Nvidia's GeForce GTX 480: Before And After A Year Of Driver Updates

Features
By Andrew Ku
published

Are you dutiful about keeping your drivers up-to-date? Nvidia does a pretty good job of maintaining a regular release schedule. Today we look at how much performance you can expect from an old card in new games using four driver packages.

Test Hardware And Benchmarks

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Test Hardware
ProcessorIntel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge), 3.3 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardGigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H
MemoryKingston Hyper-X 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V
Hard DriveIntel X25-M 160 GB SSDSA2M160G2GC, SATA 3Gb/s (System Drive)
GraphicsNvidia GeForce GTX 480 1.5 GB
Power SupplySparkle 1250 W, 80 PLUS
System Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverNvidia 266.58
Row 10 - Cell 0 Nvidia 260.89
Row 11 - Cell 0 Nvidia 257.21
Row 12 - Cell 0 Nvidia 197.41
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Games
Lost Planet 2Highest Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, 4x MSAA / 16x AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 1900x1080 / 2560x1600, DirectX 11, Steam version
Just Cause 2Highest Quality Settings, No AA / 2x AF, 8x AA / 16x AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, Bokeh filter and GPU water disabled (for Nvidia cards), Concrete Jungle Benchmark
Metro 2033High Quality Settings, AAA / 4x AF, 4x MSAA / 16x AF, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, Built-in Benchmark, Steam version
F1 2010Ultra High Settings, No AA / No AF, 8x AA / No AF, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, Steam version, Custom benchmark script, DX11 Rendering
Aliens vs. Predator BenchmarkHigh Quality Settings, SSAO, No AA / 16xAF, Ultra Quality Settings, 4x MSAA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600
Battlefield: Bad Company 2Custom (Highest) Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, 8x MSAA / 16xAF, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, opening cinematic, 145 second sequence, FRAPS
3DMark11Performance Default
World of Warcraft: CataclysmUltra Quality Settings, No AA / 16x AF, 8x AA / 16x AF, From Crushblow to The Krazzworks, 1680x1050 / 1920x1080 / 2560x1600, FRAPS, DirectX 9 Rendering
Andrew Ku
37 Comments Comment from the forums
  • -Fran-
    Heh, now it cooks my steaks 5 secs faster.

    Oh wait... I'm using a GT425M on my notebook... Damn!

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • theyohan
    I hear good things about that new Nvidia 270.51 beta driver.
    Reply
  • dragonsqrrl
    Impressive results to say the least... well, except for WOW. That has to be a bit of a disappointment for the people who care about that title. But otherwise quite remarkable performance optimizations from the driver team.

    I have to agree with the conclusion, due to the recent nature of the Fermi architecture it probably took both Nvidia and developers time to get used to the new hardware. It just wasn't well optimized upon launch. Although I think it's worth noting that it still managed to perform well even on those early drivers.
    Reply
  • andy5174
    GTX480/470/465.... Fail
    Reply
  • ezodagrom
    In the World of Warcraft page instead of saying "Percent Gain from 197.41 to 266.58" it says "Percent Gain from 9.10 to 11.1". ;P
    Reply
  • acku
    9512364 said:
    In the World of Warcraft page instead of saying "Percent Gain from 197.41 to 266.58" it says "Percent Gain from 9.10 to 11.1". ;P

    Oops! My motto: Pobody's Nerfect. :kaola:

    Fixed!
    Reply
  • cpy
    257.21 looks best for me as wow player and sc2 player :)
    Reply
  • gofasterstripes
    TBH it looks like good work from the green team. Cool, my 470 is getting bumped for free
    On second thoughts, maybe 'cool' is the wrong word.....
    Reply
  • Mario75
    andy5174GTX480/470/465.... Fail
    Nope - trolls actually FAIL.Also your "comment" FAIL
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    mayankleoboy1only 465 was fail. just like the 5830.
    Cough 6790
    Reply