New Voodoo5 drivers and benchmarks

[Wingznut]

I noticed that 3dfx released some new drivers today. And there's been rumors that they increase performance significantly. So, I ran some benchmarks:

My system
P3-600e, overclocked to 800mhz
256 megs of RAM
V5-5500 agp
WinME

Q3, High Quality, 1280x1024 resolution
Old drivers: 44.0 fps
New drivers: 54.5 fps
GeForce 2: 56.7 fps (based on Anand's benchmarks, in which they used a 1ghz cpu.

3dMark 2000, default benchmark
Old drivers: 3654
New drivers: 4188


(edit: typo)

 

[Rawdog]

Anyone tried the new drivers for Windows 2000? I am considering buying this card and refuse to use anything other than Windows 2000. Please let me know if you have tried these drivers.

 

[Doctorweir]

Yes!
20-25% more performance

With the V6000 and this drivers 3dfx will kick Nvidia's butt again...

...till NV20 arrives 8(

I could use some new drivers for my V3 that increase performance by 200%...

 

[EMAN]

Wow, that is some major improvement. I still don't want to pay $200 for it though. No money.

Last month,
new laptop

this month,
duron and abit kt7

Me broke now oh well, I rather wait anyways on the vid card situation until the real monsters come out.

 

[Doctorweir]

No new drivers for W2K, sorry...

 

[han888]

Yes!
20-25% more performance

With the V6000 and this drivers 3dfx will kick Nvidia's butt again...


heheheheh, just wait until the nvidia release the new driver
(some people complaint about nvidia always release the driver every week, but for me i like that )

 

[Doctorweir]

Ooooh, just let 3dfx the hope and let 'em cheer up a bit...

 

[Maniac9127]

Hey Wingznut, was that with or without FSAA on? I'm assuming it's off cos it's almost kicking the geforce's ass. But if it's on, jeez, where did THAT come from...

 

[Rawdog]

Wingznut PEZ

There are W2k drivers, I just downloaded them here, of course I don't have the card yet. They may not be new, but my question is do that work at all, an if so, how well. I don't guess you could try them out could you, or anyone for that matter, and report back? If not, it will be like buying a car sight unseen. Thanks again.

Rawdog

 

[BFG10K]

I just tried them with my Voodoo3 and they are slower than the Beta 1.05.01 drivers at all resolutions. That's three driver updates that have lowered my perfomance.

 

[lsd]

Bahwhahhaaha ..you get 54 fps on your p3 800 v5? bwhaha.

my lowly celery 433@488 with gts get 50.4 @1280x1024 32bit with everything maxed out.

bwhahaha
you voodoo guys make me laugh.

 

[Wingznut]

lsd, please check out Anand's benches. They are using a 1ghz cpu, and "only" getting 56.7 fps with their GTS. Are you saying that they are idiots, too? Get over yourself.

BFG10K... Hey brainiac, those drivers are not V3 drivers. You really need to get over your anti-3dfx fetish, and get on with life. How about selling that V3 and getting something else, if you think it sucks so bad.

Rawdog, I don't have Win2k.

 

[bmg]

When you compare the new drivers to the old make sure your monitor refresh rate is the same for both. It DOES make a difference with the V5. I understand the new drivers default to a lower refresh rate.

 

[Wingznut]

Good point, as they return everything to default. And yes, I made sure of it.

Maniac, those numbers are with FSAA off.

 

[RoboTECH]

BFG - sorry your FPS went down, but that is par for the course with the "unified driver concept"

happens to TNT2 owners all the time. Sorry man. B-/

LSD - if you knew anything about today's graphics cards, you'd realize that ALL released video cards are fill-rate/throughput limited @ 1280x1024x32-bit + SHQ.

In other words, you'll see very little difference in CPU speed.

check my sig. You're looking at <60 fps using an overclocked 64MB GTS with the same settings

clue in bud. I haven't had an opportunity to check those new driver results, and I'm thinking that wingnut's results are a bit &quot;off&quot;, but if they are true, then that is DAMN impressive.

 

[snow patrol]

LOL, looks like lsd got put firmly in his place before I had a chance to point out the error of his ways

Wingz - any chance you could do 1600x1200x32 with everything maxed out? If your monitor supports it that is. And what about some FSAA, say 4X at 800x600 (and does it look better then 1280x1024 w/o FSAA?). Thanks

 

[Wingznut]

As per snow patrol's request:

Q3, 1600x1200x32, NoFSAA
High Quality: 36.1 fps
High Quality with details maxed: 35.6 fps

Q3, 800x600x32, 4xFSAA
High Quality: 35.2 fps

Q3, 1024x768x32, 2xFSAA
High Quality: 45.5 fps

Both of the FSAA settings look better than 1280x1024 resolution. However, Q3 plays so fast that FSAA really isn't useful. On the other hand, UT (and every other game) is just so gorgeous with FSAA enabled.

And for comparison's sake, as per AnandTech:
Q3, 1600x1200x32, on a 1ghz machine
GeForce 2 MX: 19.5 fps
GeForce 2 GTS: 38.4 fps
Radeon 64meg DDR: 36.2 fps

 

[Deeko]

Even though he was already told this several times, I'll do it again, just for fun lsd, at that res all cards are fill rate limited. I win!

 

[john433i]

hey Isd-all current cards are limited at that high resollution.

 

[snow patrol]

Wow, those really are very impressive scores Wingz. That's a big increase over the original drivers, but perhaps it's a bit too little too late for 3dfx?

 

[BFG10K]

Sorry, double post.

 

[BFG10K]

BFG - sorry your FPS went down, but that is par for the course with the &quot;unified driver concept&quot;

The thing is beta 1.05.01 seems to be the fastest and anything new they release just slows me down. While I don't have any problems with the beta drivers, it would be nice to get a driver release that adds a few extra fps to my Quake 3 scores. Oh well maybe 1.05.04 will do the trick.

You really need to get over your anti-3dfx fetish, and get on with life/

I have a fetish because I expect driver updates to speed up gameplay? Alrighty then.

 

[RoboTECH]

BFG - sell your damn V3!!!

if you want Q3 scores for cheap, get an MX and quit yer damn bitchin'!!!

 

[Wingznut]

Or, you could actually use the correct final drivers, or the correct beta drivers.

The latest V4/V5 drivers are not intended for your V3.

 

[Positron]

I'm using Win98 SE and as far as 3dmark 2000 goes I went from scoring 4100 to 3800. Any ideas on why?