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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Pete - Friday, October 3, 2003 - link
Why should they test at a higher res when the fastest cards have trouble breaking 60fps on most of these benchmarks?!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Who the hell is playing games at 1024 x 768 these days?!!! Go higher and see how all ATI cards kick butt!!!!!!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Anand is testing a card that is not out, with drivers that are not released (52.xx) , on a CPU that is not available ????At least he could benchmark DX9, wich is available.
Tomb Raider AOD.
Maybe not, because Nvidia sucks at DX9,
Maybe Nvidia had a clause( you get to test our new card and new (cheat) drivers, but you can not use any DX9 titles ???
We all know Nvidia sucks at DX9, but it should be included in the tests.
We all know Nvidia is good at UT and Quake, but you still had those games to the Bench suit ???
I have been reading Anand for years, this is the first time I have been really deceived.!
It is amazing what MONEY will make you do or say..
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
everyone can now rest peacefully not that bigshot has spoken! all hail the mighty bigshot and his useless rambling!!!we should all bow down to his infinite wisdom and wonderful use of childish phrases
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
#197, you mean the 9500 Pro, and it's not a third of the price, it's currently two thirds and was never less than a half.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
I would've liked to see a Radeon 9500 and/or an OCSystems 9500 Radeon in the mix with these benchmarks. Even though the 9500 is discontinued it still performs on par with a 9700 card. Overclock it or flash new Bios onto it and it might perform right up with these cards; for a third of the price to.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
I'd like to see my testicles running 2xAA. I have no doubt in my mind that ATi is even beter than Nvidia's best! I've noticed the lag on my genitals when playing multiplayer games, such as BF1952 & TF2. I personally cannot wait for Dx9.How about that HL2 source code leak? I have a good feelin about it. :-)
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Sorry Bigshot here... I posted twice. I posted number #192 and number #193.I just wanted to say ATI Kicks NVida Butts!!!
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Idiot!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Bigsot here again as I remembered what i forgot to say...The 2xAA of the ATI is even beter than nvidias best!
ATI cards are the bestest!
Nvidia card owners must be crying!
Not me! Cause I got me an ATI!!!