ATI RADEON X700XT (RV410): Part 1

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Multiplayer)

The easiest modes without AA and anisotropy: a slight defeat of X700XÒ even in the most aggressive optimizations. For all that we see that in this game they yield ponderable dividend for X700 (again taking into account that this game is not included into the list of game optimizations by ATI).

With enabled AA: a heavy failure of 6600GT with AA again provides an opportunity for X700 to come out on top with a solid breakaway from its competitor. Only with disabled A.I. the advantage of X700XT starts to disappear.

With enabled anisotropy: approximate parity with 6600GT with active optimizations. If they are disabled, X700XT is defeated.

The final heaviest mode with AA and anisotropy: a strong advantage in AA brings victory to X700XT.

Thus, on the whole:

RADEON X700XT versus RADEON 9800 PRO (ATHLON64 3400+) - victory
RADEON X700XT versus RADEON 9800 XT (ATHLON64 3400+) - victory
RADEON X700XT versus GeForce 6600GT - victory
RADEON X700XT versus GeForce 6800LE (ATHLON64 3400+) - defeat
RADEON X700XT with the LOW OPTIMIZATION versus RADEON X700XT WITHOUT OPTIMIZATIONS - brilliant effect of A.I., obviously without active anisotropy (is it possible that the trilinear filtering is "pushed aside"? Quality analysis must be carried out)
RADEON X700XT with the HIGH OPTIMIZATION versus RADEON X700XT WITHOUT OPTIMIZATIONS - the same picture

Code Creatures

The easiest modes without AA and anisotropy: X700XT is victorious. There is a slight effect of the optimizations.

With enabled AA: an interesting picture, exceptionally interesting! When comparing the contenders with enabled optimizations we witness a paradox: X700XT, making a good start at 1024x768 with a victory,... quickly loses its advantage coming to parity. With the optimizations disabled, X700XT is again victorious. We can see that it's now NVIDIA's turn to produce a strong effect with ÀÀ, that is the performance gain in case of active optimization of the trilinear filtering. Up to 52 percents! Again an occasion for the quality tests.

With enabled anisotropy: from parity to victory of X700XT with enabled optimizations, and the defeat with disabled optimizations. You can see in the bottom of the table of percents that this time it was AF that resulted in the 40-60% performance gain in X700XT, when optimized. We'll research the quality in the next part.

The final heaviest mode with AA and anisotropy: everything is ambiguous. No wonder, considering this dissonance with separate AA and AF.

Thus, on the whole:

RADEON X700XT versus RADEON 9800 PRO (ATHLON64 3400+) - brilliant victory without ÀÀ and AF, and the defeat with enabled AA and AF. Though if you imagine that it's a game, then the resolution would be only 1024x768, and X700XT works miracles in this resolution
RADEON X700XT versus RADEON 9800 XT (ATHLON64 3400+) - the same results
RADEON X700XT versus GeForce 6600GT - relative victory of X700XT, because we have to take average values considering the gameplay
RADEON X700XT versus GeForce 6800LE (ATHLON64 3400+) - ÀÀ killed all advantages of X700, but in 1024x768 (again!) the ATI product remained the leader, so we consider it to be relative parity
RADEON X700XT with the LOW OPTIMIZATION versus RADEON X700XT WITHOUT OPTIMIZATIONS - huge effect, first of all due to AF
RADEON X700XT with the HIGH OPTIMIZATION versus RADEON X700XT WITHOUT OPTIMIZATIONS - the same picture, though the gain figures raised a little

Pay attention to the performance gain produced by the optimizations in GeForce 6600GT!

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[ The next part (5) ]

We express our thanks to ATI
for the video cards provided to our lab.

Andrey Vorobiev (anvakams@ixbt.com)
Alexander Medvedev (unclesam@ixbt.com)

October 5, 2004