Fall 2003 Video Card Roundup Part I - ATI's Radeon 9800 XT
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on October 1, 2003 3:02 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
F1 Challenge ’99-‘02
We’ve had plenty of requests to benchmark with a racing simulation. When we were designing the new testing suit this was one of the first games that came to mind. The game is faced paced, has lots of graphics options, and could keep someone who is into F1 racing busy for weeks at a time. Combine all of that with a nice replay feature and we have a very useful benchmark. We just ran a lap at Australia and counted the framerate of the replay via FRAPS while following one of the drivers in the middle of the pack.
In this bench, everyone seems to being doing really well with the exception of the two lowest end cards. It seems very clear that this test is CPU bound, and we are looking forward to benching some CPUs with this game (as well as trying to push the highend cards with some higher resolution tests). There really is no clear winner, but NV38 does come out at the top of the pile.
When we flip the filter switch, the 9800 XT drops the least in frame rate, and takes a clear lead over NV38 and the 9800 Pro. Usually NVIDIA is the camp gaining the most ground after AA and AF are enabled, but it is very much worth noting that in this benchmark (and others we will point out later) AA and AF didn't really seem to work as well on the NVIDIA cards as it did on the ATI cards. There was some difference between the two, but we will have to do more research into this area before we can bring forth anything conclusive.
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Pete - Friday, October 3, 2003 - link
Why should they test at a higher res when the fastest cards have trouble breaking 60fps on most of these benchmarks?!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Who the hell is playing games at 1024 x 768 these days?!!! Go higher and see how all ATI cards kick butt!!!!!!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Anand is testing a card that is not out, with drivers that are not released (52.xx) , on a CPU that is not available ????At least he could benchmark DX9, wich is available.
Tomb Raider AOD.
Maybe not, because Nvidia sucks at DX9,
Maybe Nvidia had a clause( you get to test our new card and new (cheat) drivers, but you can not use any DX9 titles ???
We all know Nvidia sucks at DX9, but it should be included in the tests.
We all know Nvidia is good at UT and Quake, but you still had those games to the Bench suit ???
I have been reading Anand for years, this is the first time I have been really deceived.!
It is amazing what MONEY will make you do or say..
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
everyone can now rest peacefully not that bigshot has spoken! all hail the mighty bigshot and his useless rambling!!!we should all bow down to his infinite wisdom and wonderful use of childish phrases
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
#197, you mean the 9500 Pro, and it's not a third of the price, it's currently two thirds and was never less than a half.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
I would've liked to see a Radeon 9500 and/or an OCSystems 9500 Radeon in the mix with these benchmarks. Even though the 9500 is discontinued it still performs on par with a 9700 card. Overclock it or flash new Bios onto it and it might perform right up with these cards; for a third of the price to.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
I'd like to see my testicles running 2xAA. I have no doubt in my mind that ATi is even beter than Nvidia's best! I've noticed the lag on my genitals when playing multiplayer games, such as BF1952 & TF2. I personally cannot wait for Dx9.How about that HL2 source code leak? I have a good feelin about it. :-)
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Sorry Bigshot here... I posted twice. I posted number #192 and number #193.I just wanted to say ATI Kicks NVida Butts!!!
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Idiot!Anonymous User - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - link
Bigsot here again as I remembered what i forgot to say...The 2xAA of the ATI is even beter than nvidias best!
ATI cards are the bestest!
Nvidia card owners must be crying!
Not me! Cause I got me an ATI!!!