Performance - GeForce 8800 GT 512MB

Let's now repeat out testing in the same fashion using NVIDIA's recently launched GeForce 8800 GT 512MB:

At 1280x1024, our results mirror those of the GeForce 8800 GTS - Once again, performance with ForceWare 169.09 is over 7% lower, equivalent to ForceWare 169.04 with the game executable renamed from 'Crysis.exe'.

Adding anti-aliasing at this resolution also shows relatively similar results.

The general modus operandi of this board remains the same at 1600x1200 with this board, with ForceWare 169.09 performance matching ForceWare 169.04 with the game executable renamed.

Our highest test settings throw things a little off-kilter with this board, with either the 256-bit memory bus or 512MB of frame buffer becoming exhausted at such high settings.  On this occasion, we see ForceWare 169.09 marginally outperforming the older ForceWare 169.04 driver.

Conclusions

It's pretty easy to find the positives about NVIDIA's ForceWare 169.09 driver - They've reacted reasonably quickly to the Crysis image quality issue we outlined in our initial article, managing to fix it prior to the full game hitting retail shelves, for which they can only receive our applause.  It also appears (as an offshoot of this) that any application specific code has either been removed from this driver, or altered to detect the game executable in a different fashion, as performance remains the same regardless of executable name - Not a big deal now that the main issue has been fixed, but an interesting point of note anyhow.  If you're currently using an NVIDIA GeForce 8 series graphics board, then be sure to grab this beta driver release to enjoy the game in its full glory.

On the down side, the removal of the water reflection bug does, as you would expect, lower performance to the levels seen after renaming the executable in previous ForceWare 169.0x drivers, with the average 7% performance reduction potentially having quite an impact on a game such as Crysis where frame rates are pretty low on current hardware at the best of times.  However, overall performance is better than older WHQL drivers, so you do at least gain some frame rate compared to those sets, and doubtless there is still plenty of room for optimisation for this graphically intensive new title from both of the major graphics IHVs.

So, there you have it - Image quality fixed, but at some cost to performance.  Case closed.

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