Discussion: New drivers = lower benchmarks?

[JonnyDough]

Anyone else notice a greatly reduced benchmark score with the new crimson beta drivers (last release from AMD for these cards)? I ran a Passmark 3Dmark score run across all of my PC's with the new drivers, and my scores dropped across the board. However, the 5000 and 6000 series cards I have seem to have dropped more significantly. Is it just me or is AMD trying to reduce (or possibly fix) benchmark scores? That is to say, they previously released drivers to obtain inflated scores and are now making them more stable instead in their final release? I'm a fan of AMD, I own mostly AMD cpus and cards - although my fastest 2 systems (arguably) run Intel chips.

 

[thor220]

It's funny that you mention benchmark fixing because there's a good chance all those benchmarks were compiled on Intel compilers and targets towards the majority of the GPU market Nvidia.

AMD doesn't have the resources to jack up their benchmark score nor do they have a motive. It would be easy for a reviewer to correlate poor in game performance but amazing benchmark performance to something funny. This may have been possible in the olden days but right now AMD cannot afford to juice up benchmarks.

 

[JonnyDough]

Drivers are tweaked per application. New games especially tend to get the driver writer's attentions, while older games will incur new issues with newer drivers as a result. Popular benchmarking software will see the driver's tweaked to obtain higher scores as well. Both parties play this game - leaving less common games to experience issues. What I'm saying is that the new driver release lowered my score, but as a result more games may be stable/compatible with the last and latest driver.

 

[JonnyDough]

Are you running any 5 or 6000 series cards still? I own about 12 gaming capable desktops. I guess you could say it's a hobby. Most are OC'd to a stable and fairly decent but not crazy OC. I'm very good at spending a tiny bit of cash and obtaining some really cool-looking and speedy results. But then, I've been toying with computers since 1997 and 28.8kbps modems.

 

[thor220]

Are you running any 5 or 6000 series cards still? I own about 12 gaming capable desktops. I guess you could say it's a hobby. Most are OC'd to a stable and fairly decent but not crazy OC. I'm very good at spending a tiny bit of cash and obtaining some really cool-looking and speedy results. But then, I've been toying with computers since 1997 and 28.8kbps modems.

I'm running a R9 290x. I don't bother with benchmarks with graphics cards. Games are always the best for doing this.

Back on subject, what exactly would AMD gain by using it's very limited resources by cooking drivers for a specific benchmark? Most GPU reviews focus on games. Maybe back in the day this was more common but AMD just plain doesn't have the money for that anymore. If you haven't noticed, AMD only releases drivers for a handful of games.

If you want an example of blatant fixing, look at GameWorks. 100% chance that'll it'll cripple your AMD card if it's turned on. Nvidia takes it a step further too by lowering their own performance as well. That way they push sales of next gen cards.

 

[JonnyDough]

I have two 280X's, I have yet to bother to crossfire them. I'm waiting for Fallout 4 to come down in price because I stopped buying crappy games for $60 new - as there are a zillion fun games out there to play these days and so little time. That said, I have yet to find a game my Core i5 and single 280x can't run maxed out. I use a small myriad of benchmark suites because they give me a good idea of which systems need a better CPU or video card, depending. If they score decently and the system is stable (I don't max out my systems, just give them a decent boost) then I don't worry about it. I'm time limited but want a good R.O.I. The military keeps me busy.

 

[JonnyDough]

Also, because I purchase games for all of my systems I tend to throw a few bucks at Humble Bundles or cheap multiplayer steam games - so I'm not too worried about running the latest games. I use slightly older benchmarks like 3DMark to run some DX11 benchies and see how my systems hold up - since I'm not running Windows Crap10 or DX12 games.

 

[thor220]

I have two 280X's, I have yet to bother to crossfire them. I'm waiting for Fallout 4 to come down in price because I stopped buying crappy games for $60 new - as there are a zillion fun games out there to play these days and so little time. That said, I have yet to find a game my Core i5 and single 280x can't run maxed out. I use a small myriad of benchmark suites because they give me a good idea of which systems need a better CPU or video card, depending. If they score decently and the system is stable (I don't max out my systems, just give them a decent boost) then I don't worry about it. I'm time limited but want a good R.O.I. The military keeps me busy.

cdkeys has fallout 4 on pre-order for $32. You can find most games at around that price on pre-order as well. CDkeys, greenmangaming, and G2A are all places you should check for the lowest prices.

 

[JonnyDough]

The site is allegedly taking CD keys from "the corner's of the globe" and reselling them here. I'll pass, I would hate to purchase something that is somehow regionally locked. There has been reason to do this for certain titles in the past - I own a few European copies of WCII I think, and Re-Volt that work fine. Fallout 1/2 as well maybe. But for a brand new game I can't see doing it, unless it was banned here or something. Thanks anyway. Back to the topic though, it sucks seeing new drivers reduce benchies!