Fall '06 NVIDIA GPU Refresh - Part I: GeForce 7900 GS
by Derek Wilson on September 6, 2006 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Performance
We make use of the Lighthouse demo for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. We have been using this benchmark for quite some time and facilitate automation with the scripts published at Beyond 3D. This benchmark is fairly close to in game performance for our system, but midrange users may see a little lower real world performance when tested with a lower speed processor.
Our settings all used the highest quality level possible including the extra SM3.0 features. As the advanced shaders and antialiasing are mutually exclusive under SC:CT, we left AA disabled and focused on the former. We set anisotropic filtering to 8x for all cards.
For this 3rd person stealth game, ultra high frame rates are not necessary. We have a good playing experience at 25 fps or higher. There may be the framerate junkie out there who likes it a little higher, but our recommendation is based on consistency of experience and ability to play the game without a degraded experience.
While slightly outperformed by the X1900 GT, the 7900 GS is still a very good value for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Playable frame rates can drop much lower than 30 fps, so spending less to get the stock 7900 GT might be a viable option in this case. The performance lead the X1900 GT holds over the 7900 GS in this case just isn't enough to make it a worth while alternative in SC:CT.
| Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - No AA | |||||
800x600 |
1024x768 |
1280x1024 |
1600x1200 |
1920x1440 |
|
| ATI Radeon X800 GTO | 75.3 |
56.9 |
41.2 |
32.3 |
23 |
| ATI Radeon X1600 XT | 47.6 |
36.2 |
25.6 |
18.8 |
13.8 |
| ATI Radeon X1800 GTO | 79.6 |
59.1 |
40.9 |
28.7 |
21.9 |
| ATI Radeon X1900 GT | 101.9 |
78.8 |
57.6 |
43.7 |
31.9 |
| ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB | 131.2 |
103.2 |
76.7 |
58.8 |
43.1 |
| ATI Radeon X1900 XT | 137.9 |
108.5 |
79.8 |
61 |
45.6 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT | 44.6 |
32.1 |
22 |
16 |
10.6 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS | 65.8 |
47.5 |
32.4 |
23.7 |
15.9 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT | 75.4 |
54.6 |
38.2 |
28.2 |
20.7 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT | 92.4 |
67.9 |
47 |
35 |
25.8 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS | 103.6 |
76.1 |
52.7 |
39.2 |
29 |
| XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M Extreme | 110.1 |
81.1 |
56.1 |
41.8 |
30.9 |
| NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT | 112.5 |
83.5 |
58.1 |
43.5 |
32.1 |
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sirfergy - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
Woot had this card for $139 a few weeks ago. So glad I jumped!artifex - Thursday, September 7, 2006 - link
I wish I'd bought 3 and sold them on eBay. Instead, I bought 0. :(http://www.woot.com/blog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryI...">woot entry
Spoelie - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
I dunno the situation in the US, but Europe is seeing an interesting war. We have 7900GT's costing 230€, right above there is the X1900XT 256mb at 244€ and the X1900XT 512mb at 280€, with the overclocked 7900GT's overlapping in price with the X1900XT's.Check it on www.alternate.de for example.
At these prices, the X1900XT's are a pretty sweet deal, and warrant the little extra money paid over the 7900GT imho.
Spoelie - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
just to be clear, those are the minimum prices found, in general you have about price parity between the GT's and XT 256mb, with a few superclocked cards costing as much or more as the XT 512mb...Incredible value in the 200-300€/$ range imho, with cards that just months ago were in the 300-500€/$ range
Spacecomber - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
The concluding paragraphs on pages 4 and 5 are identical (i.e., the proper paragraph is missing for the XFX 480M Extreme vs. Stock Performance section).DerekWilson - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
thanks, fixedSpoelie - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
there's also a layout error in the table on page 9TheLiberalTruth - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
I don't know if it's just me or what, but I can't get any page from this article after 1 to load. :\peldor - Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - link
The BFG 7600GT is down to $115 after rebate at Newegg.