What is driver overhead?
Driver overhead refers to the increased load on the processor caused by graphics card drivers. In practice, this means that Nvidia drivers require more computational power from the processor compared to AMD drivers. This effect is particularly noticeable in games that utilize DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs, which are designed to support multi-threaded processors.
Is it worth choosing a weaker graphics card?
It turns out that sometimes opting for a weaker graphics card can be more advantageous. In the case of CPU bottleneck, which refers to the limitation of graphics card performance by the processor, a weaker card may perform better. An example of this is the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, which in some instances can outperform even more advanced models like the RTX 3070 or RTX 3090. This is due to the phenomenon of driver overhead, which causes Nvidia drivers to require more computational power from the processor.
An experiment example
To examine how driver overhead affects the performance of different graphics cards, an experiment was conducted using an Intel Core i7-7700 processor. Tests were performed on GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 4060, and Radeon RX 5700 cards. It was found that in some games, the weaker Radeon RX 5700 card performs better than the GeForce RTX 3070 due to the higher processor load caused by Nvidia drivers.
Should driver overhead be taken into account when choosing a graphics card?
Driver overhead is a phenomenon that can impact the performance of a graphics card, especially with older processors. Therefore, it is worth considering this phenomenon when selecting a graphics card, particularly if you plan to upgrade an older computer setup. Choosing a weaker graphics card may yield better results, especially if you have a weak or older generation processor.
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The source of the article is from the blog revistatenerife.com