Half Life 2 GPU Roundup Part 1 - DirectX 9 Shootout
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 17, 2004 11:22 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Head to Head: ATI Radeon X800 XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
For our first head to head comparison we have ATI's top of the line X800 XT against NVIDIA's flagship GeForce 6800 Ultra.
At lower resolutions the performance is close in our first demo, but as we crank up the resolution and turn on AA, the X800 XT pulls ahead:
| Half Life 2 AT_canals_08.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 142.4 |
136 |
4.7% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 125.6 |
119.3 |
5.3% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 108.2 |
98.6 |
9.7% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 126.5 |
124.4 |
1.7% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 103.2 |
92.8 |
11.2% |
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 81 |
68.7 |
17.9% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 XT |
We see the same story in our second benchmark:
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 134.2 |
132.6 |
1.2% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 130.4 |
126.4 |
3.2% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 125.7 |
118.7 |
5.9% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 130.1 |
132.6 |
1.9% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 126.7 |
119.1 |
6.4% |
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 114.7 |
95.3 |
20.4% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 XT |
...and our third:
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 128.8 |
125 |
3.0% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 120.5 |
114.3 |
5.4% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 105.7 |
100 |
5.7% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 121.7 |
116.7 |
4.3% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 105.7 |
97.7 |
8.2% |
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 86.6 |
73.7 |
17.5% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 XT |
The X800 XT continues to maintain a significant lead at higher resolutions with AA enaabled:
| Half Life 2 AT_prison_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 150.1 |
148.4 |
1.1% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 136.8 |
129.6 |
5.6% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 109.3 |
97.2 |
12.4% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 143.5 |
132.1 |
8.6% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 111.5 |
95.1 |
17.2% |
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 84.9 |
69.9 |
21.5% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 XT |
In our final test the X800 XT only really separates itself from the 6800 Ultra at 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 with AA enabled.
| Half Life 2 AT_c17_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 88.1 |
84.6 |
4.1% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 86.3 |
84 |
2.7% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 84.1 |
80.1 |
5.0% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 87.2 |
84.3 |
3.4% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 84.3 |
77.4 |
8.9% |
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 80.3 |
65.6 |
22.4% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 XT |
What the X800 XT holds over the 6800 Ultra is a 10 - 20% performance advantage in high resolution AA performance, but at lower resolutions and with AA disabled the performance is very similar between the two.
| Summary | |||
Average Performance Advantage (X800 XT over 6800 Ultra) |
|||
| 1024 x 768 | 2.8% |
||
| 1280 x 1024 | 4.4% |
||
| 1600 x 1200 | 7.8% |
||
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 4.0% |
||
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 10.4% |
||
| 1600 x 1200 - 4X AA | 19.9% |
||
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ballero - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
it'd be nice a comparison between cpuJalf - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
To those wanting benchmarks on older hardware, remember that this is a hardware site, not a games review site.Their focus is on the hardware, and honestly, few hardware enthusiasts can get excited about an 800 mhz cpu or a Geforce 3. ;)
For AT, HL2 is a tool to compare new *interesting* hardware. It's not the other way around.
CU - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
I would also like to see slower cpu's and 512meg systems tested. It seems all recent cards can run it fine, so it would be nice to see how other things affect HL2.CU - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Based on the 6800nu vs 6600gt I would say that HL2 is being limited by fillrate and not bandwith. I say this since they both have about the same fillrate, but the 6800nu has around 40% more bandwidth than the 6600gt. So, unlocking extra pipes and overclocking the GPU should give the most increase in fps. Anyone want to test this?Jeff7181 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
... in addition... this is a case where minimum frame rates would be very useful to know.Jeff7181 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Those numbers are about what I expected. I'm sorta thinking that triple buffering isn't working with the 66.93 drivers and HL2 because I have vsync enabled, it seems like the frame rate is either 85 or 42.I also suspected that anistropic filtering wasn't particularly necessary... I'll have to try it without and see how it looks... although with 4XAA and 8XAF I'm still getting acceptable frame rates.
nserra - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
#8 i never heard of 6800 extra pipes unlocked, where did you see that. Arent you making some confusion with the Ati 9500 cards?MAME - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Make some budget video card benchmarks (Ti4200 plus or minus) and possibly a slower cpu or less ram so that people will know if they have to upgradeAkira1224 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
#8 Thats not a fair comparison. Yes atm it would seem the 6800Nu is a better buy. However if you go to Gameve you will find the XFX (clocked at PCIe speeds)6600GT for $218. Thats a much better deal than your example using Newegg. You talk about a $5 diff... if you are a smart shopper you can get upwards of a $50 diff.THAT makes the 6600GT the better buy. Esp when you consider that the market this card is aimed at is not the same market that will softmod their cards to unlock pipes. Either way you go you will get great performance.
I digress off topic.... sorry.
nserra - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
You didn’t use overclocked nvidia cards like hardocp did. That Kyle has the shame to say he used stock clock, those BFG OC are overclocked from factory. Just 25Mhz but its something.Very good review!!! Better then the NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT AGP review where something was missing.