Spawned from a response in the seemingly outdated (last post before mine dated October) 331.40 beta drivers. I post this thread for the 337.50 BETA drivers (A.K.A. NVIDIA's Response to Mantle) More specifics/details as well as performance tests to come soon
Basically Nvidia optimized low level API handling of DX11 (if memory serves), offering a supposed increase on par with mantle. Real World outcome is nowhere near advertised gains usually, but for me it was like getting a GPU bump. Personally recommenced for those with a slower CPU/Newer GPU combo in your rig, or those with a large CPU bottleneck. My original post with my personal experience for what it's worth, without having benchmarks or proof of this yet posted (soon), it moved me from a frame dropping peasant to a smooth framing shooter!:
I do not have a before/after comparison, I will come back here with one once I move my rig to it's new case, but, this beta driver has made an IMMENSE increase in FPS and FPS stability! I cannot stress this enough, it is like night and day. 45 fps smooth with dips on mostly ultra/some high settings to 55 Solid as a rock (only dips with Firestorm map explosion effects) All 1080p First off, here is my (aging fast) rig.
MB:asus p5p77d-e
CPU: i7-860 unparked/Turboboost off at 3.2 GHZ - Looking at this and the Intel chip specs, I'd suspect the other cores are running at stock speed, however all my tests show all cores at 3.2 ghz, so perhaps a minor OC
HDD: WD 7200RPM 750GB (Seagate hybrid drive goes unused in case)
RAM: 4x2gb 1600Mhz G. Skill RAM (Currently underclocked to 1333Mhz due to this chipset and my need to OC the processor)
GPU: 760 GTX Reference Card (From Nvidia) Stock
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750w
I believe the bolded to be why I'm seeing such immense performance increase. This beta release was Nvidia's response to MANTLE. A refined DX11 API with emphasis on low-level access, decreasing the load on the CPU. Now, my CPU is 5 + years old running on air, So I've got a nice CPU bottleneck going. Due to my luck in a free 760 gtx I can run this game at all.
(And yes, a waterblock for a nice CPU OC and SSD are on the way ASAP
For what it's worth, this runs more stable than any official release for me, aside from the occasional texture load time of .5sec (which I attribute to my HDD/Ram). Will post whatever graphs you need for me to prove this to you all
TL;DR: BETA driver, theoretically and in my real world experience, really only shines as advertised in situations like my own. Older/Slower CPU paired with a newer GPU. Honestly if you don't have a CPU bottleneck (basically a CPU older than sandy bridge, or comparable AMD processor with a single card) you won't see much improvement.
GeForce 337.50 BETA Driver
Moderator: Executive