Looking Back Pt. 2: X800 & Catalyst Under The Knife
by Ryan Smith on February 22, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
3dMark 2005
As we noted in our previous article, 3dMark isn't something that we normally use in an article due to its nature as a synthetic benchmark instead of being a real game. That being said, it's an excellent diagnostic tool both for its wide customizability and the ability to render specific frames. It's also highly prone to being manipulated (both fairly and unfairly) due to the value that some groups attach to it, so while it has little worth as a good way to compare products, it's a great indicator of just what kind of performance improvements a company can wring out of a video card when given the proper motivation.
Otherwise, there is a very interesting progressive increase in 3dMark performance throughout the entire series of Catalyst drivers, which sits in stark contrast to our game tests.
As we noted in our previous article, 3dMark isn't something that we normally use in an article due to its nature as a synthetic benchmark instead of being a real game. That being said, it's an excellent diagnostic tool both for its wide customizability and the ability to render specific frames. It's also highly prone to being manipulated (both fairly and unfairly) due to the value that some groups attach to it, so while it has little worth as a good way to compare products, it's a great indicator of just what kind of performance improvements a company can wring out of a video card when given the proper motivation.
Otherwise, there is a very interesting progressive increase in 3dMark performance throughout the entire series of Catalyst drivers, which sits in stark contrast to our game tests.
Catalyst 4.05 versus 6.01 (mouse over to see 4.05)
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
24 Comments
View All Comments
breethon - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
I never download the "FULL" package drivers from ATI. I always use the option "dial up - driver only"(the first of three options under the dial up links). I use atitool for any tweaking. I don't have the CCC (atleast I don't believe I do). Don't let the dial-up words trick you. I pull from ati.com just as fast as the broadband links. Hopefully this helps.archcommus - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
I'll admit the CCC takes a long time to load and is bloated, but if you disable it from startup and don't mess with the settings much, it's really not that bad.microAmp - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
If you search the Far Cry forums, there is a way to do a quick save, through the console, IIRC.archcommus - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
Yes, I wouldn't even bother playing the game without doing that, don't care for repeating things endlessly.wing0 - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
from all the comparison for 9700Pro, it seems to me that I should stick with my 5.7 cat?Cybercat - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
I do see a change in the shadows under the dock. I don't know if you could say it's better or worse though.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
That's actually fog. We couldn't get an exactly perfect screenshot because of the rolling fog(though we kept the scene because it does a good job showing everything), so there is a slight difference due to that. There are no differences however due to driver IQ changes.tfranzese - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
But is the CCC the cause of the increased boot time or is it the .NET Framework in general? I've never given CCC any use personally, just want to be sure that the distinction was made when you took the measurements.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
It was the CCC, the machine already had the .NET framework on it.Scrogneugneu - Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - link
Yeah, but is the slowdown caused by the CCC itself, or by the .NET components loading because there was a .NET application launched?I believe the Framework won't load itself until one application requires it. If the CCC happens to be that application, then there's not much ATI can do about it. However, if it isn't... then they should definitively take a look at that (I'd rater have a better CCC than a "half-a-fps" faster driver).