Nvidia cheating drivers again ?

[Schwarz]

Ok so lately I have had problems with running my two 8800GTS in SLI.
The problem was due to the fact that when I ran the latest Nvidia drivers, in 3dmark my Co-Operative adapter would show as "No".
I would still get around 13000 3dmark points but I was wondering why it would show up as no using SLI.
Lately I really wanted to know what was going on and so I tried older drivers
version 97.44.
Stangely the Co-Operative adapter would now show as "YES"
BUT I would still get the 13000 points which I believe is normal for 2 8800GTS 320MB and a e4300.
Now I am wondering why would old drivers show that I am running in SLI and newer would tell me that I am not.
Of course this could all be a driver bug or a problem with 3dmark2006.
But you have to remember that someone who doesn't know this and checks 3dmark to see how much a single 8800GTS card scores then he would see 13000 points with a single card which is false.
I have contacted 3dmark and this is what they answered so far.

Hi,

Thank you for the information. I will forward this information to our
3DMark06 team and see what they make of this.

Best Regards,
Futuremark Support



I'll keep you updated on this.

[Scott]

You have to make sure the drivers you are using are 3DMark apporved for things to work right. My Ultra tells me my core is clocked at 0MHz and other odities.

Official supported drivers do not have these issues.

[sushrukh]

Use only the WHQL - FM Approved drivers.Try the 97.92.This driver is the latest WHQL - FM Approved driver for the G80s.Downoad this from here (http://in.download.nvidia.com/Windows/97.92/97.92_forceware_winxp_international_whql.exe) & your problem should be solved.Keep us updated.

[Schwarz]

ForceWare Release 158
Version: 158.22
Release Date: May 17, 2007
WHQL Certified

[stlava]

Get the 158.24 beta version as the 22 had issues with sli.

[sushrukh]

ForceWare Release 158
Version: 158.22
Release Date: May 17, 2007
WHQL Certified

You are making a mistake.I know that 158.22 is the latest WHQL certified driver from Nvidia but that's not FutureMark approved.The latest FM approved WHQL driver is 97.92.You need to run 3D Marks 2006 with this driver.

EDIT :- FutureMark has approved another driver for the G80 3D Mark 2006 benchmarking.

The 97.94 has been added as the latest FM approved WHQL driver :- http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/97.94/97.94_forceware_winxp2k_english_whql.exe

So, if you wanna bench your G80s with the 3D Mark 2006 you should use either the 97.94 or the 97.92 driver to get better results.Though the 100xx series drivers are availble from Nvidia,they are not yet tested & certified by FutureMark.So,you may not get the expected results if you use these 100xx drivers.

[Kougar]

All these Nvidia drivers give me a headache... :tongue:

[Schwarz]

Hah I see what you mean now Sush.
Anyways like the support guy said in the email he will look into it.
Maybe you are right maybe its just because its not Future Mark approved.
So it might be a problem on 3dmark's side.

[werty316]

As the other have said if you don't use FM approved drivers, anything could happen. You know the score you got is normal so don't worry about; most people don't look at system specs in 3Dmark because all they care about is the final score anyways.

[Xero (1)ne]

I think it's just the program not recognizing the SLi.

I guess it's like how X-fire won't detect any of my system's specs...Just with you and 3Dmark, it's only the SLi part.