Geforce 185.20 to have Ambient Occlusion

[thilanliyan]

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=4809

I have no idea what Ambient Occlusion does for games but it all sounds exciting.
I hope it's not a paper launch...I thought we stopped having those. Is the 4890 being paper launched on the 2nd as well (I've heard some people have already bought it)?

Oh and I couldn't resist (posted at TR for April 1st I think):
http://techreport.com/r.x/2009...y_LOLcatz/lolcatz2.jpg
:laugh:

 

[Udgnim]

I thought Nvidia already added ambient occlusion in a driver release months ago

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Udgnim
I thought Nvidia already added ambient occlusion in a driver release months ago

Maybe it was a beta driver? I dunno.

 

[skulkingghost]

Looks neat! Cant wait to test them out!

 

[dadach]

4890 are out already

 

[HOOfan 1]

I wonder if those cats are going to ESD kill any of that hardware....

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: Udgnim
I thought Nvidia already added ambient occlusion in a driver release months ago

Maybe it was a beta driver? I dunno.

Ya there was a 185.20 Beta leaked unofficially back in December or so. It was still kind of buggy from what I recall and didn't have many of the fixes and enhancements of the Big Bang 2 driver. This release will probably be an updated branch with all previous enhancements and fixes along with SSAO.

 

[the unknown]

Bump for release day.
Text

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: Udgnim
I thought Nvidia already added ambient occlusion in a driver release months ago

Maybe it was a beta driver? I dunno.

Ya there was a 185.20 Beta leaked unofficially back in December or so. It was still kind of buggy from what I recall and didn't have many of the fixes and enhancements of the Big Bang 2 driver. This release will probably be an updated branch with all previous enhancements and fixes along with SSAO.

it also brings new SLi-AA modes

about time

Nvidia has been doing great in the driver department these past 8 months

are there some new demos here; i don't remember seeing Star Tales ?
http://www.nvidia.com/content/...csplus/us/download.asp

This is a WHQL-Certified driver for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, and 200-series desktop GPUs.

New in Release 182.50:

* Optimized single GPU and SLI support for upcoming PC games.
* Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

New in Release 182 Drivers:

* Boosts performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 182 WHQL drivers vs. Release 181.22 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
o Up to 8% performance increase in Fallout 3 at high resolution and AA.
o Up to 10% performance increase in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
o Up to 9% performance increase in Half-Life 2 at high resolution with AA.
o Up to 11% performance increase in Left 4 Dead at high resolution with AA.
o Up to 10% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID at high resolution and AA.
* Includes full support for OpenGL 3.0 on GeForce 8-series, 9-series, and 200-series GPUs.
* Automatically installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0203.

Existing Support:

* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology* on DirectX 9 and OpenGL including SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
* Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory.
* Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #2. Download these free PhysX and CUDA applications now!
* Supports CUDA.
* Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

*Note: The following SLI features are only supported on Windows Vista: Quad SLI technology using GeForce 9800 GX2 or GeForce GTX 295, 3-way SLI technology, Hybrid SLI, and SLI multi-monitor support.

 

[DefRef]

I've got the 185.65 betas installed, but see no place to enable ambient occlusion in the nVidia control panel. I've got ~10 of the supported games, but can't turn on the lights, so to speak.

 

[apoppin]

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=130929

forget the betas .. try the real thing

 

[DefRef]

Originally posted by: apoppin
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=130929forget the betas .. try the real thing

Gee, where is the "real thing"?

Way to not answer the question as to where the ambient occlusion setting, that was advertised in this driver, is?

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: DefRef

Originally posted by: apoppin
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=130929forget the betas .. try the real thing

Gee, where is the "real thing"?

Way to not answer the question as to where the ambient occlusion setting, that was advertised in this driver, is?

so are you saying its not right there in the settings like is shown in that pic? thats where it is for me.


my verdict on this is failure in the 2 games I tried it in. HL 2 displays crazy colors and Ep 2 hitches with it on.


HOLY SHIT THEY FINALLY FIXED THE DOWNCLOCKING.:shocked: the last 3 sets of drivers would send the core to 3d mode when running Steam or Yahoo messenger and not let it downclock. no problem with that now but they will probably screw them up again an the next set though. lol

 

[DefRef]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: DefRef

Originally posted by: apoppin
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=130929forget the betas .. try the real thing

Gee, where is the "real thing"?

Way to not answer the question as to where the ambient occlusion setting, that was advertised in this driver, is?

so are you saying its not right there in the settings like is shown in that pic? thats where it is for me.

I don't have time to take a screenshot, but on my Global Settings tab, anti-aliasing is grayed out and Ambient Occlusion is totally missing. I see you're running Vista like the linked shot; I'm running WinXP. Are these features Vista-exclusive?

I played Fallout 3 for about 90 mins. last night and it looked fine, but I did have a CTD a one point.

EDIT: A poster at NVNews's forum says he thinks it may be Vista-only, but more importantly, they've put up beta 185.66 drivers. Won't know how they do until later tonight or next week because I'm off to work and then am leaving for the weekend.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: DefRef
EDIT: A poster at NVNews's forum says he thinks it may be Vista-only, but more importantly, they've put up beta 185.66 drivers. Won't know how they do until later tonight or next week because I'm off to work and then am leaving for the weekend.

I do remember seeing Ambient Occlusion on a DX10 check-box feature list months ago, so that's probably correct. Soft shadows in general were a feature touted with DX10 and only fully implemented with DX10 games, although there are quite a few DX9 games that have partially implemented it as well.

 

[Wreckage]

I'm going to download and install them this weekend. I want to see Ambient Occlusion in World of Warcraft.

 

[DefRef]

The nVidia page for AO makes no mention of it being Vista-only and it's listed as a feature on all flavors of the driver, XP and Vista.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: thilan29
Oh and I couldn't resist (posted at TR for April 1st I think):
http://techreport.com/r.x/2009...y_LOLcatz/lolcatz2.jpg
:laugh:

That is hilarious. :laugh:

 

[roid450]

the 185.20 drivers, I downloaded them on January 17,2009

 

[Sylvanas]

Now they have 185.66......thats like 5 drivers from nvidia in 30 days, :thumbsdown:

 

[chizow]

Anyone else notice a massive increase in Crysis performance with AA? 4xAA performance has increased significantly, ~25% or so, but the biggest improvement was with 8xAA performance for me as there's virtually no drop in performance from 4xAA, which is close to a 100% increase from prior drivers. I still need to verify with exact-frame comparisons and an older driver run just to make sure.

As for Ambient Occlusion, PCGH did some comparison screenshots. Not really impressed here, especially given it can incur significant frame rate drops.

 

[ronnn]

Think I would have to see it live to know. Off the cuff it strikes me a little like colorized movies - possibly changes the artistic atmosphere.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: chizow

but the biggest improvement was with 8xAA performance for me as there's virtually no drop in performance from 4xAA, which is close to a 100% increase from prior drivers. I still need to verify with exact-frame comparisons and an older driver run just to make sure.

Yeah, I'd be checking that in case 8xAA isn't being applied.

And by 8xAA I take it you?re referring to 8xQ?

 

[josh6079]

Does anyone know if these drivers' AO feature will work on when running XP?

 

[brencat]

Haven't noticed too much of a change visually speaking with 182.50. They appear to be fairly stable, but a tad slower to me vs. 182.46 beta which were great. Have to try them out in a few games I've had on the shelf for a while...WIC, Bioshock, etc.