NVIDIA Corp. announced the immediate availability of NVIDIA MAXtreme 9 D3D and POWERdraft 2007, new performance drivers, developed in close collaboration with Autodesk, for 3ds Max 9 and AutoCAD 2007 softwares. Recent tests show MAXtreme 9 drivers increased performance up to 100% when coupled with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 graphics solution, while POWERdraft 2007 running on Quadro FX 5500 graphics improved AutoCAD 2007 performance by as much as 73%.
The MAXtreme 9 Direct3D performance driver enhances 3ds Max 9 user productivity by allowing professionals to control the applications viewport display quality and realtime rendering speed. MAXtreme 9 is optimized for use with the full line of NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics solutions supporting Microsoft Windows 2000/XP.
POWERdraft 2007, a performance driver for AutoCAD 2007, provides 3D hardware acceleration for Quadro FX graphics solutions running under Windows 2000/XP, replacing the existing driver for improved 3D hardware acceleration.
NVIDIA continues to invest in digital content creation and is a strong partner for Autodesk, as well as the AutoCAD and 3ds Max communities, says Ken Pimentel, senior product manager at Autodesk. The new NVIDIA MAXtreme 9 and POWERdraft 2007 drivers provide our joint customers with the performance muscle they need to boost productivity in the creative pipeline.
Recent performance tests on both MAXtreme 9 and POWERdraft 2007 drivers coupled with NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 graphics delivered extraordinary performance improvements over standard software drivers. When benchmarked using the SPECapc particle test for 3ds Max, MAXtreme delivered a very impressive 14x performance increase, while the Scene Creation subcategory showed a performance improvement of more than 100%. Overall, the 3ds Max graphics composite delivered a performance improvement of more than 16%.
POWERdraft 2007 tests using the Cadalyst06 benchmarks running on NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 and 3500 graphics solutions yielded substantial performance improvements of more than 73% in the 3D Gouraud Index and a performance increase of 61% in the 3D Wireframe Index. The total Cadalyst06 benchmark Index using POWERdraft 2007 reveals a 22% performance improvement over preloaded application drivers.
The NVIDIA MAXtreme 9 and POWERdraft 2007 performance drivers are currently available as free downloads at the NVIDIA website: www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp.
NVIDIA Corp. (www.nvidia.com) is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has offices throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
