ATI's X1800 XL All-In-Wonder: Performance and TV in One Package
by Josh Venning on November 21, 2005 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Test Setup and Performance
We have already looked at how the X1800 XL performs in different games, but we'll take another look at performance in relation to a few other graphics cards we have. The X1800 XL is one of the most powerful ATI cards out now, and as our tests show, it does a good job at running the latest games smoothly. Here is the test hardware we used: (Note that we test out benchmarks with sound disabled)
Test Hardware
For testing, we chose three games which best reflect the card's overall potential for gaming. Battlefield 2, one of the most popular and graphically demanding first-person-shooters to date still manages to tax the high-end cards significantly. Day of Defeat is an important benchmark for us because the game is based on the Halflife 2 engine, and introduces Valve's recent High Dynamic Range effects which yields much lower framerates than Halflife 2 on all graphics cards. The third game we tested was Quake 4, which gives us an idea of how the card handles the Open Gl Doom 3 engine. We tested each of these games at 1600x1200 with and without 4x AA enabled.
Power Load
We also tested power loads to give us an idea of how much power this card uses at different states. We tested the power draw while the system was idle, as well as running a Splinter Cell benchmark to test the card under stress. We also were curious how much of a power load we saw while recording full screen video through the card. The wattage the system pulled while idle was 157Watts. While recording video at full screen, the power load we recorded was 189Watts. Finally, the power draw of the system while under Splinter Cell stress testing was 256W.
We have already looked at how the X1800 XL performs in different games, but we'll take another look at performance in relation to a few other graphics cards we have. The X1800 XL is one of the most powerful ATI cards out now, and as our tests show, it does a good job at running the latest games smoothly. Here is the test hardware we used: (Note that we test out benchmarks with sound disabled)
Test Hardware
| CPU: | AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 (2.8GHz) |
| Motherboard: | ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe |
| Chipset: | NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 |
| Chipset Drivers: | nForce4 6.82 |
| Memory: | OCZ PC3500 DDR 2-2-2-7 |
| Video Card: | ATI Radeon X800 XL ATI Radeon X1800 XT ATI Radeon X850 XT NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512 |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 5.11 (WHQL) NVIDIA ForceWare 81.89 (Beta) |
| Desktop Resolution: | 1280x960 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
| OS: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ PowerStream 600W PSU |
For testing, we chose three games which best reflect the card's overall potential for gaming. Battlefield 2, one of the most popular and graphically demanding first-person-shooters to date still manages to tax the high-end cards significantly. Day of Defeat is an important benchmark for us because the game is based on the Halflife 2 engine, and introduces Valve's recent High Dynamic Range effects which yields much lower framerates than Halflife 2 on all graphics cards. The third game we tested was Quake 4, which gives us an idea of how the card handles the Open Gl Doom 3 engine. We tested each of these games at 1600x1200 with and without 4x AA enabled.
Power Load
We also tested power loads to give us an idea of how much power this card uses at different states. We tested the power draw while the system was idle, as well as running a Splinter Cell benchmark to test the card under stress. We also were curious how much of a power load we saw while recording full screen video through the card. The wattage the system pulled while idle was 157Watts. While recording video at full screen, the power load we recorded was 189Watts. Finally, the power draw of the system while under Splinter Cell stress testing was 256W.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
27 Comments
View All Comments
BPB - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
How does the X800XL compare to this card? I know neither has the Theater 550 chip, but I was thinking og getting a second turner card anyways for pip, and so I can record one show and watch another. The X800XL is much cheaper and probably meets my needs.yacoub - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
More confirmation that a $320 7800GT is still the way to go.Wilco - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Interesting the GUIDE Plus+ website lists NVidia as a partner for PC cards but not ATi.rqle - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
I stopped buying these "AIW" cards. Couldnt jusify the price and continous upgrade. And bought a PCI version of ATI TV card, makes upgrade much easier, doesnt matter what video card i use, still have similar functionality.erwos - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
No HDTV tuner? Check!Only one DVI out? Check!
No Theatre 550? Check!
No availability? Check!
What an underwhelming product. I like the AIW concept as much as the next guy, but it seems like they've really moved nowhere with the video features in the past few years.
-Erwos
Jedi2155 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Although I'm a ATI Fan...(fan, not fanboy), I find it annoying that they are still using the Theatre 200 chip....where are you 550??!agent2099 - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Couldn't have said it better myself. You'd think by this time the AIW cards would be incorporating HDTV tuners.phusg - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Here here. Although nowhere in the article does it mention the lack of HDTV support, I guess you got it from ATIs site. You would expect it on a 4Q 2005 >$400 card really though wouldn't you?bloc - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Anand's Benches have the 7800 GT over the X1800 XLwhile FS has X1800 over the 7800 GT
Who's right? It makes a difference as one card is consistenly beating the other.
Viperlair has x1800 on top
motherboard.org has 7800 GT
JarredWalton - Monday, November 21, 2005 - link
Different games, different levels, different settings, and different benchmarking methodologies. Combine those four aspects and you'll get variance in the scores. Our BF2 benchmark uses the Operation Clean Sweep level, which appears to run slower than other levels.