We also encountered other issues with Forceware 91.31. With an SLI setup, the drivers' application detection seems to be overriding control panel settings such as AA and AF for some games. Take a look at the table below - these are benchmark results with a pair of GeForce 7600GT with various modes of SLI multi rendering enabled. The results are taken with default settings in the control panel (without AA and AF).
Call of Duty - Dawnville
| Forceware 91.31 Default | |||
| Auto Select | |||
| Resolution |
1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 81 | 63 | 44 |
| Avg | 129.69 | 88.35 | 62.06 |
| Max | 197 | 126 | 86 |
| Alternate Frame Rendering | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 80 | 63 | 44 |
| Avg | 129.58 | 88.14 | 61.97 |
| Max | 198 | 125 | 86 |
| Split Frame Rendering | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 80 | 63 | 44 |
| Avg | 129.2 | 88.28 | 61.95 |
| Max | 197 | 126 | 86 |
| Alternate Frame Rendering 2 | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 80 | 63 | 44 |
| Avg | 129.55 | 88.3 | 62.06 |
| Max | 198 | 126 | 86 |
all numbers are in frame rates per second except for 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1600 x 1200
Ooh, that's way to low for default settings. Now look at the results we've got from the older drivers, Forceware 84.21.
Call of Duty - Dawnville
| Forceware 84.21 Default | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 82 | 83 | 81 |
| Avg | 214.95 | 184.28 | 151.98 |
| Max | 428 | 332 | 246 |
| Forceware 84.21 AA AF | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 83 | 63 | 44 |
| Avg | 129.92 | 88.14 | 62.14 |
| Max | 197 | 125 | 87 |
all numbers are in frame rates per second except for 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1600 x 1200
It's clear that the new drivers seems to be forcing 4x AA and 16x AF in Call of Duty, despite the fact that we left the respective AA and AF options on their default 'Application controlled' positions. There is a workaround to this, simply rename the executable to something else. Below are the results we got with the new drivers, still from Call of Duty, but this time we've renamed the Call of Duty's multi player executable file to cord.exe.
Call of Duty - Dawnville - renamed to cord.exe
| Forceware 91.31 Default | |||
| Auto Select | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 78 | 80 | 80 |
| Avg | 210.32 | 191.89 | 165.98 |
| Max | 427 | 347 | 304 |
| Alternate Frame Rendering | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 79 | 80 | 78 |
| Avg | 211.28 | 191.58 | 166.17 |
| Max | 463 | 345 | 304 |
| Split Frame Rendering | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 79 | 80 | 78 |
| Avg | 209.92 | 193.11 | 163.88 |
| Max | 401 | 324 | 248 |
| Alternate Frame Rendering 2 | |||
| Resolution | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Min | 78 | 79 | 79 |
| Avg | 211.13 | 190.89 | 166.55 |
| Max | 466 | 345 | 305 |
all numbers are in frame rates per second except for 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1600 x 1200
The results are right where they should be. Needless to say, this is not normal behavior. If we choose to run benchmarks with the new drivers, we have to examine the results to see if the drivers are forcing settings and overriding users' choices. Then we have to rename the games that are affected to get the real results. We think it's actually better (and a whole lot simpler) to stick with the old drivers for now, especially since there seems to be nothing to gain (performance wise) with the new drivers.
Another strange thing we've encountered with these new drivers is SLI installations with graphics cards from different vendors doesn't seem to work, at least not right away. Switching cards didn't fix the problem. It's as if the second graphics card is not properly detected. In the end, we had to fall back to the old drivers, enable SLI and then reinstall the new drivers to get SLI working. We admit, this may be just a screw up in our part, but it's unlikely.
These issues and problems are more than enough for us to say these newer drivers are not worth the upgrade (at least for us). So, for most of this article, we will be using the older, Forceware 84.21.
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