Half-Life 2 Performance Benchmark Preview
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 12, 2003 12:34 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
More on Mixed-Mode for NV3x
We briefly mentioned the Mixed Mode of operation for NV3x GPUs that Valve implemented in Half-Life 2, but there is much more to it than just a special NV3x code path. In fact, the mixed mode NV3x code path was really only intended for the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (NV35). The mainstream FX chips (5200/5600) require a slightly different code path.
Here you can see the 40% performance boost NVIDIA gets from the special NV3x
code path.
The GeForce FX 5600 (NV31) uses a code path that is internally referred to as dx82; this path is a combination of DX9 (pixel shader 2.0) and DX8.1 (pixel shader 1.4) code, and thus, doesn't look as good as what you'll see on the 5900 Ultra.
Although the 5900 Ultra performs reasonably well with the special NV3x mixed mode path, the 5600 and 5200 cards do not perform well at all. Valve's recommendation to owners of 5600/5200 cards is to run the DX8 (pixel shader 1.4) code path in order to receive playable performance under Half-Life 2. The performance improvement gained by dropping to the DX8 code path is seen most on the GeForce FX 5200; although, there is a slight improvement on the 5600 as you can see below:
The sacrifices that you encounter by running either the mixed mode path or the DX8 path are obviously visual. The 5900 Ultra, running in mixed mode, will exhibit some banding effects as a result of a loss in precision (FP16 vs. FP32), but still looks good - just not as good as the full DX9 code path. There is a noticeable difference between this mixed mode and the dx82 mode, as well as the straight DX8 path. For example, you'll notice that shader effects on the water aren't as impressive as they are in the native DX9 path.
Are the visual tradeoffs perceptive? Yes. The native DX9 path clearly looks better than anything else, especially the DX8.0/8.1 modes.
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Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
Anand: When you re-test with the Det 50's, make sure you rename the HL2 exe!!!Gotta make the comparison as fair as possible...
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
#69 How does the 9500 not fully support DX9? It's the same core EXACTLY as the 9700.Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
#53 - So YOU'RE that bastard who's been lagging us out!!! Get out of the dark ages!Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
What kind of conclusion was that ?In terms of the performance of the cards you've seen here today, the standings shouldn't change by the time Half-Life 2 ships - although NVIDIA will undoubtedly have newer drivers to improve performance. Over the coming weeks we'll be digging even further into the NVIDIA performance mystery to see if our theories are correct; if they are, we may have to wait until NV4x before these issues get sorted out.
For now, Half-Life 2 """ SEEMS """ to be best paired with ATI hardware and as you've seen thorugh our benchmarks, whether you have a Radeon 9600 Pro or a Radeon 9800 Pro you'll be running just fine. Things are finally """heating up""" and it's a good feeling to have back...
HL2 ""seems"" better on ATI??? , should be, HL2 looks way better and faster on ATI.
Things are finally """heating up""" ??? shoul have been , ATI's performance is killing Nvidia's FX.
The conclusion should have been :
Nvidia lied and sucks , Valva had to lower standard ( actually optimize (cheat) in favor of Nvidia) and make HL2 game look bad , just so you could play on your overpriced Nvidia Fx cards.
How about a word of apology from Anand to have induced readers in errors , and have told them to buy Nvidia Fx card's in is last Fx5900 review. ???
From a future ATI card owner, (bundled with HL2 of course)
Boy I'm pissed off!
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
82, those are 9600 regulars (!), click the links. Pricewatch has been fooled. A Pro isn't much more, though, just about $136.I'd go with a 9500 over a 9600 any day. The 9500 can be softmodded to 9700 performance levels (about 50-70% of the time, IIRC, and it's actually a little cheaper than the 9600 Pro!). If the softmod doesn't work out, then you return it for a new one. Of course, not everyone wants to do this, and a 9600 Pro is a respectable and highly overclockable card.. but..
I'd still love to see 9500 Pros at lower prices, like they would have been if ATi had kept it out.. but whatever. If you don't know, the 9500 Pro is/was considerably faster than the 9600 Pro. Valve said that HL2 isn't memory-limited, so the 128-bit memory interface on the 9500 Pro (which never made a big difference vs. the 9700 anyway) shouldn't even be noticeable, and the fact that the Sapphire-made ones were just as overclockable as the 9500 regulars and 9700s (think up to 340 core, 350 if you're lucky) is going to make it one HELL of an HL2 card for the $175 most people paid.
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
Nvidia got schooled, but not on hardware or drivers. ATI locked this up long ago with their deal with Gabe and buddies.Why is everyone just trying to keep a straight face about it? ATI paid handsomely for exactly what has happened to NVidia.
But as always happens, watch out when the tables turn, as they ALWAYS do, and Valve could be on the OUTSIDE of lots of other deals.
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
I am just glad there is finally a damn game that can stress out these video cards. Wonder if Bitboys Oy of whatever there name is come out saying they have a new video card out now that will run Half Life 2 at 100+ FPS :) What made me think of them I have no idea!Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
Not to detract from the main issue here, but #19 raises a good point. Why does the 9600Pro lose only <1% performance going from 1024 to 1280? The 9800P and 9700P lose between 10-15%. The 5900U loses 30%, sometimes more. I wonder if the gap between the 9800P and 9600P shrinks even more at higher resolutions.What aspect of the technology in the 9600 could possibly account for this?
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
#81 You can find 9600pro's for ~$160 from newegg.A couple of small webstores have a "Smart PC 9600" non-pro 128 meg for <$100. But the smart pc card is a cheap oem unit...I'm not sure if it's as good as the more expensive 9600's.
Anonymous User - Friday, September 12, 2003 - link
Pricewatch:$123 - RADEON 9600 Pro 256MB
$124 - RADEON 9600 Pro 128MB