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
AquaMark 3
Despite what some people would like everyone to think, Aquamark3 is really a test of how people developing software now envision DirectX 9 pixel and vertex shaders will be used in the future. The situation is very reminiscent of the first Sony PlayStation: the first games that used the technology were limited by the hardware until developers really learned to work with the hardware rather than on the hardware. As time progressed, we went from what were essentially ports of 16bit console games to amazingly complex and beautiful games like Gran Turismo 2. The same thing will happen with shader technology, and no amount of guessing and throwing functions at a gpu will tell you how its performance will really be in the future. Essentially, my advice is that any piece of software that claims it is a valid predictor of future performance should be taken lightly. We based our decision to include Aquamark3 on its popularity in the community. Aquamark3 is a cool piece of software, with some pretty neat tests, and a high score in any benchmark can still earn bragging rights in the forums. The only Aquamark3 test we ran was the publicly available 1024x768 4xAF noAA in order to maximize the usefulness of these numbers to the community. Our drivers were set to allow application control of AF and AA.
We can see almost a pairing off of the cards in direct competition with one another from each camp. ATI pulls ahead by an insignificant margin in the case of the top cards, but the 5600 Ultra falls way behind in this test. Image quality appears to have improved for NVIDIA in this benchmark over what has been reported of previous drivers, and the NV38 handled the massive overdraw portion of the test the smoothest of all the cards. We will be taking a much closer look at image quality very soon, but until then, it looks like ATI and NVIDIA have equal footing in the Aquamark3 arena and we are left to find more useful information about their differences elsewhere. We would also like to point out that the 9700 Pro held its own in this test inching out the standard 9800.
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Anonymous User - Sunday, October 5, 2003 - link
you're all idiotsAnonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
I think everyone knows that those FS2004 results wereAnonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
Bishot Mgdbottled here,I just wanna say Anad did a great Job!
Those FS2004 results are the truth, I get 100FPS no problem with my 9700P! while All the NV boys get is 20-30! Hah!
Thats why Anad will always be my top techie site!
ATI Rocks NVidia sucks! End of story! I here that Nvidia got dropped by Microsoft from any DX10 development participation!
Woohoo! Even MS knows what we all know, NV sucks!
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
I would like to see a comparison with a game that uses the "meant to be played optimizations".That could be a real hoot.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
I still trust Anand more than HardOCP, I won't even give the H my hits anymore I detest them so much.This is definately one of the lowest quality and only review I can remember with such low integrety for Anandtech.
Sorry guys, please use don't insult our intellegence by posting articles like this.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
ATi is currently deciding who gets 9600XT samples while they wait for them to ship...Curley - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
Take a stand. No matter how many games you include or how long you make the reviews, the educated reader knows what you are doing.Intestinal fortitude is a hard thing to come by.
That is why HARD OCP is now my home page.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
Those Fs2004 results are great!What the H**l were you guys smoken?
Didn't you even think when you got those funny results?
No, I guess you did not.
Anad, I'm sorry but yer site has lost all credence.
So long.
Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
Stupid moron!Anonymous User - Saturday, October 4, 2003 - link
Mgdbottled here again,I see non of you NV dwarfs can speakup in behalf of your beloved nvidia! HA! Your card sucks so go home!
ATI 2xAA is better than anything FX cards can do! HA! AND THEY don't cheat!!!!
I swithched my trilien filter on by selecting performance mode and at 16anison this card just screams!
ATI F***ing rocks man!!!
OK, me an Bigshot are the same, I had to do that because someone was using my nick.