May 24th, 2018 - Windows 397.96, Linux 396.24.02 Increased maxBoundDescriptorSets limit from 8 to 32 New Extensions: VK_KHR_draw_indirect_count VK_EXT_global_priority (Linux only) VK_KHR_get_display_properties2 (Linux only) Bug fixes: Improved stability with Wine on Linux Improve stability of Vulkan on pre-Pascal GPUs Emulate DX shader behavior when necessary Bounds-checking for SSBO variable pointer loads https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver Driver Branch 396_42-39 Driver Date - 05/24/2018
Well the previous one was released May 11th and these Vulkan drivers usually follow suit shortly after the main driver releases. This is mostly for Vulkan development and testing but some people prefer it over the regular driver, VLK wise though at least on Windows there's not too many games using the API but some emulators might benefit too.
Improve stability of Vulkan on pre-Pascal GPUs Sounds good, could be a game changer (pun intended) for someone.
So do these incorporate the fixes included with the v397.93 WHQL driver? I would assume they do as they use the same build number and have a higher version number (96 vs. 93). However, driver numbering isn't always logical at NVIDIA!!! *EDIT* OK, so apparently not. They incorporate the fixes in v397.64 but do not mention the more recent v397.93 driver in the notes here: https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver Confusing... kind of wish the beta drivers had a different numbering system to the main branch. Not that there was anything wrong with v397.64 on my PC (Wolfenstein II is reported to have issues with crashing but that isn't a game I've played recently so I cannot confirm this). See no point in installing this if v397.93 has fixes that this one doesn't. I can count the number of games I am playing right now that use Vulkan on the fingers on one hand and still have five left!
I've got some counter-pun for you: https://iwastesomuchtime.com/SquareInstitutionPrint BTT: Earlier this month I killed my 6700K so I had some downtime while waiting for the upgrade. I started with a fresh 1803 installation, so I cannot compare it to 1709, sadly, because I heard of a little performance decrease. But I what I can say is that in my most played game, Star Trek Online (DX11, more ore less single-threaded - CPU limited) Game Mode on Win 10 works great here now. About +2% frames and slightly lower and more constant frame times. This driver here is from an older branch acording to the posts in the game ready thread. Since the new game ready is slightly slower than .64/.76 for me and I also noticed some stuttering, very randomly (rarely, though), I'll go and test this one now.
I find this the best driver yet for my 1080ti, very smooth and higher framerates. Increase on 3dmark too
It is only confusing because people are using incorrect terms. This is not a BETA driver as Nvidia releases for the consumer. It is a developer driver for developers that isn't locked away from the public, that's all. Treat it for what it is: a developer driver not a BETA in preparation for release driver. It is good that Nvidia is trying to keep the developer drivers more in line with the release branch. Not long ago, you could be a branch or two back.
Did some benchmarking this morning and for me 3D Mark is on par with .93 No problems found, I keep it. Though you are correct, I support the wish of the original post to some extend, since I don't see the system of NVidias versioning as well. Why isn't his one (and all other ones but the 397.93) called 396 like it's branch number. Sure, with parallel development it's not always easy, but that's what the branches are for, aren't they.
Thats not how the branches work, though. They designate the version it was originally based on (ie. 396_42), and the number of changes since then, ie. 39. It does not directly relate to the version of this driver (other then that its going to be higher then that). Not to mention that all those versions are probably just "used up" by internal testing versions. The numbers are just consecutive, use the main branch, ie 396 and keep adding numbers. ie. following that logic, 397.96 would be the 196's driver they build on the 396 branch, and ~95% of those or so are internal testing/in-development builds we just never see. Basically, only when a driver is released/build matters which final number it gets, because it has to grab a number thats still free. The later, the higher the number, no matter what specific code/sub-branch its based on. (Also, unless you're a developer that cares about these specific changes, there is really no reason to even bother with developer drivers, but people around here go crazy for all non-mainline drivers because all of them are apparently magic)
Well, Vulkan betas have been fine for general use so far although they are usually behind the main release channel in features/fixes. Generally there's little reason to use them unless you're a Vulkan developer. The only exception here is when Vulkan driver is an advancement of an older and deprecated in the release channel branch - and your system is having some serious issues with the new release branch.
