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3Digest: March 2007

Monthly drivers report and popular 3D
accelerators comparison

Monthy 3Digest is the project of iXBT.com and Digit-Life.com dedicated to informing you about the performance of a large number of graphics cards under Windows XP in the past month.

This issue is dedicated to drivers released from the 15th of February to the 15th of March 2007. Traditionally our 3Digest informs you about the best price/performance ratios available in the market. Another very important part of any issue is cards' 3D graphics quality shown on the example of a wide selection of games.

It's our 82th issue of 3Digest.

This digest is dedicated to CPU dependency of graphics cards. This month we added AA+AF benchmarks.

Attention! This digest contains benchmarking results for PCI-E cards only! The final AGP benchmarking was conducted in March 2006!

CONTENTS

  1. Testbed configurations and test software
  2. Tested videocards list
  3. What's new in 3Digest
  4. Test summary diagrams and digest bottom line
  5. 3D accelerator rating calculations for the end of the month
  6. Screenshot gallery
  7. Game Quality Section
  8. Game Quality Control Section



1. Testbed configuration



  • Intel Core2 Duo (775 Socket) based machine
    • Intel Core2 Duo Extreme X6800 (2930 MHz) (L2=4096K) CPU;
    • Intel Core2 Duo Extreme X6800 CPU (overlocked to 3400 MHz by changing the multiplier to 13), 1066 MHz FSB and memory;
    • Intel Core2 Duo E6400 (2133 MHz) CPU;
    • EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard on NVIDIA nForce 680i;
    • 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM Corsair 1066MHz (CAS (tCL)=5; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)=5; Row Precharge (tRP)=5; tRAS=15);
    • WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD.

  • AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ (AM2 Socket) based machine
    • AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ (2000 MHz) (L2=2048K) CPU;
    • Foxconn motherboard on NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI;
    • 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM OCZ 800MHz (CAS (tCL)=5; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)=5; Row Precharge (tRP)=5; tRAS=15);
    • WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD.

The testbed has Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, DirectX 9.0c installed. Dell 3007WFP (30") monitor was used.

The list of benchmarks is here

2. Graphics card list

Below is a list of graphics cards that we tested linked to the respective 3Digest feature description pages.

You can see the quality of 3D produced by tested cards in our monthly updated Screenshot gallery.

Card list:

  1. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 256MB DDR 2.8ns (450/550 MHz)
  2. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 512MB DDR2 3.0ns (450/500 MHz)
  3. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 PRO 256MB DDR 2.5ns (600/800 MHz)
  4. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 XT 256MB DDR2 2.0ns (500/900 MHz)
  5. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 PRO 256MB DDR 1.4ns (590/1380 MHz)
  6. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 XT 256MB DDR 1.4ns (600/1400 MHz)
  7. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 XT 256MB DDR 1.2ns (625/1530 MHz)
  8. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 2.0ns (500/1000 MHz)
  9. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (580/1400 MHz)
  10. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (635/1480 MHz)
  11. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (573/1360 MHz)
  12. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
  13. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
  14. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XTX 512MB GDDR3 1.1ns (650/1550 MHz)
  15. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 XTX 512MB GDDR4 0.9ns (650/2000 MHz)
  16. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 XT 512MB GDDR4 0.9ns (625/1800 MHz)
  17. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR2 2.8ns (350/666 MHz)
  18. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (500/1400 MHz)
  19. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (560/1400 MHz)
  20. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 2.5ns (400/800 MHz)
  21. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 2.0ns (550/950 MHz)
  22. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (450/1100 MHz)
  23. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB GDDR3 1.6ns (430/1200 MHz)
  24. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (450/1320 MHz)
  25. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (450/1320 MHz)
  26. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (480/1400 MHz)
  27. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (540/1500 MHz)
  28. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (550/1400 MHz)
  29. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (600/1430 MHz)
  30. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 1.1ns (650/1600 MHz)
  31. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (500/1200 MHz)
  32. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (4x500/1200 MHz)
  33. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 1.2ns (512/1600 MHz)
  34. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (575/1800 MHz)
  35. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (2x575/1800 MHz)
  36. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS SLI 2x640MB GDDR3 1.2ns (2x512/1600 MHz)

Archive (graphics cards, information on which is no longer updated)

3. March 2007 news and current matters

Added a number of new graphics cards (marked "NEW").

  • 3.1. The following drivers were released from February 15, 2007 to March 15, 2007:



  • 3.2. This month we used 97.92 drivers for NVIDIA-based card summaries; 7.1 drivers for ATI-based card summaries.

4. Summary graphics card performance charts for the latest drivers available at the moment of testing in March 2007

All willing to see the complete results in Excel 2003 format can download this RAR 3.0 or this ZIP archive.

Attention! Due to technical issues not all benchmark results are published. However, provided are results for new games, which give good understanding of CPU dependency.

Also, due to technical issues the incorrect "No AA, No AF" lines were added to the charts. The correct information is provided in chart headlines: AA 4x + AF 16x.

  • 4.1. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (No HDR)



  • 4.2. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (HDR)



  • 4.3. Call Of Juarez



  • 4.4. Serious Sam II (No HDR)



  • 4.5. Serious Sam II (HDR)



  • 4.6. Archive (information from the previous 3Digests absent in this issue)

  • 4.7. Notes on graphics cards performance with the latest drivers:

    • If a particular card is not in the summary, it means the given benchmark didn't work or worked incorrectly with it.
    • We should underline that, like before, WinXP drivers for NVIDIA 8800 series introduce a number of serious artefacts in some games, not to mention the inoperative SLI (e.g., Call Of Juarez.) Therefore you can see that performance of these SLI configurations is low (even lower than that of single cards.) Though the new beta drivers, which are promised to fix these problems, have already leaked to the Web, we didn't benchmark them for our comparison with the previous issue of 3Digest (tests without AA+AF) to be correct.
    • Speaking of our impressions from testing. Unlike the similar examination conducted nearly 2 years ago, here we can clearly see that modern games have a very heavy impact on graphics cards, so CPU influence is somehow lower. Take a look at, say, Call Of Juarez, which places all the load on a graphics card. Our testing also visually separated cards to strongly CPU dependent, moderately CPU dependent, and lightly CPU dependent. Of course, you should consider that benchmarks were run at maximum quality settings possible ingame, which increased the load on graphics cards. In general, we can state that these AA+AF benchmarking results are rather unique, because nearly all cards (except for the 8800 series) demonstrated almost the same performance on different platforms and with different CPU clock rates.
    • Also consider that we have already had the test results for the base Core2 Duo 2.13 GHz processor. And its performance was 15% higher than that of the A64 X2 5000+. Therefore, all other Athlon64 X2 processors (except for the 5200+) should get within the range between the A64 X2 4000+ and the Core2 Duo E6400. And you can estimate the difference percentage yourself.

    5. 3D accelerator ratings calculations for the end of the month

    Attention! Since we have only examined CPU dependency of graphics cards and haven't conducted tests without AA+AF, we haven't made any ratings! Therefore we can only pe-publish those from December 3Digest.

    Calculations were based on gaming benchmark results as well as the results from 3DMark06 new tests (ATI CATALYST 6.12, NVIDIA ForceWare 96.97).


    All willing to conduct their own rating calculations with own values are invited to download this Excel XP table in RAR 3.0 or ZIP format.

    The method of rating calculation is described here.

    Calculations were conducted considering the following assumptions:

    1. Percentage of performance and quality demand ratio:
      • performance priority - 60%
      • quality priority - 40%

    2. Only the HIGHEST resolution available in games was used to calculate prospect ratings.
    3. The usability rating indicates performance and features of a card (numerator) related to its price (denominator).

    According to your wishes, we separated ratings into two groups: the first gathers all benchmarks, and the second contains only the gaming tests without m3DMark05/06. Disbelieving the synthetic tests, many think the second group is of higher importance.

    Core2 Duo X6800 platform:

    "Usability" Rating:

  • GAMING ONLY usability rating

    # Card Usability rating Prospect rating Price
    01. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
    2176
    677
    237
    02. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
    2150
    716
    258
    03. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
    2095
    697
    260
    04. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
    1898
    772
    332
    05. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
    1884
    420
    115
    06. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
    1865
    352
    85
    07. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
    1863
    1252
    795
    08. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
    1759
    538
    200
    09. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
    1743
    517
    187
    10. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
    1725
    1045
    649
    11. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
    1658
    853
    445
    12. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
    1651
    809
    415
    13. X1800 GTO 256MB 500/1000
    1608
    547
    224
    14. 7300 GT 256MB, 500/1400
    1537
    339
    90
    15. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
    1532
    294
    72
    16. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
    1530
    834
    472
    17. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
    1440
    863
    528
    18. 7600 GS 256MB, 450/1100
    1396
    359
    106
    19. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
    1251
    322
    97
    20. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
    1242
    394
    145
    21. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
    1130
    1479
    1590
    22. 7300 GT 256MB, 350/666
    1117
    258
    76
    23. X1300 256MB, 450/550
    1104
    238
    69
    24. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
    1093
    461
    219
    25. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
    1070
    359
    142
    26. 7900 GS 256MB, 540/1500
    1032
    494
    265
    27. 7900 GS 256MB, 480/1400
    978
    477
    262
    28. X1300 512MB, 450/500
    950
    248
    85
    29. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
    934
    526
    325
    30. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
    867
    517
    342
    31. 7900 GT 256MB, 450/1320
    855
    479
    300
    32. 7900 GTX 512MB, 650/1600
    831
    551
    402
    33. 7800 GTX 256MB, 430/1200
    723
    471
    342
    34. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
    687
    628
    585
    35. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
    393
    705
    1170


  • GENERAL usability rating

    # Card Usability rating Prospect rating Price
    01. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
    2984
    1097
    237
    02. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
    2951
    1166
    258
    03. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
    2870
    1128
    260
    04. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
    2716
    2101
    795
    05. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
    2684
    691
    115
    06. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
    2616
    575
    85
    07. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
    2557
    1240
    332
    08. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
    2508
    1747
    649
    09. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
    2423
    876
    200
    10. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
    2367
    829
    187
    11. 7300 GT 256MB, 500/1400
    2316
    575
    90
    12. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
    2236
    1380
    445
    13. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
    2218
    1299
    415
    14. 7600 GS 256MB, 450/1100
    2144
    613
    106
    15. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
    2117
    470
    72
    16. X1800 GTO 256MB 500/1000
    2100
    862
    224
    17. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
    2057
    1340
    472
    18. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
    1933
    1384
    528
    19. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
    1913
    677
    145
    20. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
    1905
    551
    97
    21. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
    1726
    2544
    1590
    22. 7300 GT 256MB, 350/666
    1713
    444
    76
    23. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
    1661
    788
    219
    24. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
    1658
    622
    142
    25. 7900 GS 256MB, 540/1500
    1580
    848
    265
    26. X1300 256MB, 450/550
    1501
    385
    69
    27. 7900 GS 256MB, 480/1400
    1487
    816
    262
    28. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
    1440
    908
    325
    29. X1300 512MB, 450/500
    1365
    411
    85
    30. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
    1337
    892
    342
    31. 7900 GT 256MB, 450/1320
    1304
    821
    300
    32. 7900 GTX 512MB, 650/1600
    1289
    953
    402
    33. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
    1128
    1116
    585
    34. 7800 GTX 256MB, 430/1200
    1112
    812
    342
    35. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
    710
    1319
    1170

    "Prospect" Rating:

  • GAMING ONLY prospect rating

    # Card Usability rating Prospect rating Price
    01. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
    1130
    1479
    1590
    02. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
    1863
    1252
    795
    03. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
    1725
    1045
    649
    04. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
    1440
    863
    528
    05. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
    1658
    853
    445
    06. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
    1530
    834
    472
    07. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
    1651
    809
    415
    08. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
    1898
    772
    332
    09. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
    2150
    716
    258
    10. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
    393
    705
    1170
    11. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
    2095
    697
    260
    12. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
    2176
    677
    237
    13. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
    687
    628
    585
    14. 7900 GTX 512MB, 650/1600
    831
    551
    402
    15. X1800 GTO 256MB 500/1000
    1608
    547
    224
    16. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
    1759
    538
    200
    17. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
    934
    526
    325
    18. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
    1743
    517
    187
    19. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
    867
    517
    342
    20. 7900 GS 256MB, 540/1500
    1032
    494
    265
    21. 7900 GT 256MB, 450/1320
    855
    479
    300
    22. 7900 GS 256MB, 480/1400
    978
    477
    262
    23. 7800 GTX 256MB, 430/1200
    723
    471
    342
    24. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
    1093
    461
    219
    25. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
    1884
    420
    115
    26. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
    1242
    394
    145
    27. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
    1070
    359
    142
    28. 7600 GS 256MB, 450/1100
    1396
    359
    106
    29. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
    1865
    352
    85
    30. 7300 GT 256MB, 500/1400
    1537
    339
    90
    31. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
    1251
    322
    97
    32. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
    1532
    294
    72
    33. 7300 GT 256MB, 350/666
    1117
    258
    76
    34. X1300 512MB, 450/500
    950
    248
    85
    35. X1300 256MB, 450/550
    1104
    238
    69


  • GENERAL prospect rating

    # Card Usability rating Prospect rating Price
    01. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
    1726
    2544
    1590
    02. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
    2716
    2101
    795
    03. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
    2508
    1747
    649
    04. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
    1933
    1384
    528
    05. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
    2236
    1380
    445
    06. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
    2057
    1340
    472
    07. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
    710
    1319
    1170
    08. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
    2218
    1299
    415
    09. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
    2557
    1240
    332
    10. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
    2951
    1166
    258
    11. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
    2870
    1128
    260
    12. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
    1128
    1116
    585
    13. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
    2984
    1097
    237
    14. 7900 GTX 512MB, 650/1600
    1289
    953
    402
    15. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
    1440
    908
    325
    16. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
    1337
    892
    342
    17. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
    2423
    876
    200
    18. X1800 GTO 256MB 500/1000
    2100
    862
    224
    19. 7900 GS 256MB, 540/1500
    1580
    848
    265
    20. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
    2367
    829
    187
    21. 7900 GT 256MB, 450/1320
    1304
    821
    300
    22. 7900 GS 256MB, 480/1400
    1487
    816
    262
    23. 7800 GTX 256MB, 430/1200
    1112
    812
    342
    24. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
    1661
    788
    219
    25. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
    2684
    691
    115
    26. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
    1913
    677
    145
    27. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
    1658
    622
    142
    28. 7600 GS 256MB, 450/1100
    2144
    613
    106
    29. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
    2616
    575
    85
    30. 7300 GT 256MB, 500/1400
    2316
    575
    90
    31. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
    1905
    551
    97
    32. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
    2117
    470
    72
    33. 7300 GT 256MB, 350/666
    1713
    444
    76
    34. X1300 512MB, 450/500
    1365
    411
    85
    35. X1300 256MB, 450/550
    1501
    385
    69



    Ingame quality



    6. Games screenshot gallery

    All test screenshots are compiled into a gallery where you can qualify the work of a chosen videocard. All shots were taken at the same 1024x768 resolution at the maximum quality. Screenshot gallery

    7. Game Artefacts Gallery

    Game Quality Section

    8. Game Quality Control Section

    Game Quality Control Section



    We thank all the companies that provided us with graphics cards and other equipment for our 3Digest, including:

    Foxconn Russia,
    MSI Russia,
    Gainward,

    HIS (and personally Peter Yueng)
    NVIDIA Russia,
    AMD Russia,
    Sapphire Technology Russia,
    ASUStek Russia,



    The PSU for the testbed was kindly provided by HIPER




         		                               The Dell 3007WFP monitor was kindly provided by NVIDIA
Vitaly Milov (vmilov@ixbt.com)
Danil Gridasov (degust@ixbt.com)








Andrey Vorobiev (anvakams@ixbt.com)









05.03.2007



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