ATI Radeon X800 GT: A Quality Mid-range Solution
by Josh Venning on September 28, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Doom 3 Performance
Doom 3 is known to favor the architecture of NVIDIA, given their "Ultra Shadow" technology and Doom 3's impressive use of it for lighting effects. Before you simply pass by these results because you don't like the game, remember that there are several titles coming out in the near future that will use the same engine. Quake 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars look to take the technology demo known as Doom 3 and turn it into a truly great gaming experience. (Yes, many people loved Doom 3, and we're not trying to start that debate again.)
You can see that once AA is enabled, the gap closes considerably, and the 6600 GT's framerate falls to levels that aren't really playable. X800 GT takes a smaller hit in performance with AA enabled by comparison – it's 40% slower at 1280x1024 where the 6600GT is 55% slower. Its much higher (nearly double the 6600GT) bandwidth helps, but it still comes out behind – and none of the cards other than the X800 XT are playable with 4xAA. Note that as with BF2, the framerate that the X800 GT gets is very playable at 1280x1024.
Doom 3 is known to favor the architecture of NVIDIA, given their "Ultra Shadow" technology and Doom 3's impressive use of it for lighting effects. Before you simply pass by these results because you don't like the game, remember that there are several titles coming out in the near future that will use the same engine. Quake 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars look to take the technology demo known as Doom 3 and turn it into a truly great gaming experience. (Yes, many people loved Doom 3, and we're not trying to start that debate again.)
You can see that once AA is enabled, the gap closes considerably, and the 6600 GT's framerate falls to levels that aren't really playable. X800 GT takes a smaller hit in performance with AA enabled by comparison – it's 40% slower at 1280x1024 where the 6600GT is 55% slower. Its much higher (nearly double the 6600GT) bandwidth helps, but it still comes out behind – and none of the cards other than the X800 XT are playable with 4xAA. Note that as with BF2, the framerate that the X800 GT gets is very playable at 1280x1024.
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
It's okay, Paul - we know how names with the first letter can get mixed up. ;)A few of the paragraphs are mine, but I doubt anyone would be able to pick them out. LOL. It's like "Where's Waldo": where's the paragraph written by a different editor?
ViRGE - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
It went up nearly 2 days ago then disappeared, and now it's finally back up. What happened?DerekWilson - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
Technical difficulties :-)We worked it out though
overclockingoodness - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
Whenever you see an article disappear like that, just know that they published it accidently. Although I must say, you guys have been having technical difficulties for quite a bit lately.I probably wouldn't mind if the ATI R520 article went up early due to technical difficulties. ;)
DerekWilson - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
hehe ... If we could possibly get it done early, that might be a problem :-) But we'll be working hard and late on that one.rqle - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
On the Power Consumption page, is that the WHOLE system power draw (cpu, hd, video card, ram, board) or is it just then Video card?rqle - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
nvm, didnt read it clear the first way throughnourdmrolNMT1 - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
my 9800 pro is seriously taking a beating.maybe this christmas ill get a whole new inside. since upgrading my gpu means upgrading my mobo too.
hmm
ShadowVlican - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
oh man.. these cards are supposed to cater to different price points, but now there's so many cards that it makes it even more confusing to buy... i'll stick with 6600GT because of purevideo (next pc = htpc)Jep4444 - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - link
ATIs next generation cards are supposedly one upping nVidia with Pure Video with H.264 encoding and while your at it, you may want to look into the whole Avivo thing since it seems to be up your alley(although i guess alot of it is marketing, im just referring to the concept in general)that aside i don't know why you recomend the X800XT to those needing to play at those settings at all completely ignoring the X800XL which at times has reached price levels below $250