The GF110 is finally here and I jumped on the bandwagon post haste. In this post and subsequent posts I will be uploading more photos and bench results as I download / run them.
This is a fresh install with a clean format of Win7 64bit. I am running the 262.99 drivers on the 580 but as you'll see from one of the GPU-Z screenshots the GTS250 is supposedly still running on the default windows display driver. I suspect this is due to the fact that the 262.99 driver only includes support for the 580 and not other cards even when they are running in conjunction in the same system. This should be fixed as soon as Nvidia release their next unified driver. Here are some early screens:
Folding and GPU load / temps. I am no expert in folding, I just downloaded and the GPU3 client and clicked go so I am not sure if these results are in line with expectations but it serves as a good test of temperatures and noise under load (more on that later).
A GPU-Z screen of my 580 + 250. As noted above the 250 is running the windows driver. I am sure if I downloaded the latest unified and pointed the 250 to it in device manager I could fix that but It's not much of a problem anyway.
Note that the 250 is still detected as such in the drivers and is available for PhysX offloading so perhaps the PhysX driver is actually unified in that it recognises the 250 and then it passes the information to Nvidia's display driver. Whatever the case I will enjoy testing PhysX in future.
With regard to PhysX:
I made use of recent steam sales in Batman AA: GOTY and Shattered Horizon which both feature PhysX acceleration and will be hopefully benching them (if possible) shortly. Batman AA utilizes some effects that are GPU only while Shattered horizon does not, however, Shattered horizon does allow you to offload those calculations anyway so that's what I will be testing.
Unigine, 3D Mark 11 (when it's out on the 20th) and any others I will also upload when I have the time. For now this is a brief description and initial testing. I will also of course include overclock results.
For the record this card is extremely quiet under load, I can't hear it over my GTS 250 so thumbs up to Nvidia in that respect:thumbsup:. The card is a reference Gainward card and it came with only the basic accessories, I had ordered a 'Golden Sample' version but the store I purchased from had incorrectly listed it as a Golden Sample when all they got from the supplier was reference models. Nonetheless I'll OC it myself later.
Stay tuned
Edit: Pics not working :/ added link
Update 1:
Batman AA Bench:
1920x1080 4XMSAA 16XAF Stock clocked 580 + GTS 250. CPU @ 4.0GHZ
CPU PhysX Min: 13 Max 48 Avg: 21
GTX 580 PhysX (no offloading) Min: 47 Max 141 Avg: 89
GTX 580 + GTS 250(Offload) Min: 57 Max 168 Avg: 106
Unigine results following soon...
Update 2: See Post 5 Unigine results
Update 3: Update: 3D kit arrived.
Unfortunately my camera has decide not to work so I can't provide any pictures at the moment but i can perhaps describe my experience thus far.
The kit came immaculately packaged, very much Apple like in presentation on the box with several cables for charging via USB, DVI to HDMI, audio cable, IR emitter in addition to the glasses and the IR receiver + Driver CD and pouch +microfibre cloth included. The glasses itself arer very cool and take 3 hours to charge for supposedly 40 hours battery life- very much a green theme (glowy green lights on IR receiver and green light for glasses). First things first, forget what you know about 3D judging it off something like seeing Avatar at the movies, Nvidia's 3D is much better.
Batman AA in 3D : So far this is the only game I have tried in 3D but I am very impressed. There is no apparent blurring as such like one may expect with a 3D implementation. I played for about 2 hours with no eye strain and thoroughly enjoyed the immersion. 'Immersion' is a word that is thrown around alot when you read 3D reviews but it is certainly the best way to describe it. It brings more to the game experience. I felt like I was playing through Batman like I would normally would but this time it just felt better. The distance and objects in the scene are at the right depth (which is auto set from the drivers or can be calibrated on the IR receiver) and it makes the player feel more involved in the scene when everything just seems to work well in 3D. The smoke and fog effects are excellent aswell (offloaded to GTS250 through PhysX).
I hope this doesn't sound like a press release for Nvidia because it really isn't, I am genuinely impressed with the ease of use and functionality of 3D. I have watched some demo's aswell as some 3D videos on the net, all of which turn out well (some better than others but nonetheless :thumbsup. Also here are the bench results when running Batman AA 1920x1080 0xAA PhysX on the GTS 250:
Max: 60
Min: 30
Average: 52
Results like this make for a fluid experience, I assume the hard cap is at 60 because of the nature of the 60hz shutter glasses. Will update with more info when I have free time this weekend.
This is a fresh install with a clean format of Win7 64bit. I am running the 262.99 drivers on the 580 but as you'll see from one of the GPU-Z screenshots the GTS250 is supposedly still running on the default windows display driver. I suspect this is due to the fact that the 262.99 driver only includes support for the 580 and not other cards even when they are running in conjunction in the same system. This should be fixed as soon as Nvidia release their next unified driver. Here are some early screens:
Folding and GPU load / temps. I am no expert in folding, I just downloaded and the GPU3 client and clicked go so I am not sure if these results are in line with expectations but it serves as a good test of temperatures and noise under load (more on that later).
A GPU-Z screen of my 580 + 250. As noted above the 250 is running the windows driver. I am sure if I downloaded the latest unified and pointed the 250 to it in device manager I could fix that but It's not much of a problem anyway.
Note that the 250 is still detected as such in the drivers and is available for PhysX offloading so perhaps the PhysX driver is actually unified in that it recognises the 250 and then it passes the information to Nvidia's display driver. Whatever the case I will enjoy testing PhysX in future.
With regard to PhysX:
I made use of recent steam sales in Batman AA: GOTY and Shattered Horizon which both feature PhysX acceleration and will be hopefully benching them (if possible) shortly. Batman AA utilizes some effects that are GPU only while Shattered horizon does not, however, Shattered horizon does allow you to offload those calculations anyway so that's what I will be testing.
Unigine, 3D Mark 11 (when it's out on the 20th) and any others I will also upload when I have the time. For now this is a brief description and initial testing. I will also of course include overclock results.
For the record this card is extremely quiet under load, I can't hear it over my GTS 250 so thumbs up to Nvidia in that respect:thumbsup:. The card is a reference Gainward card and it came with only the basic accessories, I had ordered a 'Golden Sample' version but the store I purchased from had incorrectly listed it as a Golden Sample when all they got from the supplier was reference models. Nonetheless I'll OC it myself later.
Stay tuned
Edit: Pics not working :/ added link
Update 1:
Batman AA Bench:
1920x1080 4XMSAA 16XAF Stock clocked 580 + GTS 250. CPU @ 4.0GHZ
CPU PhysX Min: 13 Max 48 Avg: 21
GTX 580 PhysX (no offloading) Min: 47 Max 141 Avg: 89
GTX 580 + GTS 250(Offload) Min: 57 Max 168 Avg: 106
Unigine results following soon...
Update 2: See Post 5 Unigine results
Update 3: Update: 3D kit arrived.
Unfortunately my camera has decide not to work so I can't provide any pictures at the moment but i can perhaps describe my experience thus far.
The kit came immaculately packaged, very much Apple like in presentation on the box with several cables for charging via USB, DVI to HDMI, audio cable, IR emitter in addition to the glasses and the IR receiver + Driver CD and pouch +microfibre cloth included. The glasses itself arer very cool and take 3 hours to charge for supposedly 40 hours battery life- very much a green theme (glowy green lights on IR receiver and green light for glasses). First things first, forget what you know about 3D judging it off something like seeing Avatar at the movies, Nvidia's 3D is much better.
Batman AA in 3D : So far this is the only game I have tried in 3D but I am very impressed. There is no apparent blurring as such like one may expect with a 3D implementation. I played for about 2 hours with no eye strain and thoroughly enjoyed the immersion. 'Immersion' is a word that is thrown around alot when you read 3D reviews but it is certainly the best way to describe it. It brings more to the game experience. I felt like I was playing through Batman like I would normally would but this time it just felt better. The distance and objects in the scene are at the right depth (which is auto set from the drivers or can be calibrated on the IR receiver) and it makes the player feel more involved in the scene when everything just seems to work well in 3D. The smoke and fog effects are excellent aswell (offloaded to GTS250 through PhysX).
I hope this doesn't sound like a press release for Nvidia because it really isn't, I am genuinely impressed with the ease of use and functionality of 3D. I have watched some demo's aswell as some 3D videos on the net, all of which turn out well (some better than others but nonetheless :thumbsup. Also here are the bench results when running Batman AA 1920x1080 0xAA PhysX on the GTS 250:
Max: 60
Min: 30
Average: 52
Results like this make for a fluid experience, I assume the hard cap is at 60 because of the nature of the 60hz shutter glasses. Will update with more info when I have free time this weekend.
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