Diamond .0252 (Unofficial driver)
Diamond Driver revision .0252 is out on
Microsoft's HCL site!
New Features include:
Added Flat Panel support, TV and CRT selection to "Output Selection" Property Page.
What About Performance?
After running a series of tests I came to the conclusion that Diamond's newest (unofficial) driver makes great strides in Direct 3D, yet improves nothing involving OpenGL. 3D Mark scores stayed the same in some catagories, but way up in the 2, 4 and 8 meg rendering (
giving numbers very similar to nVidia's when DX5 compatibility mode is turned on...) I've heard around the net that some people have used this driver and then increased
their 3D Mark scores nearly 200 points! Quite possibly my processor is limiting the Viper too much to see a difference.
Quake 2 scores were identical to the nVidia numbers, while my Direct 3D test showed little improvement. Although, this test is not a seems not to be a good indicator of DirectX 6. Playing Myth 2 showed about a 4 fps difference (17fps to 21fps) from nVidia's current reference drivers. Of special note is one problem I had with NBA live 99. In a game, the court lines were flying all over the place, going back to nVidia drivers solved the problem. Something must have changed to create this problem, for I have never seen it before.
Download my 3D Mark Database file here
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Diamond .0245 (Official Driver)
New Features:
Enhancements for 8MB board compatability, Upgraded Gamma settings page with 2d and 3d support Addressed reported monitor refresh issues, and enhanced DDC monitor detection.
What About Performance?
Diamond's newest OFFICIAL driver is slower than the .0252 driver, and also slightly slower than nVidia's and Diamond's .0241 drivers. I am not surprised at this, for the newest driver, according to the driver numbers, is the one posted on Microsoft's site, .0252.
I ran some tests through 3D Mark 99, my only good benchmarking program for Direct 3D, and the results showed all I needed to know: about 2-10% slower than nVidia's driver, and 10-20% slower than Diamond's .0252 driver. Look below for the results.
Once again, the OpenGL API has still been left untouched, thus no performance difference. Does anyone know of release dates for this API??
Download my NEW 3D Mark Database file here
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In Depth Tests (1/3/99)
The Suspects:
.0220 = Diamond Driver 4.10.01.0220
.0239 = Diamond Driver 4.10.01.0239
.0241 = Diamond Driver 4.10.01.0241
.0048 = nVidia Ref. Driver 4.10.01.0048
Test Conditions:
AMD K6-200mhz 66mhz bus 96mb fpm ram Diamond Viper V550 ref B
Fic PA-2007 Maxtor 2gig & 8.4gig AOpen 36x Cd-Rom
Desktop at 800x600x16bit Windows 98
Not Overclocked Best 'Gaming Environment' Settings Used
3D Mark 99
The Results show the original Diamond .0220 driver as being the fastest out of all
the contestants. I must think that they created this driver for the purpose of
benchmarking as the image quality was not as good as the newer drivers (.0241 and .048).
When Diamond stepped up the image quality they reduced performance. Look to the future
for a driver that combines quality and speed from Diamond based on nVidia's
reference driver .048 (that's right, Diamond has yet to make one based on that
revision even though it's been out for weeks now...).
Winner: nVidia .0048
3D Mark Database File:
Download Here
Or
Microsoft Excel 97 Database File:
Download Here
Quake 2 Demo 3.14
| Resolution | Driver | FPS |
| 1024x768 |
.0220 |
20.5 |
| 800x600 |
|
21 |
| 640x480 |
|
21 |
| 1024x768 |
.0239 |
20.5 |
| 800x600 |
|
21 |
| 640x480 |
|
21.3 |
| 1024x768 |
.0241 |
21.3 |
| 800x600 |
|
21.5 |
| 640x480 |
|
21.6 |
| 1024x768 |
.0048 |
21.3 |
| 800x600 |
|
21.5 |
| 640x480 |
|
21.8 |
It's good to see that each driver revision includes a better OpenGL ICD. The only
problem was my processor seemed to limit the fps scores. Image quality was good
on all drivers, the nVidia driver having a slight edge. I also tested various
drivers with the 1.95c bios. The numbers were no different, as expected.
Winner: TIE .0048 & .0241
Unreal 2.20
All Unreal Tests were run with sound, no music and at 640x480, Default OGL
| Driver | fps |
| .0220 | 4 |
| .0239 | 11.2 |
| .0241 | 10.7 |
| .0048 | 11.57 |
The most revealing test, Unreal, shows just how much the OpenGL
driver has changed. The image quality of driver .0220 was horrible! .0239 was better
but the leader again is nVidia. It coupled the best image quality and high frame rate
I will expect from every driver made from now on.
Winner: nVidia .0048
Direct 3D
| Fill Rate |
.0220 |
75 |
| Poly. Throughput |
|
311 |
| Intersection Throughput |
|
9.5 |
|
.0239 |
58.6 |
|
|
300 |
|
|
8.5 |
|
.0241 |
59 |
|
|
302 |
|
|
9 |
|
.0048 |
76.4 |
|
|
311 |
|
|
14.9 |
The nVidia drivers really shine here, beating the high scoring .0220 driver by
diamond.
Winner: nVidia .0048
Download the Benchmark (570k):
Here
In Conclusion
Needless to say, I am currently running the Viper V550 with the nVidia Reference
Driver .0048 on the 1.95c bios revision. It seems to be the most stable for me,
as well as the fastest. nVidia's control panel is better than Diamond's as well.
I am waiting with fingers crossed until the release of Diamonds newest drivers
based on the .0048 reference suite.
Bios's are updated to fix problems related to motherboard chipsets and other peripherals.
I have tested each bios and found no reliable difference between any one: IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE.
A bios upgrade may be needed to 'fix a mouse problem' as Diamond has said. Some
Bios's do not have the right support for TV-Out. I used 1.95c becuase it had
the American TV-Out support, two others didn't.
As always, only flash your bios if you have to.
Things do go wrong. A lot. Just use your best judgement, and hope
that it does what you expected.
Bottom Line:
Performance: nVidia .0048
Image Quality: nVidia .0048 & Diamond .0241
Display Utilities: nVidia .0048
Overall Winner: nVidia .0048
Best BIOS: Only change BIOS if needed!
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