Nvidia Driver’s Since Launch : GTX 780 Ti & GTX 680

Introduction Just over a month ago we published our AMD driver analysis article looking at the progress two generations of AMD flagship GPUs, the HD 7970 and R9 290X, had made with driver updates. We compared each flagship card's launch drivers to the latest drivers and calculated the improvements in a variety of games and benchmarks. Now that we've done AMD it is of course time to do the same for Nvidia. We will be taking Nvidia's last two GTX series flagships, the GTX 680 for the GTX 600 series and the GTX 780 Ti for the GTX 700 series, and comparing their launch drivers to the current latest drivers. This means for both graphics cards we will be testing two scenarios on identical test systems, the first scenario is with the drivers the graphics cards shipped with at launch and the second is the most current driver release for the graphics cards at the time of doing the testing. Nvidia's GTX 680 launched on March 22nd 2012, exactly four months after AMD's HD 7970 launched. At launch the Nvidia GTX 680 shipped with Nvidia Forceware 301.10 drivers. The GTX 780 Ti launched on the 7th of November 2013 with the special press driver package 331.70, although this was identical to the 331.65 package except with "official" GTX 780 Ti support. We used the 331.65 package since this supports the GTX 780 Ti and is identical to the unavailable 331.70 package. The latest driver package for both these Nvidia graphics cards is 340.52. The story with Nvidia is a similar one to AMD, both the flagships of last two generations are based on the same microarchitecture which is, in Nvidia's case, 28nm Kepler. This means that the GTX 680 has had 2.5 years of driver updates while the GTX 780 Ti hasn't even had a year yet. Of course with the GTX 780 Ti being based on the same Kepler 28nm architecture as the GTX 680 by the time the GTX 780 Ti was released many of the largest performance optimisations had already been made for the Kepler architecture. This means the GTX 680 will show greater performance improvements compared to the GTX 780 Ti. If you read our equivalent AMD driver analysis you will see that the story with the HD 7970 and R9 290X is nearly identical. One thing I would like to note before we dive into the results is that you shouldn't use these results to compare the GTX 680 to the HD 7970, or the R9 290X to the GTX 780 Ti. Why? Because for our Nvidia tests we used Gigabyte's GHz Edition GTX 780 Ti and MSI's Lightning Edition GTX 680, both of these are heavily overclocked Nvidia cards out of the box. For the AMD tests we used two cards that were close to, if not at, stock speeds. This was not done intentionally to favour Nvidia but these were the only non-reference cards we had to hand, and we only use non-reference cards as we want to avoid inconsistencies associated with thermal throttling that AMD and Nvidia cards both experience. In short, Nvidia's results have a 10%~ or more advantage than the AMD ones due to the factory overclocked cards tested. For those who wonder why we didn't just downclock the Nvidia cards to stock speeds, well we could have done that but the Turbo boosting baked into Kepler cards means no two cards will perform the same even when clocked at the same speed. Test Systems and Procedures Before we delve into any testing we would like to take this opportunity to review our test system and thank those sponsors who kindly provided us with test equipment to make our work possible. We offer our thanks to: Intel for supplying us with a Core i7 3960X processor, which we reviewed here. Kingston for supplying us with a Hyper X 3K 240GB solid state drive, which we reviewed here. XFX for supplying us with an R9 290X Double Dissipation 4GB graphics card, which we reviewed here, and a HD 7970 Double Dissipation 3GB graphics card. Gigabyte for supplying us with a GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition 3GB graphics card, which we reviewed here. MSI for supplying us with a GTX 680 Lightning graphics card, which we reviewed here. Corsair for supplying us with a Hydro Series H100i liquid CPU cooler, which we reviewed here, and a Vengeance Pro 1866MHz 16GB memory kit, which we reviewed here. Be Quiet for supplying us with a Straight Power E9 680W power supply unit, which we reviewed here. ASUS for supplying us with a Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard, which we reviewed here. Lian Li for supplying us with a PC-T60A test bench. Noctua for supplying us with NT-H1 thermal compound. Test System: Motherboard - Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Processor - Intel Core i7 3960X with Turbo disabled Graphics Card: XFX R9 290X Double Dissipation 4GB (with AMD Catalyst 14.7 RC1 and 13.11 Beta 6 drivers), XFX HD 7970 Double Dissipation 3GB (with AMD Catalyst 14.7 RC1 and 11.12 RC11 drivers), Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti GHz Edition 3GB (with Nvidia Forceware 340.52 and 331.65) and MSI GTX 680 Lightning Edition 2GB (with Nvidia Forceware 340.52 and 301.10). RAM - 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 9-10-9-27 1866MHz CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile Power Supply - Be Quiet Straight Power E9 680W Main Storage Drive - Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD Chassis - Lian Li T60 Test Bench Displays - LG IPS234 23 inch 1080p display Operating System - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit Games and Software Used 3DMark Battlefield 4 Bioshock Infinite Guru3D Display Driver Uninstaller (for uninstalling driver packages) Metro Last Light Sleeping Dogs Tomb Raider Resolution(s) Used 1920 x 1080 3DMark 2013 "The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we've ever created." From Futuremark.com Battlefield 4 "Battlefield 4 is coming to PC, powered by the advanced technology of DICE’s proprietary Frostbite 3 engine. Blur the line between game and glory in Battlefield 4. With dynamic destructable environments, vehicular combat, and the chaos of all-out-war with 64 players, Battlefield 4 on PC will be an unmatched interactive experience. In addition to its hallmark multiplayer, Battlefield 4 features an intense, dramatic character-driven campaign that starts with the evacuation of American VIPs from Shanghai and follows your squad's struggle to find its way home. There is no comparison. Immerse yourself in the glorious chaos of all-out war, found only in Battlefield." From Battlefield.com Bioshock Infinite "BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter like you’ve never seen. Just ask the judges from E3 2011, where the Irrational Games title won over 85 editorial awards, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show. Set in 1912, players assume the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the flying city of Columbia on a rescue mission. His target? Elizabeth, imprisoned since childhood. During their daring escape, Booker and Elizabeth form a powerful bond -- one that lets Booker augment his own abilities with her world-altering control over the environment. Together, they fight from high-speed Sky-Lines, in the streets and houses of Columbia, on giant zeppelins, and in the clouds, all while learning to harness an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities, and immersing players in a story that is not only steeped in profound thrills and surprises, but also invests its characters with what Game Informer called “An amazing experience from beginning to end." From Bioshockinfinite.com Metro Last Light "Metro: Last Light (formerly Metro 2034) is a first-person shooter and horror video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features a mixture of action-oriented and stealth gameplay. The game exists in the universe of the novel, Metro 2033, and its sequels, written by Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, but does not follow any direct storylines from the books. Metro:Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the canonical ending from the novel, ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones.Metro: Last Light features technology which boasts of lighting effects and improved physics claimed to set a new graphical benchmark on the PC and consoles." From Wikipedia.org Sleeping Dogs "Welcome to Hong Kong, a vibrant neon city teeming with life, whose exotic locations and busy streets hide one of the most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations in the world: the Triads. In this open world game, you play the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You'll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover. Torn between your loyalty to the badge and a criminal code of honor, you will risk everything as the lines between truth, loyalty and justice become permanently blurred." From Sleepingdogs.net Tomb Raider "On 5 March 2013, Square Enix released Tomb Raider, billed as a reboot of the franchise. In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. In contrast to the earlier games Croft is portrayed as vulnerable, acting out of necessity, desperation and sheer survival rather than for a greater cause or personal gain." From Wikipedia.org Final Thoughts Well there it is, another driver analysis article is over so let's regroup on the results we've shown. To summarise they are as follows: In 3DMark the GTX 680 gained 24.6% in FireStrike and 33.4% in FireStrike Extreme while the GTX 780 Ti gained 1.2% in FireStrike and there was no change in FireStrike Extreme. In Battlefield 4 GTX 680 gained 15.2% while the GTX 780 Ti gained 4.5%. In Bioshock Infinite the GTX 680 gained 57.9% while the GTX 780 Ti gained 6%. In Metro Last Light the GTX 680 gained 6.7% while the GTX 780 Ti gained 3.5%. In Sleeping Dogs the GTX 680 gained 26.1% while the GTX 780 Ti gained 11.8%. In Tomb Raider the GTX 680 gained 15.8% while the GTX 780 Ti gained 1.2%. I am hugely impressed by the results the Nvidia cards have displayed, especially when compared to AMD's equivalents. Nvidia's GTX 780 Ti, even though based on established and mature architecture, has managed to improve in all the game titles we tested. This is significant because AMD's R9 290X made few noticeable improvements despite being on the market for longer than the GTX 780 Ti. The GTX 680 showed huge gains in performance, similar to the HD 7970 if not much better. Looking at the results it is fair to say that Nvidia has made greater performance progress on its drivers since the launch of the GTX 680 and GTX 780 Ti than AMD made with its HD 7970 and R9 290X. To refresh your memory, or if you haven't read our equivalent AMD driver analysis article, here are the results of AMD's GPUs: In 3DMark the HD 7970 gained 30.8% in FireStrike and 28.9% in FireStrike Extreme while the R9 290X gained 2.5% in FireStrike and there was no change in FireStrike Extreme. In Battlefield 4 the HD 7970 gained 19.9% while the R9 290X gained 1.3%. In Bioshock Infinite the HD 7970 gained 15.4% while the R9 290X saw no change. In Metro Last Light the HD 7970 gained 6.4% while the R9 290X gained 1.8%. In Sleeping Dogs the HD 7970 gained 9.2% while the R9 290X saw no change. In Tomb Raider the HD 7970 gained 6.6% while the R9 290X saw no change. The results suggest notes of caution to be made when reading graphics card reviews: anything that mixes old driver results and new driver results has the potential for a 1-58% margin of error. We also want to note that you'll find similar improvements in driver performance for other Kepler based graphics cards compared to their launch drivers, but these improvements will vary by GPU type, the components in the system and what games you are running. In short your own mileage may vary but the argument for keeping up with driver updates and making sure your system has the latest is strong. With the Nvidia drivers I think the most crucial update is their Forceware 337.50 "Super Driver", clearly most of the performance gains with the GTX 780 Ti came from this driver update. I think these results provide an interesting answer to the question we stated at the beginning:" How much progress do AMD and Nvidia actually make with their drivers over a product's life cycle?" Of course, Kepler still has some mileage left to run so expect many more driver updates, though I doubt we'll see much more in the way of performance improvements. Most driver updates for AMD's GCN and Nvidia's Kepler product stacks will be dominated by bug fixes, new features and support for new game titles or benchmarks. I hope you found this article interesting and useful. We encourage you to check out the AMD driver analysis article if you haven't already. Please leave us your comments and thoughts on this article. What would you like to see changed? What didn't you like? What have been your experience with drivers in general? Or more specifically: Nvidia drivers. Thank you to all our partners who provided the hardware and software that made this driver analysis possible.