NVIDIA Single Card, Multi-GPU: GeForce 7950 GX2
by Derek Wilson on June 5, 2006 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Performance
For this test, we once again used the built in lighthouse benchmark and scripts originally created at Beyond3d. For this benchmark, it is important to note that the non-AA numbers enable PS3.0 features, while the benchmarks with AA do not (as these two options are not supported simultaneously in-game). At low resolutions, SC3 absolutely benefits from multi-GPU solutions, and so shows a nice performance advantage for 7950 GX2. With either the HDR features available under PS3.0 rendering or 4xAA for smoothing the jaggies, the new NVIDIA card is the king of the hill. Like Half-Life 2, though, we would suggest that the performance increase at low resolutions isn't yet enough to warrant a $600 graphics solution if you are monitor limited to 1280x1024.
Increasing resolution shows us no change in the performance characteristics between the 7950 GX2 and the rest of the pack.
At the highest resolution we tested today, it's clear that 7950 GX2 is the way to go in order to get the best SM3.0 and HDR experience. Interestingly, the Radeon X1900 XT closes the gap a little bit under 4xAA settings as resolution increases. The 7950 GX2 still comes out on top, but SC3 is a game that really shines on ATI hardware as well.
For this test, we once again used the built in lighthouse benchmark and scripts originally created at Beyond3d. For this benchmark, it is important to note that the non-AA numbers enable PS3.0 features, while the benchmarks with AA do not (as these two options are not supported simultaneously in-game). At low resolutions, SC3 absolutely benefits from multi-GPU solutions, and so shows a nice performance advantage for 7950 GX2. With either the HDR features available under PS3.0 rendering or 4xAA for smoothing the jaggies, the new NVIDIA card is the king of the hill. Like Half-Life 2, though, we would suggest that the performance increase at low resolutions isn't yet enough to warrant a $600 graphics solution if you are monitor limited to 1280x1024.
Increasing resolution shows us no change in the performance characteristics between the 7950 GX2 and the rest of the pack.
At the highest resolution we tested today, it's clear that 7950 GX2 is the way to go in order to get the best SM3.0 and HDR experience. Interestingly, the Radeon X1900 XT closes the gap a little bit under 4xAA settings as resolution increases. The 7950 GX2 still comes out on top, but SC3 is a game that really shines on ATI hardware as well.
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kilkennycat - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Just to reinforce another poster's comments. Oblivion is now the yardstick for truly sweating a high-performance PC system. A comparison of a single GX2 vs dual 7900GT in SLI would be very interesting indeed, since Oblivion pushes up against the 256Meg graphics memory limit of the 7900GT (with or without SLI), and will exceed it if some of the 'oblivion.ini' parameters are tweaked for more realistic graphics in outdoor environments, especially in combo with some of the user-created texture-enhancements mods.Crassus - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
That was actually my first thought and the reason I read the article ... "How will it run Oblivion?". I hope you'll find the time to add some graphs for Oblivion. Thanks.TiberiusKane - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Nice article. Some insanely rich gamers may want to compare the absolute high-end, so they may have wanted to see 1900XT in Crossfire. It'd help with the comparison of value.George Powell - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Didn't the ATI Rage Fury Maxx post date the Obsidian X24 card?Also on another point its a pity that there are no Oblivion benchmarks for this card.
Spoelie - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Didn't the voodoo5 post date that one as well? ^^Myrandex - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
For some reason page 1 and 2 worked for me, but when I tried 3 or higher no page would load and I received a "Cannot find server" error message.JarredWalton - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
We had some server issues which are resolved now. The graphs were initially broken on a few charts (all values were 0.0) and so the article was taken down until the problem could be corrected.ncage - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
This is a very cool but what would be a better idea if nvidia would use the socket concept where you can change out the VPU just like you can a cpu. So you could buy a card with only one VPU and then add another one later if you needed it....BlvdKing - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Isn't that what PCI-Express is? Think of a graphics card like a slot 1 or slot A CPU back in the old days. A graphics card is a GPU with it's own cache on the same PCB. If we were to plug a GPU into the motherboard, then it would have to use system memory (slow) or use memory soldiered onto the motherboard (not updatable). The socket idea for GPUs doesn't make sense.DerekWilson - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
actually this isn't exactly what PCIe is ...but it is exactly what HTX will be with AMD's Torrenza and coherent HT links from the GPU to the processor. The CPU and the GPU will be able to work much more closely together with this technology.