Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card hits the market on Friday, and what better way to back that new product up on launch day than to release supporting drivers just several days prior. That’s right: Nvidia released new GeForce Game Ready WHQL drivers, bringing this suite up to version 368.39. They not only support the new card, but are optimized for two new hot games, one of which is now available for the Oculus Rift.
As previously noted, the GeForce GTX 1070, hitting stores on June 10, is the cheaper model of Nvidia’s “Pascal”-based dual-barrel release. The GPU packs 1,920 CUDA cores, has a base clock speed of 1,506MHz, and a boost clock speed of 1,683MHz. The chip is backed by 8GB of GDDR5 on-board memory moving data at 8Gb per second. The memory interface width is 256-bit and the memory bandwidth is 256GB per second.
The starting price of cards based on the GTX 1070 will be $449, far less than the starting price of the other Pascal-based card, the GTX 1080, which is a meatier $700. Launched in late May, the GTX 1080 model is blazingly fast, packed with 2,560 CUDA cores and zipping through PC games with a base clock speed of 1,607MHz and a boost clock speed of 1,733MHz. This card uses 8GB of the newer GDDR5X memory. That said, the cheaper GTX 1070 is billed as the successor to the GeForce GTX 970 GPU.
Getting back to the new drivers, version 368.39 is fine-tuned for Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which launches today (June 7). This game arrives with a set of “Hyper” graphics settings, which are supported by both Pascal cards. Nvidia actually recommends the GTX 1080 if PC gamers want to play the new Mirror’s Edge game at 60 frames per second using the Hyper settings and a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution.
The company also notes that the game can run using the Ultra settings at 2,560 x 1,440 when using a GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card. The GeForce GTX 970 is capable of a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution with the game’s High settings enabled. However, Nvidia customers can find the best combination of options for their GeForce-based system by using the company’s one-click Optimal Playable Settings feature in the GeForce Experience client.
According to Nvidia, the “demanding” Hyper setting in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst increases the draw distance and improves features like shadow detail, environmental detail, and reflections. Motion blur, image-based lighting, visual effects, and more are enhanced thanks to these settings and the new GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 cards.
As for the new Oculus Rift game the new set of drivers are optimized for, it’s called Edge of Nowhere, and it’s by popular Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games. This third-person adventure game has a Lovecraftian horror feel, throwing gamers into the mountains of Antarctica as they search for the protagonist’s missing fiancée and her expedition team. That simple search turns into a journey into the bizarre, testing the player’s sanity.
Naturally, to download the new GeForce Game Ready drivers, simply load up the GeForce Experience client and click on the “Drivers” tab. To download them manually through Nvidia’s website, head here.
