Then vs Now Video Card Drivers
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,121 words · ~5 min read
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you know how every time there's a new graphics card released that doesn't
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quite perform up to the expectations of the fans of graphics card maker a or
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graphics card maker b the immediate responses will um the drivers haven't
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matured yet so um yeah it's gonna be like way better later
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we decided to quantify using our trusty gtx 480 just how well NVIDIA supports
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its products and therefore its customers in the long term actually we've got
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another really cool graphic-centric video coming soon so slam that like
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button if you want to know how the gtx 980m stacks up against the gtx 980 and a
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truly apples to apples comparison with both running the same desktop 4790k
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processor wowza
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so let's start by saying that there are a number of ways that graphics card
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manufacturers can support end of life products they can add new features uh
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here's a great example where NVIDIA brought dsr support to fermi-based
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graphics cards like our 480 over four years after the product's release they
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can address compatibility issues whether it's a rendering bug in a new game or a
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new operating system that requires a specific driver for your older hardware
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to work or and this is the one we'll be focused on today since it's the easiest
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to empirically measure they can improve performance of the product over time as
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their driver team gets better acquainted with the micro architecture being used
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similar to how developers will unlock more of a game console's potential over
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time so let me introduce you to our methodology we used our standard test
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bench a core i7 5930k with 16 gigs of ddr4 memory on ASUS x99 deluxe
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motherboard because while that hardware didn't exist at all at the time that
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people were buying gtx 480s we wanted to eliminate potential bottlenecks and
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avoid changing any variables other than the one being tested which is the
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graphics card driver we ran through a limited but hopefully fairly
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representative test suite of games at 1080p two aaa titles that were current
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when the gtx 480 came out just cause 2
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and metro 2033 to see if there's any improvement in those and then two more
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modern aaa titles far cry 4 and witcher
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3 to see if the owners who sometimes go to great length to obtain their graphics
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cards right on launch day can expect better performance not only in the games
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that are being actively optimized but also in future hypothetical games that
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will definitely be awesome and not disappointing ever which brings us to
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the last key piece of the puzzle the drivers we picked out five drivers
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ranging from a month after the release of the gtx 480 so april 2010 to the most
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current driver as of august 20th 2015
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with a span of approximately 16 months
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in between each of them so then how did NVIDIA do well in our first game metro
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2033 there doesn't appear to be a strong
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argument for waiting for driver improvements to get better performance
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out of your graphics card i mean yes that's a 10 improvement which isn't
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insignificant when you consider that we base our initial purchase decisions off
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of less at times but for a demanding
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game like this it isn't going to be the difference between it limping along and
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running better smooth at 60 FPS in our second game just cause 2 owners of gtx
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480s got a 16 performance improvement
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just from waiting 16 months with an additional 10
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for waiting another 16 months for a total of over 25
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from there whether it's because the software team had just extracted as much
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as they could from the hardware or whether they were simply focused on
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newer things the improvements taper off but not shabby in far cry 4 our first
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modern title we gained some insight into the optimization process for older cards
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with the 2014 driver outperforming the
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2010 driver by an excellent 20
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but interesting note here while a game
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ready driver was released for far cry 4 later on that year at least for this
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older card it doesn't appear to have been focused on performance when we jump
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forward to our 2015 driver and see that it performs exactly the same
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finally we get to witcher 3. more evidence for what looks like it's
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ultimately the conclusion here the improvements being made to your older
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graphics card seem to come pretty fast and hard in the first three years after
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release a massive 30 for witcher 3 by the way with support beyond that being
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more focused on bug fixes and compatibility enhancements which doesn't
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mean they aren't there i mean seeing the same piece of hardware change so much
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we're talking measurably and often noticeably to the naked eye better
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gaming experiences over its usable lifespan is pretty darn impressive
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which i guess leads us pretty well into the inspiration for today's how have
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they supported us over the years episode a video that td bank made about how they
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surprised some of their customers with a beautiful look back at the important
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milestones and changes that they'd gone through since first opening their
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accounts at td bank they're actually finding this out for the first time when
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they're watching this video but my parents actually co-signed and helped
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me open my first bank account when i was 11 at canada trust which merged with td
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bank back in 2000 and while that video
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is definitely a touch sentimental it really made me reflect back on
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everything that i've gone through in that time so give it a watch by clicking
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the little i in the top right corner or at the link in the video description and
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drop a comment on that video letting them know who sent you Linus army unite
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probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top
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right corner to check out this wicked video where i give away a sick top of
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the line gaming right