New Quad SLI 7950 GX2 driver dissected

WE TESTED QUAD SLI using Nvidia's old 91.37 driver and have been roundly criticised for using doing so. But this was the first driver that worked with two 7950 GX2 cards in a Quad SLI configuration. Nvidia has since released its new Quad SLI driver.

We thought that this is the long promised-performance driver and we decided to re-test. Imagine our surprise when we figured out that the driver is actually not significantly faster than the previous one. In fact, it usually ends up slower than the old one.

After causing a big fuss, we were told there will be a real performance driver but it will be a few weeks till we see it. This is what you get with the new one.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Foxconn C51XE M2aa Nforce 590 SLI motherboard
Athlon FX 62 2800 MHz 90 nanometre Windsor core
2x1024 MB DDR2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA

Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	124.2	124.8	122.7	114.5
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	123.7	123.3	121.6	112.9
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	92.16	92.26	92.79	91.35
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	91.05	90.91	90.88	89.61
?	?	?	?	?
F E A R	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	131	122	105	74
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	129	121	104	74
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Nature
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	36499	351.3	267.5	204.3
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	36393	351.1	266.6	203.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	15500.1	40372.0	90.4	588.6
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	15425.1	40094.2	90.3	587.1
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game3
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	13576	52.1	42.3	72.8
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	13537	51.8	41.9	73.2
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS /VS complex
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	17999.4	41268.1	1024.6	126.6//95.9
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	17844.0	41122.8	1024.1	130.0/95.7
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	8539	?	?
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	8504	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	3974	32.005	34.234	30.8
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	3976	32.037	34.238	64.8
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	3657	33.751	39.382	30.8
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	3661	33.961	39.254	64.8
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.37	2143	0.681	1.079	30.8
Leadtek PX7950GX2 TDH Quad SLI Force Ware 91.45	2101	0.677	1.042	64.8

So we ran the test and discovered that the new driver is slower than the previous one. We instantly thought we must have done something wrong. We did a reinstallation and a restart but the score stayed the same. After we confirmed the scores with some of our colleges we continued to test. It is not drastic, we're usually talking about a few frames but we still expected to gain some frames not to lose it.

Doom 3 7950 GX2 loses one to two frames and in Far Cry with 4X FSAA and 8X it loses one to two frame at all resolutions. In FEAR we even have a tie at 20x15 but usually the new driver will cost you one or two frames at 10x7.

In 3Dmark03 you lose a little bit more than 100 points, some forty points at 3Dmark05 or insignificant 35 points at the latest 3Dmark06. The bottom line is that you lose frames with this new performance driver, not gain them.

In Short
Well, the new performance driver sucks. It will take a frame or two out of your current scores but it will probably be more stable and compatible than the 91.37. I advise you to wait for the new driver it might take a while but it has to be faster than this.

It if doesn't, expect the Quad SLI become the biggest joke of the year 2006. An industry source close to ATI claims that Nvidia cannot gain much as it doesn't support Alternate frame rendering but this is still to be seen.

Maybe these tyhings just take time. SLI sucked at the beginning and so did Crossfire but both marchitectures are solid now. We expected much more from the new driver but we advise you to really hold your breath before buying another 7950 GX2 as it is simply a waste of money.

This might change with the new driver, but there may also be intelligent life in outer space but we don't have any proof for that yet either. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic