triplebuffer 1
r_shadows 1
r_wateralpha 0.5
sh_entityshadows 1
sh_lightmapbright 0.8
sh_fps 1
sh_infinitevolumes 0
sh_visiblevolumes 0
sh_worldshadows 1
gl_watershader 1
sh_playershadow 0
sh_noscissor 0

30.82 = 43.1fps
40.41 = 43.4fps

Tiger Woods 2002
Using saved replay of hole-in-one at Augusta, using "ball cam", using FRAPS, average framerate

1024x768x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 63.045
40.41 = 63.125

1280x1024x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 48.137
40.41 = 48.109

F1 2002
One lap at Monza with "F1 2001 driving help" (which means all I need to do was hit the accelerator w/o needing to steer, pretty much identical steering line everytime this way), using FRAPS, average framerate

1024x768x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 97.872
40.41 = 98.965

1600x1200x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 65.880
40.41 = 66.524

Doesn't look like a 25% increase.

 

[Mem]

Having tried RefreshForce 1.10 which didn`t work for me,I found out that
RefreshLock v 2.02 from same place as Boogak link


here works ok,got it working above 60Hz in the end .

 

[socketman]

From eveyrthing I read here, it looks like Nvidia tweaked for 3dmark 2001 and thats it.

And that = Ghey

Anyone know where to get old releases of Detonators? Im still running what came with Win XP. Whatever the hell that is (im too lazy to look). but im fairly certain I need updated ones, and Im certain I dont want this latest set.

 

[Rand]

Performance doesnt seem to be impacted in anything besides 3DMark:

From Rage3D:
GLQuake - Tenebrae mod
1024x768x32 - NoAA, NoAniso

30.82 = 43.1fps
40.41 = 43.4fps

Tiger Woods 2002

1024x768x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 63.045
40.41 = 63.125

1280x1024x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 48.137
40.41 = 48.109

F1 2002

1024x768x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 97.872
40.41 = 98.965

1600x1200x32bit - NoAA, NoAniso
30.82 = 65.880
40.41 = 66.524


From VR-Zone:

3DMark 2001SE

30.82 = 55.29
40.41 = 54.3

Comanche 4

30.82 = 65.880
40.41 = 66.524

Quake 3

30.82 = 271.4
40.41 = 277.7

RTCW
30.82 = 160.4
40.41 = 162

Serious Sam SE
30.82 = 107.8
40.41 = 108.3


All the results I've seen all seem to report to no performance gains outside of 3DMark.
And with som many people reporting image quality issues in this thread it doesnt seem much of a "benefit" at all.

 

[Heretik]

Tried them out....the graphics looked "off" somehow in games so I went back to 30.82

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

Eh, the features looked nice, and the desktop utilities were cool.. but they kept screwing up Dark Age of Camelot real bad, so back to 30.82 for me. Ahh well.. just upgraded my hard drive and RAM without a hitch today, guess I'd be a little too lucky if the 40's worked perfectly as well.

 

[CTho9305]

Does it change anything for Geforce2 cards?