The Downgrade Saga: How NVIDIA's Artificial OpenGL Cap Ruins Performance for Gamers

In a move that has left many in the gaming community scratching their heads, ID Software recently made an unorthodox decision when they decided to artificially cap performance on several of their titles by downgrading them from the more modern and efficient OpenGL 4.5 standard back to its older and less capable cousin – OpenGL 3.1.

This move is particularly puzzling given that just a short while ago, these same games were running with ease under OpenGL 4.5, even on mid-range hardware such as NVIDIA's GTX 970 graphics card. In fact, according to some sources close to the matter, testing during beta phases had actually revealed that AMD's own Radeon lineup – specifically the high-end models like the R290X and R390X – were sometimes even slightly slower than their NVIDIA counterparts when running these games under OpenGL 4.5.

So what could possibly explain such a drastic about-face by ID Software? Was there some kind of catastrophic flaw in either the drivers or hardware that necessitated such an extreme measure?

As it turns out, however, things may not be quite so simple as they initially seem...

According to industry insiders familiar with NVIDIA's own development process, the company has actually been supporting OpenGL 4.5 for several months now – since at least version 340.65 of their graphics drivers, in fact.

Meanwhile, AMD appears to be taking a more traditional approach when it comes to adopting new standards like this one... and that means gamers may well have reason to worry!

According to reliable sources within the company, it looks as though AMD typically requires anything from six months to an entire year or even longer before they finally get around to implementing support for brand-new OpenGL versions in their own graphics drivers.

And don't even get me started on Intel...

As anyone who's ever tried keeping up with the latest developments coming out of this particular tech giant will tell you, things can move at a glacial pace indeed when it comes to getting even basic features implemented – let alone anything remotely cutting-edge like support for more advanced OpenGL standards.

And yet despite all these delays and bottlenecks along the way, ID Software seems determined to press ahead with their own artificial cap on performance anyway...

So what exactly does this mean for gamers looking forward to enjoying some high-quality gaming action?

Unfortunately, it looks as though anyone hoping to experience things like smooth frame rates or detailed graphics will simply have to wait a while longer.

That's right folks – because of ID Software's seemingly arbitrary decision to artificially cap their games at an outdated and less capable version of OpenGL 4.3 rather than supporting the more modern and efficient standard that they themselves had originally intended for these titles, gamers everywhere are being forced to settle for sub-par performance levels that would have been laughable just a few short months ago.

So there you have it folks – another classic example of how sometimes even well-meaning decisions can end up having some pretty far-reaching consequences down the line...

Opengl 4.5 nvidia