Drivers both AMD/Nvidia - The Future

Bazzards · 19 Jun 2015 at 23:51

As a SLI user I find it very frustrating that in the majority of big games I have to wait for a driver release before I can make the most of my cards, and in some cases have to deal with issues as a result.

Shouldnt the base drivers just work regardless of the game? Will there ever be a point where we don't need new drivers for each and every big game release?

shankly1985 · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:05

DirectX 12 might change this..

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:08

I hope so. Because something certainly needs to change.

PhysicsMan94 · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:11

Which big games do you mean? SLI support has been excellent recently, new releases such as GTA V and Witcher 3 have had great SLI (well, at least 2-way that is) support from day one.

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:15

Well I am on of the many having issues with the last two driver releases, 353's for Witcher 3. Had to go back to an earlier set which don't provide SLI support. Unless its PEBKAC. This isnt a dig as such, just wish we didnt need constant updates.

Mauller · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:24

Bazzards said:
Shouldnt the base drivers just work regardless of the game? Will there ever be a point where we don't need new drivers for each and every big game release?

No, Multi gpu systems are hacked on top of directx 9 - 11. Even a normal game needs in driver optimisation to work their best due to the driver and game engines inability to know what each other are doing. this is one of the premise for making Direct3D 12. So that the game engine does all of the memory and gpu managment and knows what is going on.

essentially the driver optimisations revolve around certain hacks to better tune the memory and gpu managment to a games engine. And no amount of standardisation within directx can change this due to the vast majority of different ways you can write shader code and game engines.

The only cure for this is Low abstraction API's (i.e Mantle/direct3d 12/Vulkan/Metal) which are dumb hardware abstraction layers. Then letting the games engine control everything. The games engine then also needs to have some form of multi gpu support built in. but overall this way of doing things will see performance that far outstrips the hacked together directx9-11 methods.

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:27

Thanks Mauller, I didnt understand all of that, but sounds like DX12 may help. Love dual cards, but just finding it irritating at times. I suppose we will never get a perfect situation.

Resa69 · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:30

Generally I think Nvidia's SLI support is better than AMD's crossfire support but to be honest Nvidia is just as bad with their gimping of older Kepler cards and the crashing issues with their latest drivers.

Both Nvidia and AMD need to get their act together and fix their problems. They have both come a long way but the drivers are far from perfect.

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:32

Agree Resa69, totally. I moved away from AMD years ago because of drivers, and now I realise that they BOTH need to pull their socks up.

Resa69 · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:41

Bazzards said:
Agree Resa69, totally. I moved away from AMD years ago because of drivers, and now I realise that they BOTH need to pull their socks up.

Unfortunately that's what we multi gpu users have to put up with. Still 1000000 times better than console but not perfect by any means.

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 00:47

Does DX12 launch with windows 10 in July? And will it have any effect on current games/drivers?

Dirk Diggler · 20 Jun 2015 at 01:02

With the way GPUs are evolving right now, it shouldn't be long before we don't need SLI. Maybe 4k will still require that extra oomph but at 1440p a single card should soon be all we need, even for 80-100 fps. 1080p is already completely covered with maybe a 980 and certainly a 980ti.

Games are essentially written for consoles and their outdated hardware, and PC GPUs are streets ahead in terms of performance with another leap less than a year away.

SLI should hopefully be a thing of the past in a year or two.

Bazzards · 20 Jun 2015 at 01:04

I would love for that to be true String, but there will always be those who want to push the envelope.

Ps Im not one of those, can't afford to.

Klunt Bumskrint · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:05

Can you just imagine 100% SLI scaling with EVERY DX12 game, that would be sexy. Probably never happen though

easyrider · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:28

String said:
With the way GPUs are evolving right now, it shouldn't be long before we don't need SLI. Maybe 4k will still require that extra oomph but at 1440p a single card should soon be all we need, even for 80-100 fps. 1080p is already completely covered with maybe a 980 and certainly a 980ti.

Games are essentially written for consoles and their outdated hardware, and PC GPUs are streets ahead in terms of performance with another leap less than a year away.

SLI should hopefully be a thing of the past in a year or two.

What about 8k and 16k ?

Greebo · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:33

Bazzards said:
Does DX12 launch with windows 10 in July? And will it have any effect on current games/drivers?

A huge affect. Already the windows 10 drivers for AMD doubles the tessalation framerates on hardware going back to 7970 or earlier. :eek:

I can see every recent graphics card owner getting major boosts in performance with windows 10/directx12.

Dirk Diggler · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:37

easyrider said:
What about 8k and 16k ?

Yes. I should probably clarify... SLI will always be a requirement for multi monitor hi res systems, obviously. But for single monitor systems, a single GPU will soon handle 1440p at the highest, if not very high settings. As I say, SLI is now no longer a requirement for 1080p.

Isn't 1080p where most users are? Another decent percentage at 1440, and anything above being in the minority?

Greebo · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:48

easyrider said:
What about 8k and 16k ?

With HBM and next versions i suspect we will see single cards powerful enough to run these card of resolutions anyway.

Already nvidia's next card with HBM memory equivelent comes with up to 32Gb ram and the gaming versions will have 16Gb ram.

With directx looking very good with benefits of up to 50% gains in fps plus the new more powerful cards, i can see next year single cards been available to run 4k screens at 60 fps on max detail.

Will be a few years before 8k and 16k becomes more widespread and by then gfx cards will have progressed even more.

Greebo · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:49

String said:
Yes. I should probably clarify... SLI will always be a requirement for multi monitor hi res systems, obviously. But for single monitor systems, a single GPU will soon handle 1440p at the highest, if not very high settings. As I say, SLI is now no longer a requirement for 1080p.

Isn't 1080p where most users are? Another decent percentage at 1440, and anything above being in the minority?

didnt amd have a system running 3 monitors on just a furyx where they said in the past you needed two of 3 cards to do this?

Gfx cards seem to be catching up with resolutions finally.

Mauller · 20 Jun 2015 at 10:01

They have an article on Wccftech stating that with a memory optimised game. The fury x ran the new early access Dirt game at a constant 60fps across three 3840x2160 monitors.