Leaked nVidia Driver Doubles 3DMark03 Score

Dom · Jul 10, 2003, 01:04 PM

In May, we uncovered some irregularities in nVidia's Detonator driver that we felt improperly boosted scores on the 3DMark03 benchmark. There was much spirited discussion in the wake of this story, with nVidia stating that the issue was a bug in the Detonator driver's clipping and occlusion culling routines. But since the flap began, we haven't seen any drivers with the "irregularities" removed.

At least not until a few days ago, when a new Detonator driver build, 44.67, briefly appeared on graphics board maker eVGA's website. Luckily we were able to snag it before it mysteriously disappeared. So of course our first inclination was to see if performance had changed, both in 3DMark03 and on other games as well.

We ran the GeForceFX 5900 through 3DMark03, first with the current 44.03 driver, and then with this new 44.67 driver. The performance increases seen in 3DMark03 were substantial, almost double on one of the tests. We also tested three of the games we usually use for 3D testing. We found essentially no performance difference between the two builds there.

Apparently whatever changes were made in 44.67 were directed at addressing the performance and problems we previously uncovered with 3DMark03.

Read More...

Zardon · Jul 10, 2003, 01:35 PM

will this EVER end?

Rayder · Jul 10, 2003, 02:10 PM

Sure, just as soon as Nvidia goes out of business.

Erroneus · Jul 10, 2003, 02:14 PM

A great day for nvidia owners who ONLY uses 3dmark, we don't need no stinking improvements in games, 3dmark score is much more important. Damn nvidia I will never buy anything from you if you dont fix your drivers and maybe some more official updates would be nice.

ryanraab · Jul 11, 2003, 12:36 AM

Erroneus it's the other way around never buy 3dmark!

nForcer · Jul 11, 2003, 02:15 AM

Who buys it anyway! *chuckle* Seriously, the whole ATI/nVidia/FutureMark driver issue needs to go away. 3dMark is NOT a useful benchmakring tool as it once was and should not be considered as a benchmark at all.

Jul 10, 2003, 01:04 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	Leaked nVidia Driver Doubles 3DMark03 Score In May, we uncovered some irregularities in nVidia's Detonator driver that we felt improperly boosted scores on the 3DMark03 benchmark. There was much spirited discussion in the wake of this story, with nVidia stating that the issue was a bug in the Detonator driver's clipping and occlusion culling routines. But since the flap began, we haven't seen any drivers with the "irregularities" removed. At least not until a few days ago, when a new Detonator driver build, 44.67, briefly appeared on graphics board maker eVGA's website. Luckily we were able to snag it before it mysteriously disappeared. So of course our first inclination was to see if performance had changed, both in 3DMark03 and on other games as well. We ran the GeForceFX 5900 through 3DMark03, first with the current 44.03 driver, and then with this new 44.67 driver. The performance increases seen in 3DMark03 were substantial, almost double on one of the tests. We also tested three of the games we usually use for 3D testing. We found essentially no performance difference between the two builds there. Apparently whatever changes were made in 44.67 were directed at addressing the performance and problems we previously uncovered with 3DMark03. Read More...

Jul 10, 2003, 02:14 PM	#4
Erroneus Get off my lawn! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,417 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	A great day for nvidia A great day for nvidia owners who ONLY uses 3dmark, we don't need no stinking improvements in games, 3dmark score is much more important. Damn nvidia I will never buy anything from you if you dont fix your drivers and maybe some more official updates would be nice. __________________

Jul 10, 2003, 01:35 PM	#2
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	will this EVER end?

Jul 10, 2003, 02:10 PM	#3
Rayder Mostly lurking lately.... Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 2,161 Rep Power: 73	Sure, just as soon as Nvidia goes out of business.

Jul 11, 2003, 12:36 AM	#5
ryanraab DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 194 Rep Power: 0	Erroneus it's the other way around never buy 3dmark!

Jul 11, 2003, 02:15 AM	#6
nForcer Twice the fun! Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,404 Rep Power: 0	Who buys it anyway! chuckle Seriously, the whole ATI/nVidia/FutureMark driver issue needs to go away. 3dMark is NOT a useful benchmakring tool as it once was and should not be considered as a benchmark at all.