Nvidia has made available for download the first WHQL-certified unified driver from the R300 family of drivers, namely the version 301.42. The new WHQL driver builds on top of the already introduced new features in the previous 301.24 Beta release, bringing fixed bugs, improved functionality, 4-way GTX 670 SLI support etc as well as new 3DTV Play display support.

New 3DTV Play support for the following displays:

- Mitsubishi HC7800D Projector
- Samsung UE40ES6530 3DTV
- Samsung UE40ES6710 3DTV
- Samsung UE46ES8000 3DTV
- Samsung UN40ES6500F 3DTV
- Sharp LC-70C7450U 3DTV

New and Updated 3D Vision Profiles:

- Adam’s Venture Episode 1 – Rated Poor
- All Zombies Must Die! – Rated Fair
- Blacklight: Retribution – Rated Poor
- Depth Hunter – Updated profile
- Dirt: Showdown – Rated Good
- Ghosts ‘n Goblins Online – Rated Good
- Krater – Rated Poor
- Oil Rush – Rated 3D Vision Ready
- Passion Leads Army Benchmark – Rated 3D Vision Ready
- Postal III – Rated Good
- Rayman Origins – Rated Good
- Resident Evil: Operating Raccoon City – Rated Fair
- rFactor 2 – Changed rating to 3D Vision Ready
- SevenCore – Rated Fair
- Stacking – Rated Good
- The Darkness II – Updated in-game recommended settings
- Trackmania 2: Canyon – Rated Fair
- Unigine 3.0 Heaven Benchmark – Updated profile
- Unigine Heaven Benchmark v3.0 – Rated 3D Vision Ready
- Wargame: European Escalation – Rated Good
- Warp – Rated Good
- Wings of Prey – Rated Fair
- World of Tanks – Changed rating to Excellent

Have in mind that some of these profiles have already been introduced in the previous beta version of the drivers. If you are an avid World of Tanks games now you might want to check out the game with 3D Vision as it should be quite good. The game rFactor 2 (still in development) should be 3D Vision ready when it is released.

- More on what is new and improved in the Nvidia GeForce 301.42 WHQL Drivers…

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After the announcement of the top models from the new Kepler architecture – GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 690, Nvidia has just announced another a bit more affordable, but still high-end GPU in terms of features and performance. Today comes the announcement of the new GeForce GTX 670, definitely an interesting product coming with a $100 USD lower recommended end user price and a just slightly slower than GTX 680. The new GeForce GTX 670 should still be a bit faster, in terms of performance, as compared to a GeForce GTX 580 – the previous generation’s top model single GPU graphics card, as well as being with lower power consumption and thus producing less heat and noise. At $399 USD the GeForce GTX 670 should be very attractive alternative to the $499 USD price of the GeForce GTX 680, and with a performance difference of up to just about 20% between the two. Not to mention that overclocking the GeForce GTX 670 you should be able to achieve similar performance to that of a stock GTX 680 and even surpass it with a bit, so definitely a good deal. Now, what we only need is Nvidia to actually provide enough GPUs on the market, so that there won’t be shortages like with the GTX 680 that will also push the price of the GTX 670 higher than the recommended one…

Specifications of GeForce GTX 670:

Graphics Card – GeForce GTX 670 2GB
CUDA Cores – 1344 ⁺⁸⁶⁴
Texture Units (TMU) – 112 ⁺⁵²
Raster Operator Units (ROP) – 32 ^-8
Graphics Clock (Base) – 915 MHz ⁺¹⁸³
Graphics Clock (Boost) – 950 MHz
Texture Fill Rate (Bilinear) – 102.5 billion/sec ^+58.6
Standard Memory Configuration – 2048 MB GDDR5 ⁺⁷⁶⁸
Memory Interface Width – 256-bit ^-64
Memory Clock – 3004 MHz (6008 effective) ^{+1104 (2208)}
Memory Bandwidth – 192.2 GB/sec ^+40.2
Fabrication Process – 28 nm ^-12
Transistor Count – 3.54 Billion ^+0.54
Connectors – Dual-Link DVI-I, Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI 1.4 High Speed, DisplayPort 1.2
Form Factor – Dual Slot
Power Connectors – 2x 6-pin PEG
Power Consumption – 170W TDP ^-49
GPU Thermal Threshold – 97 degrees Celsius
Bus Interface – PCI Express 3.0

* The numbers in red and green represent the upgrade or downgrade of the specific parameter in the GTX 670 as compared to the GTX 570!

The GeForce GTX 670 based on the same GK104 GPU that is being used in the GTX 680 with the difference being that the GTX 670 has one SMX block disabled. This means a bit less CUDA cores, fewer texture units, and a GPU clock frequency a bit lower in the GTX 670, although the memory clock frequency and amount available remain identical. This results in 25W of power consumption less in the GTX 670 (under maximum load), while at the same time the performance does not suffer a lot and can be compensated with a bit of overclocking as the new GPU should also be very capable in terms of overclock like the GTX 680. And just like its bigger brother, the new GeForce GTX 670 cards do come will all the new features introduced with the GTX 680 such as GPU Boost, Adaptive Vertical Sync, FXAA and TXAA, Single card driving up to four monitors and capable of running 3D Vision Surround setup and so on. And although a single GeForce GTX 670 supports 3D Vision Surround I’d still recommend to go at least for two such cards if you plan on building a three 3D-capable display gaming setup in order to be able to play comfortable even in more demanding games with high details.

If you plan on playing games in stereoscopic 3D mode with a single card on a single 3D monitor, then the GeForce GTX 670 should be more than enough for most people, performance wise, and although a GTX 680 could be slightly better, you should be Ok even with a GTX 670. But the real question is if you should upgrade your old GPU to a GTX 670 and the answer is it depends. If you have a GTX 570 or GTX 580 already an upgrade to GTX 670 would not bring that much of an improvement, sure you will get some extra performance combined with lower power consumption, but the difference probably won’t be that high and you might get up a bit disappointed in the end. If you have a GTX 470 or GTX 480, going for a GeForce GTX 670 video card would definitely help more, and I’m not talking only about performance improvement, but the more important advantage would be in the fact that you’ll be getting a much cooler and more silent operating video card. Upgrading from a GTX 460 or a GTX 560 / 560 Ti would really bring up a lot of extra performance that would definitely improve the experience when playing games in stereoscopic 3D mode. If you are in the GTX 460 / 560 domain however you might want to wait a bit more and get the GTX 660 that will very likely be the next thing that Nvidia will be announcing sooner than later if they continue to follow the traditional logic in launching new products. And a GTX 660 based on the Kepler architecture might prove to be among the best price/performance options (for stereo 3D gaming as well) on the market if/when launched, because the GTX 670 is still considered a high-end card with a high price. Looking at the simplified design of the reference GTX 670 cards you can expect that the GTX 660 will be with the same PCB and will have another SMX block disabled, couple that with a price of $249 and things might be looking very good. Now, we’ll have to wait and see some benchmarks from the new GTX 670 in stereoscopic 3D mode as well as the new cards should be immediately available on the market starting today…

- The GeForce GTX 670 is available in Newegg, while GTX 680 is still out of stock…

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Blades of Time is a new hack and slash type action-adventure game developed by Gaijin Entertainment, the same company that has made the game X-Blades, and the two games actually share way too many similarities, although they are not really related officially in the form of a sequel/prequel. Considering how good X-Blades looks in stereoscopic 3D mode with 3D Vision I was eager to see will Blades of Time also have a good stereo 3D compatibility. The game offers detailed environments, a lot of effects and fast action which makes it a great candidate for a nice experience in stereoscopic 3D mode, and even though it has not be designed to be a stereo 3D title it actually does quite Ok.

Blades of Time does not yet have a 3D Vision profile, but even without one the default settings work Ok, you may do a tiny bit of convergence adjustment as a fine tuning and then you can start pushing the depth really high. With that said though, there are some issues in stereo 3D mode that you should be aware of, like the problem with the shadows not properly rendered in S3D, but you can disable them from the Options menu. The other problematic thing is related to the text being displayed on the screen when in stereo 3D mode, the same goes for some other HUD elements as well as the crosshair when shooting with a gun. Other than that, the item icons also render in 2D, but that s a minor thing. If you plan to push for the maximum depth for the normal more distant view you may have to be aware that when using the compass and in other closeup modes you may have trouble in stereo 3D mode, but even with moderate depth level the things look quite well when rendered in stereoscopic 3D mode. So Blades of Time might not be the greatest title of all time or a very special game, but it could be a fun thing to play for a while and waste some time, and doing it in stereoscopic 3D mode makes it even better. Hopefully the developer of the game will pay some attention to the stereoscopic 3D gamers and release an update addressing the issues in S3D mode and meanwhile there is a demo of the game that you can download and try before deciding if you want to get the full game or not…

- To download the demo of the game Blades of Time from Steam and try it out…

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It has been over a month already since the official introduction of the GeFocre GTX 680 video card and the demand is still quite high, so that these models are still out of stock in most places and you can usually find them in places that sell them for more than the recommended end user price. It would be strange is Nvidia is still not able to provide enough supply a month after the initial launch, so I’m going to be benchmarking the GeForce GTX 580 here. The idea is to find how well the GTX 580 card performs in stereo 3D mode with the more recent games and if it really is already outdated or you can wait a few more months for better availability and pricing of the GTX 680, or maybe even skip the GTX 680 and go directly to GTX 685/690 or why not even 7xx…

I’ve started doing the following tests with the idea to see how well is the GTX 580 handling 720p resolution with 4xAA (Anti-Aliasing) in order to see if the card is still powerful enough for people using 3D-capable projectors or 3D HDTVs for gaming in stereoscopic 3D mode. You know that the 3D-capable TV sets and 3D-capable projectors limit you to 720p resolution with high-enough (50/60Hz) refresh rate for gaming in stereo 3D mode, unlike 3D monitors, most of which do support 1080p 3D mode with 60 fps. And in the process I’ve decided to also compare with 1080p mode using no AA as well as to give a stereoscopic 3D rating to the games I test with. And the list of games grew to 20 popular and more demanding game titles released roughly in the last 6-8 months, regardless of them being 3D ready or not. So in the end I’ve managed to do a few things, do some performance comparison using a single GTX 580 card in 720p and 1080p 3D mode and check the situation of the 3D support for some of the popular games released recently.

In the table above you can see the results from my testing that took quite a while more than I initially have planned, and I do plan to extend it even further in the next few weeks of time. Note that the fps listed in the table are the ones achieved in stereo 3D mode with 60 fps being the maximum (120 frames per second in total, 60 for each eye to get the 3D effect). The benchmarking at 1080p 3D mode is with the games running at high detail settings with no AA, unless the game does not allow you to completely turn it off. For 720p 3D mode the games were running again in high details, but with 4xAA applied in order to compensate for the more easily visible jagged edges that the lower resolution produces. Have in mind that some games had a frame caps and others needed to have the AA forced trough the Nvidia control panel in order for them to work, so have in mind this when you see the lower framerates with some games. The 3D Rating is something that I quickly devised based on my personal requirements for a good stereoscopic 3D experience, the things that I expect to see in a game, with the maximum rating being 10 points and the minimum 1. A game with a rating of 1 would be actually unplayable in stereoscopic 3D mode, a rating of 5 is on the edge of ensuring decent playability in stereo 3D mode with some tweaking of the settings in the game and a rating of 10 would mean perfect stereoscopic 3D experience. As you can see there are no tens, but there is a game with a rating of 1 and quite a few with 5 or less, but there are also a lot with higher ratings as well, meaning that things are not so bad when talking about stereoscopic 3D compatibility.

Have in mind that all the benchmarking has been done using the games with no tweaks, mods or fixes of any kind in order to give an idea about what experience the user can get out of the box when he gets a game and tries to play it in stereoscopic 3D mode. There are some annoying things and limitations that could easily be overridden like the 30 fps frame cap limits in Alice Madness Returns or L.A. Noire, or get a better experience in stereoscopic 3D mode using user mods like the ones available for Skyrim or Mass Effect 3 that can help in getting much better experience. Not to mention different performance tweaks and optimizations that can help you get better looking graphics, more details or even higher fps without sacrificing visual quality. But as I’ve said, the idea was to get an adequate overview of the situation with out of the box game compatibility and performance in stereoscopic 3D mode and I think I’ve managed to do it quite decently.

And now for a bit of statistics. Out of 20 games that I’ve tested with 10 are with rating of 8 or 9 out of 10, meaning that they are looking very good in stereoscopic 3D mode and that is half of the titles that I’ve used and I did not specifically go for games that are being optimized for 3D, but instead for games that were released roughly in the last 6-8, are more popular and generally more demanding in terms of performance. There are some games that are on the edge with a rating of 5-6, but for some of them such as Mass Effect 3 using some user made modifications you can get much better stereoscopic 3D experience. There are also some games with very low rating that are practically unplayable in stereo 3D mode due to some serious issues and I’m actually quite disappointed, because sports simulators such as NBA or FIFA could benefit a lot from proper stereoscopic 3D support and that also goes for other sports games as well. Other games like Alan Wake for example started quite bad in terms of stereoscopic 3D support (although the developer of that particular one was claiming good S3D support), but they have been improving the situation a bit by bit with updates, so in a few more updates the game might actually movie among the titles with twice as high 3D rating than the one it currently has. Some other games have already walked this way, for example Dirt 3 and Hard Reset weren’t working very well in stereo 3D mode at first, when they were released, but with updates the experience in S3D mode that they now provide has been significantly improved.

And now back to the GTX 580, definitely still more than capable for stereoscopic 3D gaming and will be for quite a while actually. Have in mind that the results in the table above have been made on a system running Intel Core i5 2500K CPU on an Asus P67 motherboard and neither the processor, not the video card have been overclocked for the testing – they were running on stock speeds. So you can get even higher framerates after overclocking your hardware and if you already have a second GTX 580 in SLI, then unless you are using 3D Vision Surround setup, there is even less reason to upgrade at the moment. However if you are still using a GTX 480 or a slower card form the 400 or 500 series, then upgrading to GTX 680 or the upcoming slightly slower models might be a good idea, especially considering the fact that the latest GeForce 600 series GPUs are coming with some new useful features, along with the improved performance and the reduced power consumption.

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The game Diablo III is one of the highly anticipated game titles coming this year and it is almost here and this weekend Blizzard had a quick open beta of the game to stress test the infrastructure and to give a short peek of what to expect to a lot of people. I took advantage of that short open beta to play a bit the game and of course try it out in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision. The 3D Vision drivers rate Diablo III as Good for stereo 3D play with the note that some objects render at wrong depth. The good news is that the game (judging from the beta) is actually quite playable in stereoscopic 3D mode if you keep at low to moderate depth levels as going to a high depth creates an uncomfortable feeling due to the fact that some things are rendered at screen depth level and they should not be. Things like the mouse cursor, character markers, object text, on screen messages etc are rendered at screen depth level, but pretty much all else is rendered well in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision thus lower depth works Ok. You should be aware that the game is a no-go for pop-out in stereo 3D mode at its current state and some things really do look like cardboard cutouts (flat) and this could really be intentional actually (you’ll probably not notice it unless you play in stereo 3D mode). Considering what Blizzard has done with Starcraft 2 for example we could as well get an update for the game that will make it work well in stereoscopic 3D mode just as it happened with SC2. Blizzard has posted that they are aware of the issues with the stereoscopic 3D rendering using 3D Vision and this is a good sign that they will most likely fix them in time for the full game’s release, or shortly after that. The game Diablo III is expected to be released on May 15th this year, so not much waiting left…

- You can already pre-order the game Diablo III if you cannot wait…
- Some stereoscopic 3D screenshots I’ve taken in the Diablo III Open Beta…

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The new Star Trek game that is expected to be released sometime in Q1 2013, right in time for the next Star Trek movie in 3D, will apparently support stereoscopic 3D as well. More specifically the game would be 3D Vision ready as the demonstration made from Namco Bandai at its Global Gamers Day suggests, as the game has been demonstrated running with 3D Vision. And apparently the new game will be really something worth playing in the form of a FPS based in the vast Star Trek universe. The good news is that it will not be some quickly made excuse just taking advantage of the Star Trek name intended just to promote the movie, but an interesting and fun to play game with original story connected with both the previous and the new movies, but we’ll probably have to wait until E3 for more information. Aside from the PC version that will probably be 3D Vision ready, the new Star Trek game will also be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles, however we are yet to learn if these will also support stereo 3D or not.

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Nvidia has just released new R300 beta drivers in the form of 301.24 that bring most of the new features introduced with the GeForce GTX 680 GPUs to owners of older graphics hardware such as the GTX 580 or GTX 590 back to GeForce 8-series. This means you will get access to NVIDIA FXAA, NVIDIA Adaptive VSync, and NVIDIA Frame Rate Target and all NVIDIA Surround-capable GPUs now support the new NVIDIA Surround features, like the ability to use a fourth accessory display for example.

The new NVIDIA’s FXAA anti-aliasing technique can now be enabled for games that does not feature built-in support from the Nvidia Control Panel allowing better image quality at a reduced performance drop. FXAA can be up to 60% faster than 4xMSAA and provide similar or even better anti-aliasing, so definitely a better choice especially for more demanding games and especially when using AA in stereo 3D mode. It is of course not as good as what the latest TXAA technique can provide, but if you don’t have the latest GPUs, then even being able to enable FXAA is an improvement over the MSAA.

The new NVIDIA Adaptive VSync feature is an automated technique that disables VSync (Vertical Synchronization) when frame rates fall below the locked rate (60 or 120 for example), and re-enables it when they return to the locked rate resulting in significant reduction of stuttering whilst still preventing tearing. This means that you are going to be getting much less noticeable stuttering when the framerate drops while using Adaptive VSync, although it will not be completely gone, it will be much better than when using traditional VSync where the framerate might be constantly jumping between 30 and 60 fps trying to stay for as much as possible at one of these values resulting in micro stuttering.

The new NVIDIA Frame Rate Target will allow you to limit a game’s frame rate to a specific value and the video card will try to keep up that framerate, not trying to go over it. This feature requires some extra software such as EVGA Precision X and using it can help you resolve problems when playing old games by keeping them maxed out at a lower framerate than they may try to achieve, or even as an alternative to VSync by locking the maximum framerate to 60 or 120 fps (depending on your monitor) preventing tearing. The ideas behind this feature is that there is not much point for the GPU to render let’s say 2000 fps at a game’s menu or trying to achieve a higher framerate than you need – having some power and lowering the heat and noise level of the video card when there is no need for it to be maxed out for full performance. The owners of GeForce GTX 680 can benefit more as this function also takes advantage of the GPU Boost technology to dynamically overclock and underclock the GPU based on the performance level currently required.

The new NVIDIA Surround Enhancements features include: the ability to use of a fourth “Accessory Display”, the ability to maximize applications to a single physical display, the ability to have the Windows Taskbar to stay only on the center display, the ability to “Peek” behind monitor bezels, the ability to play single-screen games with full acceleration on Surround setups and the add or remove some of the extra Surround resolutions that you may or may not need. Of course on older generations of GPUs before GTX 680 you would still need to have either a multi-GPU video card or at least two cards in SLI in order to drive a Surround setup with three displays, only on the GTX 680 you can do it with a single card.

There are also some SLI profile updates as well as new and updated 3D Vision profiles included in the GeForce 301.24 beta drivers in order to get you better performance and thus an experience when playing in stereoscopic 3D mode:

- All Zombies Must Die! – Rated Fair
- Ghosts ‘n Goblins Online – Rated Good
- Krater – Rated Poor
- Oil Rush – Rated 3D Vision Ready
- Postal III – Rated Good
- Rayman Origins – Rated Good
- SevenCore – Rated Fair
- Stacking – Rated Good
- Unigine Heaven Benchmark v3.0 – Rated 3D Vision Ready
- Wargame: European Escalation – Rated Good
- Warp – Rated Good
- Wings of Prey – Rated Fair

Thanks Nvidia, now I have even less reason to upgrade my dual GTX 580 SLI setup to GTX 680s… ;)

- To download and try the new GeForce 301.24 Beta drivers with all the new features…

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Maingear is the next company to announce a high-end 17-inch 3D-capable gaming laptop with support for 3D Vision that you can customize, similar to what Origin PC has recently done with their EON17-X3D 3D Vision Gaming Laptop. And much like the Origin PC’s solution, Maingear also uses the same bulky desktop replacement chassis made by Clevo – the Clevo P270WM, but the new thing here is that you can build the system to use the recently announced GeForce GTX 675M GPU – single or dual cards in SLI. Have in mind though that the GTX 675M is not based on the new Nvidia Kepler architecture and is not produced using the 28nm process, it is just a new revision of the Fermi architecture and the basic specifications are pretty much the same as the ones of GTX 580M. Alternatively you can go for a NVIDIA Quadro 5010M, but that will add quite a lot to the price and it is not an available option for the 3D model. You can of course decide if you want to get the 120Hz 3D-capable Full HD display or stick with a 60Hz model, the 120Hz is required if you plan on being able to play games in stereo 3D mode though and you can add a pair of 3D Vision 2 glasses. The minimum price you’d have to pay for a 3D-capable Maingear Titan 17 system with a pair of 3D vision glasses is $2878 USD with a single GTX 675M and the estimated shipping date is currently set for 4/29/2012 if you order it now.

- For more information about the 3D Vision Ready Maingear Titan 17 gaming laptop…

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My attention was recently pointed at two interesting new games developed by the independent game developer Biart with 3D Vision support – Deep Black: Reloaded and Depth Hunter. So I took a quick look to see what the games are and how they work in stereoscopic 3D mode as the developer is saying they offer official 3D Vision support. The game Deep Black: Reloaded is actually even 3D Vision Ready and that rating from Nvidia is well deserved as it really looks great in stereoscopic 3D mode. Now, there is something very important that I should mention here before actually starting to talk about the game Deep Black: Reloaded and that is the fact that it is an arcade third person shooter with arcade being a key here. Deep Black: Reloaded won’t offer you some sort of a deep and very engaging storyline, but it will offer you several hours of fun with the single player mode walking around in different environments in 40 different missions (haven’t played them all yet). The game comes with surprisingly good graphics and effects with a lot of underwater action, something that we’ve rarely seen in games lately and there is also a multiplayer mode available (not that usable actually as it is not server based). Back to the stereo 3D, the game is performing great, everything important renders well properly in stereo 3D such as the scenes, lights, shadows, even the crosshair and enemy markers are rendered in 3D. And as any good 3D Vision Ready game should be you can easily max out the depth and get really impressive volume without having to tweak the convergence as the default setting for it is really good (convergence is not locked). Another important thing here is that there is a demo of the game available that you can download and try to see what to expect from the full game, before actually having to play for it…

The other game from Biart, Depth Hunter is a bit more specific as it is essentially a virtual underwater spearfishing game (not sure if it can be called a simulation), so it might not be to everyone’s liking. In it you are essentially hunting for different fish species underwater with a mechanical harpoon with some other things to make it a bit more exciting, and aside from the tasks you have to do there is also a free mode that allows you to explore the multiple different locations freely. Depth Hunter is rated as Excellent in 3D Vision from Nvidia and it also renders and looks very nice in stereo 3D mode, although the sea bottom and the underwater surroundings and in the water itself may be lacking a bit of extra details and extra objects, so the stereo 3D experience may not be so impressive here. Still the game renders properly in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision and you can also easily crank up the depth a lot, playing with convergence might also help a bit at times here, it is also not locked. While not quite the James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge the game Depth Hunter in stereo 3D mode can be quite fun for some, but it can as well quickly bore other people, the good thing is that you can download the demo and try it out first.

Both the Deep Black: Reloaded and Depth Hunter games are based on Biart’s biEngine that has support for stereoscopic 3D rendering with 3D Vision. I’m mentioning that fact, because this has been made by a small independent game developer and they have managed to do quite well and integrate stereoscopic 3D support in their game engine, so the question is why do the much bigger and with more resources game developers are not following this good example. Oh yes, I forgot that most of them think that the stereoscopic 3D gamers are still a small niche, so there is no point in putting just a bit more resources and efforts to make their game engines stereo 3D compatible and ready for the future. The stereoscopic 3D gaming community will just keep growing and growing, and the people that are part of it are going to be playing more and more important role, so totally ignoring them might not be a good idea. Big game developers seem to get blinded by the money and forget that they need to provide what gamers want and expect, after all this is where the money comes from, while there are more and more new small independent game developers appearing everyday and they are offering nice and interesting games worth supporting by the people…

- For more information and to download the Deep Black: Reloaded demo…
- For more information and to download the Depth Hunter demo…

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