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May 2007 3Digest

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

It's our 84th issue of 3Digest.

May 2007

Added benchmarks of GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8600 GT, RADEON HD 2900 XT.

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;
    • EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard on NVIDIA nForce 680i;
    • 2GB DDR2 SDRAM Corsair 1142MHz (CAS (tCL)=5; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)=5; Row Precharge (tRP)=5; tRAS=15);
    • WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD.

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

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.

Cards 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 X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (580/1400 MHz)
  9. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (635/1480 MHz)
  10. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (573/1360 MHz)
  11. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
  12. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
  13. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XTX 512MB GDDR3 1.1ns (650/1550 MHz)
  14. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 XTX 512MB GDDR4 0.9ns (650/2000 MHz)
  15. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 XT 512MB GDDR4 0.9ns (625/1800 MHz)
  16. PCI-E-ATI RADEON HD 2900 XT 512MB GDDR3 1.0ns (743/1660 MHz)
  17. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (560/1400 MHz)
  18. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 2.5ns (400/800 MHz)
  19. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 2.0ns (550/950 MHz)
  20. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 256MB GDDR2 2.5ns (450/800 MHz)
  21. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (600/1200 MHz)
  22. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (560/1560 MHz)
  23. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 1.0ns (675/2000 MHz)
  24. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 1.0ns (720/2200 MHz)
  25. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (450/1320 MHz)
  26. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (550/1400 MHz)
  27. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (600/1430 MHz)
  28. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (500/1200 MHz)
  29. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (4x500/1200 MHz)
  30. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 1.2ns (512/1600 MHz)
  31. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 1.2ns (512/1600 MHz)
  32. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (575/1800 MHz)
  33. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (625/2000 MHz)
  34. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB GDDR3 0.8ns (612/2160 MHz)
  35. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (2x575/1800 MHz)

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

3. May 2007 news and matters

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

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

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

If you are familiar with 3D graphics, you will be able to draw all the conclusions yourself after looking at the charts provided. Those interested in our judgement of test results should see reviews dedicated to specific GPUs (see our 3D graphics section). And for newbies and those who has just started choosing a graphics card we'll provide some more detailed explanations.

First of all, you should take a look at our brief references of modern graphics card series and their respective GPUs. Note clock rates, shader support and pipeline architecture.



Reference for ATI RADEON X1300-1600-1800-1900 series

Reference for NVIDIA GeForce 7300-7600-7800-7900-8800 series

Secondly, in our 3D graphics section all newbies can read about the basics of 3D (this knowledge will be required anyway, because you'll surely try to adjust some game settings: textures, lighting, etc.) Besides, newbies should read separate reviews dedicated to new products. There are just two GPU vendors: ATI (recently merged with AMD under its brand) and NVIDIA. Thus, all information is generally separated in two parts.

Thirdly, let's see the charts and make conclusions.

  • 4.1. Far Cry, Research (No HDR)



  • 4.2. Far Cry, Research (HDR)



  • 4.3. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (No HDR)



  • 4.4. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (HDR)



  • 4.5. Call Of Juarez



  • 4.6. Prey



  • 4.7. 3DMark05 MARKS



  • 4.8. Company Of Heroes



  • 4.9. F.E.A.R.



  • 4.10. Serious Sam II (No HDR)



  • 4.11. Serious Sam II (HDR)



  • 4.12. 3DMark 06, Shader Model 2.0 MARKS



  • 4.13. 3DMark 06, Shader Model 3.0 MARKS



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

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

    • If a particular card is not in the summary, i.e. its results are either 0, or 1, it means the given benchmark hasn't work or has worked incorrectly with this card.
    • We must especially underline the bad quality of WinXP drivers for NVIDIA 8800 series. For example, they do not allow DVI scalability of resolution. Besides, SLI still doesn't work in Call Of Juarez. Therefore SLI configurations have performance results even lower than those of single cards in these tests.
    • If you imagine a line connecting ends of columns representing test results on a chart, you can judge if a game is critical to a card or a CPU. If this curve is "convex" and many cards perform similarly, it means at this resolution and under this load performance is bottlenecked by system resources, not graphics card potential. If, vice versa, the curve is "concave" and performance drops quickly as card potential reduces, it means the game puts heavy load on graphics cards and depends exclusively on their potential.

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

    Calculations were based on gaming benchmark results as well as the results from 3DMark06 new tests (ATI CATALYST 7.4, NVIDIA ForceWare 160.02).


    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 based testbed:

    "Usability" Rating:

    1. GAMING ONLY usability rating

      01. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
      701
      690
      164
      02. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
      700
      825
      218
      03. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
      688
      851
      234
      04. 8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600
      675
      1043
      355
      05. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
      665
      787
      211
      06. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
      632
      870
      260
      07. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
      618
      730
      200
      08. 8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560
      604
      588
      146
      09. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
      592
      711
      205
      10. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
      581
      428
      83
      11. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
      573
      1089
      452
      12. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
      559
      527
      130
      13. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
      557
      1293
      611
      14. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
      551
      359
      64
      15. EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000
      548
      1363
      674
      16. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
      545
      549
      144
      17. HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660
      542
      1181
      541
      18. 8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200
      537
      503
      115
      19. 8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000
      488
      700
      237
      20. 8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200
      462
      712
      260
      21. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
      446
      880
      380
      22. 8500 GT 256MB, 450/800
      431
      433
      107
      23. 8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160
      413
      1375
      909
      24. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
      390
      299
      63
      25. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
      356
      1570
      1222
      26. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
      339
      398
      117
      27. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
      314
      326
      85
      28. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
      312
      466
      169
      29. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
      288
      532
      232
      30. X1300 256MB, 450/550
      282
      243
      60
      31. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
      270
      364
      124
      32. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
      262
      523
      249
      33. X1300 512MB, 450/500
      253
      252
      71
      34. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
      170
      634
      519
      35. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
      101
      724
      1038


    2. GENERAL usability rating

      01. 8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600
      1697
      1664
      355
      02. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
      1692
      1080
      164
      03. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
      1672
      1285
      218
      04. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
      1643
      1325
      234
      05. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
      1591
      1225
      211
      06. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
      1515
      1362
      260
      07. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
      1496
      1148
      200
      08. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
      1433
      1742
      452
      09. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
      1432
      675
      83
      10. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
      1428
      1111
      205
      11. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
      1393
      2061
      611
      12. HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660
      1388
      1910
      541
      13. 8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560
      1388
      900
      146
      14. 8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200
      1376
      813
      115
      15. EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000
      1372
      2178
      674
      16. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
      1344
      563
      64
      17. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
      1339
      820
      130
      18. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
      1315
      860
      144
      19. 8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000
      1163
      1090
      237
      20. 8500 GT 256MB, 450/800
      1101
      700
      107
      21. 8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200
      1093
      1106
      260
      22. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
      1065
      1370
      380
      23. 8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160
      1025
      2184
      909
      24. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
      944
      465
      63
      25. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
      920
      2543
      1222
      26. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
      751
      596
      117
      27. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
      694
      487
      85
      28. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
      685
      695
      169
      29. X1300 256MB, 450/550
      678
      379
      60
      30. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
      637
      797
      232
      31. X1300 512MB, 450/500
      625
      400
      71
      32. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
      600
      547
      124
      33. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
      580
      783
      249
      34. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
      390
      966
      519
      35. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
      244
      1135
      1038

    "Prospect" Rating:

    1. GAMING ONLY prospect rating

      01. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
      356
      1570
      1222
      02. 8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160
      413
      1375
      909
      03. EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000
      548
      1363
      674
      04. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
      557
      1293
      611
      05. HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660
      542
      1181
      541
      06. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
      573
      1089
      452
      07. 8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600
      675
      1043
      355
      08. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
      446
      880
      380
      09. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
      632
      870
      260
      10. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
      688
      851
      234
      11. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
      700
      825
      218
      12. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
      665
      787
      211
      13. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
      618
      730
      200
      14. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
      101
      724
      1038
      15. 8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200
      462
      712
      260
      16. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
      592
      711
      205
      17. 8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000
      488
      700
      237
      18. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
      701
      690
      164
      19. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
      170
      634
      519
      20. 8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560
      604
      588
      146
      21. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
      545
      549
      144
      22. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
      288
      532
      232
      23. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
      559
      527
      130
      24. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
      262
      523
      249
      25. 8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200
      537
      503
      115
      26. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
      312
      466
      169
      27. 8500 GT 256MB, 450/800
      431
      433
      107
      28. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
      581
      428
      83
      29. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
      339
      398
      117
      30. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
      270
      364
      124
      31. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
      551
      359
      64
      32. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
      314
      326
      85
      33. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
      390
      299
      63
      34. X1300 512MB, 450/500
      253
      252
      71
      35. X1300 256MB, 450/550
      282
      243
      60


    2. GENERAL prospect rating

      01. 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800
      920
      2543
      1222
      02. 8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160
      1025
      2184
      909
      03. EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000
      1372
      2178
      674
      04. 8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800
      1393
      2061
      611
      05. HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660
      1388
      1910
      541
      06. 8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600
      1433
      1742
      452
      07. 8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600
      1697
      1664
      355
      08. X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000
      1065
      1370
      380
      09. X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800
      1515
      1362
      260
      10. X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550
      1643
      1325
      234
      11. X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450
      1672
      1285
      218
      12. X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450
      1591
      1225
      211
      13. X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370
      1496
      1148
      200
      14. 7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200
      244
      1135
      1038
      15. X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485
      1428
      1111
      205
      16. 8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200
      1093
      1106
      260
      17. 8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000
      1163
      1090
      237
      18. X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400
      1692
      1080
      164
      19. BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200
      390
      966
      519
      20. 8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560
      1388
      900
      146
      21. X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540
      1315
      860
      144
      22. X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400
      1339
      820
      130
      23. 8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200
      1376
      813
      115
      24. 7950 GT 256MB 600/1430
      637
      797
      232
      25. 7950 GT 512MB 550/1400
      580
      783
      249
      26. 8500 GT 256MB, 450/800
      1101
      700
      107
      27. 7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320
      685
      695
      169
      28. X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380
      1432
      675
      83
      29. 7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400
      751
      596
      117
      30. X1300 XT 256MB 500/800
      1344
      563
      64
      31. 7600 GS 512MB, 550/950
      600
      547
      124
      32. 7600 GS 256MB, 400/800
      694
      487
      85
      33. X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800
      944
      465
      63
      34. X1300 512MB, 450/500
      625
      400
      71
      35. X1300 256MB, 450/550
      678
      379
      60



    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:
    "Zotac",
    "BFG Russia" and personally Mikhail Proshletsov,
    "EVGA Russia" and personally Victoria Nikolaeva,
    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