Graphics firms start driver arms race

HOT ON THE HEELS of the new 3D Mark Vantage software from Futuremark, both graphics teams have updated their latest beta drivers to give themselves a leg up in the points stakes.

DAAMIT has a hotfix out for its Catalyst driver, which you can grab here. This is specifically designed to fix issues with Vantage, fixing as it does rendering artifacts and increasing performance. We noted yesterday that ATI had a big of a problem running Feature Test 3, and this hotfix sorts that out. Consequently, hardware geeks can expect to see a boost of around 700-800 points for dual chip setups and 400-500 points on single chip cards.

Meanwhile, l'equipe verde has a new beta driver, 175.12, here. This is designed for all Geforce cards and supports SLI, Quad and 3-way - but only under Vista. Interestingly enough, the release notes mention nothing of any improvement in 3D Mark whatsoever - but the release date has to be more than a simple coincidence. Wait for the benchmarks on that one.

So begins the battle of driver attrition that will plague enthusiasts for the next few months, as both manufacturers struggle to score points off each other. µ