Nvidia Driver Update RTX 3000 Series Performance Review

Wrap Up

We know that “use the latest drivers” is hardly a pro-tip. Normally we wouldn’t bother with a retest such as this. We’ve been in this business too long to believe much of what manufacturers claim. It is why we test things after all. Not only to tell you the truth of real-world performance, but also because it’s a good way to find out how honest manufacturers can be. Thankfully the days when ludicrous claims were made are long past.

However, when we heard so many good things about the latest Nvidia drivers and their performance improvements on the 3000 series we knew we had to take a look. Too often the de facto ‘current’ generation is ignored as soon as something bright, shiny and new appears on the market. Nvidia could be excused for focusing their efforts on the 4000 series, particularly as it’s so recently launched and the RTX 4070 is on the horizon.

As it is, in general we’d say the results are positive. There are a couple of titles – Metro Exodus, Blender, Resident Evil 3 without ray tracing – that see losses or status quo, but there are enough gains to be found that we don’t think their performance claims are pie in the sky. Certainly as a rule of thumb the general impression seems to be that the things the RTX cards are great at, ray tracing and DLSS, they are even better at, and the higher resolution you use the better your increases will be.

So yes, the takeaway from today’s revisiting is to update your drivers when possible. I know, we’re as shocked as you. Next we’ll be telling you to brush your teeth, vote often, and be kind to animals.

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