NVidia found to be cheating on 3dMark2003 results
Date 25-May-2003 15:57:21
Topic: News
| Benchmark firm Futuremark has uncovered extensive cheating by NVidia in its 3DMark03 suite.
After an initial report at ExtremeTech, Futuremark revisited the tests and discovered eight instances of cheating, which improved the performance of NVidia's Detonator FX and WHQL drivers by as much as 24.1 per cent.
But NVidia achieved this not through brilliant optimization, but by alternative means which omit graphic details: so the output, while at times similar, does not resemble what it should.
As Futuremark explains:
"The cheating described here is totally different from optimization. Optimizing the driver code to increase efficiency is a technique often used to enhance game performance and carries greater legitimacy, since the rendered image is exactly what the developer intended."
NVidia deployed a variety of cheats: introducing its own pixel shaders and vertex shaders specifically for the benchmark. The shaders improved performance at the expense of image quality.
A PDF Audit file released from Futuremark can be read here. / (750KB).
Source: The Register.
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