Using unapproved drivers, The Anand way.

M

Mendel

Mr. Upgrade
Veteran
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_6800_ultra/page10.asp

Notes

Since we’re testing with unapproved drivers, we decided to limit 3DMark testing to NVIDIA cards only. As you can see, GeForce 6800 Ultra easily surpasses the performance of its predecessors, offering double the performance in shader tests like Battle of Proxycon and Troll’s Lair.
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Perfect strategy for Nvidia. Cheat in benchmarks: You will not only get a great whopping score, but you will also drop your competition from a comparison chart completely!
 
But what do you feel they should do? Not test at all, or include ATI's line-up, knownig that it would be skewed results?

I felt that was better than just skipping testing with 3Dmark03 entirely.

But it would be nice if they updated the preview with a new chart with NV40 and 9800XT if the drivers become approved. (There was talk about approving the drivers for NV40, but not NV3x)
 
Well, what if Nvidia decides never to release a non cheating driver for 6800?

You think that would be reason enough to use them and therefore effectively approve driver that clearly cheats?

My opinion is of course: if there is no driver for a card, it cannot be used. Correct way would be to show results of Ati cards, which do not cheat and not show the newly released Nvidia card, because it indeed cheats.

When there can be no valid comparison, of course it is the valid results that should be shown and not the invalid ones!

However difficult that is considering we are talking about not benchmarking a newly released card, it would be the morally right choice to make. Show ati score of whatever it is and compare to nvidia score of 0 since there are no valid drivers.
 
The Baron said:
60.72 isn't cheating with 6800 cards.
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Is that an absolute fact that cannot be questioned? I say it has to be proven, since Nvidia has been proven quilty earlier!

edit: follow up question: is it a definite fact that 5000 series ARE cheating (with forceware 60), as opposed to 6800? I want investigation :)
 
I'll find out about 5x00 right now.

And yes, that is, to the best of my knowledge, an absolute fact. They are not cheating, according to a friend who investigated such matters when he first received his 6800.
 
Sxotty said:
Mendel you are never happy so quit complaining about it.
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I am VERY impressed about the initial nv40 benchmarks! I just want to be *sure* before I start recommending (to wait for) this to my friends!
 
Mendel said:
I am VERY impressed about the initial nv40 benchmarks! I just want to be *sure* before I start recommending (to wait for) this to my friends!
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Personally I would wait for competitor's new cards before recommending anything to anyone.
 
Miksu said:
Mendel said:
I am VERY impressed about the initial nv40 benchmarks! I just want to be *sure* before I start recommending (to wait for) this to my friends!
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Personally I would wait for competitor's new cards before recommending anything to anyone.
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Agreed; and it has nothing to do with being a "fanboy" and everything to do with common sense. :)
 
Everyone is right about waiting. I waited for the nv30 and I am glad I did just for the peace of mind and the $$ I saved. (Even though I of course went ATI). And this time I will wait like I said, but that doesn't mean you have to disparage NV, and most people like DW et. al are not they are hyped and we should be I mean that is some cool stuff it is bringing.
 
The Baron said:
60.72 isn't cheating with 6800 cards.
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Good, that answers that.

Now I just hope FiringSquad hears this, and updates the preview with a test with the 9800XT and 6800Ultra and removing the current one.

(/me is sending mail with that recommendation now)
 
60.71 might be a typo--AFAIK, editors were given 60.72 with the NV40 reference samples.
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From the same link:

Driver version ForceWare 60.72 [edit: 4pm, driver version typo]
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I have a question though..

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_6800_ultra/page8.asp

Unfortunately, NVIDIA’s latest ForceWare driver continues to rely on brilinear filtering in UT 2004, despite the fact that an “applicationâ€￾ setting has been available in the control panel for months now. Apparently this is one “featureâ€￾ NVIDIA users will have to stick with for the immediate future. Anyway, on to the screenshots:
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According to many of the sites... I thought there was an option to turn off "brilinear"...

Last I checked, you are able to disable the trilinear optimization (brilinear) in the game profiles...

Is the info about UT2004 correct though?

Brandon, care to comment?
 
Hm, not sure. I vaguely remember hearing that, but I thought it was for the angle-dependent AF, not for brilinear. Dunno.
 
The Baron said:
Hm, not sure. I vaguely remember hearing that, but I thought it was for the angle-dependent AF, not for brilinear. Dunno.
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Wasn't this option (turning off trilinear "optimisations") only available when running High Quality settings in the control-panel? And that setting being un-available for (p)reviewers?

I've been reading a bit too much (p)reviews & speculation to be sure though...
 
Mendel said:
The Baron said:
60.72 isn't cheating with 6800 cards.
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Is that an absolute fact that cannot be questioned? I say it has to be proven, since Nvidia has been proven quilty earlier!
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:rolleyes: You know there's a place named Futuremark's "3DMark®03 Approved Drivers" and if you go there, i'm sure that you will be able to see that:
Futuremark has reviewed the ForceWare 60.72 drivers for the launch of the GeForce 6800 Series graphics cards at NVIDIA's specific request. We found that the 60.72 drivers used with the GeForce 6800 Series fulfill the optimization guidelines for 3DMark03 Build 340. Please note that the ForceWare 60.72 drivers are approved only for the GeForce 6800 Series graphics cards, and any future approved WHQL drivers will replace the 60.72 non-WHQL drivers.
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http://www.futuremark.com/community/drivers/?approved
 
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