NVIDIA GeForce 8600: Full H.264 Decode Acceleration
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 27, 2007 4:34 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
We chose to test with four NVIDIA GPUs and two ATI GPUs. From NVIDIA we used the GeForce 8800 GTX, 8600 GTS, 8600 GT and the 7950 GT. The 8800 GTX and 7950 GT have the same VP as the rest of the GeForce 7 line, so they should offer fairly similar performance to everything else in NVIDIA's lineup that runs above 400MHz (remember that NVIDIA's VP stops working at core clocks below 400MHz). We included both 8600 cards to confirm NVIDIA's claim that the two 8600s would perform identically when it comes to H.264 decoding.
ATI uses its shader units to handle video decode, so there's more performance variance between GPUs. ATI only guarantees 720p or above decode acceleration on X1600 or faster GPUs and thus we included two parts in this review: a Radeon X1600 XT and a Radeon X1950 XTX; in theory the latter should be a bit better at its decode acceleration.
For our host CPU we chose the recently released Intel Core 2 Duo E6320, running at 1.86GHz with a 4MB L2 cache. As always, we reported both average and maximum CPU utilization figures. There will be some variability between numbers since we're dealing with manual measurements of CPU utilization, but you should be able to get an idea of basic trends.
We chose three HD-DVD titles for our performance test: Yozakura (H.264), The Interpreter (H.264) and Serenity (VC1). Yozakura is a Japanese HD-DVD that continues to be the most stressful test we've encountered; even on some of the fastest Core 2 systems it will still peak at 100% CPU utilization. Keep in mind that the NVIDIA GPUs don't handle CAVLC/CABAC for VC1 decode as VP2 is hardwired for H.264 decode, thus our VC1 test shouldn't show any tremendous improvement thanks to the new GPUs.
We used the Microsoft Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive for all of our tests.
| System Test Configuration | |
| CPU: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 (1.86GHz/4MB) |
| Motherboard: | ASUS P5B Deluxe |
| Chipset: | Intel P965 |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel 8.1.1.1010 |
| Hard Disk: | Seagate 7200.7 160GB SATA |
| Memory: | Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (1GB x 4) |
| Video Card: | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT ATI Radeon X1950 XTX ATI Radeon X1600 XT |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 7.4 NVIDIA ForceWare 158.16 |
| Desktop Resolution: | 1920 x 1080 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
| OS: | Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit |
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
I corrected the statement, we will have our 8500 review sample in the coming weeks :)Take care,
Anand
kilkennycat - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Anand, you need to keep an eye on both ZZF and Newegg on release dates for new computer hardware, just in case your review versions don't materialize. The MSI 8500GT (o/c version, irc) was orderable and In Stock at ZZF @10PM Pacific Time on April 16 and continued to be in stock for at least part of April 17.JarredWalton - Saturday, April 28, 2007 - link
We know they're available, but if we ran out and purchased every piece of new hardware for testing rather than relying on our partners, that can start to put a pretty sizable dent in the old paycheck. Not that we don't often purchase hardware anyway....mmp121 - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Page 3 paragraph 1, last sentence ends abruptly.Could you comment on what you are confirming?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Just confirming that the two 8600s perform the same despite their differences. Thanks for the correction :)Take care,
Anand
WarlordBB - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Did I miss it, or did you mention it in a previous article?What the heck are you using for your HD-DVD drive?
mmp121 - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Most likely the XBOX360 HD-DVD drive. Or heck, maybe he ripped it to HDD?Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
We used the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. We would never rip a HD-DVD movie to HDD, that would be illegal of course ;)DerekWilson - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
quite ... of course, inspite of the fact that ripping the HD or BD movie is illegal (DMCA violation), *having* the HD or BD movie on your HDD is protected by fair use ...as Anand alluded to, though, playing back content that isn't aacs protected would result in lower cpu utilization and wouldn't be reflective of the average consumer experience.
Ard - Friday, April 27, 2007 - link
Well, strictly speaking that's not exactly true. Having a ripped movie on your HDD, assuming you legally own the movie in question, is certainly a fair use due to the software archival provisions in the Copyright Act. However, since the DMCA is itself a part of the Act, having the movie on your HDD essentially becomes de facto illegal because the only way you could put it there is through ripping, which, as you stated, is illegal anti-circumvention. It's things like this (the chilling of fair use and extension of copyright owners' rights) that make me hate the DMCA and all who would use it for their gain.On topic, I'm glad to see that the 8600 line is capable of significantly decreasing CPU utilization. I wasn't expecting a drop from 80+% to 24%. It's really incredible.