66.93 Bogus for OC

[rx7000]

After seeing that the Nvidia Website had some new offical drivers out, I figured id do some benchmarking, see if I could break my old record in 3dmark05, what Ive found out about the drivers is extremley disappointing.

Nvidia 6800 GT eVGA
512k Ram Single Channel mode

Benchmarking Results:

Driver Version: 61.77 Clock: 350/1.00 3dmark05: 3857
Driver Version: 61.77 Clock: 419/1.17 3dmark05: 4442

Here we see decent results with a moderate overclock with Nvidias last offical driver.

Driver Version: 66.93 Clock: 350/1.00 3dmark05: 4504

We see a pretty substantial increase over the last driver for default core levels.

Driver Version 66.93 Clock: 410/1.12 3dmark05: 4506

This Clock is with the Detect Optimal Frequencys option for overclocking via Coolbits3d. Barley any gain...

Driver Version: 66.93 Clock: 419/1.17 3dmark05: 4563

A small gain but not one warrenting the clock. My conclusion is this is a great driver for people who want to just drop in the software and start playing and end it there. If your into tweaking / clocking and you really want to drive your card, theres better options for drivers out there.

Information is provided for other 6800 GT users (This dosnt pertain to anyone else). The computer was rebooted for each new test. Driver / Cab cleaner was used before instillation of new drivers.

If anyone else happens to try benching and comparing the new drivers ability to overclock a 6800 GT, I would like to hear your results.

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 Dual Channel Level II V2,Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 7+, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Rx7000 on 11/19/04 08:41 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Son_of_Blob]

"A small gain but not one warrenting the clock. My conclusion is this is a great driver for people who want to just drop in the software and start playing and end it there. If your into tweaking / clocking and you really want to drive your card, theres better options for drivers out there."

Methinks that's exactly what nVidia wants....peace of mind for/from the vast majority of their clients...no?

Thanks for the testing and info though, 'preciate it. Pity there's no real way for the extreme crowd to get together and really adapt the code.... or is there? Short of having the (encrypted?) source, seems to me one is reduced to Omega Man style cut and paste.... Mebbe the Riva guy? dunno, been out of it for too long...in more ways than one ;-)

(Been a loooong time since I bothered with code at the itty bitty level....1Mhz land then).

 

[rx7000]

Yeah thats pretty much it, those loan wolf hereos trying to get us extra performance one fps increment at a time (laughin). I actually enjoy messing around and trying to optomize the system. You were interested in a 6800 GT not long ago correct? Did you ever get it>? Id like to see if theres any diffrence between vendors when it comes to benching them. Probably not much, besides the cards with superior cooling providing more overclockability.

My question is this (maybe diehard nvidiot will know), with the option to auto detect optimal clock settings, is that just based on temperature?? (My theory). Sometimes if my rooms hot I wont be able to hit the clocks I usually go for, and a few times Ive thrown a big fan aganst the side of my case to cool down a bit and once it drops it usually seems to let me get them. that optimal detect is shady though, one day I tried it and it put my core up the max it would go on the slider.

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 Dual Channel Level II V2,Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 7+, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Rx7000 on 11/19/04 08:08 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Son_of_Blob]

OK, lotta things to consider here...and whaddya know? I'm getting sucked back into all this stuff, and feeling pretty good about it too

But first, a personal point. Today was my weddin' anniversary (long time together, I'd have got less if I'd have killed her..she says the same thing, LOL). Shite day, card didn't show up yet as promised; went out for dinner, crappiest steak I've ever had (since the last time I ruined one myself). Then on the way home I trailed the worse drunk driver I've seen outside of television (he actually managed to mount the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road and just missed some dude, like by inches). Cell-called the cops it was so bad. Big scene....and he takes like twenty minutes to climb out of his car and go and hide inside his house, after I trailed him home. Cops show up just later and can't do nuthin. Wife in tears. Still no card. And the dog threw up in the car....WTF, you learn to deal with it. Gotta larf I guess.

So, back to the important stuff.

So, no card yet, I'm righteously pissed (both meanings in OZ speak) and somehow I'm writing this. The card I've ordered is an "Albatron". Bullshit. It's made in a factory in China that produces cards for at least ten different "brands". Mebbe Albatron included (so the guy says). Thing is, he also says that for a hundred plus orders you get to choose the PCB color, as well as the logo on the cooler. Mine's in either Chinese or Korean, from the photos of the card he sent me, can't tell, wrong languages for me. I checked the specs carefully with him to make sure they comply with nVidia's (especially memory). No worries it seems, certified Samsung 1000Hz (photos seem to prove it). Cooler and layout looks like a Gigabyte card, very clean board, nice looking. So I go for it ($USD550.00, damn good price here).

So here we go. When I get the card, I will bench it twenty five ways from Sunday. Games mostly, as I reckon artificial benchmarks are just that. But still, they do help, somewhat.

If things suck bad...back it goes. If not, I'll post them for everyone. After that, I'll maybe change over the cooling system (always wanted to try liquid cooling...but water sucks folks...there are much better fluids to cool you down, glycol's nice, but tastes like p*ss, Glenlivet seems to be working for me right now ;-).

Feck, losing the plot here....

Yeah, differences between genuine nVidia spec cards. Bullshit aside, it should be minimal...a few frames per sec at standard, probably a few more with OCing. But when your'e poor who wants to risk frying their card over the long term?

Whatever.

Next..auto detect. Sucks. If you wanna "play and risk" go manual and look....carefully. Watch ALL temps (GPU, CPU, MoBo even, arifacts, crashes, et al). Have fun, then go back a fair bit and save your dosh for the long run....and also avoid the angst of crashed games just when things were gettin fun (when you are an old fart, and top of the pops on a multi game, you REALLY don't want to crash and loose your score, believe me, you might be dead before you ever get THAT buzz again).

FYO here's the link to the eBay item I ordered...assuming URL links work here:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3762&item=5139717007&rd=1

OK , done, I think. Gotta go and have me some good times with my lover ;-)

Cheers.

 

[rx7000]

These cards hold up well, Ive taken mine to the edge of forever and back and its holding up like a champ.

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 Dual Channel Level II V2,Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 7+, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT