Gearing Up For 64bit: Beta Graphics Driver Comparison
by Derek Wilson on June 16, 2004 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
Our test platform for 64bit is the same platform that we used in our most recent 32bit reviews on the NVIDIA 6800 and ATI X800 parts, and the only thing that has changed is the software running on the hardware.| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 3400+ |
| RAM: | 1GB OCZ PC 3200 2:2:2:6 |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer) |
| Video Card(s): | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra ATI Radeon 9800 XT |
| Motherboards: | FIC K8T800 |
| Driver Versions: | Catalyst Beta 1 for WinXP 64 ForceWare 57.30 for WinXP 64 |
Again, it is important to remember that not only are we looking at beta video drivers, we are also running on a beta operating system. All of our games are 32bit games, and, as such, they will all be running within the WoW64 component of Windows (which still needs some work in the area of compatibility). Some of our games didn't work because they weren't supported by the driver, and some games didn't work because Windows couldn't handle running them. It really is hard to tell at this point what's wrong with what and where.
Two games that we really wanted to see make it into this test suite that didn't were Painkiller and FarCry. Currently, we have only been able to play around with the demo versions of Painkiller, neither of which we could get to run (though, we hear that the retail version of the game is playable). FarCry ran beautifully, and we were really excited about it. Unfortunately, one of the few things that we ran into which was less than functional was the benchmarking functionality. We couldn't record or playback any benchmarks at all.
It is also important to note that ATI and NVIDIA do not currently have drivers that support R420 and NV40 based cards under a 64bit operating system. We have asked each of them if they could provide us with a beta 64bit driver so we could run some tests on the latest and greatest hardware, but we have yet to get our hands on anything. We will definitely keep you posted.
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kcbaltz - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
Pardon my ignorance, but what's "WoW"?Pumpkinierre - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
I wonder if the nVidia architecture with its 16bit/32bit FPU lends itself better to 64bit computation than ATI's 24bit FP. The nVidias certainly show the sort of performance improvements we were expecting.ZobarStyl - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
Beta or not the point is seeing if actual current hardware will benefit from the increased efficiency of a 64 bit OS...I think it's a perfectly reasonable article and I liked it, if WoW emulation can post any benefits and not hinder any programs then it will be a godsend to A64 owners.araczynski - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
#6: I think only the fanboi community is interested in data that is mostly based on Beta sources. The geek community would be interested in actual release data, not this stuff. You might as well start comparing the 5.0ghz offerings from AMD and Intel at this point.Pjotr - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
BTW, UT2004 64 bit:http://www.fileshack.com/browse.x?cat=2226
RyanVM - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
RE: NV40. "If there's demand" - HAH! Like you even have to say that :-)I think the entire geek community is interested in seeing how well the latest and greatest hardware performs in a 64bit environment. Do it up!
Stuke - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
On your test platform, under dxdiag, did it show that it had AGP support? Whenever I install the via 4in1 on my system and the video drivers, I get no AGP texture acceleration. Maybe thats a cause for lower performance too.DerekWilson - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
I appologize for messing up the graphs. It really should be the 5950 in the graphs.The latest versions of the drivers when the tests were performed didn't support X800 and 6800 yet.
I'll correct the error ASAP. Sorry for any confusion.
Illissius - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
You put 6800 Ultra instead of 5959 Ultra on all the graphs :/OTOH it's odd that the 5950U is faster at Halo, which is DX9. Is it using a special codepath (one sans any actual DX9 stuff :) ) or something?
And yeah, NV40 vs. R420 would be nice, but other things are prob. more important. (Such as the Far Cry SM 3.0 patch and whether or not NV40 gets a performance boost on nForce3 as nVidia says it does.)
Pjotr - Wednesday, June 16, 2004 - link
UT2004 is available in 64 bit server and client versions now, although beta. Any chance of adding these to the test?