NVIDIA and ATI HDCP Compatible Graphics Cards Roundup
by Josh Venning on November 16, 2006 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
To briefly recap our performance tests, we found that the new 8800 GTX provided the highest level of performance out of all of these cards. This was followed by the BFG and EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2s, along with the 8800 GTS and Sapphire's Radeon X1950 XTX. The GX2 cards placed slightly higher in Battlefield 2 while the 8800 GTS and X1950 XTX scored higher in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, with the GTS taking the overall second place crown. The next best performers were the Sparkle Calibre 7950 GT and the rest of the 7950 GTs. The Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme led in performance for the 7900 GS cards, then the EVGA 7900 GS KO, and lastly the Albatron 7900 GS. The next best performer was the MSI NX7600 GT which led in performance against the HDMI 7600 GT cards. The Gigabyte 7600 GS was the lowest performing NVIDIA card, and the ATI Powercolor X1600 PRO was the lowest performer of them all.
Looking at CPU utilization during Blu-ray playback, we saw that ATI cards generally did a little better than NVIDIA ones, and the 8800 GTX and GTS did particularly well compared to other NVIDIA cards. It is important to note that the only tests we could run today are with MPEG-2 decode tests. Unfortunately, this says nothing about the relative performance of heavy duty encoding formats like H.264 and even VC-1 (which will be used more frequently for future BD and HD-DVD content). The only thing we can say at this point is that lower CPU utilization is better. Just how much better in the long run won't be clear until we can test higher bitrate content in other formats.
Power consumption may be more of a factor in choosing a graphics card for video and gaming, especially if the main purpose of the card will be in a home theater system. Higher wattage power supplies sometimes require bigger and noisier fans to stay cool, and this means more unwanted system noise. We tested power consumption for both 3D acceleration and BD playback and looking at both of these some cards naturally did better than others. One of the cards that was noteworthy for consuming a lower amount of power is the Albatron 7900 GS. This card got the lowest power draw of the 7900 GS cards during the 3D acceleration tests, and did well in the BD playback power tests as well. The Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme was less power-hungry in the BD playback power tests, and drew average power loads in the 3D acceleration tests. A few cards you might want to stay away from if power draw is a concern are the 7950 GX2s and the X1950 XTX (as well as the 8800 GTX and GTS, of course). These cards are the top performers, but their high power draw (and cost) is an unfortunate downside.
GPU heat levels is something we looked at and the only card with any real issues here were the two silent GPUs: the Gigabyte 7600 GT HDMI and the XFX 7950 GT. Both of these cards saw much higher heat levels than the rest. Looking at noise levels though, these two cards happened to win the award for least amount of noise, a no-brainer seeing as how both cards have no moving parts. A few other noteworthy cards were the Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme and both of the 7950 GX2s from BFG and EVGA. It's especially nice that a card with the power of the 7950 GX2 runs so quietly. On the noisy side, the EVGA 7950 GT KO and ASUS EN7600 GT HDMI both had pretty noisy fans once they kicked in during stress testing. The Sapphire X1950 XTX was fairly noisy during operation as well.
Because HDCP and accompanying technologies are so new, we encountered problems or quirks with a few of these cards. Some of the cards, like the HDMI Gigabyte 7600 GS and ASUS EN7600 GT, were only able to play our Blu-ray movies over HDMI and not through the DVI port. Conversely, we found that with our MSI NX7600 GT Diamond Plus, the Blu-ray content wouldn't play through the HDMI connection but it would through the DVI port. These issues can generally be solved by converters, but it's still a bit of a nuisance. Unfortunately, an HDCP key ROM is required for each display output in order to allow protected content to play over both. Oversights like this should be remedied in the future (at the expense of either the manufacturer or the end user). For now, consumers should be aware of the situation.
We've looked at our test results and we know who the top performers are, but in order to attribute the overall value of these cards, we have to take a look at their prices. One card we feel stood out from the rest in this roundup was the XFX GeForce 7950 GT. This card offers high performance and completely silent operation, which makes it ideal for those who want an HDCP solution for a home theater system and a powerful card for gaming in the same package. At about $300 however, it's a bit on the pricey side, but it's not much greater than other non-silent versions of the same card, which adds to its value.
We also found the non-HDMI version of the MSI NX7600 GT to be of good value, considering its price and performance. It can currently be found for around $160, but some places are offering a mail-in rebate that would bring the price down to around $141; a great deal for a card like this if it can be found. The card's fairly quiet operation and its factory overclock (and cool operation which might provide good results for user overclocking) make the MSI GeForce NX7600 GT a good deal at this price.
If you absolutely must have the highest in gaming performance while still having HDCP capability, obviously the 8800 GTX is your GPU of choice, followed by the 8800 GTS. Beneath that, we would recommend going with the Radeon X1950 XTX over the GeForce 7950 GX2. The X1950 XTX is somewhat noisy and more power-hungry than the 7950 GX2, but the X1950 XTX is currently $100+ cheaper than the 7950 GX2. Considering the 3D performance difference and other benefits (low noise, etc.), the GX2 may be worth the extra money depending on user preference. For this review, however, the X1950 XTX clearly does more to assist the CPU in decoding current BD content.
For those users looking to spend the least amount of money on an HDCP compatible card, we would point again to the MSI NX7600 GT over the rest. The X1600 Pro from Powercolor might be cheaper and has a little lower CPU overhead, but its 3D performance is so low that we don't recommend this card if you plan to do any gaming at all. Besides, for about $35 or $40 more you can have a 7600 GT with a factory overclock, which will perform fairly well with a lot of games and can hold its own in BD playback as well.
In closing, because these cards are officially HDCP compatible, they are all candidates for the graphics solution in a system with high definition optical drives. The fact that both the graphics card and display device must be HDCP capable, and most displays and graphics cards that people are currently using aren't HDCP compatible is a problem for consumers in general. Most HDTVs produced in the past several years should support HDCP, however, so if you've upgraded recently, this might not be an issue. Unfortunately, almost all LCD and all CRT computer monitors are going to need an upgrade if HDCP content is in your future.
As we said before, these compatibility issues will defintely serve to frustrate and confuse PC users looking to upgrade their system in order to watch high definition movies. We aren't sure how those on the technology side may ultimately help alleviate some of this burden on consumers. The greatest irony is that where legitimate HDCP protected content won't work on some consumer's hardware, pirated videos should work without problems. We can only wonder if the money being poured out in a massive effort to crack down on movie piracy will ultimately be worth the hindrance this has caused the average PC user, or if it will simply drive more users to look for illegal video sources. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
To briefly recap our performance tests, we found that the new 8800 GTX provided the highest level of performance out of all of these cards. This was followed by the BFG and EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2s, along with the 8800 GTS and Sapphire's Radeon X1950 XTX. The GX2 cards placed slightly higher in Battlefield 2 while the 8800 GTS and X1950 XTX scored higher in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, with the GTS taking the overall second place crown. The next best performers were the Sparkle Calibre 7950 GT and the rest of the 7950 GTs. The Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme led in performance for the 7900 GS cards, then the EVGA 7900 GS KO, and lastly the Albatron 7900 GS. The next best performer was the MSI NX7600 GT which led in performance against the HDMI 7600 GT cards. The Gigabyte 7600 GS was the lowest performing NVIDIA card, and the ATI Powercolor X1600 PRO was the lowest performer of them all.
Looking at CPU utilization during Blu-ray playback, we saw that ATI cards generally did a little better than NVIDIA ones, and the 8800 GTX and GTS did particularly well compared to other NVIDIA cards. It is important to note that the only tests we could run today are with MPEG-2 decode tests. Unfortunately, this says nothing about the relative performance of heavy duty encoding formats like H.264 and even VC-1 (which will be used more frequently for future BD and HD-DVD content). The only thing we can say at this point is that lower CPU utilization is better. Just how much better in the long run won't be clear until we can test higher bitrate content in other formats.
Power consumption may be more of a factor in choosing a graphics card for video and gaming, especially if the main purpose of the card will be in a home theater system. Higher wattage power supplies sometimes require bigger and noisier fans to stay cool, and this means more unwanted system noise. We tested power consumption for both 3D acceleration and BD playback and looking at both of these some cards naturally did better than others. One of the cards that was noteworthy for consuming a lower amount of power is the Albatron 7900 GS. This card got the lowest power draw of the 7900 GS cards during the 3D acceleration tests, and did well in the BD playback power tests as well. The Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme was less power-hungry in the BD playback power tests, and drew average power loads in the 3D acceleration tests. A few cards you might want to stay away from if power draw is a concern are the 7950 GX2s and the X1950 XTX (as well as the 8800 GTX and GTS, of course). These cards are the top performers, but their high power draw (and cost) is an unfortunate downside.
GPU heat levels is something we looked at and the only card with any real issues here were the two silent GPUs: the Gigabyte 7600 GT HDMI and the XFX 7950 GT. Both of these cards saw much higher heat levels than the rest. Looking at noise levels though, these two cards happened to win the award for least amount of noise, a no-brainer seeing as how both cards have no moving parts. A few other noteworthy cards were the Leadtek WinFast PX7900 GS TDH Extreme and both of the 7950 GX2s from BFG and EVGA. It's especially nice that a card with the power of the 7950 GX2 runs so quietly. On the noisy side, the EVGA 7950 GT KO and ASUS EN7600 GT HDMI both had pretty noisy fans once they kicked in during stress testing. The Sapphire X1950 XTX was fairly noisy during operation as well.
Because HDCP and accompanying technologies are so new, we encountered problems or quirks with a few of these cards. Some of the cards, like the HDMI Gigabyte 7600 GS and ASUS EN7600 GT, were only able to play our Blu-ray movies over HDMI and not through the DVI port. Conversely, we found that with our MSI NX7600 GT Diamond Plus, the Blu-ray content wouldn't play through the HDMI connection but it would through the DVI port. These issues can generally be solved by converters, but it's still a bit of a nuisance. Unfortunately, an HDCP key ROM is required for each display output in order to allow protected content to play over both. Oversights like this should be remedied in the future (at the expense of either the manufacturer or the end user). For now, consumers should be aware of the situation.
We've looked at our test results and we know who the top performers are, but in order to attribute the overall value of these cards, we have to take a look at their prices. One card we feel stood out from the rest in this roundup was the XFX GeForce 7950 GT. This card offers high performance and completely silent operation, which makes it ideal for those who want an HDCP solution for a home theater system and a powerful card for gaming in the same package. At about $300 however, it's a bit on the pricey side, but it's not much greater than other non-silent versions of the same card, which adds to its value.
We also found the non-HDMI version of the MSI NX7600 GT to be of good value, considering its price and performance. It can currently be found for around $160, but some places are offering a mail-in rebate that would bring the price down to around $141; a great deal for a card like this if it can be found. The card's fairly quiet operation and its factory overclock (and cool operation which might provide good results for user overclocking) make the MSI GeForce NX7600 GT a good deal at this price.
If you absolutely must have the highest in gaming performance while still having HDCP capability, obviously the 8800 GTX is your GPU of choice, followed by the 8800 GTS. Beneath that, we would recommend going with the Radeon X1950 XTX over the GeForce 7950 GX2. The X1950 XTX is somewhat noisy and more power-hungry than the 7950 GX2, but the X1950 XTX is currently $100+ cheaper than the 7950 GX2. Considering the 3D performance difference and other benefits (low noise, etc.), the GX2 may be worth the extra money depending on user preference. For this review, however, the X1950 XTX clearly does more to assist the CPU in decoding current BD content.
For those users looking to spend the least amount of money on an HDCP compatible card, we would point again to the MSI NX7600 GT over the rest. The X1600 Pro from Powercolor might be cheaper and has a little lower CPU overhead, but its 3D performance is so low that we don't recommend this card if you plan to do any gaming at all. Besides, for about $35 or $40 more you can have a 7600 GT with a factory overclock, which will perform fairly well with a lot of games and can hold its own in BD playback as well.
In closing, because these cards are officially HDCP compatible, they are all candidates for the graphics solution in a system with high definition optical drives. The fact that both the graphics card and display device must be HDCP capable, and most displays and graphics cards that people are currently using aren't HDCP compatible is a problem for consumers in general. Most HDTVs produced in the past several years should support HDCP, however, so if you've upgraded recently, this might not be an issue. Unfortunately, almost all LCD and all CRT computer monitors are going to need an upgrade if HDCP content is in your future.
As we said before, these compatibility issues will defintely serve to frustrate and confuse PC users looking to upgrade their system in order to watch high definition movies. We aren't sure how those on the technology side may ultimately help alleviate some of this burden on consumers. The greatest irony is that where legitimate HDCP protected content won't work on some consumer's hardware, pirated videos should work without problems. We can only wonder if the money being poured out in a massive effort to crack down on movie piracy will ultimately be worth the hindrance this has caused the average PC user, or if it will simply drive more users to look for illegal video sources. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
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JarredWalton - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
Testing was done with an HDTV, because that's almost guaranteed to get HDCP support these days. Some of the newer LCDs have HDCP support (Dell's 2407 and 2007 do I believe), but most do not. That should change, but for now you are less likely to get HDCP with a standard PC display than with an HDTV. So, for HTPCs, you're better off getting just about any LCDTV or plasma in my opinion - watch out for projection HDTVs, as the text for PC use can get pretty garbled. Also beware of plasma burn-in possibilities. My rear-projection HDTV has a bit of burn-in already, and no matter what companies may say, plasma as I understand it is far more prone to such problems. (ESPN HD's logo is burned in on my TV, in case you want to know.)For the cards, features and performance are the two big factors - do you want gaming + HDCP support, just HDCP, or somewhere in between? What about HDMI? If you plan on connecting directly to a TV and using the TV speakers, you'll want HDMI that can include audio (several of the cards reviewed do this). My HDTV for example has an HDMI port, and I can use a DVI-to-HDMI cable to connect to it via just about any modern GPU. The problem is, I can't get audio from the TV without a true HDMI connection.
Finally, OS support is either via Vista, or else you can get an appropriate media player that will handle HDCP content. Testing here was done on XP, so it works already. Will Vista make it better? I personally doubt it, but it won't require extra software apparently (beyond whatever Vista already includes, of course, which is already a lot of "extra").
This article is more intended as an introduction to HDCP cards rather than being the final word. It will become more important over the next year or two, certainly. We'll have discussions on displays and HDCP support in the future.
DerekWilson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
Might I also add that 1080p HDTVs seem to make excellent computer monitors. If you want something to do dual duty as a TV and a PC monitor, I can highly recommend a 1080p LCD like the westinghouse we used in this review.If I had the money for either a new monitor or a new TV I'd go with one of these and kill two birds with one stone. And I'd be very very happy about it.
Tujan - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
Come on man.Desktop HD "? Smack some of that power onto those 32 to 40 in LCD sets. I know,I know,the angle is just around the corner. The LCD vendors are going have to,sooner,or later realize what their sets mean to the market.The market different from what is being portrayed. And what performance of them mean in it.Has there been any consideration of this.? And in doing so is there any caveats to using the HDTVs when involved with the drivers/hardware..there probably are. Since HDTV sets have somewhat sutured chipsets involved with them.
So in so doing,the idea here for HDCP,being that most of these cards have DVI(HDMI transformer connector)- problems/caveats for proper sound output was not considered. What to look for to consideration of other components,and compatability to HDCP.
Perahps for example I want to look at HD.And HDCP,are we going to limit our computers to a non-player in this area.For example,get on the wire-less keyboard in the living room already.
If I was to realize that electronics stores for example had 'none'of these HDCP enable cards I would be fixing some faces.
But BD,or HD-DVD on the computer screem ?
Come on man. Its chow on those 32",40" LCD HDTV monitors already.
As if Tiawan,Japan,South Korea aren't already in the weeds.I mean helloo.
And AMD-ATI,...-dont be such a lard bottom.!(AMD-ATI).
I mean(Anandtech) easily,get Fries,or Bestbuy to give you the keys to those isles for a night or two.Im sure they'd appreciate your tender convention.
thanks for ability to post here.And good article.
DigitalFreak - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
Damn dude. I didn't understand a thing you said. Was that Far Eastern Jive or something?Tujan - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
Here is the test setup page..http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2874...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2874...
Guess depends on where your standing (and punn ya yes):
-In front of the HDTVs or Video Cards
(retail electronics shop)
- At your work desk putting a computer together (or bench)
- At your desktop reading the Anandtech article....,or In your living room sitting at your couch.
- Maybe looking at your checkbook wondering that you dont 'want to afford a 500$ mistake.
............................
"Far East Jive" ? LOL. Its all Taiwan,Japan,or South Korea making the LCDs. They look really good.
It isn't like you cant see the jungle for the warefare.
________________
Just below here on a forum post the author you'll see that the Display was said to be an HDTV . Though the system stats didn't say "what<- ...uhumn .. Display.
Think that the point of the article was question of fact wether or not the video cards would have performance,and HDCP without sacrificing one or the other.Performance to gaming,and HDCP.
For me as I had first posted would be the testing of these stats/cards to the HDTV LCDs.The author,..again said later within this forum posted that other testing would take place.
Since the caveats against several different HDTV monitors would be exactly different than simply putting together the video card(s).Telling that everything was 'ok'by doing this.With HDTVs you would have to figure compatability via the video cards(to the HDTV) as well as HDTVs (to the video cards.)
This article did not go as far as testing against several HDTVs. With the different video cards(including interaction of software instalation).
The title of my post as 'toes in slippers..hmm". Bears the reasoning that against the backdrop of the 'shelf sets..HD DVD .. Blue-ray..and non-computer .. for the sake of broadcast,and 'media'- the living room LCDTVs are much more than this this.
Its not my business to tell anybody what their business is.Then when electronics vendors are going to ignore the accesories the LCD HDTVs afford to something as 'limited'as broadcast,and media. 'Broadcast,and HD,or Blueray to high definition is 'damn limiting.Thus the 'market'isn't what your being told it is. Just in case you hadn't noticed.
A 500$ mistake makes a difference.The context of that market is all about whats around the corner in so many ways. But where are you standing and whats there to look at ? If that market is ignored in the inventories and on the shelfs...as so on.In that 'limiting'focus.
Now,I've got to figure if my post is 'worth it'. The 32"and 40 LCDTVs are 'worth it. So lets see what they can do. Read some more angles about them before purchasing.
Thanks for reply.
Tarx - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
As mentioned above, but worth mentioning again, the X1950Pro is often considered to be the best midrange card currently on the market (relatively fast, not power hungry, fairly low cost, quiet, etc.) - if possible, can this article be amended to include it?DerekWilson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
As Josh mentioned above, ATI didn't support playback of HDCP protected content on the X1950 Pro until the release of the 6.11 Catalyst driver which was posted on 11/15/06 (one day before this article was published).We'll absolutely include the X1950 Pro in future articles that cover high definition video playback now that ATI has finally released a public driver for the same.
Spoelie - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
article index is broken (fixed)graphic card data is incorrect (x1900xt at 500/600 instead of 625/750? price?)
video table is f*cked up
oblivion settings are not linked (fixed now too)
etc. etc.
still a few cards i would like to see that are still missing, like a x1950pro with 512mb or the x1950xt - and what's the use of testing performance of identical cards, mentioning all hdcp compliant 7950gt and posting performance of one should be sufficient.
Spoelie - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
just to be clear, i know what the point is of this article, but since the x1950xt and a comparison between x1950pro 256/512 are both unlikely to get separate articles at this point, using roundups like this would be useful to include them, especially if you're gonna test and post 3d performance in the process :p so that we at least have some point of reference to make buying decisions. maybe something to note for future articles :)Josh Venning - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
Thanks for your comment.We did try to test the X1950 Pro for the HDCP review. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a public driver that supports the X1950 Pro since it's launch (that is until Catalyst 6.11 which was posted yesterday). ATI really dropped the ball with X1950 Pro, because the beta drivers they released did not support HDCP either.
We're sorry that we couldn't include this card in the review, but it just wasn't possible to test HDCP with the X1950 Pro until yesterday afternoon.