Nvidia Game Ready Update brings ultra-low latency mode, integer scaling, and more

[Cal Jeffrey]

In brief: Nvidia has released new "Game Ready" drivers during Gamescom 2019. The new drivers utilize the capabilities of its GeForce RTX or GeForce GTX 16-Series GPUs, adding features like integer upscaling for retro and pixel-art games, lower latency, and freestyle sharpening to DX and Vulkan games.

Nvidia had some exciting news to share at Gamescom 2019. In addition to ray tracing and Android support for its game-streaming platform GeForce Now, Nvidia has also released driver update (436.02) bringing integer scaling, freestyle sharpening, an ultra-low latency mode, and more.

Retro-styled games like FTL and Hotline Miami have seen enormous popularity. The problem is that these games look somewhat blurry on higher-resolution displays. This lack of clarity happens when games scale to fit the screen. Nvidia promises to fix this problem with integer scaling.

With integer scaling enabled, details in pixel-art games will look sharp when images are upscaled. This filter is possible thanks to Turing card’s hardware-accelerated programmable scaling feature. It increases the focus of frames significantly over linear interpolation.

Another filter coming with the 436.02 update is freestyle sharpening. The feature will improve the picture quality of most games more than the previous “Detail” setting. It will also reduce GPU load.

“The performance impact is roughly half that of the prior filter,” said Nvidia in its press release.

The filter is compatible with over 600 games that use DX9, DX11, DX12, and Vulkan APIs.

The driver will also add a new “ultra” option to the low-latency menu setting. Nvidia claims that this feature can reduce latency by up to 33 percent. It uses a “just in time” frame scheduling technique that submits frames to the GPU just before they need to be rendered. The mode is best suited for GPU-bound games running at 60 to 100fps. It promises high responsiveness without compromising graphical fidelity.

In addition to these new features, the driver will bring expanded G-Sync compatibility, adding support for Asus VG27A and Acer CP3271 and XB273K GP monitors. Games will also have access to 30-bit color, a feature previously only found in the Nvidia Studio drivers.

Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready 436.02 WHQL drivers are available now via the GeForce Experience app, click on the “drivers” tab to download. The standalone download is now also available from Nvidia.com and TechSpot drivers, it was removed temporarily as there was a bug in the installer that force-installed GeForce Experience and was not GDPR compliant (now fixed).

Update 8/21/19: Shortly after releasing the 436.02 update, Nvidia pulled it from the download page due to a bug. Well, maybe not so much a bug as a very unwanted feature. Several users discovered that installing the driver also treated them to the GeForce Experience software even if they selected the option not to install it. The only workaround was to install the driver then uninstall the Experience software. As a result, Nvidia quickly took down the driver and patched it. As of this writing, the driver is ready for download again.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81529-nvidia-game-ready-update-brings-ultra-low-latency.html

 

[amstech]

How big of a deal is 30-bit color?

 

[VitalyT]

How big of a deal is 30-bit color?

There is no such thing as a 30-bit color, just some poor PR writing is all.

It's just 10-bit color, add some RGB x 3 graphics illiteracy, and then writing it as 30-bit for a marketing cheap shot. 10-bit color means 1024 variations for each light spectrum.

Just so, some high-end TV-s today are capable of 12-bit color, and that's the industry's maximum today, or 4096 variations for each light spectrum (R, G, B).

 

[texasrattler]

Apparently no one can download these. Nvidias site gives a 404 page error and TS no longer has them up for download.

 

[Evernessince]

Apparently no one can download these. Nvidias site gives a 404 page error and TS no longer has them up for download.

They were pulled due to a bug.

 

[texasrattler]

Yea I saw that no one can get it. Likely be rereleased tonight or tomorrow.

 

[DukeJukem]

The sharpening filter already existed in the details filter so I wonder if this new one they introduced even differs and I wonder if the lower latency feature is global or only for certain games

 

[vayeate]

Wow, hardware-accelerated integar scaling. impressive.

 

[Dan Druff]

How big of a deal is 30-bit color?

There is no such thing a 30-bit color, just some poor PR writing is all.

It's just 10-bit color, add some RGB x 3 graphics illiteracy, and then writing it as 30-bit for a marketing cheap shot.

Just so, some high-end TV-s today are capable of 12-bit color, and that's the industry's maximum today.

Yes this is why photoshop has 1bit 8bit 16bit and 32bit options for RGB. Windows has had support for 16bit 24bit and 32bit also. Something tells me you aren't qualified to answer this person so maybe stop spouting things you make up.

30 bit color is meaningless to anyone interested in this card. It doesn't even make sense to support it on a consumer level gaming card and this is why it was only supported on studio cards prior to this. Even a huge portion of the graphics industry looks right past this since 8 bit depth is pretty much fine for almost all work you do.

Integer scaling doesn't need to be done using a graphics card. Almost every competent game designer making or porting a retro style game is going to do so with integer scaling already applied to keep it crisp. Every good emulator has an integer scaling method in it's options also.

Freestyle sharpening that's worth mentioning but it's not super amazing either. The low latency and expanded g-sync might actually be the best parts of the update.

So this is a driver update timed for release during an event is nothing more than something to talk about and hype people up nothing more.

 

[yRaz]

How big of a deal is 30-bit color?

There is no such thing a 30-bit color, just some poor PR writing is all.

It's just 10-bit color, add some RGB x 3 graphics illiteracy, and then writing it as 30-bit for a marketing cheap shot.

Just so, some high-end TV-s today are capable of 12-bit color, and that's the industry's maximum today.

Yes this is why photoshop has 1bit 8bit 16bit and 32bit options for RGB. Windows has had support for 16bit 24bit and 32bit also. Something tells me you aren't qualified to answer this person so maybe stop spouting things you make up.

30 bit color is meaningless to anyone interested in this card. It doesn't even make sense to support it on a consumer level gaming card and this is why it was only supported on studio cards prior to this. Even a huge portion of the graphics industry looks right past this since 8 bit depth is pretty much fine for almost all work you do.

Integer scaling doesn't need to be done using a graphics card. Almost every competent game designer making or porting a retro style game is going to do so with integer scaling already applied to keep it crisp. Every good emulator has an integer scaling method in it's options also.

Freestyle sharpening that's worth mentioning but it's not super amazing either. The low latency and expanded g-sync might actually be the best parts of the update.

So this is a driver update timed for release during an event is nothing more than something to talk about and hype people up nothing more.

32bit color is the amount of one's a zeros used in rendering an image. 10bit color refers to the amount of one's and zeros used to display the intensity of brightness on the RGB pixel level. 10 bits of red, 10bits of green and 10 bits of blue. Software, like Photoshop, can be set to render images the same way a monitor calculates RGB pixel values for increased color accuracy.

 

[NightAntilli]

nVidia copying Radeon Anti-Lag?