ATI's X1950XTX (directx9) wins a Benchmark

[IntelCore2]

I was very shocked when I saw this, but in Half life 2 (amazing game) , ATI's older directx9 technology beats out Nvidia's dicrectx10 monster 8800GXT.
Check out the link below to see where your card is placed benchmark wise for this game.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

[compygeek]

It's really not a surprise considering the X1950XTX is tailored for DX9 optimizations. But what you should really be looking at is the difference in performance as you up the resolutions and effects. Although the 8800GTX is made for DX10, it pretty much holds it's own and overtakes the X1950XTX DX9 cards at 1600x1200 with AA and AF on. All in all, both cards perform really well in today's and possibly the near future's PC games. It all depends on resolution you play your games at (I play at 1600x1200 and try to max all effects), and how fat your wallet is. I was going to wait for the X1950XTX when I upgraded, but got a great deal on the 8800GTX that I just couldn't resist. Added the fact that it's DX10 (although DX10 games won't be out at least until Q32007), The money I spent on a new video card didn't really go to waste. What will be interesting to see is ATI's new DX10 flagship card. I'm a little excited.

[IntelCore2]

Personally, I think it is premature or was pre mature to get that card when it was released as to full mazimize that direct 10 x would not take place until Vista comes out. Of course, Vista is now practically here but when that card was released, I feel it was premature. If ATI can hold up its own in thier direct 9 version, I can just imagine what ATI's next firect X 10 version is. Of course we have not seen anything yet. I remeber when we were waiting and waiting for Intel core 2 to come out and when it finally did , it was a beast. I suspect ATI' directx 10 will also be a screamer.

[IntelCore2]

Also, on that particular benchmark and at that particular resolution, the ATI card beat that 8800 by exactly 25.3 FPS. That is quite a difference!

[zerocool24]

who plays at 1024x768 with such a good card though? i know i wouldn't. at 1600x1200 with 4x aa and 8x af the 8800 kills it by 50+ fps now thats impressive

[compygeek]

Well, it looks like the R600 is a better performer than the 8800 series (http://level505.com/2006/12/30/the-full-ati-r600-test/1/)... By around 15-25 frames. From what the specs described, I'd expected it to be a powerhouse over the 8800's but such a meager difference is a little disappointing... I read somewhere that it pumps out more juice out of the PSU than the 8800 as well, (NVIDIA TDP=185W, ATI R600=230W). I do realize that this is a reference sample card, and that driver issues probably play a role, but with superior architecture I'd expected a blowout. Computer hardware nowadays is a see-saw adventure to be king of the hill... so of course it's expected that ATI will develop hardware that can surpass Nvidia's current series. And the trend will continue Q3 2007 when NVidia releases an 8900 series... and so on and so on. Same story goes with Core 2 Duo's. Everyone grabbed them up once they were released cuz they were the snit for cpu performance. Not just 4-5 months later, quad core's are released, with AMD's quad's and 2x4 setups on the way. Was it premature to get a core 2 duo??? Some people say yes. It's an endless battle. Do I feel it was premature to grab an 8800 early in the game.... IMHO not really. I have used both ATI and NVIDIA Cards for sometime now, and I just choose what's hot on the market at that time. Should I have waited for the R600... probably, but for a somewhat meager fps increase, I have absolutely no regrets with my current card at all.

[compygeek]

who plays at 1024x768 with such a good card though?

LOL, I never even thought of that!!!

[IntelCore2]

I know serveral people who play at the resolution described above. The BIG difference here though compgeek is the ATI i still based on old technology(directx10) compared to Nvidia brand new technolgy directx 10. So a 25 FPS increase considering that large and important facter is impressive to me. I can not wait until ATI unleashes thier Direct x 10 card. Then that will be more fair to compare thier arcitecture. Just like it isnt really fair to compare the core2 65 nm to amd;s older technology based on 90.

[IntelCore2]

correction ATI base don Direct 9x

[compygeek]

I know serveral people who play at the resolution described above. The BIG difference here though compgeek is the ATI i still based on old technology(directx10) compared to Nvidia brand new technolgy directx 10. So a 25 FPS increase considering that large and important facter is impressive to me. I can not wait until ATI unleashes thier Direct x 10 card. Then that will be more fair to compare thier arcitecture. Just like it isnt really fair to compare the core2 65 nm to amd;s older technology based on 90.

I may be confused at what you're saying, but the 25FPS difference is using the R600 gpu, which is ATI's DX10 card, not DX9. So it's not using old technology.

[IntelCore2]

Okay so according to you ATI is not using old technology...Either is Nvidia. We can aregu until we are blue in the face but the fact remaisn that Nvidia has the definite edge that it has direct x10 and the ATI does not 9yet) when ATI has a direct x10 card out then i can compare that to nvidias direct x 10. There is a big difference with direct x 9 and direct x10 and I dont have to be a computer genius to figure that out!

[compygeek]

Okay so according to you ATI is not using old technology...Either is Nvidia. We can aregu until we are blue in the face but the fact remaisn that Nvidia has the definite edge that it has direct x10 and the ATI does not 9yet) when ATI has a direct x10 card out then i can compare that to nvidias direct x 10. There is a big difference with direct x 9 and direct x10 and I dont have to be a computer genius to figure that out!

I realize what you are saying. I was just stating that the link I attached to my previous post was using ATI's next gen DX10 gpu core, and the article was benchmarking it against the 8800's. So although the consumer cards arent' out there yet, the reference DX10 card that ATI is using for Microsoft's Driver certification program was available for testing. And that website I linked was showing the performance differential. By no means do I want a blue face, let alone start an argument. I had totally forgot about the fact that we were originally comparing a DX9 XTX1950X to a DX10 8800. I was mearly stating a comparison between the NVG80 and the ATI R600, both of which are DX10 cards.

[IntelCore2]

Okay , for one , the key word as it is in testing (beta) not the finished product! Number 2 , the ATI X1950XT benchmark above where it was 25 FPS faster then the Nvidia is based on Direct X9...nothing about it is directx10 unless I have absoulty no clue what i am talking about that is directx9!!!That is why that benchmark was impressive because it was comparing a x9 to an x10.

[compygeek]

Okay, I understand now... But I believe that the X1950XTX on the link is in Crossfire which means there are 2 cards running, comparing it to one 8800. And like I said, I wasn't even comparing the X1950XTX, just the DX10 R600. It is true that it is a reference card, but they're pretty much finalized in production seeing as ATI is releasing them this month.

Edit: I stand corrected, the X1950XTX is probably just the master card.
Edit again: After further reading, it appears that the X1950XTX is running dual card setup (Crossfire mode). They had to change the motherboard to allow for a crossfire setup with 2 X1950XTX cards.

[IntelCore2]

Great stuff...Makes more sense to release it next month when Vista comes out anyways! Nevertheless, I am extreamly impressed with the quality and performance of the X1950XTX directX 9 card! I have always prefered ATI myself because of the quality of thier cards!!

[compygeek]

Yep... the proof will be in the pudding when actual DX10 games come out (Crysis is slated for Q3 07). And by that point both Nvidia and ATI will be working on their next set of GPU's anyway.

If you are considering grabbing an ATI DX10 card... you should wait til march, when they release another one using GDDR4 Memory. The january card is slated to use GDDR3... I still think possibly releasing 2 flagships within 2 months is weird, but I can't wait to see performance they'll spit out.