More Mainstream DX10: AMD's 2400 and 2600 Series
by Derek Wilson on June 28, 2007 8:35 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test and Power
We will only be looking at DX9 performance under Windows XP today. This is still the platform of choice for gamers, and thus very important to examine. This doesn't mean we are ignoring DX10. We have a follow-up article on DX10 performance coming down the pipe next week. Here we'll take a look at how these cards stack up against the currently available DX10 games and demos.
We are also planning to look at UVD vs. PureVideo in a follow up article. Video decode is an important feature of these cards and we are interested in seeing how NVIDIA and AMD hardware stacks up against each other. Please stay tuned for this article as well.
For this series of tests, we used the following setup:
Performance Test Configuration:
As for power, the 65nm AMD hardware shows rather unimpressive results. At idle, both the 8600 GTS and 8600 GT draw less power than the 2600 XT and 2600 Pro respectively. Under load we see the AMD parts become more competitive in terms of low power. Not even 65nm can help push the 2600 XT past the 8600 GTS in terms of power draw though.
As for our game tests, first we'll take a look at how only the new AMD HD series parts stack up against NVIDIA's 8 series competitors. Following that we'll break down test by game and show performance verses previous and current generation hardware.
We will only be looking at DX9 performance under Windows XP today. This is still the platform of choice for gamers, and thus very important to examine. This doesn't mean we are ignoring DX10. We have a follow-up article on DX10 performance coming down the pipe next week. Here we'll take a look at how these cards stack up against the currently available DX10 games and demos.
We are also planning to look at UVD vs. PureVideo in a follow up article. Video decode is an important feature of these cards and we are interested in seeing how NVIDIA and AMD hardware stacks up against each other. Please stay tuned for this article as well.
For this series of tests, we used the following setup:
Performance Test Configuration:
| CPU: | Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz/4MB) |
| Motherboard: | ASUS P5W-DH |
| Chipset: | Intel 975X |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel 8.2.0.1014 |
| Hard Disk: | Seagate 7200.7 160GB SATA |
| Memory: | Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (1GB x 2) |
| Video Card: | Various |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 8.38.9.1-rc2 NVIDIA ForceWare 158.22 |
| Desktop Resolution: | 1280 x 800 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
| OS: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
As for power, the 65nm AMD hardware shows rather unimpressive results. At idle, both the 8600 GTS and 8600 GT draw less power than the 2600 XT and 2600 Pro respectively. Under load we see the AMD parts become more competitive in terms of low power. Not even 65nm can help push the 2600 XT past the 8600 GTS in terms of power draw though.
As for our game tests, first we'll take a look at how only the new AMD HD series parts stack up against NVIDIA's 8 series competitors. Following that we'll break down test by game and show performance verses previous and current generation hardware.
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Makaveli - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
All of you guys posting wait for the DX 10 benchmarks do u seriously think the FPS is gonna double from DX9. These cards are a joke, and ment for OEM systems. They are not gonna release a good midrange card to creep up on the 2900XT and take sales away from it. And they will make far more money selling these cards to OEM's than the average joe blow. The people who are gonna suffer from this is the fools who buy pc's at Best buy and futureshop, that believe they are getting good gaming cards.All I gotta say is you get what you pay for.
Hugs my X1950Pro 512MB AGP!
guste - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Although Anandtech hasn't posted it yet, it looks as if the lower end 2000-series parts are quite good at HD decode, to the point where CPU utilization goes from 100% to 5%. At least this according to a cumbersome Chinese review I read a week ago.Granted my needs don't apply to practically anyone but the HTPC crowd, but I play games at the native resouloution of my 50" panel, which is 1366x768 and I don't use AA, so the 2600 XT would be nice to pick up, in addition to finally being able to send the output to my receiver. For us in the HTPC community, this card will be a godsend, being quiet and low-power.
I look forward to seeing what Anandtech says about the UVD aspects of thse cards, as that's what I'm interested in.
florrv - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Maybe I completely missed it in the reviews, but can these cards be used in Crossfire mode? That could be one way (albeit very clumsy) way to get you closer to midrange performance for the $200-$250 range...strikeback03 - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
Just looking at the pictures, it would appear the 2400XT and 2600XT cave the connectors.DavenJ - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Wow. Just wow. I haven't seen so much bashing in a long time. However, through all the nVidia and ATI bashing I'm not surprised that the author left out a very important point. The 2600 XT consumes a mere 45W and the 2400 Pro a mere 25W. That is incredible. There is no need for external power as one might expect on low end parts except I think nVidia has external power on the high end 8600. The ATI cards are made using a 65 nm process which explains the low power consumption.For a less insulting and less bias review, go here
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT">http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT
Have a good day!
DerekWilson - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
i added power numbers on the test page ...the power performance of the new radeon HD cards is not that great.
coldpower27 - Saturday, June 30, 2007 - link
They are as expected, considering the HD 2600 XT is clocked at 800MHZ with 390 Million Transistors the fact that it consumes equal power as compared to the 289 Million Transistor G84 at 675MHZ I would say for what it's worth the improvements of the 65nm process are showing themselves.coldpower27 - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
As you can see from the reviews here the HD 2600 XT and HD 2600 Pro don't consume that much less then the cards from the Nvidia camp.http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/radeon_hd_2600...">http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/rad...hd_2600_...
Shintai - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
The 8600GTS could easily do without an external power connector. So could a 7900GT for that matter. It´s about the situation in SLI and making sure its a clean supply.DerekWilson - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
Who am I biased against? Both NVIDIA and AMD have made terrible mainstream parts.While the 86 GTS does require external power, the 86 GT and lower do not.