Gigabyte X800 Pro Review - Test Setup
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Today's test will strictly compare the Radeon X800 Pro to the GeForce 6800. Both cards have 12 pixel pipelines and a 256 bit memory bus. The 6800 has one less vertex pipeline, 128MB less memory, and is clocked slower by default (but because they are very different architectures, slower clock speeds does not mean too much). The test setup is:
- Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz "B" @ 3.06GHz (170 FSB)
- Abit IS7 (i865P), F1 GAT setting
- 2 x 512MB Kingston HyperX PC3200 Dual Channel (DDR340 2-6-2-2)
- 2 x 40GB Western Digital WD400BB in RAID 0 array
- Windows XP SP2 with DirectX 9.0c
- Gigabyte X800 Pro 256MB DDRIII @ 475/900MHz (default) using Catalyst 4.9
- Inno3D GeForce 6800 128MB DDR @ 325/700MHz (default) using ForceWare 61.77
Driver settings:
- NVIDIA - image settings at Quality, vsync off, 60Hz refresh rate
- ATI - texture preferences and mipmap detail level both at High Quality, quality AF used, vsync off, 60Hz refresh rate
A note on interpreting graphs: In many of the tests, I bumped up the resolution or image quality settings with respect to the base settings. The base resolution and IQ settings tested are written in the title of each graph while alternate settings are noted in the key.
Testing: X2 Threat, Splinter Cell
X2 Threat (DirectX 8.1)
X2 Threat Rolling Demo stresses 3D shadows and bump mapping.
The two cards run neck-and-neck in this test. Both score around 70 average frames per second. The 6800 has very strong shadow performance because of NVIDIA's UltraShadow II technology but the X800 Pro is still able to lead.
Splinter Cell (DirectX 8.1)
Splinter Cell is also a shadow heavy game. The demo used for benchmarking, recorded on level "The Caspian Oil Refinery," stresses fillrate and shading efficiency. AA and AF were disabled.
The X800 Pro and 6800 both play Splinter Cell very well. The X800 Pro however, has a little bit more horsepower enabling 1280x1024 gaming without any significant dips in framerate. The generally accepted minimum dip is 30 FPS, so the X800's 40 FPS minimum provides silky smooth gameplay.
Next: Testing: UT2K3, Call of Duty >>
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