New Features In GeForce 185
As you flip through the benchmarks, you’ll notice that, in some cases, the GeForce GTX 275 comes pretty darn close to the GTX 285. This is partially due to a new driver used to test the GTX 275—Nvidia’s GeForce release 185. Nvidia says it improved the performance of its anti-aliasing compression, z-culling efficiency, and SLI scaling performance in certain game engines.
We tested currently-available cards using Nvidia’s latest GeForce 182 driver, but were forced to test the GeForce GTX 275 using the 185 build (similar to how we tested ATI’s Radeon HD 4890 with a beta build, but benchmarked the other boards using Catalyst 9.3). In order to give you a better idea of what GeForce 185 delivers on its own, we tested the GeForce GTX 285 at a couple of different settings across the entire benchmark suite using just the 185 driver.
There are a few notable performance deltas, but the changes aren’t massive in any one title, or even consistent, for that matter, from 1680x1050 to 2560x1600.
The new driver also adds support for ambient occlusion in games that don’t already include a control panel check-box for it. Ambient occlusion approximates the way light radiates in real life, thus adding shadows and shading in areas where they should be, but aren’t seen when the capability is lacking. There’s a fairly substantial performance hit when you turn on AO in Nvidia’s driver, so you'll need to decide for yourself if the compromise is worthwhile.
In a game like World in Conflict at 1920x1200 on a GeForce GTX 285, you have performance to spare. Turning AO on drops you to an average of 45 frames per second, but makes a noticeable difference in how the environment looks, as blades of grass occlude light and become much more distinct when you zoom in to the battlefield.
I expected the 4890 to be faster
I'd take the benchmarks with a pinch of salt...kinda get the feeling they're pro nVidia here!
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquire [...] cal-gt275s
The main question is if the boards the reviewers get are going to be different to the ones that appear on sale. Or is the Inq just having a go at nVidia because they don't like them at the moment.
yeah im gona wait a couple of weeks after the wide release before making my mind up. by then should have more of an idea on price and performance, and hopefully the 185 drivers will be fully released.
then i shall decide on which card to get
Anandtech has the 4890 beating the 275 in 7/8 benchmarks. It's just getting to be farcical now tbh.
Can't we go back to the good old days of naming conventions on nVidia cards (such as the Geforce 2) where the low end part was the MX, then the Geforce 2, then the GTS & then the Ultra? Now there are so many model names, memory configurations & die sizes, I'm suprised even they know which card is best any more!
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquire [...] cal-gt275sThe main question is if the boards the reviewers get are going to be different to the ones that appear on sale. Or is the Inq just having a go at nVidia because they don't like them at the moment.
Charlie is definitely an ATI fan, have a read of more of his articles and you'll see that. It's a shame that there are not many sites that are neutral when it comes to hardware reviews.
www.novatech.co.uk already have loads of both cards on sale. They were available from midnight. How come all the review sites apart rom this one show the radeon 4890 to be faster in most benchmarks, but this is the opposite way around?
Can't we go back to the good old days of naming conventions on nVidia cards (such as the Geforce 2) where the low end part was the MX, then the Geforce 2, then the GTS & then the Ultra? Now there are so many model names, memory configurations & die sizes, I'm surprised even they know which card is best any more!
I agree, David. They should offer degree courses in this stuff. The honours would go to the those who summise that just because a card has a higher model number doesn't necessarily mean it's better. Unfortunately by the time those people are ready to collect their degrees they'll be old hat since by the time the ink's dried on the certificate there'll be yet another set of cards to decipher
ATI needs to push some of the developers with games like Nvidia are doing to get the scene moving.
each to their own with games, but i still get 90+ fps with 1x gtx 260 on cod 4 & 5 @ 1920, so what's the point in buying a newer card? if you wanna keep up with the "Jones's" then you are a fool with $$ or ££'s to waste.
We need some new games...games that are gonna push graphics to the limit...make us want, sorry, NEED to spend money on new hardware.
Bottom line is NVidia can't produce these and make a profit so the halo effect of a higher end card will not do them any good when they can't produce them in volume (won't in fact either as they lose money on them)and ATI will just drop the price on their gpu anyway.
NVidia are stuck with a die too big to OC, and too expensive to produce in volume unless they are massively faster ... which they are not.
Goodbye NVidia ... IBM or Intel are about to buy you.
I like how they stress the importance that the drivers are still in beta here, but on the 4890 review they don't mention it at all.
and to quote:
"Update: In fact, it looks like ATI is aiming for $220 with mail-in-rebates, which gets us a little closer), we’d be much more likely to step up from the Radeon HD 4870 1 GB to a retail HD 4890 and try our hand overclocking the 4890 even farther."
However for this review they didn't overclock it at all. They overclocked it a titchy wee bit in its own review.
Here though theis implies that they are running an overclocked card against a stock Nvidia card which is simply not the truth.
'I expected the 4890 to be faster'
Hahaha...confused? That is right, m8. This review is a wrong call.
The article is comparing a ATI's 4890 to Nvidia's 260 and 285 by using a driver for the new 4890 that actually does not support fully this card and on the other side a well updated and well tested driver for the Nvidias' counterparts.
That is why the conclusions about the cards' performance are ill founded.
Wait until the release of the new catalyst 9.4 and you will see that 4890 does not only kill NV 280, but also NV285 at this price range.
I'm sorry, but I think this is something you should look into:
DirectX 10.1 in Stalker - you say, that "all are running DX10 to keep it consistent", but which player would play a game at dx10, if there's an option to improve performance with dx10.1? therefore the whole comparison is pointless for me.
Same point with Physx - you should put the results in the same table as the rest of the results when a game supports physx, so people get a better overview, not just some artificial results that don't tell the whole story.