Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Xtreme-G 180.42 Video Card Benchmark Test

I did some video card benchmark tests with the Xtreme-G 180.42 video driver and I have to say the IQ this driver churns out is simply astonishing. It's leaps and bounds ahead of earlier versions of the Nvidia GeForce video drivers; terrain details in RTS games are so sharp I'm noticing minute details that I haven't before.

The numbers my video card benchmark tests outputted are not something to write home about however; except for the maximum framerate --- which has been a steady 85 way back Nvidia GeForce 178.15 --- every other framerate in F.E.A.R. suffered minor hits. (Framerates below 25 FPS have risen by 3% while framerates between 25-40 have gone down by 1%. Also, video card benchmark test framerates above 40 FPS have gone down by 2%.)

To make matters worse, I've run into serious bugs as far as visual tweaking is concerned --- moving the Contrast, Digital Vibrance, and Brightness sliders messes up your display. It will look like you've moved the Image Sharpening slider all the way up. (Restarting the PC will solve this however.) This is the sheer height of irony as the Image Sharpening slider is still inoperative --- as it has been since when? Nvidia GeForce 177.92? (Nvidia should really fix this; I miss the 4% adjustment that produces even more stunning clarity.)

Still, video card benchmark test results and bugs aside, this driver is phenonmenal --- the hits in the video card benchmark test results are negligible and who needs operable sliders when the IQ makes you think you actually own authentic Warhammer 40,000 figurines? Zoom in on any RTS game and you can almost imagine you can reach out and pluck those ultra-sexy Eldar Banshees from your screen.

It's that good.


This is one ghost you don't want to pluck however.

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