Fall 2003 Video Card Roundup Part I - ATI's Radeon 9800 XT
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on October 1, 2003 3:02 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The New Test Suite
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, we are introducing a brand new test suite with this review and we are also kicking off the first installment of a multipart series covering multiple aspects of current (and somewhat next) generation gaming performance.
By no means should you take the limited (yet extensive) tests we have here as all you will see from us, but rather something to whet your appetite for what is yet to come. The focus of this review is plain and simple – comparing the basic performance of the latest offerings from ATI and NVIDIA. In the future installments we will cover image quality, CPU scaling and other aspects of performance in greater detail. We will be making notes of noticeable visual differences between ATI and NVIDIA in this article, but a comparison with supporting images will be done in Part II of the series.
As far as the new test suite is concerned, here are the benchmarks that made it in:
AquaMark 3
Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour
F1 Challenge ’99-‘02
Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 2
Halo
Homeworld 2
Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004
Neverwinter Nights: The Shadows of the Undrentide
Simcity 4
Splinter Cell
Unreal Tournament 2003
X2
Warcraft III: Frozen Throne
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
We are working on expanding the suite even further, but for now this is what we have. If you’d like to see more games added please feel free to let us know either by sending an email or even better, leaving a comment through the system at the bottom of the page.
We used ATI’s publicly available Catalyst 3.7 drivers and in order to support the NV38 we used NVIDIA’s forthcoming 52.14 drivers. The 52.14 drivers apparently have issues in two games, neither of which are featured in our test suite (Half Life 2 & Gunmetal).
Our test bed was configured as follows:
2.8GHz Intel Processor Prescott
512MB DDR400
Intel 875P Motherboard
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
263 Comments
View All Comments
Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
I'd like to see higher resolutions being used. This would (partially) remove the CPU from the equation, if we're testing video cards. 1024x768 may not be enough of a test nowadays.Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Does ANYONE read the first few pages of the review?I really like the new format. I have a limited amount of time to read this stuff so I'm glad it's coming in bite size pieces.
I can't wait for the companion reviews that cover image quality etc. Until then, I'm satisfied that I have the salient points.
Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
How about adding Battlefield 1942 to the test suite?Anonymous User - Monday, October 6, 2003 - link
I would like to see Nascar Racing 2003 Season (Sierra/Papyrus) and Nascar Thunder 2004 (EA) added to the list for future testing; esp. NR2003.Thanks
Anonymous User - Monday, October 6, 2003 - link
why are idiots allowed to post?Anonymous User - Monday, October 6, 2003 - link
What surprises me is that NVIDIA let Anandtech use and benchmark a card that hasn't been even announced yet. I haven't seen any reviews or previews for this card anywhere, and it's not even listed on NVIDIA's site! It's a bad time to own a NVIDIA card, so I guess I'll get rid of mine real soon.assemblage - Monday, October 6, 2003 - link
Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest. It would be nice if those games were benchmarked.Anonymous User - Sunday, October 5, 2003 - link
Add Rise of Nations, it needs alot of power at late game & after every wonder is built.Anonymous User - Sunday, October 5, 2003 - link
You know, it may be a bit overkill, but wouldn't it be a good idea to test video cards on a 8x846 opteron system, so that none of the tests is anywhere near cpu-limited?Anonymous User - Sunday, October 5, 2003 - link
Nah, Bigshit under whatever handle is an idiot. Most of the rest are just naive. I think it's fair to criticise this review in several areas - e.g. the constant use of 1024x768 - but give 'em a chance to get it right before you start the accusations.