GeForce 471.41 Driver Performance Analysis – Using Ampere and Turing

GeForce 471.41 Driver Performance Analysis – 21 games benchmarked, including F1 2021 RTX ON using an RTX 3080 and 2080 Ti

This driver performance analysis showcases the performance of a Gigabyte AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER (Ampere architecture) and an EVGA RTX 2080 Ti BLACK (Turing architecture) with 21 PC games including ray-traced F1 2021 using the latest GeForce 471.41 Game Ready driver. We compare these drivers versus our previously recommended driver 471.11 with both cards, and we perform all tests on the same game version and the same OS build.

Our testing platform is a recent install of Windows 10 64-bit Pro Edition, an i9-9900K with stock clocks, a Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO motherboard, and 32GB of Kingston DDR4 3333MHz. The games tested, settings and hardware are identical except for the GPUs we use and the drivers we compare.

Benching Methodology

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i9-9900K (Hyper-Threading/Turbo boost on; stock settings)
• Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO motherboard (Intel Z390 chipset, v.F12l BIOS)
• Kingston HyperX Predator 32GB DDR4 (2×16GB, dual-channel at 3333 MHz CL16)
• Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3080 MASTER 10GB (rev. 1.0); v.F4 VBIOS, stock clocks
• EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti BLACK EDITION GAMING 11GB, stock clocks
• Samsung 500GB SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2
• WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD
• Corsair RM750x, 750W 80PLUS Gold power supply unit
• ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q 28? IPS UltraHD (3840×2160) 60Hz 5ms FreeSync Monitor (Fixed Refresh Rate On) when testing games at 2160p resolution.
• ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27? IPS QuadHD (2560 x 1440) 165Hz 4ms G-Sync Monitor (Fixed Refresh Rate On) when testing games at 1440p resolution.

Test Configuration – Software

• NVIDIA GeForce 471.11 and 471.41 drivers; ‘High Quality’ and ‘prefer maximum performance’ (on a per-game profile-basis); fixed refresh rate (globally).
• Resizable BAR off.
• V-Sync application controlled in the control panel, V-Sync off in-game.
• AA and AF as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified.
• Windows 10 64-bit Pro edition, latest updates v21H1, High-performance power plan, HAGS off, Game Mode, Game DVR & Game Bar features off.
• GIGABYTE and ASUS tools not installed.
• Latest DirectX
• All 21 games are patched to their latest versions at the time of publication.
• 3DMark’s suite and UNIGINE Superposition benchmark, the latest version
• Basemark GPU benchmark, v.1.1
• UNIGINE Superposition, v.1.1
• CapFrameX (CX), the latest version
• RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), the latest version
• Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), the latest version; always uninstall old driver using DDU in safe mode, clean, and restart.

• ISLC (Purge Standby List) before each benchmark.

GeForce Driver Suite-related

• Standard Game Ready drivers are used.
• The display driver is installed.
• The latest version of PhysX is installed.

Hybrid & Non-Synthetic Tests-related

• Single run per test.

Game Benchmarks-related

• The corresponding built-in or custom benchmark sequence is used.

Frametimes Capture & Analysis tool-related

• CapFrameX is used for capturing and analyzing the relevant performance numbers obtained from each recorded built-in or custom benchmark sequence.
• Consecutive runs until detecting 3 valid runs (no outliers) that can be aggregated by CapFrameX using the following method:
  • ‘Aggregate excluding outliers’:
    • Outlier metric: Third, P0.2 (0.2% FPS percentile).
    • Outlier percentage: 3% (the % the FPS of an entry can differ from the median of all entries before counting as an outlier).
• We compare and value the results and aggregated records in terms of percentages of gain/loss, by setting the following thresholds to consider a certain % value as significant (not within the margin of error) for our benchmarking purposes:
  • Score/FPS Avg > 3% when valuing hybrid and non-synthetic benchmarks;
  • FPS Avg > 3% when evaluating raw performance;
  • P1/P0.2 > 3% when evaluating frame time consistency; after applying our custom formula

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

Benchmark Suite: 21 PC Games, 4 Hybrid & 4 Non-Synthetic Tests

Hybrid Tests (3DMark)

• Fire Strike Ultra
• Time Spy Extreme
• DirectX Raytracing feature test
• Port Royal

Non-Synthetic Tests

• Basemark GPU
• UNIGINE Superposition
• Neon Noir (Benchmark)
• Boundary: Raytracing Benchmark

DX11 Games

• Borderlands 3 (DX11)
• Days Gone (DX11)
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (DX11)
• Far Cry New Dawn (DX11)
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Ghost Recon Breakpoint (DX11)
• Neon Noir (DX11; Loop Mode)

DX12 Games

• Borderlands 3 (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• DIRT 5 (DX12)
• F1 2021 (DX12) – NEW
• Godfall (DX12)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
• LEGO® Builder’s Journey (DX12)
• Metro Exodus (DX12)
• Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DX12)
• Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (DX12)
• Watch Dogs: Legion (DX12)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

Vulkan Games

• DOOM Eternal (VK)
• Strange Brigade (VK)
• Quake 2 RTX (VK; v.1.5.0)
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint (VK)
• Wolfenstein Youngblood (VK)

NVIDIA Control Panel settings

Here are the global NVIDIA Control Panel settings:

Both ‘High-Quality’ values for texture filtering-quality setting and ‘Prefer maximum performance’ for power management mode are set on a per-game or program profile-basis via Manage 3D Settings > Program settings tab.

GeForce 471.41 Game Ready WHQL Drivers

This latest GeForce Game Ready 471.41 driver was released on Monday (07/19/21) primarily for the launch of the DLSS game updates for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Chernobylite.

This new driver adds support for 2 more monitors to the G-SYNC compatible list, bringing the total to 166 (Samsung LS28AG700N and LC27G50A).

It also includes among others the following bug fixes:

• • Disabled NOHud/RemoveHud filter from the game Valorant. [3332516]
  • [Doom Eternal]: The game may freeze during gameplay. [3331270]
  • [League of Legends]: The game may fail to launch. [200744747]
  • Ansel DOF filter blurs the entire screen in some games. [3288883]
  • Some displays screen resolution limited to 640×480 after driver update. [3330750]

The download links for the latest GeForce 471.41 drivers can be found starting here. The release notes can be found here as a downloadable pdf file. Here are the release highlights from NVIDIA’s website:

Game Ready Drivers provide the best possible gaming experience for all major new releases.
Prior to a new title launching, our driver team is working up until the last minute to ensure every performance tweak and bug fix is included for the best gameplay on day-1.

Game Ready for Red Dead Redemption 2

This new Game Ready Driver provides support for the latest new titles and updates, including the
latest game updates for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Chernobylite which introduce NVIDIA DLSS
technology.

The GeForce 471.41 Driver Performance – Summary Charts with 21 Games

Below you can find the summary charts of our representative selection of 21 games and 4 hybrid and 4 non-synthetic benchmarks. We chart our games’ driver performance progression from version 471.11 to 471.41 using both the AORUS RTX 3080 MASTER and the EVGA RTX 2080 Ti BLACK.

You can see the list of graphics settings on the charts, and we run each built-in or custom game benchmark’s sequence at 2560×1440, except for Borderlands 3, Days Gone, and Far Cry New Dawn, tested at 3840×2160 resolution. You may click on each chart to open a pop-up for the best viewing.

Results give average framerates and higher is better. We display the low FPS percentiles (P1 and P0.2) below the corresponding averages. We use CapFrameX to record frametimes over time and to visualize and convert them into their corresponding average FPS and P1 and P0.2 FPS percentiles values.

There are also columns showing percentages of gain/loss in both raw performance (average FPS) and, when applicable, in frametimes consistency or stability between the different driver versions. We applied the following custom formula to calculate the stability gains or losses:

{[(LowPercentileFPS_2 / AvgFPS_2) / (LowPercentileFPS_1 / AvgFPS_1)] – 1} x 100

We mark significant performance changes (higher than 3%) in bold and use purple for the significant improvements or orange font for regressions.

GeForce 471.41 Driver Performance Charts

Notes on GeForce 471.41 Driver Performance

From the charts, we see no significant differences in graphics performance between drivers for both the hybrid and non-synthetic tests using both our RTX 3080 and RTX 2080 Ti.

About the game benchmarks, although most games show no significant differences when we move to 471.41 drivers from the 471.11 driver version using both GPUs, we see a significant performance improvement in DIRT 5 (DXR API mode) in terms of raw performance.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that the following results, notes, and the corresponding driver recommendation are valid for similar Ampere and Turing gaming rigs on Windows 10 v21H1. Its representativeness, applicability, and usefulness on different NVIDIA GPU architectures, testing benches, and MS Windows versions may vary.

Conclusion

Based on our previous results and findings, we recommend Ampere and Turing users to update to the latest GeForce 471.41 driver. Its raw performance and smoothness or frametimes consistency level are overall on par with our previously recommended driver 471.11 using both NVIDIA GPU architectures.

From a qualitative point of view, there are important reasons that also make it advisable to upgrade to version 471.41. These reasons include its higher level of security and driver bug fixes, the optimizations for the latest games, and support for the latest NVIDIA technologies.

Let’s Play!

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Rodrigo González (aka ‘RodroG’) is an enthusiast gamer and tech reviewer especially interested in shooter games, open-world role-playing games, and software and hardware benchmarking. He is the author of the NVIDIA WHQL Driver Performance Benchmarks Series and founder and moderator of the r/allbenchmarks community on Reddit.