NVIDIA's Detonator3 Drivers - Teaching an "old" dog new tricks

With the GeForce2 GTS, the lower resolutions perform noticeably slower using the new Detonator3 drivers while the higher resolutions see a definite improvement. This is most likely due to a more efficient memory bandwidth management present in the new drivers since the biggest difference is made at the higher resolutions in 32-bit color.

All GeForce2 GTS users should definitely upgrade to the newer drivers, unless of course you happen to play in lower resolutions and in 16-bit color.

Under Direct3D games the effect is similar, at lower resolutions there is a performance drop but as you move up the resolution ladder and especially in 32-bit color mode you begin to see a very noticeable and welcome improvement in performance. Since our only Direct3D benchmark, UnrealTournament, isn't memory bandwidth limited, it doesn't show the actual improvement you'll see in Direct3D games which is why we didn't bother to show any UT graphs.

The performance improvement you see here in Quake III Arena, is duplicated in most Direct3D games as well, showing that performance across the board is improved.