The Test
We decided to focus solely on how graphics card selection impacts the framerate of Doom 3 using the built in timedemo utility and prerecorded demo1.demo benchmark. This was done in the interest of getting useable data out as soon as possible. We are currently playing with recording our own demos and testing other aspects of the game. From what we've seen so far, it seems like demo1 and the timedemo utility report an accurate picture of performance.In order to eliminate as much bottleneck as possible from the system, we went with our overclocked FX53 in the 939 platform. After having gathered data for this and other reviews we are working on, our overclock may have had more impact if we had pushed the RAM of the system rather than the multiplier of our processor. But that's another article.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (oc to 2.6GHz) |
| RAM: | 2 x 512Mb OCZ 3500 Platinum Ltd (2:3:2:10) |
| Hard Drives | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers | VIA Hyperion 4.51 |
| Video Card(s): | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT NVIDIA GeForce 6800 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Ed. ATI Radeon X800 Pro ATI Radeon 9800 XT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 ATI Radeon 9700 Pro ATI Radeon 9600 XT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 ATI Radeon 9200 NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4400 |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 4.7 NVIDIA ForceWare 61.77 |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | MSI MS-6702E (VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset) |
Our tests are divided into sections that reflect the general performance capabilities of the cards tested. For example, High End consists of current generation cards such as the X800 Pro and 6800, Low end consists of much older or very low performance cards like the GF4 Ti 4400 and the Radeon 9200. Midrange is essentially everything in between and is the largest category with the most tests.
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kmmatney - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
The Sunday BestBuy advetisement has Celeron desktops with integrated graphics advertised, with Doom3 shown in the monitor window. What a crock!Zoomer - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
You might try running a 9700pro with 9500pro's gpu clock and 1/2 of its mem clock to try and simulate a 9500pro.Would be pretty interesting to compare against if you finally manage to get a real 9500pro. :)
Btw, what about more exotic grapgics chipsets? ;)
bastula - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
Do you happen to have a GeForce 4 MX (64 MB) to try? Since they said it should be playable with that card, I was curious to know how that would compare to the cards you have listed (more specifically, the Radeon 9200 and FX 5700).Thanks!
Good comparison though, appreciate the hard work and loss of sleep. You should get some rest. :)
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
the gf4 line is actually a fairly widely adopted platform, and the minimum requirements for Doom3 are gf4 mx or better (iirc) ... the tnt2 wouldn't run doom3.I thought about trying the intel integrated out, but then decided that I was sane and could not do such a thing.
mena805 - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
They also forgot the 5900XT for some reason. This is a MUCH better performing card than the crappy 5700 and 5500's.cosmotic - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
why did you pick the 4400 as the low end nvidia? why not run a more mainstreme card like TNT2s or Intel? Or Rage 128? thats what most customers have, right? Maybe some GF2 MX. The funny thing is that new computers at best buy come with this sort of shit up until recently. Although intel seems to be managing this still.Where did they marketing for the intel graphics come from? Extremely what? shitty? slow? worthless?
Maybe they should have called it intel:
abysmal
usable
painful
weak
worth-less-than-the-sylicon-its-printed-on
... grpahics.
Genx87 - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
Buy Doom3 and burnout your 400 dollar video card :)DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
Sorry guys, I don't have a 9500 or an 8500 around the lab ... You're right about the 9500 though; the lack of sleep is catching up with me ... goodnight.punko - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
I was hoping for a commend about my old ATI 8500.bearxor - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
If I'm not mistaken, the 9550 is not the same as a 9500 Pro. I think that you're right that it is a underclocked 9600, which would mean only 4 pipes. The 9500 Pro is exactly like the 9700 Pro except with only a 128-bit memory bus.I have a 9500 Pro, and am extremely intrested in seeing how the 8 pipes of the 9500 Pro match up to the 4 Pipe + Higher clock speed of the 9600 series.
I have no real intrest in Doom 3, so I've been looking for those benchmarks, but every frame rate report I've read so far just skips from the 9200 to the 9600, ignoring the 9500, even though its a very different GPU from the 9600.
In other words, no a 9550 wouldn't help.