8600GT Intial tests

[DratUK]

From Fudzilla

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...=501&Itemid=40

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...=550&Itemid=40

Updated with the new "beta 158.16" drivers.

Also news on the 8800 Ultra

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...=539&Itemid=34

This is only one source so wait till its confirmed by other sites

[MD]

that core is photoshopped, look at the left hand side...

[chuckskull]

Gotta agree with matt about the photoshopping. Also 158.16? Shipping drivers for 8600GT are 101.70(I know because I was using a hacked version on my 8800 under vista).

I know nvidias drivers are a little pants right now but i cant see them jumping 56 versions in one card

the 8800Ultra isn't confirmed, but it has been appearing in the .inf files for vista drivers for a few weeks.

[DratUK]

Gotta say guys the closer I look at the pic I agree.

Thats why I added the cya provision to await other web sites to see whether there is any truth in these.

158.16 drivers do exist

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=221342

[chuckskull]

9800GTS WORLD EXCLUSIVE

[s_kinton]

Gotta say guys the closer I look at the pic I agree.

158.16 drivers do exist

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=221342

The pic is fake and the 158.16 drivers are fake. I was reading about these yesterday on g3d and they are not considered real. Hence the reason Hilbert hasnt added them to the g3d frontpage for download.

[chuckskull]

Just looking at those drivers now. They dont look very official to me, some wrong filenames and a lot of inconsistancies with the 100+ series drivers.

It's incredably easy to fake drivers, especially version numbers. I'll have a proper look and report back after 24.

EDIT: just as i was tearing those open look what appeared http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread....18#post2224518 165.01

[kalniel]

What fun. Kind of expected this more on the ATI release day actually

[chuckskull]

Ok then, heres my 2 cents.

158.16 Could be real, but if it is they're sloppy and look like they're based on the original 8800 series drivers. Which weren't very good.

There's a few mess ups and things in the wrong place. Did they come out of nvidia? No idea. Are they 'real'? Depends, if you mean were they created by an nvidia employee, they most likely were, if you want to know if they were ever meant to see the light of day/WHQL, I'd have to say no. I'm an amatuer and there were enough oddities for me not to want to install them. Bottom line is their different from the current the drivers and not just a couple of lines replaced to make them look newer.

165.01 These are much more polished. Contains references to G98 cores, which set off my "fake" alarm bells. They could just be placeholder entries, or nvidia might already have pre-production 9 series cores(I'd be surprised if they weren't close). Everything seems to be in the right place with the right name otherwise.

Anyway G98 speculation doesn't have any effect on the drivers themselves. These have a slightly revised control panel which (praise the lord) opens instantly. They're stable. Stalker, CNC3 and BF2 all run fine.

I'll run 3DMark05 while I get some lunch let you know how it performs.

I'm running XP 32bit right now if thats important to anyone. Ironically enough because I got sick of the vista graphics drivers.

EDIT: Wow, I've jumped from 15900 to 17093 in 3Dmark05. I think I'll be keeping these

[Lucio]

The review for this card over on the Hexus mainpage also shows that 158.16 forcewear number so it looks like they've jumped a massive version, probably to account for the changes with the new CODEC on the cards for playing protected content.

Still, nice to hear they work on the "older" cards as well

[chuckskull]

Yeah looks like the 158.16 were rushed out for reviewers. Might have somethign to do with the panning most places seem to be giving the 8600 series.

[Lucio]

Well, if the new drivers boost performance a bit more, say up to the region of the 7900, this card would be worth it.

Still wouldn't buy it myself, I want a GeForce 8800 GTX!

[Clunk]

Giving the xp ones a try now, I did some 3dmarks last night so itll be interesting to see what happens (in a nerdy kind of way).

[chuckskull]

The 165's are running great for me had a slight problem with video playback, but Purevideo fixed that.

[DratUK]

Glad I stuck my neck out now and posted this if the XP scores are up.

[Clunk]

My xp scores are up by around 500 points on 3dmark06.

Last nights previously stable and artifact free overclocks are now locking up and artifacting, so I'm not sure what to make of that!