nVidia respond to benchmark claims

A previous article of ours “nVidia alter benchmarks for Fastest Mobile GPU Crown” claimed that nVidia had altered benchmarks to show that the Alienware M17x with dual GTX 280M SLi graphics was the world’s most powerful mobile GPU setup.

The Asus W90 using AMD’s 4870 mobile crossfire setup was the contender with it’s supposed “one year old” drivers, whereas nVidia’s setup was using the “latest drivers”.

According to sources, different CPU’s were run in the comparison as well, using the faster Intel 9300 CPU in the Alienware nVidia system compared to the slower 9000 CPU in the Asus W90.

Upon speaking to Brian Burke (nVidia’s PR spinner), we was told that it’s not their fault that the Asus/AMD competitor came with that particular CPU, as that is all that is available to the consumer. The W90 used to have the 9600 CPU, but is now deemed obselete which is common knowledge Burke explains. All W90′s now include the 9000 CPU. nVidia’s fault? I think not.

We were also told that the drivers for the GPU were the set that were on the system when it came in. AMD does not offer notebook drivers to consumers, as NVIDIA does. A trip to the AMD and Asus website will confirm that the driver tested is the one consumers have access to, which if they were around a year old, go blame AMD. It’s not their fault that nVidia update their drivers and AMD do not. Due to this, it seemed that the second 4870 wasn’t being engaged due to its drivers not supporting it. Whose fault? AMD.

Maybe they are telling us to install hacked or beta drivers, but AMD, Asus or any other manufacturer in the world would tell you not to use such drivers, and why on earth should you have to?

I think the below screenshot says it all, directly from Brian Burke and the Asus test machine.

The plot thickens.

You heard it here first.