GeForce 6800 GT AGP vs. PCI-E review

Review GeForce 6800 GT AGP vs. PCI-E @ guru3d.com

Hey guys and gals… the GeForce 6800 GT is just a magnificent card, but we already knew that didn’t we? What the big question here is should be is the following: does PCI-Express make a difference and is it a worthwhile, stable and high performing upgrade right now? My answer would be, yet it does! PCI-Express is all about future products though, right now AGP8x is more than sufficient for the GeForce 6800. There would be only one huge practical advantage, which is HDTV, yet here in Europe we don’t have it just yet so it really does not make a difference. But performance wise the AGP8x is more then sufficient for the GT, on PCI Express it will perform almost exactly the same. Why ? Because the bottleneck here would be the actual graphics card and not your AGP 8x or PCI Express slot.

So why should you buy PCI-Express then? Simple, it’s the next feature that will become a new standard. Years ago when we moved from PCI towards AGP at first we hardly saw any differences whatsoever performance wise. The same thing we still hear every now and then about the AGP 4x versus 8x discussion. If right now you’d took an AGP 8x product and lowered it to AGP 1x, you’d see the difference in performance and along that line you need to think.

So my recommendation is like this, if you do not plan to upgrade your PC for another year or two then you can stick to AGP 8x products just as well. I mean you will not notice a performance in/decrease at all over the 16x PCI Express products, both are equal.

But… if you plan to upgrade your PC this year, then you should go PCI-Express all the way. Why? Although you will not see a difference, in the future you might buy a new graphics card that does need that exceptional bandwidth PCI Express offers. Next to that, this will be the new standard.

Now, then… since this article was not all about PCI-Express but about the GeForce 6800 GT also… let’s step away from PCI Express for now and sum that baby up. As I’ve stated on the AGP reference version of this product already, the GT is just downright pure fun. You can play any game to date at an extraordinary performance level for an amount of money that seems justified for this product. The 16 full pixel pipelines make sure you will see the biggest performance jump over the previous generation silicon in history and that ensures you some serious gameplay! The heart of the beast has been fitted with an 222 Million transistors silicon doing 350 MHz and yet the card manages to produce numbers that will force you to make noises like hubbabhubba come to poppaa.

The GeForce 6800 GT series justifies it’s name, it’s the affordable sportcar among the products in the high-end range. Everything about this card simply works, everything is what you expect it to be. This, my friends, simply is a fantastic product.

Review Zotac Ion ITX-A GeForce 9400

Um die HD-Fähigkeit des Chips zu testen, verwendeten wir den Media Player Classic in der Home Cinema Edition. Dieser beherrscht von Haus aus die HD-Wiedergabe über den Grafikchip mit Nvidia CUDA, womit weitere Codecs oder Programme für den Anfang nicht benötigt werden.
Im Test kam der HD-Film “BigBuckBunny” zum Einsatz, der absolut flüssig abgespielt werden konnte. Im besten Fall lag die CPU-Auslastung unter Windows XP gerade mal bei weniger als 10 %, üblich sind aber 20 bis 30 Prozent. Der Stromverbrauch lag dabei bei nur ca. 41 Watt.
Ansonsten läuft das Mainboard sehr stabil und die Leistung reicht für ein angenehmes Arbeiten unter Windows 7, solange man es bei Office, Surfen und der Wiedergabe von Medien belässt. Der Lüfter arbeitet dabei angenehm leise und ist nur aus dichter Entfernung deutlich wahrnehmbar. Beim Ansehen eines Films wird der Lüfter übertönt und ist dann nicht mehr zu hören.

Somit eignet sich das Zotac ION ITX sehr gut als Grundlage für einen Office- oder HTPC, der leise, klein und energieeffizent arbeiten soll. Zu gefallen weiß auch der Lieferumfang mit genügend SATA-Kabeln und einem externen Netzteil. Daher ist auch der Preis von aktuell ca. 145 Euro angemessen.

Review Zotac ION A-Series ITX Motherboard

The Zotac ION A-Series motherboard is a great bundle to be had. It performed well in all the tests and even proved itself to play full HD clips easily. This would therefore make it an ideal choice to be used in a HTPC.

Coupled with 2GB of RAM the Zotac Ion could become a perfect little runner which will easily handle most computing tasks

Review Zotac Ionitx-A nVidia Ion

Der Ion-Chipsatz zeigt der Intel-Konkurrenz, wo der Hammer hängt. Er bietet eine spürbar höhere 3D- und Video-Performance, mehr Features wie eSATA, moderne Anschlüsse wie HDMI und eine niedrigere Leistungsaufnahme. Nicht vergessen darf man die Unterstützung von CUDA, die selbst bei der GeForce 9400 ein Vorteil sein kann. Und sogar Windows 7 läuft auf dem Ion annehmbar.Zotac hat mit dem IONITX-A um den Chipsatz herum ein gutes Mainboard gebaut, das zu überzeugen weiß. Die Ausstattung stimmt, das BIOS passt (einzig die bei 3-Pin-Lüftern nicht funktionierende Lüftersteuerung stört) und das externe Netzteil ist eine sehr gute Idee. Dadurch ist die unverbindliche Preisempfehlung für das IONITX-A mit 169 Euro zwar etwas hoch, man darf aber nicht vergessen, dass man ansonsten nur noch eine Festplatte, einen optischen Datenträger sowie den Arbeitsspeicher benötigt.Ohne Frage, die Intel-Mainboards sind klar günstiger, allerdings auch deutlich schwächer in der Leistung, den Features und der Leistungsaufnahme. Deswegen ziehen wir das Zotac IONITX-A dem Intel-Lager ohne Zweifel vor, da der Gesamteindruck einfach runder ist. Wer sich einen günstigen Rechner zusammenschrauben möchte und auf eine hohe Leistung verzichten kann, erhält mit dem IONITX-A und dem Ion-Chipsatz von Nvidia ein gelungenes Produkt.

Review Gigabyte GeForce GT 240

The performance of this card was reasonable given its price and specifications. Full HDMI 1.3a support is a plus, but better gaming performance is available for very little more money.The card’s oversize fan and baroque plastic shrouding give it a muscular appearance.The construction quality seems to be excellent. The substantial heat sink is attached with spring-loaded screws rather than push-pins, and the oversized fan is both quiet and effective, resulting in very low load temperatures.The card provides basic GPU functions, and provides all the connectors one could expect. The ability to use HDMI audio without a separate connection cable is very convenient.

As of January 2010, you can buy the GIGABYTE GV-N240D5-512I video card for $99.95 at Newegg. This is $10-$35 less than a GTS 250, and $20-$30 more than a GT 220. The value is not so great if you consider the card only as an HTPC card or only as a gaming card, but it’s reasonable when considered as both or as a dedicated PhysX or GPGPU card.

Review USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps Tested On Gigabyte P55A-UD6

Review Gigabyte GA-P55 UD3R Overclockersclub

In conclusion we can say for this Barracuda XT there is not really a necessity to include a third generation SAT controller, since there is hardly any difference noticeable.
SATA 6Gbps however shall become more interesting in the future. With solid state drives that can reach far higher transfer rates it is likely they’ll surpass 300MB/s, the maximum of the current second generation SATA interface.So for people looking for a future proof system based on new SSDs SATA 6Gbps might become very interesting. But for those who want to stay with mechanical hard drives there is not really a reason to get a SATA 6Gbps controller for now, since the speeds of the current hard drives are by far not close to the maximum of the SATA 3Gbps controllers on current systems.In conclusion for the USB 3.0 tests, we can say USB 3.0 is a great improvement compared to USB 2.0 when high transfer speeds are necessary. For using other USB devices like mice, keyboards, printers and other devices that don’t rely on fast transfer of data, USB 2.0 will still be more than sufficient.

There is no doubt that the GA-P55-UD3R is a capable performer. It delivers this level of performance without the 24-phase VRM used on its big brother. By the same token, the lack of phases can impact the efficiency of the energy saving features and may impact long term stability with fewer phases to spread the load across. But, at least there is the three year warranty backing you up! Feature-wise, the board does have fewer than some of the boards higher up on the food chain. You don’t get the onboard switches, the Combo eSATA/USB ports on the I/O panel, or some of the other niceties with Multi GPU – availability is limited to CrossfireX on this board, but with the second slot running at 4x you won’t be setting Multi GPU records. However, with a single GPU, you stand a shot at making it happen. The apple does not fall far from the tree when it comes to the construction methods used to build this board. This board is one of eleven P55 boards by Gigabyte and does indeed feature Ultra Durable 3 construction with 2-oz copper ground and power layers, Japanese Solid Capacitors, Ferrite core chokes and Lower RDS(on) mosfets, so it has the hardware credentials to push the performance limits of your hardware. What you get with the GA-P55-UD3R is a board that comes in at an attractive price point ($139) that drops the performance hammer when you push the clock speeds. Even though it has a lesser feature set, the features it comes with will work for the majority of people. The GA-P55-UD3R delivers great overclocking and a great price.Pros:
•Overclocking
•Comparable stock performance
•Ultra Durable 3
•3 year warranty
•StabilityCons:
•Only Crossfire Support

Review Gigabyte HD4890 OC

The Gigabyte 4890 OC is a joy to run and it runs cooler than stock cooled 4890’s, it also has a 2oz Copper PCB which provides even cooler operation, it looks like an enthusiast GPU without having to modify the card yourself, the factory overclock keeps the warranty intact, and it easily handles all modern games so it scores a: 8.5 out of 10 and the Bjorn3D.com Seal Of Approval.

Review Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Intel P55

Mit dem GA-P55-UD5 hat Gigabyte ein ausgezeichnetes Mainboard auf den Markt gebracht welches sich von der Performance sowie Ausstattung nicht verstecken braucht. Was jedoch negativ aufgefallen ist, ist das man im Bios sowie Windows nur die VCore und VDimm kontrollieren / ablesen kann und das die Spannungsabsenkung bei aktivierten EIST/C1E nicht mehr funktioniert wenn man manuell die Spannung verstellt. Abgesehen davon ist es einwandfrei und bietet für den Preis viele Features und ein gutes OC Potential.

Review Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Xbitlabs

We often come across excellent looking mainboards that suddenly demonstrate their by far not the most attractive sides during the practical tests. This is when the review that starts greatly, ends on a sad note. I am extremely pleased that nothing like that happened this time and our initial great impression from Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R mainboard remained the same.Gigabyte engineers did a great job with the design of this solution, provided it with a list of features that are up to all contemporary standards and may satisfy even the most pretentions users. Some of you may be upset to see no additional brackets for external Serial ATA devices or bridges for multi-card graphics configurations, but most will hardly even notice that. Just like the entire LGA1366 Gigabyte mainboard lineup, our today’s hero has BIOS with excellent functionality that doesn’t yield to any of the top solutions. Moreover, nothing prevented us from taking advantage of all these functions: the board worked perfectly fine in nominal mode and allowed us to easily overclock CPU and memory. As for the performance and power consumption, the board again proved up to the mark, having proven just as efficient as any other similar mainboards. However, Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R has a serious advantage over many competitors: since it is the junior model in the lineup, its price is relatively low.Unfortunately, the failure to cold start at high QPI/VTT Voltage settings becomes a sharp dissonance to this idyllic picture. Although this is an obvious drawback, it is still pretty relative. Users don’t often buy elite memory modules for use in junior mainboard models, and if you don’t hunt for high memory frequencies, then you won’t even experience this issue at all. So, for you Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R is very likely to become that ideal mainboard with a bunch of advantages and no drawbacks. The board that you have been looking for all this time.

Review Gigabyte Sumo 4112

Despite a fresh and attractive exterior and dependable build quality, the Sumo 4112 is unable to complete the package when you look inside, with a cramped interior and poor internal airflow that compromises everything but CPU cooling. While nice touches such as the pre-installed removable 2.5in hard disk bay and the neat fascia help to make the Sumo stand out from the crowd, the case as a whole fails to meet our expectations in many areas. For the asking price of around £100, you’d be better off investigating the spacious and flexible Cooler Master HAF 922, or the high airflow Antec Nine Hundred Two.

Review Gigabyte GA-MA785GPM-UD2H

AMD’s chipset lineup has no intention of stopping. In fact, it’s proven they are willing to keep things going. AMD’s 7 series chipsets have been extremely impressive and the 785G chipset is nothing short of this either.
While we have only tested the first board we’ve been given so far, along with this one being Micro ATX, we don’t know the full potential yet. And due to the limited time of testing we didn’t get a lot of time to check out the overclocking or onboard graphics. However, we are coming back to a second article later next month with testing of the 785G’s IGP vs. the 790GX’s, so stay tuned for that one.
On the GIGABYTE implementation of this board, everything is just how we would expect. However, the accessories could perhaps be a bit more in depth to better round off the package.

Review Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H

At £68, it’s not a lot to ask for a motherboard, especially when usual reports in the news these days are for boards costing upwards of £150. Compared to other, older 780G boards it’s naturally a bit more expensive, which is also true of Gigabyte’s 780G boards as well.

Review Gigabyte GTX 285 2GB OC

The first thing we have to say is that it was so good of GIGABYTE to increase the core clock to compensate for the drop in memory clock. We have to admit that the OC naming is a bit of a stretch, but at the end of the day it is overclocked and it should be advertised like that, so we really can’t have a go at GIGABYTE about that.Performance is good; we’re not sure how much the extra memory helps, which isn’t anything new. The biggest appeal about having a 2GB graphics card isn’t the performance, but the fact that you can tell people you have one. Sure, it’s superficial, but that’s the world we live in.
As far as the bundle goes, it’s very GIGABYTE. While there isn’t anything that really stands out, there is everything we need. So again, it’s not something we can really complain about. All in all we’ve got a pretty mean card on our hands that packs some good performance and when it comes to a graphics card, there isn’t a whole lot more you can ask for.
If you’re looking for a GTX 285 that packs some extra memory while offering slightly better performance the GIGABYTE 2GB GTX 285 OC model we have here today is pretty impressive. At 399.99 U.S. Dollars over at Newegg, you’re paying more than the 1GB model by about $80. While not worth it to some, others are going to be more than happy to spend the extra dollars to get a 2GB GTX 285 that packs some extra performance.

Review Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3

Overall, the MA770-UD3 provides great Bang for the Buck in our opinion and as long as buyers are aware of its few quirks, it is easy to recommend to just about anyone planning to build a new AM2+/AM3 system…just make sure that you buy the rev 2.0 if you can.

Review Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5

That concludes our sneak peak at the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard for the upcoming LGA1156 socket platform using the Intel P55 Express chipset for Lynfield CPUs!

Review Gigabyte 9800GT Silent Cell

The Gigabyte 9800 GT Silent Cell is a great performing card. In most of the newer games, like Far Cry 2, the 9800 GT was able to easily beat a overclocked 512 MB 9800 GT. This means that with a modest overclock you will easily surpass the 512 MB version of the 9800 GT, and be able to max out pretty much every game currently. Not only was the card a great performer, it also ran extremely cool. I was definitely surprised to see the card run at only 68° C. This is nothing for a modern GPU, and absolutely astounding for a card of this caliber on a passive heat sink.Which brings us to the big seller of this card, the passive heat sink. I know there are a lot of people out there who can not stand to hear anything from their computers at any time. Before they would have to setting for much lower performing card. The lower end card that you would have previously been forced to buy most likely would not be that great at playing games. Fortunately Gigabyte engineers have designed a great passive heat sink for this card, and thus allowed you to enjoy your peace and quiet, at least until you crank up the volume on Crysis.You don’t really even have to be a gamer to enjoy this card. If you are looking at building a HTPC that will last a few years into the future, look no further. All newer Nvidia cards, like this one, are programmed to take away much of the CPU load when playing video. With this card you will enjoy a nice smooth video, even at 1080P resolution. Since the heat sink is passive you will also not have to hide your HTPC so it can’t be heard. Finally with the great performance of the passive heat sink, you will not have to worry about your graphics card overheating even in a poorly designed HTPC case.

Review Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P AMD 790FX

Overall, I jugde that the MA790FXT-UD5P is worth its price. One thing though, it would have been definitely better if it had more than two PCI-E x16 slots. This I think would have been a major difference between it and the MA790XT-UD4P. Yes, it can run them both at x16 and not at x8, but with PCI-E 2.0 specifications doubling bandwidth over the previous generation, there is not much difference between the two configurations. Also, it means Tri-fire or Quad-fire is not possible if you don’t have a dual-GPU card. And what if you wanted to build a big folding farm? Once again, no more than two graphics cards. But still, it’s a great board!

Review Gigabyte GK-K6800 Keyboard

In the end, only you can decide if this is the right keyboard for you. It does have a lot going for it and it is stylish as heck. If you are not interested in setting up your own macro keys and won’t even miss them or if you are not interested in your keyboard lasting longer than your computer then this keyboard may just be the perfect fit for you. It even does quite well with multimedia functions. For everyone else, hopefully a future model will eliminate some or all of these issues and annoyances.

Review XFX XPS-650W PSU

It is becoming increasingly difficult to rate high end power supplies by performance alone probably due to the fact that what you find under the hood is produced by the same small group of printed circuit board manufacturers. The power supply market is very competitive and if performance levels are all very similar then price and/or a unique appearance may very well be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for the next build or upgrade.

XFX power supplies certainly have a unique appearance with their industrial themed looks and lime green cooling fan and modular cable connectors, but how do they perform? The XFX XXX Edition 650W performed very well and gave good quality, well regulated DC across all the rails up to full load. What did let the power supply down was its failure to meet the required levels of efficiency for its claimed 80 Plus Bronze certification following the OCC power supply testing methodology and the fact that isn’t listed on the 80 Plus Org website at the time of writing this review.

The XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply is certainly worthy of consideration for use in any high gaming system and will easily handle any single high-end graphics card gaming rig with plenty of room to overclock. There are a total of four PCI-E connectors available on this power supply so crossfire or SLI is definitely an option but keep an eye on power requirements especially with the more power hungry Nvidia offerings. The XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply performed very well and was only let down by its failure to meet the requirements of its claimed 80 Plus Bronze certification following the OCC power supply testing methodology. The efficiency levels are still pretty good and I have no hesitation in awarding the XFX XXX Edition 650W power supply a OCC Silver award.

Review Asus Xonar D1 PCI 7.1 Sound Card

Anyone that tells you one sound card is as good as another doesn’t know what they are talking about. A sound card how ever is the ideal gimmick item if you were going to make a shoddy product and try to get big bucks for it because a large majority of users wouldn’t notice a difference at first listen. It isn’t until you use a product day in day out for at least a week that you get a feel for it then when you are shown a better or worse product you can pick out the differences. The Asus Xonar D1 PCI 7.1 Sound Card is no gimmick I am very impressed with the amount of effort the people at Asus put into this product and it shows through with the quality software and sound quality it achieves.

I think it is safe to say I don’t have to ask the question I normally do of whether I recommend this product or not. The review speaks for itself if you are in the market for a sound card….scratch that if you don’t have anything over integrated audio you ARE or at least should be in the market for a high end sound card and my personal suggestion would be one of the Xonar series cards from Asus.

Review MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC

Inleiding

De GTX560 Ti is in het kort simpelweg de opvolger van de GTX460. Laatstgenoemde is echter nog niet uitgefaseerd en gaat nog steeds de strijd aan met de HD6850 van AMD. In het begin plaatste NVIDIA haar GTX560 tegenover de HD6870 van AMD. Toentertijd hadden beide kaarten een adviesprijs van 239 euro. Uit de eerste reviews bleek al snel dat de GTX560 ruimschoots sneller was.

AMD reageerde hier dan ook snel op door de prijs van haar HD6870 te verlagen. Ondertussen is de prijs van een HD6870 nog meer gedaald waardoor hij op het moment rond de 170 euro circuleert, terwijl de gemiddelde GTX560 nog een stuk boven de 200 euro kost.

AMD’s antwoord bleek meer in de HD6950 te zitten, die zowel in een 1GB- als 2GB-uitvoering te verkrijgen is. De HD6950 kost op moment van schrijven ongeveer net zoveel als een GTX560.

nVidia heeft ook op het high-end segment een goede positie dankzij de GTX580, maar het segment waar het zowel AMD als nVidia toch om gaat is het mid-end-segment, aangezien hier de meeste kaarten worden verkocht. Met de introductie van de GTX560 Ti wil nVidia een nieuwe boost krijgen in dit segment.

Van MSI ontvingen wij een recensie-exemplaar. De volledige naam van deze videokaart is ‘N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC’. De videokaart wordt voorzien van een gigabyte aan GDDR5-geheugen en de kloksnelheid van deze kaart is standaard 880 MHz, wat toch een slordige 60 MHz. sneller is dan het referentiemodel van nVidia. nVidia laat de GTX560 Ti standaard op een kloksnelheid van 822 MHz. draaien.

Naamgeving

nVidia koos medio 2008 om niet langer achtervoegsels te gebruiken voor haar videokaarten, maar komt hier nu met de GTX560 toch weer op terug, door het ‘Ti’-achtervoegsel opnieuw te introduceren. Deze toevoeging werd voor het laatst in 2002 toegepast bij de GeForce Ti 4000-serie.

nVidia maakt dus pas op de plaats en wil toch opnieuw achtervoegsels gaan toepassen in de productnaam. Dit komt doordat er regelmatig videokaarten uit worden gebracht met verschillende groottes aan werkgeheugen, waardoor ook de prestaties beïnvloed worden. Nu wordt er van de GTX560 voorlopig maar één variant uitgebracht, maar het zou kunnen zijn dat er in de toekomst nog een GTX560 maar dan met minder geheugen op de markt verschijnt, welke dan ook geen Ti-achtervoegsel zal krijgen.

Verpakking en uiterlijk

Verpakking

MSI levert de N560GTX Ti in een blauw-paarse verpakking waarop op de voorkant duidelijk de Twin Frozr II-koeling te zien is. MSI is zo vrij geweest om op de doos mee te delen dat deze koeling voor een temperatuurverschil van 20 graden Celsius zorgt. Dit verschil is ten opzichte van nVidia’s referentiemodel, welke dus 20 graden Celsius warmer wordt onder volle belasting. Een verschil dat niet vergeten mag worden, want naast de mogelijkheid om de kloksnelheid verder omhoog te schroeven met MSI’s videokaart, zal de N560GTX Ti naar alle waarschijnlijkheid ook een langer leven zijn toebedeeld. Het is voor hardware immers prettig om op lagere temperaturen te opereren, slijtage zal dan minder snel voorkomen.

In de verpakking vinden we natuurlijk de N560GTX Ti, maar ook twee dubbele molex naar PCI Express 6-pins-adapters, alsook een DVI naar VGA- en mini-HDMI naar HDMI-adaptertje, een CDtje en een stel handleidingen.

Uiterlijk

Zoals de volledige naamgeving van de videokaart al duidelijk maakt, hebben we te maken met een videokaart met MSI’s geroemde Twin Frozr II-koellichaam erop. De koeler is voorzien van twee 80mm-ventilatoren die lucht over het werkelijke koellichaam blazen. Het koellichaam staat door middel van vier dikke heatpipes in verbinding met de GPU op de videokaart. De printplaat is overigens zwart, wat het geheel een stijlvol uiterlijk geeft.

Aan de achterkant van de videokaart vinden we drie connectoren, namelijk twee DVI-poorten en een mini-HDMI-poort. Hoewel DisplayPort door de aanwezige hardware in principe wel ondersteund wordt, is deze interface niet aanwezig op deze uitvoering. Aan de tegenovergestelde kant zijn twee zespins PCI Express-poorten geplaatst, waarmee de videokaart van voldoende stroom voorzien kan worden.

	MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC
GPU-klokfrequentie	880 MHz.
Shader-klokfrequentie	1760 MHz.
Geheugen-klokfrequentie	2100 MHz. GDDR5 (4200 MHz. effectief)
Geheugenbus	256-bits
Geheugengrootte	1024 MB
Productieproces	40nm
Texture Units	64
Voeding	2x PEG 6pin
Interne aansluiting	PCI-e x16 2.0
Externe aansluitingen	2x DVI-I, 1x Mini-HDMI
Lengte	23,8 centimeter

Testverantwoording

Om een goed beeld te krijgen van de videokaarten die we testen, onderwerpen we deze producten steeds aan dezelfde tests. Daarnaast zorgen we ook dat de gebruikte hardware zoveel mogelijk overeen komt met voorgaande tests.

TestBench
Processor	Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz
CPU koeler	ThermalRight MUX-120 Dual-Fan
Videokaart	MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC
Geheugen	G.Skill PI Series DDR3-2200MHz CL7 4GB
Harde schijf	Western Digital 500GB RE3 7200RPM
Voeding	BeQuiet 650 Watt
Moederbord	Asus P7P55D-E Premium
OS	Windows 7 x64

Voor de tests gebruiken we een aantal fixed benchmarks uit spellen en enginetests. De scores die uit de tests komen kunnen met elkaar vergeleken worden om zo een duidelijk beeld te krijgen van de mogelijkheden per videokaart.

Benchmark	DirectX versie
Colin McRae DiRT 2	11
Crysis Warhead	10
Far Cry 2	10
Resident Evil 5	10
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat	11
3D Mark Vantage	10
Unigine Heaven 1.0	11

Overklokken van de N560GTX Ti

Om de echte kracht van de MSI N560GTX Ti te leren kennen gaan we de videokaart natuurlijk ook overklokken. We doen dit normaal gezien altijd op eenzelfde manier, namelijk door middel van MSI’s eigen Afterburner-software, ontwikkeld om videokaarten over te klokken, maar niet specifiek kaarten van MSI.Wanneer we aan de slag gaan met de MSI N560GTX Ti springt er gelijk één ding in het oog, of eigenlijk in het oor. We hebben de gewoonte om de snelheid van de koeler direct op het maximaal haalbare te zetten. Dagen waarop we aan de slag gaan met videokaarten zijn zodoende voor andere medewerkers normaliter niet de meest rustige dagen op kantoor. Maar toen we de koeler op N560GTX Ti op de maximale snelheid gezet hadden, viel de portie herrie voor vandaag alleszins mee. MSI heeft er blijkbaar alles aan gedaan om deze videokaart op een acceptabel niveau te laten opereren en zodoende blijft de geluidsproductie zeer beperkt. De kaart is zeker niet fluisterstil, maar overduidelijk niet zo luidruchtig als de meeste andere videokaarten. Zoals gewoonlijk plaatsen we nog twee 120mm-ventilatoren tegen de videokaart aan voor extra koeling.

Om de stabiliteit te testen maken we voornamelijk gebruik van MSI’s Kombustor, dat de videokaart voor 100% belast. Daarnaast gebruiken we ook Unigine Heaven als ultieme test voordat we alle benchmarks draaien. Als de videokaart die twee tests onder bepaalde instellingen aan kan, moet hij in principe alle tests aan kunnen.

Eenmaal werkelijk aan de slag met de videokaart merken we dat de 880 MHz waarop MSI de kaart standaard instelt nog zeker niet het maximum is. De grens van 1 GHz wordt redelijk eenvoudig behaald, zonder het voltage van standaard 0,987 V verder op te schroeven. Daarna merken we dat het moeilijker wordt en zodoende wordt het voltage verhoogd naar 1,150 V, wat het maximum is dat de standaard-versie van Afterburner toelaat.

Met deze instelling weten we nog net wat extra sap uit de N450GTX Ti te persen en komen we met de grafische chip tot een maximum van 1016 MHz. Vervolgens wordt ook de snelheid van het geheugen nog onder handen genomen. Om hiermee aan de slag te gaan draaien we de kloksnelheid van de GPU weer wat terug, naar 1005 MHz. Als we dit niet doen gaat het overklokken al direct bij de eerste verhoging fout, dan vragen we gewoon te veel van de kaart. Het is de bedoeling om een maximum van de GPU en het geheugen samen te vinden, om zo de beste scores te realiseren.

Standaard draait het geheugen op een snelheid van 2100 MHz en we verhogen dit in eerste instantie in grote stappen, tot we artifacts waarnemen tijdens de benchmarks. Het maximum is dan overschreden en van daaruit gaan we dus in kleine stapjes terugklokken naar een instelling waarmee de videokaart niet langer fouten maakt. De standaardsnelheid van 2100 MHz wordt uiteindelijk gemaximaliseerd naar 2450 MHz.

De resultaten van de overklok zie je op de volgende twee pagina’s, tezamen met de standaard-resultaten van de N560GTX Ti.

Prestaties 1

Zoals te zien is in de grafieken op deze pagina scoort de MSI N560GTX Ti buitengewoon goed in de tests, vooral gezien zijn prijs. In deze tests is de kaart in de top 3 terug te vinden en dat is zeer respectabel te noemen.

De N560GTX Ti gaat in deze tests de strijd aan met de GTX480, een high-end kaart uit de vorige serie van nVidia. Deze kaart is nog altijd ongeveer een kwart duurder dan de N560GTX Ti.

Prestaties 2

In de tests op deze pagina neemt de GTX480 toch wat meer afstand van de GTX560 Ti, maar de laatstgenoemde weet gezien de prijs toch zeker te overtuigen. De directe concurrent, de AMD HD6950 is over het algemeen duidelijk trager dan nVidia’s inzending.

AMD Radeon HD6950 2GB

inleiding

De AMD HD6800-serie bracht qua prijs mooie kaarten, maar deze videokaarten konden qua prestaties niet opboksen tegen de prestaties die nVidia leverde met haar high-end kaarten zoals de GTX580. De HD6950 is niet de ultieme kaart uit de HD6000-serie van AMD, dat is de HD6990.Maar we gaan nu aan de slag met de HD6950, welke gebaseerd is op de Cayman-chip. Qua eigenschappen verschillen de HD6800- en HD6900-kaarten weinig van elkaar, de generatie is dezelfde en zo zijn ook de eigenschappen hetzelfde. Zo ondersteunt de HD6850 DiplayPort 1.2 en de HDMI 1.4a-standaard. Dankzij AMD’s HD3D worden ook 3D-schermen ondersteund door deze videokaart, zodat ook eventuele output in 3D-beelden mogelijk is met deze videokaart.

Desalniettemin biedt de Cayman wel meer dan de Barts-chips uit de HD6800-serie van AMD. De architectuur van de GPU is flink aangepast en er is naast de hogere prestaties één belangrijke functie die de HD6800-serie moest ontberen, namelijk AMD PowerTune. Met deze techniek wordt het stroomverbruik flink verminderd als de kaart niet actief gebruikt wordt. Wanneer het nodig is worden de kloksnelheden en de stroomtoevoer echter flink opgeschroefd, zodat de kaart maximale prestaties kan leveren.

De HD6950 die wij ontvingen is van AMD en wordt niet in de winkels uitgebracht. Daarom kunnen we niet direct een prijs aan deze videokaart binden, maar vergelijkbare videokaarten van andere fabrikanten kosten ongeveer 230 euro.

Verpakking en uiterlijk

Verpakking

Qua verpakking van de AMD HD6950 zijn we gauw klaar, deze videokaart wordt namelijk niet als retail-kaart geleverd en zodoende is er ook geen echte verpakking voor de kaart. We ontvingen deze in een doos van DHL met een hoop verpakkingsmateriaal erin. De fabrikanten die de videokaart uiteindelijk uitleveren, zoals MSI en Asus, kiezen zelf wat er precies met de videokaart geleverd wordt. Wil je graag weten welke accessoires bepaalde fabrikanten meeleveren met de HD6950, dan moet je dit even op de website van de desbetreffende fabrikant opzoeken.

Uiterlijk

Ook qua uiterlijk zal deze AMD HD6950 verschillen van de videokaarten van andere fabrikanten, maar niet bijster veel. Als het tenminste om videokaarten gaat die hetzelfde koellichaam gebruiken als de referentiekaart van AMD. Dit koellichaam verschilt bijzonder weinig van dat van de MSI HD6870 die we eerder beoordeelden. Het koellichaam staat er overigens om bekend dat het zeer luidruchtig kán zijn.

De videokaart is echter wel een stukje langer dan de HD6870, welke 24,5 centimeter in lengte telde. De HD6950 is met zijn 27,5 centimeter toch wel een aardig stukje langer. De videokaarten lijken behalve de lengte en de sticker bovenop het koellichaam echter identiek. AMD maakt al geruime tijd gebruik van de zogenaamde Vapor-chamber-koeling en dit is voor de HD6950 niet anders. Koele lucht wordt aangezogen via een grote ventilator die deze lucht door het lichaam pompt. De inmiddels warme lucht verlaat de videokaart via een PCI-Express-slot aan de achterkant van de videokaart.

Naast deze uitlaat voor warme lucht vinden we op de achterkant van de videokaart twee DisplayPort-, één HDMI- en twee DVI-poorten. Bovenop de videokaart vinden we een klein schakelaartje waarmee tussen twee BIOS-varianten kan worden geschakeld. Handig voor wanneer één van de twee BIOS-instellingen niet goed werkt. Voor overklokkers komt deze switch vooral van pas. Men kan zo bijvoorbeeld één BIOS gebruiken om de videokaart tot het uiterste te drijven, terwijl in de andere variant de standaard-instellingen behouden blijven.

Op de bovenkant vinden we verder twee CrossFire-connectoren en tevens twee PCIe 6-pins poorten welke voor de stroomtoevoer gebruikt dienen te worden.

	AMD HD6950
GPU-klokfrequentie	800 MHz.
Shader-klokfrequentie	1600 MHz.
Geheugen-klokfrequentie	1250 MHz. GDDR5 (5000 MHz. effectief)
Geheugenbus	256-bits
Geheugengrootte	2048 MB
Productieproces	40nm
Texture Units	88
Voeding	2x PEG 6pin
Interne aansluiting	PCI-e x16 2.1
Externe aansluitingen	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort
Lengte	27,5 centimeter

Testverantwoording

Om een goed beeld te krijgen van de videokaarten die we testen, onderwerpen we deze producten steeds aan dezelfde tests. Daarnaast zorgen we ook dat de gebruikte hardware zoveel mogelijk overeen komt met voorgaande tests.

TestBench
Processor	Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz
CPU koeler	ThermalRight MUX-120 Dual-Fan
Videokaart	AMD HD6950
Geheugen	G.Skill PI Series DDR3-2200MHz CL7 4GB
Harde schijf	Western Digital 500GB RE3 7200RPM
Voeding	BeQuiet 650 Watt
Moederbord	Asus P7P55D-E Premium
OS	Windows 7 x64

Voor de tests gebruiken we een aantal fixed benchmarks uit spellen en enginetests. De scores die uit de tests komen kunnen met elkaar vergeleken worden om zo een duidelijk beeld te krijgen van de mogelijkheden per videokaart.

Benchmark	DirectX versie
Colin McRae DiRT 2	11
Crysis Warhead	10
Far Cry 2	10
Resident Evil 5	10
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat	11
3D Mark Vantage	10
Unigine Heaven 1.0	11

Overklokken

Zoals altijd gebruiken we MSI’s Afterburner om een videokaart op overklok-prestaties te testen. Toen we MSI’s software openden kwamen we echter al vrij gauw tot een schokkende conclusie, we kunnen de videokaart slechts 40 MHz overklokken, wat betreft de core. Het geheugen laat zich ook maar 75 MHz overklokken.

Na wat zoeken vinden we geen alternatieven om de kaart alsnog verder op de staart te trappen, dus wat betreft overklokken wordt deze review niet bepaald spannend.

Voor de grap stelden we maar eens even de maximale mogelijkheden in en erg verrassend was het niet, maar de kaart kon dit prima aan, de temperatuur bleef ook steken op een bescheiden 50 graden celsius. We kunnen de Core dus overklokken van 800 MHz naar 840 MHz, het geheugen van 1250 naar 1325 MHz en daarmee is de overklok in dit geval al gemaakt.

Dat de HD6950 tot veel meer in staat blijkt is echter wel duidelijk. Dat kunnen we niet alleen aan de relatief lage temperatuur afleiden, maar ook het feit dat tech-sites bomvol staan met handleidingen om de HD6950 te flashen naar een HD6970. De yields van de 6900-serie lijken prima in orde te zijn, want er worden zeer veel positieve resultaten van de flashmethode gemeld.

Onze kaart is al vanuit AMD (of een andere reviewer) voorzien van de HD6970-flash en zodoende publiceren we ook de scores van beide kaarten op de volgende pagina’s. Natuurlijk is het onzeker of deze flash ook bij nieuwe revisies van de HD6950 zal werken, of dat AMD voortaan hardwarematig de uitgeschakelde onderdelen zal vergrendelen. Het lijkt er in ieder geval op dat de kaarten zo goed als identiek zijn, op de vergrendeling van de SIMD-engines na.

Prestaties 1

Zoals gezegd hadden we de beschikking over een HD6950 die is voorzien van de HD6950-HD6970-flash. Zodoende kunnen we ook de scores van beide configuraties posten. Houd wel in de gaten dat de scores van een werkelijke HD6970 mogelijk kunnen afwijken. De vergelijking is puur om te laten zien wat het verschil is wanneer de flash-actie is gedaan.
Uit de eerste twee grafieken komt weinig verrassends, de HD6970-flash zorgt duidelijk voor een flinke prestatiewinst. Er is bij één game overigens wel iets aparts aan de hand en dat is Resident Evil 5. Daar scoort de standaard HD6950 namelijk wat beter dan de geflashte variant. Hoe dit komt is ons een raadsel.
In de overige tests op deze pagina blijkt duidelijk dat de HD6950 prima zijn mannetje kan staan in de desbestreffende games. De videokaart is een goede middenmotor en weet soms zelfs high-end kaarten achter zich te houden, zoals blijkt uit de benchmark in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Prestaties 2

Uit de tests op deze pagina blijkt echter dat de HD6950 toch over het algemeen zijn meerdere moet erkennen in veel van die high-end kaarten. Dat de flash naar de HD6970 echter een waardevolle (voor AMD natuurlijk ongewilde) eigenschap is, staat buiten kijf.

Review Sapphire HD 5450 512 MB GDDR3

First of all, let it be clear that this is not a gaming card. While it may be sufficient for older titles at modest resolution, it simply can not handle current games. What this card excels in however is regular desktop use and media playback at extremely low power usage numbers. Thanks to Sapphire’s passive cooling solution it does so without any noise, which is key when watching movies on your big TV screen. The card also comes in a low-profile, single slot compact form factor which should fit almost any media PC case on the market.
I noticed a lack of unique selling points on this card compared to previous generation products. AMD did not increase on the last generation 3D performance, and full HD media playback acceleration has been available in discrete graphics cards for the last years. If you are looking to feed your HD movies’ audio into your 7.1 audio receiver then this card offers something new. It brings support for HDMI 1.3 which includes 7.1 audio and several Dolby/DTS audio formats, a feature that was not present on previous cards. This also makes the card a great candidate as affordable HDMI sound card, such cards usually cost around $100. If you are looking for a cheap way to add HD capability to your HTPC rig then a HD 3450 or HD 4350 might be a better choice because of the big price difference. On the other hand a $20 premium isn’t that much and will help with the resale value of the card.

Review Sapphire ATI Radeon 5450 HD 512MB

The ATI 5450 HD is the newest card released from Sapphire and was put through the tests from hell! Now like we said before this isnft a gaming card and shouldnft be bought for one. You will be very disappointed. We will say how ever when we did test the card playing back full screen 1080p footage this card didnft even flinch at it! The 1080p play back was smooth as glass! and looked amazing on the 25 1080p monitor we tested it on. This card really shined and for the price of $60 bucks you will for sure be adding this card to your HTPC for the small form factor, low energy usage and pure silent passive cooling system. So if your looking for a low cost HTPC video card to power your current or next build then be sure to check out the Sapphire ATI 5450 HD 512mb video card.

Review Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X

Auch wenn die Grafikkarte weiterhin in unserem Preisvergleich kaum als lieferbar deklariert wird, schlägt sich die Sapphire Vapor-X HD5870 wacker und deklassiert die Modelle im Referenzdesign in Sachen Kühlung, Lautstärke sowie der Performance.
Weiterhin kann Sapphire mit einem gehobenen Lieferumfang aufwarten. Die Beilage des Spiels Dirt2 ist für den Interessierten ein gutes Kaufargument. Der Preis liegt bei rund 355,00 Euro, also nur ca. 30,00 Euro mehr als ein Referenzdesign mit ähnlicher Ausstattung. Eine Kaufempfehlung der Redaktion kann unserer Meinung nach bedenkenlos vergeben werden, sofern man denn eine Karte zu diesem Preis auch ergattern kann.

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC

There really is not a whole lot to say other than there is a new king in town. The Sapphire HD 5970 OC delivers performance far superior to what is currently available in every test run. This is the fastest video card out right here, right now. Overclocking the 5970 was a bit challenging but gains can be increased by using any of the voltage tweaking utilities out there. The Redline utility that can be downloaded from Sapphire’s site did not recognize my card as a supported device so I was not able to use it for my overclocking endeavors. I will follow up with this utility when I get the issue resolved. Overall, I was able to run the card higher than the clock speeds on the HD 5870 for a nice increase in performance, but to do so brought out the fan noise that ATI reference cards always bring to the table when you bump up the fan for additional cooling. I was able to reach clock speeds of 890MHz on the core and 1260MHz on the memory, with power consumption peaking at 486 watts on the system under load with temperatures that reached 69 degrees Celsius. The vapor chamber cooling does its job keeping this behemoth cool! Not too bad on the clocks and temperatures, but as an enthusiast you always want more performance with less power. Even at the speeds the 5970 OC runs you will be hard pressed to find a game you cannot play with the eye candy turned way up!

If you can’t get more clock speed you have additional capabilities that can be used with the HD 5970 OC. ATI’s Eyefinity technology allows the use of up to three displays at one time with this card to increase the level of immersion in your games. Something I have yet to test but am looking forward to it. Sapphire has given the end user a pretty substantial bundle that includes two DX 11 titles so that you can take full advantage of the capabilities of the HD 5970 OC. As you can expect with the high price and limited availability of the 5XXX series, the cost of this card is going to hit the wallet a little hard at $624, or roughly the cost of two HD 5850s. Since these card use cherry picked ASICS, supply may be limited but according to rumours, TSMC has gotten the supply problems fixed so ATI and its partners should be poised for a good holiday season if supply can meet the demand. Not everyone will want or need a card of this caliber but you can rest assured that there will be enough for you to jump on the bandwagon to have the best of the best video card on the block, the Sapphire HD 5970 OC!

Review Sapphire HD 5750 1 GB GDDR5

Sapphire’s Radeon HD 5750 is a worthy addition to the new HD 5000 Series lineup. Even though it might not win any beauty contest against AMD’s reference design HD 5770, which comes with a very stylish modern looking cooler, it can score high on all other criteria. Performance is decent, sitting right between the HD 4850 and HD 4870. Due to its more power efficient design it can take leading spots in idle power consumption and performance per Watt. If you spend most of your day at the desktop idle, working office apps or surfing the Web, the ~20W saved might be able to make quite a difference over time. It should also be noted that even though the cooler looks neither sexy nor powerful it offers excellent cooling performance, which allows Sapphire to run at very quiet fan speeds, offering a very enjoyable work and gaming experience with their new HD 5750.
Our sample showed some impressive overclocking capabilities. Both core and and memory could be overclocked by well over 20%. If you are willing to go this route, you could easily save some money and get performance similar to the HD 5770 or HD 4870.
When looking at pure performance per buck you will be disappointed however. AMD’s HD 4850 can be had at substantially lower price levels (-30%) than the HD 5750 and offers similar performance (-8%). I have to admit that the new features like DirectX 11, EyeFinity, native HDMI & DisplayPort warrant a price increase, but these features are not important for everyone. So the bottom line is: if you want the best bang for the buck right now, go with the HD 4850. If you want a longer term investment in future technologies, check out the HD 5750.

Review Sapphire Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X

The Sapphire HD5870 is a excellent card, the pinnacle of gaming performance for enthusiasts available today. The Vapor-X cooler does a great job of not only being more effective that the already impressive reference design, but more compact and quieter as well. The factory overclock while modest helps bump up performance to even higher levels at lower temperatures. Being shorter than the reference HD5870 is another plus point – anything to help these newest generation monsters fit in your case is a good thing.

The inclusion of not one but two major games is a great added value, especially the hotly anticipated DirectX 11 title DIRT 2. The included peripherals are pretty standard, but nice to have – although I can’t really imagine anyone using the card with a PSU without at least one 2x3pin PCIe power connector, they might be very useful for when adding a second card.

Review Sapphire PURE 1250W

Wow, that is all I can say at the moment! This power supply will meat any computer enthusiasts needs whether they are overclocking, they are using high end SLI/CrossFire video card setups or if they need a high end server based system that draws a lot of power. The Modular cable setup is a very good feature on this Power supply and we are seeing a lot of companies making this move on their latest power supplies. The chrome fan included with the Sapphire PURE 1250 Watt Modular Power Supply is a nice fan that has 18 white LEDs to light up the interior of your PC, however the fan can be heard if it is used in cases like the Silverstone TJ10B. The reason for this is because it intakes the cool air from the bottom of the case which is an open area. If the power supply would be located on the top of the case, it would probably not be heard because it is in a closed environment.

Pros:
-Excellent Voltages during tests, never too low or too high.
-High Quality Japanese capacitors, and 80Plus Bronze Efficiency!
-Modular Power Supply
-Included Cable ties
-Plenty of leads for even the most advanced systems
-Power Guard Indicator LED
-RPM detector Cable

Cons
-Would have been nice to see a 100% Modular Power Supply!
-The fan can be heard a little.

Review Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870

In summary, there’s a long future ahead for the Radeon HD 5870. DirectX 11 is the future of gaming, whether the competition likes it or not, and ATI has a huge head-start on absorbing an early market share. Eyefinity is a nice touch and it certainly adds to the gaming experience, but there’s such an incredibly small portion of potential users for the technology that in reality the Radeon 5800 series has only its shear graphics power to make the sales pitch. I give my recommendation for the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 DirectX 11 video card 21161-00-50R for high-performance gamers and multi-monitor power users.

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 5750

I will have to say that I was a bit taken when I got the email that the 5700 series cards would be coming out in a few days. I mean the 5800 cards have just barley gotten their feet wet and now the mid range cards are here. I am wondering if they are trying to get an early start on the holiday season buying? Some people may have to start now to make sure that they can stretch their holiday dollars because of the economy or maybe they have something else in mind, who knows.

The Sapphire Radeon 5750 did perform much better than I had expected it to. When comparing it against the 4000 series cards we could see that it was a very nice jump in performance, while others stayed very close to the new mid-range low end card. But is it worth the upgrade? I would have to say that if you are on the lower end of the 4000 series cards then yes you need to get it. If you happen to be in the 4800 level then I would say does the new features means enough for you to upgrade.

I also did my normal game testing by jumping in and playing my favorite games to get the real life feel . I found that I did not need to change any of the settings I had already had in place and that they all ran smooth.

Review Sapphire HD 5870

To sum this up on a more personal note, I have to pay the HD 5870 the highest compliment I can bestow on any piece of hardware by saying that I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in my own system. It truly is a technological marvel and we can only hope at this point that AMD / ATI carries through with their promise to bring OpenCL applications to their GPUs. If they do, Nvidia will be facing an uphill climb before their answer to the 5000-series even sees the light of day.

Review Sapphire HD4890 2GB Vapor-X

The first thing we have to say is that there’s a solid performance increase across the board when it comes to the Sapphire HD 4890 2GB Vapor-X. We can honestly say that most of that gain would come from the increased overclock more so than the extra memory.
Does that make it a waste of money? Not really; the Vapor-X offers more than just some extra memory. For around $250 U.S. Dollars you’re getting a new cooler which while it doesn’t cool quite as well as the stock one, does a good job of dropping noise levels. You’ve also got a bump in core and memory clock.

If you want 2GB of memory on a graphics card and don’t want to break the bank, the Sapphire Vapor-X model we have here today is pretty impressive. The good news is that if you’re not interested in spending the extra money that the 2GB card carries, Newegg also offers a 1GB version for $219.99.
We’ve got a solid card here that’s going to be a good option for some people. If the bundle, cooling and overclock wasn’t enough to get you excited, the decision to implement display port and HDMI natively to the card could be the deal clincher.

Review Sapphire HD4890 2GB Vapor-X

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 2GB Vapor X is an excellent package that gives you a boost over the best performing AMD graphics card that you can get today with a welcome silence even while being overclocked to the limit.

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 4890

Die Fps-Leistung der Atomic kommt durch den extrem hohen Werkstakt von 1,0 GHz in die Bereich der wesentlich teureren Geforce GTX 285. Durch die Vapor-X-Technologie schafft Sapphire es dabei sogar, das Geräuschniveau typischer Geforce-GTX-Karten knapp und das laute HD-4890-Referenzdesign deutlich zu unterbieten – auch die oft kritisch heißen Spannungswandler haben unseren Furmark-Extrem-Test überstanden.

Vorbehaltlich eines finalen Preises von schätzungsweise etwas über 200 Euro lohnt sich der Griff zur Atomic für Fps-Fetischisten und 8x-MSAA-Liebhaber auch im Vergleich zur normalen HD 4890 (ab 160 Euro) , welche die Atomic nicht nur deutlich in Sachen Fps sondern vor allem bei der Geräuschentwicklung hinter sich lässt; trotz vergleichsweise ruhiger Kühlung ist die Atomic unter Last keine Silent-Karte. Nvidias GTX 260 ist trotz Unterstützung für Physx, CUDA oder 3D-Vision sowie einer optional höheren Bildqualität (dies verhindert AMD seit Jahren durch die Zwangskopplung sinnvoller Optimierung und der sichtbaren Reduktion von Texturfilterung in Catalyst A.I.) keine Konkurrenz für die stark übertaktete HD 4890 Atomic und so müssen sich Kaufinteressierte schon in den Reihen der deutlich teureren GTX 285 (ab 260 Euro) umschauen, um ein schnelleres Modell zu finden.

Review Sapphire HD 4770 512MB

Overall though this latest ATI budget card has been a resounding success and I can’t wait to see how a CrossfiBreX setup performs. The great price point and reasonable performance all make for a very exciting card that is well worth a good look – expect 4770’s to be all the rage in a time where money is short.

Review Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 ATOMIC

All in all we’ve got a pretty kick ass card here and if you’re looking for a top of the line HD 4890 this is the one worth looking at. In typical fashion Sapphire hasn’t disappointed and makes good use of the ATOMIC name once again.

Review Sapphire HD 4730

The idea of releasing a lower midrange card based on the RV770 GPU makes a lot of sense. It gives AMD an opportunity to sell off their ASICs that didn’t qualify to be used on the higher end cards, and helps fill the void in the market that is caused by the HD 4770 shortage and makes for a potential successor to the HD 4830 which will see limited availability soon. Unfortunately the implementation of the card is less than optimal. In order to make up for the reduced shader count and memory bandwidth the core clock has been increased significantly. In order to achieve such high clock speeds, with current GPU bins, the voltage had to be increased. Higher voltage means higher power consumption which severely limits the card’s ability to perform. The increased power causes more heat that has to be dissipated in the cooler, resulting in a more noisy experience.
Actually Sapphire’s HD 4730 performance itself is quite sufficient to run all of today’s games at modest resolutions. This makes the card an excellent deal at its current price point of $79. However, given the high power draw and fan noise, the 9600 GT, HD 4770 or HD 4830 are better choices at this time when you are looking for the best bang for the buck.

Review CoolerMaster HAF-Mini RC-922M

Coolermaster hat mit dem HAF-Mini RC-922M vieles richtig gemacht. Das Case bietet ein großzügiges Raumangebot und eine vernünftige Belüftung. Durch sein geringes Gewicht von weniger als 9kg, ist es dazu auch noch absolut LAN-Party tauglich. Weniger gefallen haben uns die Schwächen bei der Verarbeitung. Mag man eine schwer drehbare Rändelschraube noch als Einzelfall akzeptieren, so sieht es mit der scharfen Kante am Festplattenkäfig schon anders aus. Es wäre ausgesprochen wünschenswert, wenn Coolermaster hier schnell und nachhaltig nachbessern würde. Weiter würden wir uns noch einen leicht entnehmbaren Staubfilter für das Netzteil wünschen. Ein Blick auf den Anschaffungspreis stimmt dann aber wieder versöhnlich. Knappe 80€ sind ein wirklich fairer Preis für ein Gehäuse dieser Größe. Mit den Worten “viel Platz für wenig Geld“ könnte man daher auch das Fazit in einem Satz zusammenfassen.

Review CoolerMaster Sileo 500 Case

The Cooler Master Sileo 500 is a very well done example of sound and vibration management by addressing the source of the noise. Some things could have been handled better such as rubber mounting the case fans or providing sound damping latches to both sides of the drive bays. However those are actually minor issues considering the lower price point.

Suppressing noise is not always about isolating vibration sources but rather understanding what causes increases in noise as a result. The largest is resonant frequency. Every material has a certain frequency at which point it will vibrate. Thin walled cases will vibrate very easy whereas cases constructed from SECC metal, like the Cooler Master Sileo 500, require more. A good way to increase the resonant frequency is to add medium density foam to the panels. Not only does this foam absorb sound waves but helps to add additional mass to the panels to resist vibration.

Cooler Master has designed and produced a very solid case with some great features and classic design which would be equally suited for business or home use. The case supports both standard and micro ATX motherboards and a variety of drive configurations. The attention to sound also means that you can splurge on your hardware choices and not worry so much about additional noise, GPU fans will appear to be quieter and CPU fans will soften.

Review CoolerMaster STORM Sentinel Advance Mouse

When Cooler Master launched the CM Storm brand they were targeting gamers, and with the Sentinel Advance they are showing they are not content with just cases. For a first delve into gaming peripherals, the Sentinel Advance hits a lot of high notes. A 5600 DPI laser, onboard profiles and OLED screen all come together in a handsome package that allows plenty of tweaking. The LED lights while slightly gimmicky can allow for quick profile detection should you be switching in the dark.

In a couple weeks of use I really can’t knock the Sentinel Advance for anything other than the fact that lefties are left out in the cold. Cooler Master and their team at CM Storm have done their homework and have released one heck of a mouse in the Sentinel Advance.

Review Coolermaster Hyper N620

Overall, Coolermaster’s Hyper N620 is a heatsink I totally recommend. Not only does it look pretty good, it’s also well built and, best of all, it performs right up there along with the market leaders. As long as you don’t expect the horrible instruction manual to help you getting it installed, the Hyper N620 is available now for right under $60 and is a heatsink you won’t regret getting.

Review CoolerMaster Hyper N520 CPU Cooler

Cooler Master has impressed once again but this time it is not the high end coolers which have attracted attention. The Hyper N520, a cooler which doesn’t create the same impact as say the V8 with its numerous heatsinks and additional heatpipes.

In fact Cooler Master has taken a simpler heatsink and made it unique with the offset dual fan configuration. Looking simply at performance, the numbers do the talking with the smaller heatsink able to keep up with the likes of the Noctua NH-U12P.

Of course the down side to extras fans is extra noise and I must say that the sound is noticeable but it’s not overly loud. For silent enthusiasts it’s probably not going to rank too highly but if you’re not too concerned noise wise, it’s not bad.

To sum it up, the Hyper N520 continues Cooler Master’s impressive showing in the cooling department with its impressive performance and universal capability making it a great all-round cooler.

Review CoolerMaster NotePal A1

The NotePal A1 is a quality product from Coolermaster that does what it is supposed to do, with minimal fuss. No external power adapters to lug around (as the fans are powered off of the 5v USB lines) and the results show measurable improvement on the thermal management side of the equation, both from an idle standpoint as well as a loaded standpoint. And, as we all know, the better you can control the thermal situation in a laptop, the longer the laptop will last and the more reliably it will perform. The NotePal A1 fans run quietly and effectively, giving the laptop a much needed source of force fed cooler air.

This translates into a product that, for me, has delivered everything it was supposed to, and exceeded my expectations. The issue with the loaded temperatures seems to me to be a limitation on the CPU heatsink and not on the NotePal A1.
For it’s design and purpose, it is a perfect fit for the user who always uses their laptop without a hard connected docking station, and is looking to better manage their laptop heat, both from an active cool air supply standpoint, as well as a passive “blowing air across the bottom surface of the laptop and into the other bottom vents” standpoint.

Review Coolermaster SNA 95

All things being equal, I would love to love this power adapter. Charging USB devices as a standalone is great. While it is the smallest 95W power adapter I’ve seen, it’s still a little much to carry around strictly for charging USB devices however.

Where this device runs into trouble is in the laptop battery charging. If all I wanted to do was power my laptop, it’d still be a great device. But I often run the battery to near depletion and I have to be able to recharge it. If I were going to replace the OEM power adapter, I can’t settle for one that won’t charge the battery, and I don’t think our readers would either. Let me be clear however, this is not Cooler Master’s fault, this has a lot to do with Dell (among other computer manufacturer’s) and their infatuation with proprietary equipment. That does not change the fact however that it is unable to charge my laptop. If I were a buyer, I’d be forced to return it.

One other note, not all USB devices will work with this charger. The vast majority will, but the list cannot be all-inclusive if for no other reason than the sheer number of devices on the market.

The SNA 75 has not yet come to market, but it is expected to have a price point of around $70 and carries a 2 year manufacturer warranty.

Review Coolermaster Hyper 212+

The Hyper 212+ CPU cooler performed quite well. Not staggering performance like we have seen with other CPU cooler offerings, but the other offerings run in the 60USD range versus this CPU cooler having a price point of around 30 USD. This CPU cooler fits perfect for those who need a better CPU cooler, but cannot afford the much more expensive CPU coolers out there, or for those who want a quiet CPU cooler for their HTPC computers. Of coarse you will have to use at least a mid sized tower for use with this CPU cooler.

The only thing this CPU cooler disappointed me in was the way it was mounted to the CPU. Mounting CPU coolers need to be hassle free and simple as possible. When companies add more parts to the mounting, it adds more confusion, and also adds more problems that could arise during installing. This is one of my pet peeves when it comes to CPU coolers.

Review Coolermaster Elite 310

All in all the Cooler Master Elite 310 chassis is a good looking, fully functional chassis. Despite this chassis being a tad cramped with my components (I have rather large computer components), the performance of this chassis was what I expected from a mid sized tower.

The only real troubles I faced was managing my cables mainly because of the top PSU mounting. I still prefer to have my PSU ‘s mounted on the bottom of the chassis. The lack of 2.5″ HDD adapters did not help matters. These types of drives are becoming more and more popular with desktop users, because of there ability of using little power, cooler operation, and not to mention they are quiet.

Looking at Newegg.com, I see that this chassis goes for roughly 40 USD. Giving this chassis a perfect price point for those who need a good solid constructed chassis, with out sacrificing looks, and cooling capability.

Review Coolermaster Sileo 500

Cooler Master has accomplished exactly what they have set out to do with the release of the Sileo 500 chassis. Whether or not your choice is to go with or without the PSU, the chassis alone is worth every penny of the asking price. With cases such as the NZXT Beta, or one of many others for $50, none offer the comfort to your ears that the Cooler Master Sileo 500 does. This is by far the most silent build I have done yet. As I alluded to, it took me getting within three feet of the Sileo 500 before I could actually hear any audible noise.

Complaints, well I can’t honestly think of any. Due to the design of the Sileo 500, wire management holes are pretty useless even if they were there. I would have liked to have seen a cut out for access to CPU back plates; I mean they followed so many up and coming trends, I think this may have gotten overlooked. Other than that, I think a window may be needed as a requirement of some buyers, but just be aware that a window doesn’t block noise half as well as steel and sound proofing material. You will lose some of the silent properties if you opted for a windowed version, or modded it yourself to have one.
What I am left with is a budget priced chassis without the power supply. This chassis does offer a lot for its 54.99 USD, Newegg asking price and makes me advise this chassis above all others for its price when you are searching for a silent build. If you are looking for a good deal on both the power supply and the chassis, I can’t come up with any reason other than GPU power requirements to go another route than the $99.99 version at Newegg. All things considered, the Sileo 500 is the way to go if you need a silent gamer, or a sleek larger HTPC that sits in an open area.

Review Coolermaster UCP 900W

Cooler Master’s UCP 900W is an excellent high performance PSU which definitely is worth a place in the shortlist of any hardcore enthusiast. Its aesthetically interesting design increases the attention this unit will receive, even though it isn’t a modular unit and routing/hiding the cables will prove to be a difficult task in most cases. We cannot claim that the UCP 900W unit is the best product we have ever tested around its power and price range, but it performs well enough to satisfy even the most demanding of users. Recommended.

Review Coolermaster UCP 900W

The CoolerMaster UCP 900W is a real workhorse and during our testing it never missed a lick. Our test results confirmed our suspicion that this was going to be great PSU and indeed it is. It is capable of handling all of the new video cards and motherboards all at the same time and doing it almost noise free. The only time we heard this power supply fan was when we pushing the unit near its max load.

The price may seem a bit high to some, but it is our opinion you get what you pay for in power supplies and this one is no different. You can pick this power supply up a Newegg and you won’t be sorry that you did either.

Review Coolermaster Hyper TX3 Cooler

Priced around 27€, the hyper tx3 provides nice performance with decent sound levels. While not being the silentest cooler available, it is definately more silent than the Intel stock cooler and has half the price of Noctuas. Temperature levels with our test setup are also better than with Intel stock cooler. I could recommend Hyper TX3 for everyone who is buying a new cooler in sub 30€ pricerange.

Review Coolermaster Gladiator 600

The Cooler Master Gladiator 600 is an affordable case and should be an interesting choice for most first time builders. It features the same guts as the CM Storm Scout, but costs almost 30% less. That said, do not expect the case to be above average in most areas. You will get two 120 mm fans, which is pretty standard with enclosures at this price range. The same goes for the locking mechanisms and overall build quality. There are some highlights however, which you will not find on other offerings. While the hole under the mainboard tray for easy cooler removal is becoming more and more popular with case manufacturers, the switch to turn LED lights of the front fan on/off is certainly a nice touch for a case of this price range. Overall, all of those looking to avoid a cheap OEM case and are willing to pay a few extra bucks for something with a “brand name” and clean, simple but functional features should be more than happy with the Gladiator 600.

Review CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus

From a strict performance outlook, the Hyper 212 Plus did alright not losing by much, so it’s not a bad cooler. However, I feel that with what it was compared to, it could have stood up a bit better even with 3°C variance in most of the tests. Still, I was impressed by a lot with this heatsink. The versatility of it only requiring a single backplate and retention bracket while covering such a wide array of socket types (AM2, AM3, 939, 775, 1156, 1366) is what impressed me. Again, like the XT-1264 however, there are gaps between the heatpipes where heat could be trapped but on a more positive note it is good to see companies trying to get it so the heatpipes come in direct contact with the CPU die. This kind of contact reduces the amount of time it takes to transfer heat from one place to another as opposed to a heatsink with the heatpipes sandwiched between two pieces of metal. Another amazing feat is that unlike the XT-1264 this heatsink actually offers the ability to use a second fan if you wish to purchase one and even comes with a second set of clips just for that purpose. I also was impressed by how lightweight it was. The heatsink fins were also quite thin, which probably attributes to how light it is and yet they were quite sturdy for aluminum. I feel that for a price of around $35 it offers a decent level of cooling performance with only a three degree difference in load temperatures between the Hyper 212 plus and TRUE when overclocked. It’s safe to say that there is even a little headroom for a bit of overclocking.

Review Coolermaster Hyper 212

So overall we like what we see very much. Priced at roughly 30 EUR / 35 USD you’ll get a lot of cooling performance and an easy to use and install CPU cooler. There really is very little wrong with this product, and as such it comes very much recommended by Guru3D.com, but remember .. to install it your motherboard needs to come out of your chassis

HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ – 1GB GDDR3 128bit review

HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Video Card – 1GB GDDR3, AGP, DVI, VGA, HDMI

The HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Video Card is the perfect upgrade for your computer. It uses 1GB of GDDR3 video memory to power through the most complex video on the highest settings. With DirectX 10.1 technology, this card can handle the latest games and applications. An AGP interface makes it easy to install in a variety of PCs. VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs allow you to connect the HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Video Card to any monitor and even several televisions.  Key Features: 1GB of GDDR3 video memory DirectX 10.1 support AGP interface VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs Key Benefits: Provides high definition graphics Easy to install in your computer The HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Video Card carries 1GB of GDDR3 video memory and DirectX 10.1 support. It uses an AGP interface as well as VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs. Take your graphics to the next level with the HIS H467QS1GHA Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Video Card.

Specifications

HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ 1GB DDR3 AGP   Chipset: ATI Radeon GPU Series: ATI Radeon HD 4000 Lifestyle: Performance GPU/VPU: RADEON HD 4670 Additional Features: HDCP Enabled Game Physics Capable ATI Avivo HD Technology Memory Interface: 128-bit Memory Type: GDDR3 Video Memory: 1GB Stream Processors: 320 Core Clock: 750 MHz Memory Clock: 1600 MHz Interface Type: AGP Interface Speed: 8X Connector(s): DVI HDMI VGA Multiple Monitors Support: Yes Max. Monitors Supported: 2 Overclocked: No APIs: OpenGL 2.0 DirectX 10.1 Shader Model 4.1 1080p Support: Yes Video Output: DVI HDMI VGA Low Profile: No Cooling Type: Fan Minimum PSU Wattage Requirement: 400 Watt

Detailed Features

A Closer Look

Customer Reviews and Rating	Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41

Value		4.4
Features		4.6
Quality		4.6
Performance		4.4

Two Words: Kick-Butt Reviewer:  Capt_M_USAF on  Dec 12, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Just as the other reviews state it, the perfect upgrade to breath new life into an old AGP system. Plug and play. No problems; superb performance. Some things in life should not be passed up; this is one!

Fantastic for nForce2 motherboards Reviewer:  AIM-9X on  Dec 01, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

This is great for an old AGP system. I use an NForce 2 platform (Athlon XP 3200 with 3 GB Dual Channel RAM). Prior to this video card I was using a GeForce 7950GT with 512 MB. After doing lots of homework and reading reviews I bought this card and immediately downloaded and installed the 1011 hotfix driver (vs using the included driver CD). Installation with this driver was a snap. As for a performance comparison with the 7950, when I ran Flight Simulator X with the 7950, it would run acceptably only with very low detail settings. With this HD4670, I can run FSX with most details cranked all the way up and still get acceptable performance (i. e. 15 to 20 fps in most areas, with full autogen, full textures, etc at 1024x768x32). I also enjoy full 1080p Blu Ray playback with no stutters.

Couldn’t get the HDMI audio to work Reviewer:  Drew on  Nov 09, 2010 Customer Rating:  3.5 Value 3.0 Features 3.0 Quality 4.0 Performance 4.0

I purchased this card to make an old PC into a HTPC, and run HD movies to my DLP. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of trying to figure out why there was no audio through the HDMI, I gave up and currently have this item for sale online. The video aspect of the card was beautiful, but I couldn’t find an answer to the audio problem through any of the support sites, (HIS, Intel, Etc…)

Great Value and Great Service Reviewer:  flashsolut on  Oct 22, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Not only is the product excellent, but the service was phenomenal. The graphics are excellent and no stuttering in my games now.

Best AGP Card out there!! Reviewer:  gmoya909 on  Oct 21, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

i havent play the games yet cause of some issues on my low ram and HDD but i will review again. glad i got this card works with my old P4 3.0ghz asusuPS800

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

Sound through an AGP slot?…. Nice Reviewer:  GRIZZWALD on  Jun 29, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

I spent some time doing some research on what would be the best AGP video card for my outdated system. This is it. I usually go with Nvidia, but they have nothing that compares to this card for AGP. This card let me up the settings and frame rate in all the games I run with no problem. But the feature I love the most is the fully function HDMI output. I have the DVI connected to my monitor and the HDMI to the my LCD TV. The sound is fine and it plays 1080p with outta problem. A little FYI for ya.. The power connector on this card is the peripheral 4-pin, not the 6-pin, so if you don’t have an extra 4-pin you’ll have to pick up an adapter.

AGP IS ALIVE & WELL! Reviewer:  Bill on  Jun 29, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

A well engineered & manufactured G-Card with lots of heat sink & air cooling to make it perform to its full potential. However there was a total absence of documentation regarding operation, only a very sparse Quick Installation Guide. I wound up using the manual from another card to set up my multi display system.

Has issues with blu-ray Reviewer:  littleman00 on  Jul 05, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.0 Value 4.0 Features 4.0 Quality 4.0 Performance 4.0

As of this writing, the drivers don’t support RGB Overlay, which is required for blu-ray playback. Because of this, some blu-ray discs will fail to load; I learned this the hard way. Still, it’s a solid card for gaming and will keep your old AGP system alive a little longer.

so far so good Reviewer:  outlaw on  Jul 10, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.8 Value 4.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

it is better than my previous i expected a lil more but i searched all over the web for the top agp gpu and this was the best i could find it is agp so not that many choices i recomend it if u have an agp system

great card Reviewer:  mush on  Jul 13, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

This card is great. Keeps me from upgrading mainboard. The install is challenging as the driver that comes with does not work. download the hot-fix driver from web. Games are way better now. Bump top s-w that came with is pretty cool.

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

Audio Reviewer:  rochanjo on  Feb 26, 2011 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Love the card… easy to install, only took a few minutes… I just can’t get the audio to work on my LCDTV. I’m using the native HDMI for the TV. Not sure if I’m supposed to disable or connect something else.

Best AGP card to date Reviewer:  RoadkillSD on  Jan 30, 2011 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

If you are stuck in the ”I have enough to splurge on the best GPU I can get but that’s about it” stage and can’t afford to change everything (mobo, PSU, CPU, RAM, etc.) because you’re way behind, then this is the best AGP card you can get. This made HUGE improvements over the HIS IceQ 3 Turbo HD3850 I had before (which was also the best at the time). I can play games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat now on mid-high settings on my P4 3.4Ghz! Definitely an awesome card. Too bad HIS takes forEVER to release new drivers while everyone else with any other ATI card gets regular updates.

Two Words: Kick-Butt Reviewer:  Capt_M_USAF on  Dec 12, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Just as the other reviews state it, the perfect upgrade to breath new life into an old AGP system. Plug and play. No problems; superb performance. Some things in life should not be passed up; this is one!

Fantastic for nForce2 motherboards Reviewer:  AIM-9X on  Dec 01, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

This is great for an old AGP system. I use an NForce 2 platform (Athlon XP 3200 with 3 GB Dual Channel RAM). Prior to this video card I was using a GeForce 7950GT with 512 MB. After doing lots of homework and reading reviews I bought this card and immediately downloaded and installed the 1011 hotfix driver (vs using the included driver CD). Installation with this driver was a snap. As for a performance comparison with the 7950, when I ran Flight Simulator X with the 7950, it would run acceptably only with very low detail settings. With this HD4670, I can run FSX with most details cranked all the way up and still get acceptable performance (i. e. 15 to 20 fps in most areas, with full autogen, full textures, etc at 1024x768x32). I also enjoy full 1080p Blu Ray playback with no stutters.

Great Value and Great Service Reviewer:  flashsolut on  Oct 22, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Not only is the product excellent, but the service was phenomenal. The graphics are excellent and no stuttering in my games now.

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

crashes system Reviewer:  JEREMIAH on  Mar 06, 2011 Customer Rating:  1.0 Value 1.0 Features 1.0 Quality 1.0 Performance 1.0

I installed this with the latest drivers and 11-2 hot fix. Every time I watch a you tube video or play Oblivion my system reboots. Re-installed, same problem. Re-installed my old video card and everything works again. I was really looking forward to this card and now I’m very sad.

Short Life – Cheap Parts Reviewer:  OVERWORKSMOM on  Mar 14, 2011 Customer Rating:  2.8 Value 3.0 Features 4.0 Quality 1.0 Performance 3.0

First thing i noticed out of box – heat sink material on back but NO heatsink and those parts hot. But card worked great first couple of weeks even in dual monitor mode. Games played like Liquid no lag at all, which is why i wanted card with 1 gb of memory. Then i noticed after long play times – lockup and strange glitches and colors, so rebooted and all fine untill finally RB several times per game then finally hot smell then nothing.. Card lasted 36 days i think… Started warranty process weeks of calls and messages and links and finally get RMA, sent it to Calif and never seen it again, no email or anything to even say they got it.. warranty is useless if it takes years to replace it.. Right

Good Buy Reviewer:  GUMBO on  Oct 07, 2010 Customer Rating:  2.8 Value 3.0 Features 3.0 Quality 3.0 Performance 2.0

Card Specks AGP 3.0 1.5 Volt. not listed in Product Information and it needs to be. That seems to be The only issue with the description on the website. You may have a problem with Driver instillation if so you will need the Hot Fix patch. Read the driver install info so ya get it right the first time. ATI isn’t known for writing drivers very well or so I have read elsewhere and I concur. After the drivers are installed correctly the Card works well enough and is a relatively good buy. I am normally a die-hard Nvidia guy and couldn’t find any AGP cards that could compete with this one.

good buy Reviewer:  omen two on  Aug 10, 2010 Customer Rating:  3.0 Value 4.0 Features 3.0 Quality 3.0 Performance 2.0

this video card did not work well with my system crashed with every game played BF2, Crysis, AA3 Ghost Recon2 even Silent Hunter III The system would crash or lock up and i would get BSOD I removed this card and put the older one back in no problems. I am going to return this card

Couldn’t get the HDMI audio to work Reviewer:  Drew on  Nov 09, 2010 Customer Rating:  3.5 Value 3.0 Features 3.0 Quality 4.0 Performance 4.0

I purchased this card to make an old PC into a HTPC, and run HD movies to my DLP. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of trying to figure out why there was no audio through the HDMI, I gave up and currently have this item for sale online. The video aspect of the card was beautiful, but I couldn’t find an answer to the audio problem through any of the support sites, (HIS, Intel, Etc…)

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

Audio Reviewer:  rochanjo on  Feb 26, 2011 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Love the card… easy to install, only took a few minutes… I just can’t get the audio to work on my LCDTV. I’m using the native HDMI for the TV. Not sure if I’m supposed to disable or connect something else.

Best AGP card to date Reviewer:  RoadkillSD on  Jan 30, 2011 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

If you are stuck in the ”I have enough to splurge on the best GPU I can get but that’s about it” stage and can’t afford to change everything (mobo, PSU, CPU, RAM, etc.) because you’re way behind, then this is the best AGP card you can get. This made HUGE improvements over the HIS IceQ 3 Turbo HD3850 I had before (which was also the best at the time). I can play games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat now on mid-high settings on my P4 3.4Ghz! Definitely an awesome card. Too bad HIS takes forEVER to release new drivers while everyone else with any other ATI card gets regular updates.

Two Words: Kick-Butt Reviewer:  Capt_M_USAF on  Dec 12, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Just as the other reviews state it, the perfect upgrade to breath new life into an old AGP system. Plug and play. No problems; superb performance. Some things in life should not be passed up; this is one!

Fantastic for nForce2 motherboards Reviewer:  AIM-9X on  Dec 01, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

This is great for an old AGP system. I use an NForce 2 platform (Athlon XP 3200 with 3 GB Dual Channel RAM). Prior to this video card I was using a GeForce 7950GT with 512 MB. After doing lots of homework and reading reviews I bought this card and immediately downloaded and installed the 1011 hotfix driver (vs using the included driver CD). Installation with this driver was a snap. As for a performance comparison with the 7950, when I ran Flight Simulator X with the 7950, it would run acceptably only with very low detail settings. With this HD4670, I can run FSX with most details cranked all the way up and still get acceptable performance (i. e. 15 to 20 fps in most areas, with full autogen, full textures, etc at 1024x768x32). I also enjoy full 1080p Blu Ray playback with no stutters.

Great Value and Great Service Reviewer:  flashsolut on  Oct 22, 2010 Customer Rating:  5.0 Value 5.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 5.0

Not only is the product excellent, but the service was phenomenal. The graphics are excellent and no stuttering in my games now.

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

Just what i expected Reviewer:  Dnaangel on  Jan 26, 2011 Customer Rating:  4.5 Value 5.0 Features 4.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 4.0

Card installed right in with no hitches. HIS website provided the latest drivers plus Xp Hotfix and the latest version of Catalyst CC. Was a little leary about this card at first due to alot of problems with the 4670 AGP line and the Onboard HDMI audio affecting performance. Once i saw a new manufacturer(HIS) offering this card a year later i decided to go ahead and purchase this card for my old AGP gaming rig and rebuild it for my Stepsons Birthday. Was happy to see the HDMI issue was no longer a problem. and that Cat CC had Overdrive enabled for this card (unlike the PowerColors version of the 4670 AGP, Also having the biggest issue with the onboard HDMI) very happy with this card and the drivers available for it. plays Crysis Warhead on max settings flawlessly. Performance wise its not up to par with Sapphires’s Radeon HD 3850 AGP but for the price to performance its a steal

Excellent graphics Reviewer:  Tib on  Dec 24, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.5 Value 5.0 Features 4.0 Quality 4.0 Performance 5.0

Installed right in, booted just fine. Provides excellent graphics for an aging rig without any lag. Only problem I had is I couldn’t get the Catalyst control center running in XP. I tried updating everything but to no avail.

Best you can get! Reviewer:  MS-7025 on  Oct 20, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.5 Value 4.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 4.0

This video card will revive your old AGP system. Flawless 1080p playback! Games are OK. Quite and cool. What else can you ask for in an aging rig?!

Good Card Reviewer:  Contra on  Oct 11, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.5 Value 4.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 4.0

Bouth this card to upgrade a Dell Dimension 8100 with an 80528, 1.5 Ghz Intel Porcessor, Windows XP SP3 Home Edition. It ran with SP2 but not when SP3 was installed. Eventually I installed it on a genetic computer with an AMD Athlon 2200 DUV3V. Here it ran with Windows XP SP3 Home Edition installed without any problems.

Best AGP card available Keeps old pc going Reviewer:  Core on  Aug 28, 2010 Customer Rating:  4.5 Value 4.0 Features 5.0 Quality 5.0 Performance 4.0

I bought this card because I wanted to take advantage of DX10. I installed this card, installed the driver off of the cd provided for Win 7, and then installed the latest drivers from Ati. People who are having problems with this card crashing on their systems or that are saying they are having problems with this card ALREADY had problems with their computers or don’t know what they are doing. Try removing all of your old video card drivers and doing some research before you install a new piece of hardware. The card itself is great, its nice and cool and works fine with my 550watt power supply. Check out the minimum requirements before you blame the new hardware for your old hardware not working with newer stuff. This is by no means THE BEST CARD EVAR! This is not top of the line. You want that, then upgrade your entire system.

Customer Reviews and Rating
Customer Rating:  4.5 Customer Reviews: 41  Have an opinion on this product that you would like to share? If so, please take a few moments to write your rating and review.	Value 4.4 Features 4.6 Quality 4.6 Performance 4.4

Couldn’t get the HDMI audio to work Reviewer:  Drew on  Nov 09, 2010 Customer Rating:  3.5 Value 3.0 Features 3.0 Quality 4.0 Performance 4.0

I purchased this card to make an old PC into a HTPC, and run HD movies to my DLP. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of trying to figure out why there was no audio through the HDMI, I gave up and currently have this item for sale online. The video aspect of the card was beautiful, but I couldn’t find an answer to the audio problem through any of the support sites, (HIS, Intel, Etc…)

good buy Reviewer:  omen two on  Aug 10, 2010 Customer Rating:  3.0 Value 4.0 Features 3.0 Quality 3.0 Performance 2.0

this video card did not work well with my system crashed with every game played BF2, Crysis, AA3 Ghost Recon2 even Silent Hunter III The system would crash or lock up and i would get BSOD I removed this card and put the older one back in no problems. I am going to return this card

Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB Single/SLI Video Card Review

Introduction

Category: Hardware – Video Cards

By Ben Sun

NVIDIA has been in a bit of a hurt recently with the revelations that their 8600GT notebook video cards might be defective and the launch of ATI’s HD4xxx series which caused NVIDIA to redefine their video card lineup to compete better in price/performance. Recently, NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX280 and GTX260 cards which were much faster than the last generation GeForce 9800GTX cards but had the disadvantage of competing against less expensive at the time ATI chips.

The vast majority of video card sales are not in the $300+ category and with different cards on the market today with different chips it can be a little confusing as some cards that were higher priced on the market just a few months ago are now much lower in the price range. NVIDIA’s approach to the $150 price range is called the 9800GT, which will be NVIDIA’s first 55 nanometer product in the near future. Palit manufactures video cards based upon both NVIDIA and ATI chips and today’s card on the test bench is the 9800GT Super+ 1GB from Palit.

By Ben Sun

• 65 nanometer moving to 55 nanomter
• G92b chip
• 112 Stream Processors
• 256-bit memory interface
• Hybrid Power
• 2-way SLI
• 754 Million transistors
• 1GB memory
• ROPs 16
• Core Clock
• Memory clock
• Hybrid SLI
• 128-bit floating point high dynamic range rendering
• 16x Anti-Aliasing technology
• CUDA
• PhysX
• Two dual-link DVI inputs support two 2560×1600 resolution displays
• PureVideo
• OpenGL 2.1 support
• Forceware Unified Driver Architecture
• Lumenex engine
• Discrete Programmable Video Processor
• High Quality Scaling
• DirectX 10.0
• Pixel Shader 4.0
• Vertex Shader 4.0
• Inverse Telecine
• Bad Edit Correction
• Integrated SD and HD TV Output
• Noise Reduction
• Edge Enhancement
• Dual-link HDCP capable

Brand Name	Palit
Part Number	9800GT Super+ 1GB
Graphics Chip	G92
Core clock	600MHz
Shader Clock	1.5GHz
SPs	112
Fabrication Process	65 nm
Transistors	754 Million
Memory cloick	1.8GHz effective
Memory Interface	256-bit
Memory bandwidth	57.6GB/second
Memory Size	1024MB
ROPs	16
Texture Filtering Units	32
Texture Filtering Rate	38.4 Gigatexels/second
HDCP Support	Yes
HDMI Support	Yes (via adapter)
Connectors	2x Dual-Link DVI, TV-Out
RAMDACs	400MHz
Bus	PCI Express 2.0
Form Factor	Dual Slot
Power Connectors	1x 6-pin

One thing that NVIDIA has been keen on with their video cards of the last couple of years is the re-use of the same chip for different SKUs. This has the advantage of higher utilization of chips as you can use a bad GeForce 9800GTX with SPs disabled as a GeForce 9800GT. This has an inherent disadvantage in that if the chip is poorly designed as was the case with the G86 all of the chips designed could have issues.

The GeForce 9800GT uses a modified version of the G92 chip that was first introduced with the GeForce 8800GT cards last year. This chip has 112 SPs, 16 ROPs and was highly successful. NVIDIA uses the codename G92b for the 9800GT chip. They say they will move this chip to the 55 nanometer process in the near future with this chip.

I won’t get into the politics of DirectX 10.0 versus DirectX 10.1 in this review. ATI cards were the first to hit the market with support for this graphics API and S3 has followed suit. NVIDIA says with some justification that it is a minor update and the DirectX 10.0 hardware on their video cards is capable of running some of the features of 10.1, but compliance requires full feature support.

Palit has clocked their GeForce 9800GT card to the reference 9800GT clock speeds NVIDIA recommends with these cards of 600MHz for the core, 1.8GHz for the memory (effective) and 1.5GHz for the Shader clocks. The Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB card has a memory bandwidth of 57.6GB/second and 1GB of Framebuffer memory. The Pixel fillrate is 9.6 Gigapixels/second and the texture fill rate is 38.4 Gigatexels/second.

One of NVIDIA’s big pushes is the support for CUDA, their computing for graphics cards initiative and the PhysX game physics engine. NVIDIA bought Ageia a few months ago and has now integrated the drivers into a PhysX driver package. Due to the fact that ATI cards currently do not support PhysX natively, all tests were run with PhysX disabled.

GPU	Core clock	Shader clock	SPs	Memory clock	Memory bus	Memory bandwidth	Memory	Price online 9/01/08
GeForce GTX 280	602	1296	240	1107	512-bit	141.7GB/second	1GB GDDR3	439
Geforce GTX 260	576	1242	192	1000	448-bit	112GB/second	896MB GDDR3	249.99
GeForce 9800GTX+	738	1836	128	1100	256-bit	70.4GB/second	512MB GDDR3	199.99
GeForce 9800GTX	675	1688	128	1100	256-bit	70.4GB/second	512MB GDDR3	199.99
GeForce 9800GT	600	1500	112	900	256-bit	57.6GB/second	512MB GDDR3	142.99
Palit GeForce 9800GT Super+ 1GB	600	1500	112	900	256-bit	57.6GB/second	1024MB GDDR3	169.99
9600GT	650	1625	64	900	256-bit	57.6GB/second	512MB	95
9600GSO	550	1375	96	800	192-bit	38.4GB/second	384MB	90
9500GT	550	1400	32	800	128-bit	25.6GB/second	512MB	70
9400GT	550	1400	16	400	128-bit	12.8GB/second	512MB	60
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2	750	750	800×2	1800	256-bitx2 GDDR5	230.4GB/second	2GB GDDR5	549.99
HD 4870	750	750	800	1800	256-bit GDDR5	115.2GB/second	512MB	279.99
HD 4850	625	625	800	1986	256-bit GDDR3	63.6GB/Second	512MB	170.00
HD 3870 X2	825	825	640	1800	256-bitx2 GDDR3	115.2GB/second	512MB X2 GDDR3	220
HD 3870	775	775	320	1800	256-bit	57.6GB/second	512MB GDDR3	125
HD 3850	668	668	320	1656	256-bit	53GB/second	512MB GDDR3	89.99
HD 3650	720	720	120	800	128-bit	256GB/second	512MB GDDR3	55.99
HD 3450	600	600	40	800	64-bit	12.8GB/second	256MB GDDR2	44.99

One change to the chip is the addition of Hybrid Power and support to the 9800GT card which is not present on the 8800GT card. HybridPower allows the motherboard to turn off the discrete graphics card when in idle mode or 2D mode, saving energy. With the big push of the Green initiative, the video card manufacturers are pushing energy-saving technologies onto every card they sell.

Here’s a chart of the current NVIDIA and ATI lineup with the lowest prices for each card on Newegg.com. Note the overlap of the various cards and pricing due to the competitive nature of the industry. The Palit GeForce 9800GT Super+ 1GB card is available for $170, a small premium over the pricing of the 9800GT and 15% less expensive than the 9800GTX.

By Ben Sun

Palit chose to outfit this card with a 2-slot cooling solution of a gold colored heatsink. There are other Palit 9800GT cards that have different cooling with single slot solutions. Palit has artwork of their frog mascot on the cover of the card and the Palit logo next to the fan. The PCB design is similar to the 9600GT Sonic in color and configuration.

Card front 

Fan 

Fan area 

Rear of card 

The rear of the card has a metal heat-spreader that covers the majority of the back corresponding to the memory chip layout, the GPU and more. The stickers for the Serial and Part Numbers of the card are also on the rear of the card. The card is about 9 inches long or about as long as NVIDIA’s reference card. Palit decided to cool the graphics chip with a twin heatpipe design that leads out from the heatsink covering the graphics chip.

6-pin power 

HDMI audio connector 

SLI Bridge 

Heatpipe 

The IO on the Palit GeForce 9800GT Super 1GB card is typical of the IO on most graphics cards of the last few years with a TV-Out connector and two DVI-I connectors. With this combination of ports, you can install two digital LCD monitors, two analog CRT monitors or a combination of the two types of monitors. The card has a HDMI port for audio on the top along with a SLI port to allow two of these cards to improve performance.

PCI Express 

Rear card shot 

Head on view 

IO 

By Ben Sun

• Tomb Raider Anniversary
• 6-pin power adapter
• Palit GeForce 9800GT Super+ 1GB card
• HDMI to DVI adapter
• HDMI Audio cable
• Driver CD
• Quick Installation Guide

One of the issues I have with modern video cards is the lack of a game included with most cards. Palit includes a full copy of Tomb Raider Anniversary with the purchase of this card, meaning that a modern game is included. Tomb Raider Anniversary is a re-imagined version of the classic PC and console game from many years ago.

Box 

Back of box 

Box open 

Bundle 

One welcome addition to the bundle is the two Molex connectors to 6-pin power connector. This allows the use of the 6-pin power on older PSUs that don’t have that power connection. The HDMI to DVI adapter allows the use of HDMI monitors by simply plugging the adapter into the video card then plugging the HDMI source into the other end. A HDMI Audio cable is included to use the HDMI Audio on the card.

NVIDIA Control Panel 

SLI Enabled 

NVIDIA has released a new driver 177.39 for all of their GeForce 9xxx series cards and above to support PhysX. The installation of PhysX System Software is also required to take advantage of the PhysX effects that the card is capable of. One thing to note, that installing the 177.39 drivers by themselves will not enable PhysX effects, and you can test the effect enabling it separately.

3DMark without PhysX 

3DMark with PhysX 

Running 3DMark Vantage showed a CPU score improvement of over 100% using the 9800GT from 13117 (typical score of a QX9770 on this test platform to 31343 with enabling PhysX only. Unreal Tournament 3 is one of the first games to support hardware accelerated Physics and enabling the PhysX System Software showed frame rate improvements of over 10%-50% with 1920×1200 resolution showing the biggest improvement in framerates.

Overclocking of computer components is a free way of getting more performance out of your existing computer system. Unfortunately, overclocking some component too high results in voiding of the warranty. Palit includes a Vtune application with their Driver CD that has driver settings, overclocking, Fan speed controls and a DirectX Diagnostic tool. I was able to overclock the 9800GT Super+ 1GB to 650MHz core/ 950MHz memory and 1656MHz Shader clock speeds.

Overclocked 

Vtune

By Ben Sun

A single 9800GT is barely enough to run Crysis in 1280×1024 with 4x AA 16x AF comfortably. The card gets frame rates in the teens as you get further into the game. Two cards, on the other hand have frame rates of over 20 almost throughout the game. Turning up the resolution to 1680×1050 lowers the playability but it is still playable with two 9800GTs in SLI.

Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition is the bundled software that comes with the Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB card. The game is as I stated earlier a re-imagining of the original Tomb Raider game from the early 1980s. The game played wonderfully on the Palit 9800GT with all resolutions playable. In SLI configuration two 9800GTs were able to turn on AA and AF throughout the game.

Space Siege is the latest action RPG from Sega and the makers of Dungeon Siege. The game is set on a space station called Armstrong. The game uses a updated version of the Dungeon Siege II engine using DirectX 9.0 effects like HDR without the bloom and geometry instancing. This game can run on any modern graphics card and runs without issues on the GeForce 9800GT either in single or SLI mode.

Game screenshots

 

By Ben Sun

The test system is still state of the art at the moment for the Intel platform with the latest NVIDIA motherboard chipset and CPU. The launch of Intel’s X58 chipset with a new interface is due to hit soon. The QX9770 is still Intel’s best CPU and a solid match for any video card when combined with the other components of the test setup.

Test System

• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 CPU running at 3.2GHz
• 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-2000 running at 2000MHz
• XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard running 18.11 Forceware drivers
• Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB running 177.39 Forceware in single card and SLI mode
• Rosewill 950W PSU
• ASUS 16X DVD-ROM
• Windows Vista 32-bit Business with SP1 installed

Tests

DirectX 9.0

• Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS walkthrough
• Enemy Territory QuakeWars Patch 1.5 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS walkthrough
• Unreal Tournament 3 Patch 1.2 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS walkthrough
• STALKER 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS Walkthrough
• 3DMark05/06 version 1.3/ 1280×1024, 1920×1200 default run
• Aquamark 3 standard test
• SpecViewPerf 10
• PCMark05/Vantage

DirectX 10.0

• 3DMark Vantage 1.01 1280×1024, 1920×1200 standard test run
• Crysis Patch 1.2 1280×1024, 1680×1050 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS walkthrough
• Lost Planet DX10 Performance demo 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF
• Bioshock DX10 1280×1024, 1920×1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS Walkthrough

By Ben Sun

By Ben Sun

By Ben Sun

By Ben Sun

By Ben Sun

The GeForce 9800GT card is in many respects a rebadged 8800GT card in a new package. The 9800GT has many things in common with the earlier 8800GT which is both a blessing and a curse. Performance of the 9800GT in single mode is as to be expected of a 9800GT. Performance in SLI mode, however really shines with nearly double the performance of a single card across the board. Single card performance is not bad at all; it’s just not something to do loops over in a world full of VGA options.

Two 9800GTs beat a GeForce GTX280 which is pretty amazing considering the performance of that card. Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB is available online today at a price of $170, meaning that two of them would cost you less than a GeForce GTX 280 which they would outperform and be a better value. Palit has released three versions of the 9800GT including the reference clocked one, this card which offers better cooling and 1GB of memory and the 9800GT Sonic card which has a higher clock speed. The addition of PhysX enabled software allows the card to improve frame rates up to 20% as it offloads the physics to the GPU from the graphics card. This is a serious Hot Product as in SLI mode you get one kick ass pair of VGA cards that can almost just plain wallop the GTX280 standard edition card.

Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB review

Reviews – Featured Reviews: Video Cards

Palit NE/9800TXT302

It’s a great time for those in the market for a new video card, in just a few short months we’ve seen the debuts of over half a dozen different boards. At the high-end, high-priced segment Benchmark Reviews has showcased such great offerings from NVIDIA as the GTX 280 and ATI/AMD’s HD 4870×2, while at the other end of the spectrum the mainstream budget cards releases are almost too plentiful and mediocre to mention. Though the high-end may grab the headlines, where the real interest lies, for buyer and manufacturers alike, is in the highly profitable mid-range market. Recently either NVIDIA has been releasing a competitor to an ATI/AMD card or vice versa intended to saturate every price point at this level. These seemingly constant releases from both titans also has the unintentional side effect of spurring drastic price cuts, for NVIDIA as much as 40% in some cases, resulting in never before seen price to performance in this segment.

This brings us to today’s review of the mid-range Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB Video Card 9800TXT302 from NVIDIA. In the recent clamor of releases NVIDIA has quietly slipped in the 9800 GT, seemingly from nowhere and without much publicity. Essentially a re-packaged 8800 GT (last year’s fan favorite), the 9800 GT has a few added features and a new very attractive price. Apparently the 9800 GT has become quite popular and seemingly gained enough market traction from consumers for ATI/AMD to notice and even have a competitor lined up for early fourth quarter this year.

Featuring NVIDIA’s popular GPU, codenamed “G92”, the Palit 9800 GT shares the same 65nm technology as its predecessor the 8800 GT – as well as core, shader, and memory clocks. Why the change in naming then? The 9800 GT has two notable updates from the 8800 GT. The first is the added HybridPower technology that brings greater energy-saving ability to the desktop, allowing the PC to switch off the discrete video card when not needed in favor of the intergraded built in motherboard GPU. And the second is the planned transition to a more efficient 55nm manufacturing process expected in September – just as the 9800 GTX was transitioned to 55nm with the iteration of the GTX+.

This die shrink will theoretically give the 9800 GT all the same perks as the GTX+ (i.e. cooler temps, higher overclocks, and 3-way SLI). This begs the question then: Why is NVIDIA still using 65nm parts when they already have 55nm chips ready? Our best guess would be that NVIDIA is trying to clear inventory of old stock before they begin shipping new parts. However, this creates an obvious problem for current 9800 GTs made at 65nm, and it will be interesting to see how NVIDIA plans to handle the transition without creating a lottery where customers either get the new or old GPU by luck. Perhaps we’ll see a 9800 GT+…

In addition to the new HybridPower technology the 9800 GT enjoys all the same features of the 8800 GT Benchmark Reviews covered last December. Read on as we take a closer look at an update to a favorite, and show just what makes the Palit 9800 GT Super+ 1GB such an attractive mid-range solution.

GPU	Core Clock	Shader Clock	Processors	Memory Clock	Memory Interface	Memory Transfer Rate	Memory
GeForce 9800 GTX	675 MHz	1,688 MHz	128	1,100 MHz	256-bit	70.4 GB/s	512 MB GDDR3
Palit GeForce 9800 GT 1 GB	600 MHz	1.5 GHz	112	900 MHz	256-bit	57.6 GB/s	1 GB GDDR3
GeForce 8800 GT	600 MHz	1.5 GHz	112	900 MHz	256-bit	57.6 GB/s	512 MB GDDR3
GeForce 8800 GTS	500 MHz	1.2 GHz	96	800 MHz	320-bit	64 GB/s	320 MB GDDR3
Radeon HD 4870	750 MHz	750 MHz	800	900 MHz	256-bit	115.2 GB/s	512 MB GDDR5
Radeon HD 4850	625 MHz	625 MHz	800	993 MHz	256-bit	63.5 GB/s	512 MB GDDR3

GeForce 9800 GT Features

NVIDIA® Unified Architecture

• Unified shader architecture
• GigaThread^TM technology
• Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 10
• Geometry shaders
• Geometry instancing
• Streamed output
• Shader Model 4.0
• Full 128-bit floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline

NVIDIA Lumenex Engine

• 16x full screen anti-aliasing
• Transparent multisampling and transparent supersampling
• 16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
• 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with anti-aliasing
• 32-bit per component floating point texture filtering and blending
• Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color, texture, and z-data
• Support for normal map compression
• Z-cull
• Early-Z

NVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology

• Advanced shader processors architecture for physics computation
• Simulate and render physics effects on the graphics processor

NVIDIA SLI Technology

• Patented hardware and software technology allows two GeForce-based graphics cards to run in parallel to scale performance and enhance image quality on today’s top titles.

 

NVIDIA PureVideoTM HD Technology

• Dedicated on-chip video processor
• High-definition H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 and WMV9 decode acceleration
• Advanced spatial-temporal de-interlacing
• HDCP capable3
• Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
• Noise Reduction
• Edge Enhancement
• Bad Edit Correction
• Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down correction)
• High-quality scaling
• Video color correction
• Microsoft® Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) support

Advanced Display Functionality

• Two dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560×1600
• One dual-link DVI outputs for digital flat panel display resolutions up to 2560×16004
• Dual integrated 400MHz RAMDACs for analog display resolutions up to and including 2048×1536 at 85Hz
• Integrated HDTV encoder provides analog TV-output (Component/Composite/S-Video) up to 1080i resolution
• NVIDIA nView® multi-display technology capability
• 10-bit display processing

Built for Microsoft® Windows Vista

• Full DirectX 10 support
• Dedicated graphics processor powers the new Windows Vista Aero 3D user interface
• VMR-based video architecture

High Speed Interfaces

• Designed for PCI Express® x16
• Designed for high-speed GDDR3 and DDR2 memory

Operating Systems

• Built for Microsoft Windows Vista
• Windows XP/Windows XP 64
• Linux

API Support

• Complete DirectX support, including Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0
• Full OpenGL® support, including OpenGL 2.0

NE/9800TXT302 Specifications

Graphics Technology

• 65 nanometer moving to 55 nanomter
• G92b chip
• 112 Stream Processors
• 256-bit memory interface
• Hybrid Power
• 2-way SLI
• 754 Million transistors
• 1GB memory
• ROPs 16
• Core Clock
• Memory clock
• Hybrid SLI
• 128-bit floating point high dynamic range rendering
• 16x Anti-Aliasing technology
• CUDA
• PhysX
• Two dual-link DVI inputs support two 2560×1600 resolution displays
• PureVideo
• OpenGL 2.1 support
• Forceware Unified Driver Architecture
• Lumenex engine
• Discrete Programmable Video Processor
• High Quality Scaling
• DirectX 10.0
• Pixel Shader 4.0
• Vertex Shader 4.0
• Inverse Telecine
• Bad Edit Correction
• Integrated SD and HD TV Output
• Noise Reduction
• Edge Enhancement
• Dual-link HDCP capable

  

Brand Name	Palit
Part Number	9800GT Super+ 1GB
Graphics Chip	G92
Core clock	600MHz
Shader Clock	1.5GHz
SPs	112
Fabrication Process	65 nm
Transistors	754 Million
Memory cloick	1.8GHz effective
Memory Interface	256-bit
Memory bandwidth	57.6GB/second
Memory Size	1024MB
ROPs	16
Texture Filtering Units	32
Texture Filtering Rate	38.4 Gigatexels/second
HDCP Support	Yes
HDMI Support	Yes (via adapter)
Connectors	2x Dual-Link DVI, TV-Out
RAMDACs	400MHz
Bus	PCI Express 2.0
Form Factor	Dual Slot
Power Connectors	1x 6-pin

Palit 9800 GT: Closer Look

Before I begin my detailed description of the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ graphics card, it would be best to issue a disclaime: As a child, I was a big fan of cars. The black Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit got me started into plastic model building, and was the first kit I ever built (and later destroy). The Trans Am was later replaced by a metal replica of The General Lee Dodge Charger from the Dukes of Hazard, which was much harder to destroy and earned hours of jumping off the top level stairwell. As an adult, I’m not nearly as interested in old Trans Am’s or Charger’s anymore (dispite the local Hot August Nights event), yet my attachment to the color orange remained. I’m sure we all have something like this that draws us into a product, and I compare this to my appeal of canary-yellow Ford Mustangs (2008+ model years only), even though I don’t care much for Ford Mustangs. My point is this: I am guilty of simple pleasures just like anyone else, and the orange color Palit uses on their 9800 GT is one of my favorites.

The GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB video card uses a dual card-slot design because of the improved active-cooling design offered exclusively by Palit. The board is cooled with an exceptionally quiet on-board “smart” fan; even when playing the most intensive 3D games, the GeForce 9800 GT Sonic remained whisper quiet. Since I’m sure you spent plenty of quality time reading through the myriad of features and specifications, you already know that you can use the 9800 GT for something other than playing video games. The HDMI functionality is a new direction for NVIDIA graphic cards, and paired with the smart fan design and external exhausting ventilation the GeForce 9800 GT will find itself at home in HTPC’s too.

Palit’s 1 GB Super+ version of the GeForce 9800 GT comes in one of my favorite colors: orange (technically, it’s burnt orange, but I’m not here to argue color palettes). In contrast to some of the dark and dull products we’ve recently tested, such as the GeForce 9800 GTX and 9800 GX2, the Sonic 9800 GT looks a whole lot more exciting. One of the primary differences in this product is the aftermarket shroud that directs and shapes the airflow.

No doubt that by now you’ve noticed something different about Palit’s 9800 GT Sonic. Unlike the NVIDIA reference design, Palit has sculpted their version of the GeForce 9800 GT to take on the appearance of the 9800 GTX and GX2 series. While other members of the GeForce 9800 GT family are usually single card-slot products, the Palit Super+ utilizes a unique heat-pipe cooling system that takes advantage of an additional slot; placing this graphics card into the same category as its more powerful siblings.

The Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ graphics card is a lot more than a middle SKU on NVIDIA’s roadmap. Since performance means more than just high video-game frame rates, Palit has optimized the 9800 GT to be a higher-end mid-range graphics card on every level. Because the HDMI audio functionality is controlled at a hardware level, there is no need for special drivers or software. The 9800 GT, similar to more expensive NVIDIA video cards, is equipped with the PureVideo 2 engine for GPU assisted decoding of the H.264 and VC-1 CODEC’s.

Much like the S/PDIF connection on the back of a motherboard, the Sonic 9600 GT video card offers optical digital audio output functionality which is plug-n-play. The included digital audio cable for the sound card connects from the small white port (pictured above and below to the right of the heat-pipes) into the two-pin digital audio connection on either the motherboard or sound card.

Since there are more than a few other graphic cards from the NVIDIA product line which offer more firepower, the 9800 GT must become more multi-purpose in order to achieve popularity. On the one hand, you have NVIDIA releasing product SKU’s which cut into several other product segments, and on the other hand you have the add-in card partner (Palit) that must then redefine its purpose and add value to the product in order to make it sales worthy. There’s no hiding the fact that Palit has its work cut out for it with the G92b, which explains why the 1 GB Super+ graphics card looks nothing like the rest of the series.

 

While the G92b graphics processor has had its dial turned well into the redline zone, power requirements are rather minimal for the 9800 GT. Primary power is taken from the PCI Express host bus as well as from a single 6-pin PCI Express power connector. Since only one PCI-E connection is required, anyone with an older (pre PCI-E) power supply can take advantage of the Palit GeFoce 9800 GT by using the included power adapter. Ultimately, this will prove itself to be a good step-up card for anyone wanting more modern features without extreme-level gaming horsepower found in the most expensive cards.

Please continue on to the next section where Benchmark Reviews takes a detailed look at the Palit NE/960TSX0202 GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic graphics card.

NE/9800TXT302 Detailed Features

In our last section, we skimmed over the outer skin of Palit’s unique-looking Sonic GeForce 9600 GT. With a basic understanding of what you’ll get on the outside, we’re ready to get inside the product and dissect the technology. This information will be very helpful for those hardware enthusiasts and overclockers willing to void their warranty and potentially ruin their expensive product in order to tweak it’s electronics. This information is for entertainment purposes only, and not a recommendation to disassemble your product or perform modifications.

The G94 chip features sixteen render back-end units (ROP) with full support for 128-bit high-dynamic-range rendering and NVIDIA’s exclusive 16x Coverage Sampling Anti-aliasing (CSAA) algorithm. The new ROP compression system has also been enhanced to improve performance at extreme resolutions such as 2560 x 1600. The enhanced compression will help keep memory usage in check and improve performance in high resolution, anti-aliased scenarios.

One thing has become clear: the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB graphics card (SKU: NE/9800TXT302) is practically identical in appearance to the Palit 9600 GT 1GB Sonic NE/960TSX0202. This is a very good thing, dispite how it may sound. The Palit 9800 GT Super+ offers excellent after-market cooling to both sides of the PCB, which translates into more stable gaming and potentially higher overclocking.

While there are actually a few rare 256 MB versions of the GeForce 9800 GT which try to cut corners, you will usually find 512 MB of video frame buffer on most products from this family. This is where Palit asserts itself to outshine the competition and offer enthusiasts something a bit more forward-thinking, because their Super+ version of the 9800 GT comes equipped with 1024 MB (1 GB) of GDDR3 memory clocked at 900 MHz (1800 MHz DDR) on a 256-bit bus.

All of that extra speed will generate some heat, which is why Palit also integrates a custom anodized aluminum plate to function as a RAM heatsink. A total of eight Samsung GDDR3 modules line the outer perimeter of the printed circuit board, bearing the Samsung 807 K4J52324QE-BJ08 part number. Hardware enthusiasts should note that these same vRAM modules were also used on late-edition GeForce 8800 Ultra’s. This explains how a mid-level model can achieve higher clock speeds than the top GeForce products.

As I prepared to disassemble the Palit 9800 GT Sonic edition video card, I made note of the similarities between this PCB and that of the 8800 GT. Aside from the some very minor components, the design appeared nearly identical to the last generation; if anything there was very little PCB redesign needed on NVIDIA’s part. Once I had carefully removed a few screws from the rear corners, and one more screw on the header panel, the shroud came apart from the Palit 9800 GT with a light pull. I immediately realized how much additional engineering went into Palit’s dual heat-pipe cooling system.

The GeForce 9800 GT (G92b GPU) is manufactured using 55nm technology similar to the architecture used in the GeForce 9800 GTX+. Both of these NVIDIA products utilize the same 9-series architecture and transistor advances over the older G92 GPUs which they replace.

Since the Super+ 9800 GTs core is only 600 MHz, there are several close competitors that exceed this clock speed. The shader clock hums along at 1500 MHz, with 112 cores working to their potention. So when you begin to consider that the Palit version of the GeForce 9800 GT comes with twice as much video frame buffer as the others, you might start to realize that the Super+ is more of a little engine that could.

This concludes our in-depth look into the Palit NE/9800TXT302, which has revealed several interesting discoveries about the hardware and the assembly process. The 9800 GT is a good-looking graphics card, but from here on out the 1 GB Super+ will have to put up some impressive results or be put down as a failed attempt at boosting a mid-level SKU into top-shelf product offerings. In our next section, Benchmark Reviews begins testing on the Palit GeForce 9800 GT video card.

Video Card Testing Methodology

Benchmark Reviews has high hopes that one day we will be so giant and world famous that every combination of the graphic card available will be on-hand for our product testing… and we’re getting closer! I envy the review sites that have twenty other video cards tested in stand-alone, SLI, and CrossFireX arrays for each and every review. Eventually we will be that big, and offer all of those configurations. Readers can help us grow to that size by spreading the word, but for now we’ll have to make due with what our budget can afford. In this article, Benchmark Reviews is going to test and compare the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Toxic Edition graphics card against several other closely-ranked products from within the GeForce family.

At the start of all tests, the previous display adapter driver is uninstalled and trace components are removed using Driver Cleaner Pro. We then restart the computer system to establish our display settings and define the monitor. Once the hardware is prepared, we begin our testing. The synthetic benchmark tests in 3DMark06 will utilize shader models 2.0 and 3.0. In our higher-end VGA products we conduct tests at the following resolutions: 1280×1024 (19″ Standard LCD), 1680×1050 (22-24″ Widescreen LCD), and 1920×1200 (24-28″ Widescreen LCD). In some tests we utilized widescreen monitor resolutions, since more users are beginning to feature these products for their own computing.

Each benchmark test program begins after a system restart, and the very first result for every test will be ignored since it often only caches the test. This process proved extremely important in the World in Conflict and Supreme Commander benchmarks, as the first run served to cache maps allowing subsequent tests to perform much better than the first. Each test is completed five times, with the average results displayed in our article.

Our site polls and statistics indicate that the over 90% of our visitors use their PC for playing video games, and practically every one of you are using a screen resolutions mentioned above. Since all of the benchmarks we use for testing represent different game engine technology and graphic rendering processes, I feel that this battery of tests will provide a diverse range of results for you to gauge performance on your own computer system. Since most gamers and enthusiasts are still using Windows XP, it was decided that DirectX 9 would be used for all tests until demand and software support improve for Windows Vista.

Test System

• Motherboard: ASUS P5E64 WS Pro (Intel X38 Chipset)
• Processor: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz (Overclocked to 3.6 GHz)
• System Memory: Patriot PC3-15000 DDR3 1866MHz 2GB RAM Kit
• Optical Drive: ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive
• Enclosure: Ultra m998 Aluminum Mid-Tower ATX Case ULT40069
• PSU: Ultra X-Pro 800W Aluminum ULT33185
• Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 245BW Widescreen LCD
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP-3

Benchmark Applications

• 3DMark06 v1.1.0 (8x Anti Aliasing & 16x Anisotropic Filtering)
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.7.568 (4x AA/16x Trilinear AF)
• Crysis v1.21 Benchmark (High Settings, 0x and 4x Anti-Aliasing)
• World in Conflict v1.0.0.9 Performance Test (Very High Setting: 4x AA/4x AF)

Video Card Test Products

Product Series	Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 102-B50102-00-AT	Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic NE/960TSX0202	Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB NE/9800TXT302	Foxconn GeForce 9800 GTX OC 512MB 9800GTX-512N	Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 100243L
Stream Processors	800	64	112	128	800
Core Clock (MHz)	625	700	600	685	775
Shader Clock (MHz)	N/A	1750	1500	1713	N/A
Memory Clock (MHz)	993	100	900	1100	1000
Memory Amount	512 MB GDDR3	1 GB GDDR3	1 GB GDDR3	512 MB GDDR3	512 MB GDDR5
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit

• Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 102-B50102-00-AT (Catalyst 8.9)
• Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic NE/960TSX0202 (Forceware v177.79)
• Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB NE/9800TXT302 (Forceware v177.79)
• Foxconn GeForce 9800 GTX OC 512MB 9800GTX-512N (Forceware v177.79)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 100243L (Catalyst 8.9)

Now we’re ready to begin testing video game performance on the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB Video Card NE/9800TXT302, so please continue to the next page as we start with the 3DMark06 results.

3DMark 06 Benchmark Results

3DMark is a computer benchmark by Futuremark (formerly named Mad Onion) to determine the DirectX 9 performance of 3D game performance with graphics cards. 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests.

3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today. Some enthusiasts may note that Benchmark Reviews does not include CPU-bound tests in our benchmark battery, and that only graphic-bound tests are included.

Here at Benchmark Reviews, we believe that synthetic benchmark tools are just as valuable as video games, but only so long as you’re comparing apples to apples. Since the same test is applied in the same controlled method with each test run, I believe 3DMark is a very reliable tool for comparing graphic cards against one-another.

More visitors to Benchmark Reviews operate at 1280×1024 resolution than any other, as it represents the native resolution of 19″ LCD monitors. Using this resolution as a starting point, the maximum settings were applied to 3dMark06 which for these tests include 8x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering. Low-resolution testing allows the graphics processor to plateau maximum output performance, which thereby shifts demand onto the system components to keep up. At the lower resolutions 3DMark will reflect the GPU’s top-end speed in the composite score, indicating full-throttle performance with little load. This makes for a less GPU-dependant test environment, and is helpful in measuring the maximum output performance in the test results.

Our 3dMark06 results indicate that the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB performs slightly behind the Radeon HD 4850, and slightly ahead of the Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic NE/960TSX0202 in shader model 2.0 results.

Going into the shader model 3.0 results at 1920×1200, the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ performs much closer to the 9600 GT Sonic than the Radeon HD 4850. The 4850 actually performs slightly ahead of the Foxconn GeForce 9800 GTX OC, while nothing in the group could compare with the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870.

In our next few tests, we compare performance results in Half-Life 2 and Forged Alliance.

Gaming Tests: HL2 and CC:FA

Judging from our results in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the Radeon HD 4000 series really pulls ahead of NVIDIA GeForce products. Palit’s GeForce 9800 GT Super+ still performs ahead of the 9600 GT Sonic and behind the Radeon HD 4850. What’s interesting here is that the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 rendered frames at a level higher than the GeForce 9800 GTX could, while the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 ran away with a huge lead.

For Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the 9800 GT NE/9800TXT302 actually performed closer to the 9800 GTX than it did the Radeon HD 4850.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is a standalone real-time strategy computer game expansion to Supreme Commander, developed by Gas Powered Games and published by THQ. Because it is a standalone expansion, it is possible to play without owning Supreme Commander. Forged Alliance adds new game play features to the game, several new units for the three preexisting factions, and is further optimized for increased performance beyond that of the original game.

Supreme Commander makes extensive use of two technologies relatively unused in video games prior to its release, namely multi core processing and multi monitor displays. When detecting a multi-core processor, the game assigns a specific task, such as AI calculations, to each core, splitting the load between them. Supreme Commander is one of the first games to specifically support dual and quad core processors in the game.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance may not offer the first-person shooter experience that many gamers prefer, but the graphics are among the most demanding possible. Even so, there begins to be a trend showing which places high demand on the graphics card as evidenced by mutually low minimum frame rates.

Unlike the other games we test, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance does not use a short in-game benchmark to determine a score. In these tests, Supreme Commander plays an entire round of the game from start to finish and generates composite scores based on this lengthy test. This composite score is based on two factors: sim and render.

SupCom: Forged Alliance did put the Radeon HD 4850 below the 9800 GTX, however the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ still found its familiar spot between the Palit 9600 GT Sonic and Sapphire Radeon HD 4850.

In our next section, World in Conflict hopes to confirm our findings and cement expectations for the 9800 GT.

World in Conflict Results

The latest version of Massive’s proprietary Masstech engine utilizes DX10 technology and features advanced lighting and physics effects, and allows for a full 360 degree range of camera control. Massive’s MassTech engine scales down to accommodate a wide range of PC specifications, if you’ve played a modern PC game within the last two years, you’ll be able to play World in Conflict.

World in Conflict’s FPS-like control scheme and 360-degree camera make its action-strategy game play accessible to strategy fans and fans of other genres… if you love strategy, you’ll love World in Conflict. If you’ve never played strategy, World in Conflict is the strategy game to try.

World in Conflict offers an in-game benchmark; which records the minimum, average, and maximum frame rates during the test. Very recently another hardware review website made the assertion that these tests are worthless, but we couldn’t disagree more. When used to compare video cards which are dependant on the same driver and use the same GPU architecture, the in-game benchmark works very well and comparisons are apples-to-apples.

So far, every benchmark we’ve used on the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ has positioned this graphics card midway between the 1GB Palit 9600 GT Sonic and the 512MB Radeon HD 4850. The GeForce 9800 GTX also fits between the Radeon HD 4850 at the lower position and the Radeon HD 4870.

Clearly our results are becomming repetitive; but then again we’re just getting started. In our next section the Super+ proves itself in Crysis.

Crysis Benchmark Results

Crysis uses a new graphics engine: the CryENGINE2, which is the successor to Far Cry’s CryENGINE. CryENGINE2 is among the first engines to use the Direct3D 10 (DirectX10) framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX9, both on Vista and Windows XP.

Roy Taylor, Vice President of Content Relations at NVIDIA, has spoken on the subject of the engine’s complexity, stating that Crysis has over a million lines of code, 1GB of texture data, and 85,000 shaders. To get the most out of modern multicore processor architectures, CPU intensive subsystems of CryENGINE 2 such as physics, networking and sound, have been re-written to support multi-threading.

Crysis offers an in-game benchmark tool, which is similar to World in Conflict. This short test does place some high amounts of stress on a graphics card, since there are so many landscape features rendered. For benchmarking purposes, Crysis can mean trouble as it places a high demand on both GPU and CPU resources. Benchmark Reviews uses the Crysis Benchmark Tool by Mad Boris to test frame rates in batches, which allows the results of many tests to be averaged.

Low-resolution testing allows the graphics processor to plateau maximum output performance, which thereby shifts demand onto the system components. At the lower resolutions Crysis will reflect the GPU’s top-end speed in the composite score, indicating full-throttle performance with little load. This makes for a less GPU-dependant test environment, and is helpful in creating a baseline for measuring maximum output performance in the next few test results. At the 1280×1024 resolution used by 19″ monitors, our results show that performance is beginning to really drop despite the small difference is pixels drawn. In terms of general performance, all of these products maintain the same performance ratio as before, except for the 9800 GX2 which seems to beneficially hold its ground.

Crysis doesn’t seem to favor the large video frame buffer Palit offers to both the GeForce 9600 GT Sonic Edition and 9800 GT Super+ Edition, because both cards appear exactly at the same position in these benchmarks as all the past tests. At lower resultions, there’s a larger desparity between products, but at 1920×1200 the playing field is leveled and the FPS range moves down to 14-23. At 15.7 FPS (1920×1280) the Palit GeForce 9800 GT comes very close to the 16.0 FPS rendered by the overclocked 9800 GTX, but still a short distance away from the 18.4 FPS produced by Sapphires Radeon HD 4850.

In our final test, Call of Duty 4 provides the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB video card NE/9800TXT302 with just enough pressure to make a difference in our charts.

CoD4 Benchmarks

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a proprietary game engine that Infinity Ward based off of the tried-and-true Q3 structure. This engine offers features such as true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field. “Bullet Penetration” is calculated by the Infinity Ward COD4 game engine, taking into account things such as surface type and entity thickness. Certain objects, such as cars, and some buildings are destructible. This makes distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the meager protection provided by things such as wooden fences and thin walls does not fully shield players from harm as it does in many other games released during the same time period. Bullet speed and stopping power are decreased after penetrating an object, and this decrease is calculated realistically depending on the thickness and surface of the object penetrated.

This version of the game also makes use of a dynamic physics engine, a feature which was not implemented in previous Call of Duty titles for Windows PC’s. The new in-game death animations are a combination of pre-set static animations combined with ragdoll physics. Infinity Ward’s use of the well-debugged Quake 3 engine along with new dynamic physics implementation allows Call of Duty 4 to be playable by a wide range of computer hardware systems. The performance may be scaled for low-end graphic cards up to 4x Anti-Aliasing and 16x Tri-linear anisotropic texture filtering.

Before I discuss the results, I would like to take a moment to mention my general opinion on Fraps software when it comes to game performance benchmarking. If you’re not familiar with the software, Fraps (derived from Frames per second) is a benchmarking, screen capture, and real-time video capture utility for DirectX and OpenGL applications. Some reviewers use this software to measure video game performance on their Windows system, as well as record gaming footage. My opinion is that it offers a valid third-party non-bias alternative to in-game benchmarking tools; but there is one caveat: it’s not perfect. Because the user must manually begin the test, the starting point may vary from position to position and therefore skew the results.

In my testing with Fraps v2.9.4 build 7039, I used the cut-scene intro to the coup d’état scene when Al Asad takes over control. First I allowed the level to load and let the scene begin for a few moments, then I would use the escape key to bring up the menu and choose the restart level option, I would immediately press F11 to begin recording the benchmark data. This scene is nearly four minutes long, but I configured Fraps to record the first 180 seconds of it to remain consistent. Once the scene would end, I would repeat the restart process for a total of five tests. So within a 2 millisecond starting point margin, all benchmark results are comparable which is probably as good as it can possibly get with this tool.

In our past few tests we’ve seen the pecking order remain fairly consistent. The Palit 9600 GT Sonic Edition begins the list, followed by the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ 1GB, then the Foxconn 9800 GTX OC, followed by the Radeon HD 4850, and finally the Radeon HD 4870. The 9800 GT has held a consistent lead over the 9600 GT, and likewise it has trailed the GeForce 9800 GTX and Radeon HD 4850 in our tests.

For Call of Duty 4 tested at 1920×1200, the Palit Super+ 9800 GT does well enough to keep way ahead of the 9600 GT with a frame rate of 52.0 but still far enough behind the 9800 GTX which scored 63.7 FPS. Since performance has remained identical in each game we’ve tested, our decision will ultimately be decided by price.

Palit NE/9800TXT302 Conclusion

Since Palit hasn’t been available to the North American market for very long, the new look may seem out of place at first. Each manufacturer spends a significant amount of time branding their name to an identity. For example: Gigabyte has a Final Fantasy-looking female heroine on their products, XFX has an armor clad Werewolf, and ZOTAC has a Dural look-alike from VirtuaFighter. So it might seem particularly interesting that Palit picked a robot-frog named Frobot as their mascot. But since fancy characters are not enough to win me over, Palit has also kept the consumer informed by adding important product details and specifications on the packaging. The retail box offers an inviting design and attractive layout, along with some important product data on the back. The colors and information all seem exciting, but I’m not quite sold on Frobot.

When NVIDIA first launched the GeForce 9800 GT product line, I wasn’t exactly impressed with thin single-card reference design. There just wasn’t much more to the card than a thin PCB covered by a shroud of plastic. So I’m thankful that Palit went to the design table and recreated their own version of the 9800 GT from the PCB up. I’ve already admitted my love for the burnt orange color they used, so it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of the appearance, but the added RAM heatsink really sets the appearance of this product apart from the rest.

The craftsmanship and construction of this card are what set it apart from others. To begin with, Palit has taken its role as a NVIDIA AIC (Add-In Card) partner seriously, and engineered a whole new upper-half of the GeForce 9800. Add to this the fact that they managed to load 1024 MB worth of GDDR3 onto the PCB, and you can see how dedicated they are to their craft. I think the most impressive thing I’ve noticed about Palit products is the extremely well-tuned performance testing which screens out possible failures and thus reduces the overall RMA rate. With less than 1% return rate, it’s good to know I won’t have a bad experience with Palit products.

In regards to product performance, I have evaluated the GeForce 9800 GT Super+ graphics card as a whole. In video game performance, it did well enough to remain competitive against some of the larger video cards, but it didn’t impress me against the overclocked 9600 GT or even the mildly-overclocked GeForce 9800 GTX. It’s worth noting however that while ‘testing’ this product with the game Titan Quest, other graphics cards (such as the GeForce 8800 GT) have all exhibited a rubber-banding effect as the large-scale scrolling world is drawn. This wasn’t the case with a 1 GB frame buffer available to the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+. Additionally, other large scale worlds such as those found in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures also seemed to play very well with the large amount of GDDR3 available to it.

All of these ratings are well and fine, but ultimately the price tag decides the bottom line. At the time of this writing, the Palit GeForce 9800 GT 1GB Super+ video card NE/9800TXT302 was available from NewEgg for $169.99 (with additional $10 mail-in rebate). This makes it very tough on my value rating, since there is also a 512MB GDDR3 version of the Palit 9800 GT for only NewEgg for $129.99 ($109.99 after $20 rebate). So if you’re looking for good performance from the most current video games at a respectable price then the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ is by no means a bad decision, but the added 1 GB video frame buffer isn’t going to make a difference in most games and there are other products worth considering. If gaming isn’t your sole focus, then the standard 512 MB version is well worth the price.

In conclusion, the Palit GeForce 9800 GT Super+ makes a very good choice for gamers who want to step-up into PCI-Express 2.0 and take advantage of good middle-end graphics without the cost. The Palit NE/9800TXT302 provides excellent cooling improvements over other single-slot solutions, and will work very well in HTPC environments where airflow and noise are kept to a minimum. Our benchmark results showed that the 9800 GT was not that far behind the 9800 GTX performance, but the gaming experience in large-scale world-based games actually made good use of the large video frame buffer only avilable in the Super+. While value is a relative subject, the performance and functionality appear to have some credence in relation to the product cost. If you’re a gamer on a very tight budget, than the 9800 GT is an excellent product worth consideration, but make sure you’ll need all of that extra video memory before you make your purchase.

Pros:

+ Very good AA/AF performance in DirectX 9 games
+ Supports DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0
+ 600 MHz GPU / 1500 MHz Shader / 900 MHz GDDR3
+ Features NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology
+ HDMI Audio and Video supported for HDCP output
+ Extremely quiet fan under normal operation
+ Fan shroud enclosure offers improved airflow
+ 16x Coverage Sampling Anti-aliasing (CSAA) algorithm
+ Supports NVIDIA SLI functionality
+ Large 1024 MB (1 GB) video frame buffer
+ 5 GBps PCI Express 2.0 graphics interface

Cons:

– Not the best price point performer
– Large video frame buffer not utilized by many games
– Requires two expansion card slots

Ratings:

• Presentation: 8.75
• Appearance: 9.25
• Construction: 9.50
• Functionality: 9.25
• Value: 7.50

Final Score: 8.85 out of 10.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.

 

 

 

 

HIS Radeon HD 6970 2 GB review

HD 6970 Review Introduction

It’s finally here! AMD rolled out its latest high-end GPU, codenamed “Cayman”, which tops the Northern Islands, AMD’s second-generation DirectX 11 compliant GPU family. Using this, AMD is initially carving out two enthusiast-grade products: the AMD Radeon HD 6970 (reviewed here), and the Radeon HD 6950, both released today. There’s also scope for a dual-HD 6970-GPU product in the near future, called HD 6990. AMD’s Radeon HD 6970 “Cayman” GPU faced quite a few hiccups en route today’s launch. It was slated for mid-November, but was delayed by a month due to component shortage. Meanwhile, NVIDIA went ahead with a hard-launch of its GeForce GTX 580 graphics processor, and subsequently, the GeForce GTX 570, to counter the HD 6970.

With Cayman and the HD 6970, AMD is introducing its biggest design change for the GPU’s SIMD processing area since Radeon HD 2900 series, it’s also introducing a greater amount of parallelism to the graphics engine, and doubling the standard memory amount from 1 GB in the previous generation Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5850, to 2 GB on both Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950. As a brief lesson on AMD’s naming scheme with this generation, Radeon HD 6950 and HD 6970 represent high-end single GPU SKUs, successors to HD 5800 series, while the recently introduced HD 6800 series are in a segment of their own with no definitive predecessors.

The Radeon HD 6970 from HIS we’re reviewing today, sticks to AMD’s reference board design, including adherence to reference clock speeds. With HD 6900 series, AMD made sure that users of all HD 6900, including those which are factory-overclocked, have access to reference clock speeds at the turn of a switch (detailed later down the review). The Radeon HD 6970 features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, carries clock speeds of 880 MHz core and 1375 MHz (5500 MHz GDDR5 effective); and display outputs including two DVI, one HDMI 1.4a, and two mini DisplayPort 1.2.

Product Positioning

This slide from AMD instantly tells you the amount of damage the surprise hard-launch of NVIDIA GeForce 580 and GTX 570 caused to the HD 6970 and HD 6950 positioning. Take those two out of the equation, and we’re actually seeing the GTX 480 (which has roughly the same performance as GTX 570) being edged past by HD 6970, and HD 6950 way ahead of whatever else is down there from NVIDIA (GTX 470, GTX 460 1 GB).

AMD is still banking on the previous-generation HD 5970 dual-GPU graphics card to hold the performance leadership (which it is loosely holding on to, with the potential of losing it to the GTX 580 with one good GeForce driver snatching that leadership); HD 6970 to be a notch lower in price but somewhere between GTX 570 and GTX 580 in terms of performance.

	Radeon HD 6850	Radeon HD 5850	GeForce GTX 470	Radeon HD 6870	Radeon HD 5870	Radeon HD 6950	GeForce GTX 570	GeForce GTX 480	Radeon HD 6970	GeForce GTX 580	Radeon HD 5970
Shader units	960	1440	448	1120	1600	1408	480	480	1536	512	2x 1600
ROPs	32	32	40	32	32	32	40	48	32	48	2x 32
GPU	Barts	Cypress	GF100	Barts	Cypress	Cayman	GF110	GF100	Cayman	GF110	2x Cypress
Transistors	1700M	2154M	3200M	1700M	2154M	2640M	3000M	3200M	2640M	3000M	2x 2154M
Memory Size	1024 MB	1024 MB	1280 MB	1024 MB	1024 MB	2048 MB	1280 MB	1536 MB	2048 MB	1536 MB	2x 1024 MB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	256 bit	320 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	320 bit	384 bit	256 bit	384 bit	2x 256 bit
Core Clock	775 MHz	725 MHz	607 MHz	900 MHz	850 MHz	800 MHz	732 MHz	700 MHz	880 MHz	772 MHz	725 MHz
Memory Clock	1000 MHz	1000 MHz	837 MHz	1050 MHz	1200 MHz	1250 MHz	950 MHz	924 MHz	1375 MHz	1002 MHz	1000 MHz
Price	$180	$260	$260	$240	$360	$300	$330	$450	$370	$500	$580

Architecture

Cayman, named after the lovely Cayman islands in the Caribbean, is AMD’s new high-end GPU. It succeeds Cypress, on which were based Radeon HD 5800 series and the dual-GPU HD 5970. Cayman is built on existing 40 nm process at TSMC. Apart from the processor most of the components inside are the same as the ones found in the previous generation GPUs, except that the hierarchy of components is changed to add a degree of parallelism that goes a step ahead of even Barts. The SIMD cores are completely restructured, too.

With Cypress, there was only one graphics engine (that which computes preliminary data and instructions, and passes them on for low-level processing to the SIMD cores), and one dispatch processor that funneled data and instructions down to the two SIMD engine blocks. Barts introduced a degree of parallelism by giving each SIMD engine block its own dispatch processor, instruction and constant caches. Cayman is taking that a step further, by splitting even the graphics engines between the two SIMD engine blocks. This gives dedicated rasterizers, geometry assemblers to each block, but more importantly, doubles the number of tessellation units, with each graphics engine having one.

As mentioned earlier, AMD brought about a radical change in the stream processor design. Compared to the older VLIW5 design in which an SIMD core consisted of four simple and one complex stream processors with some common resources, the new design, dubbed VLIW4, combines four equally-capable complex stream processors, with two of the four getting special functions. Overall, with a stream processor count of 1536, the Radeon HD 6970 clocked at 880 MHz, is able to churn out a single-precision floating point (IEEE754-SP) performance of 2.7 TFLOPs, and double-precision performance (IEEE754-DP) of 675 GFLOPs. The VLIW4 architecture, hence is aimed to increase performance per mm² of die-area. The render back-ends, have also been redesigned to facilitate 2 times faster 16-bit integer and 32-bit floating-point operations.

In a nutshell, the Cayman die measures 389 mm², holding 2.64 billion transistors. It is built on the 40 nm TSMC process. It has 24 SIMD engines spread across two SIMD engine blocks. There are 1536 stream processors in all. There are 96 texture memory units (TMUs), and 32 raster operation processors (ROPs). New, faster memory controllers allow use of new 5.5 Gbps memory chips. The memory bus width is 256-bit, with which the GPU connects to eight 2 Gbit memory chips to archive 2 GB of total memory.

Packaging

HIS uses their standard package design for the Radeon HD 6970.

Contents

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Driver CD + Documentation
• DVI adapter
• PCI-Express power cables

The Card

The HIS Radeon HD 6970 is a complete reference design implementation, with the only difference being the sticker on the cooler. Also the card uses the same cooler and PCB as the HD 6950 reference design. 

HD 6970 requires two slots in your system.

The card has two DVI ports, two mini-DisplayPorts and one HDMI port. AMD’s display output logic is clearly superior to what NVIDIA has to offer at this time. Vendors are free to combine six TMDS links into any output configuration they want (dual-link DVI consuming two links) – and use them all at the same time. AMD has also introduced DisplayPort 1.2 support with their new cards which allows the use of a DisplayPort hub to connect multiple monitors, or daisy chain them together.

An HDMI sound device is also included in the GPU. The HDMI interface is HDMI 1.4a compatible which includes Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, AC-3, DTS and up to 7.1 channel audio with 192 kHz / 24-bit output. The new revision also brings support for Blu-ray 3D movies which will become important later this year when we will see first Blu-ray 3D titles shipping.

You may combine up to four HD 6950 and HD 6970 cards in CrossFire for increased performance or improved image quality settings.

Here are the front and the back of the card, high-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods etc, please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.

A Closer Look

The first piece to come off the card is the backplate. It serves no special purpose other than to protect the card from physical damage and spread the heat around a bit. Since there are no memory chips or other important circuitry on this side of the card, there is no need for a backplate to cool them.

The AMD reference cooler uses a big vapor chamber base to transfer heat away quickly from the GPU. In addition to the GPU, you can also see cooling pads for memory and voltage regulation circuitry.

The Radeon HD 6970 uses a 6+8 power input configuration.

AMD has added a small switch near the card that lets you toggle between two VGA BIOSes. The first one is the normal one and can be flashed. The second one acts as backup and is write-protected, so you can not “destroy” it in case of a bad flash. Should you flash your card with the wrong BIOS, you can switch to the backup BIOS to boot the card, then change the switch to the normal BIOS before flashing. This looks like a good system, but I wonder if it’s worth the added cost.

The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix, and carry the model number H5GQ2H24MFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1500 MHz (6000 MHz GDDR5 effective).

The Radeon HD 6900 Series are the first graphics cards to use the Volterra VT1556. It offers extensive voltage control and monitoring via I2C. At this time no software supports this controller yet, but I am sure this will change in the weeks to come.

AMD’s new Cayman graphics processor is made on a 40 nm process at TSMC Taiwan. It uses approximately 2.64 billion transistors on a die area of 389 mm².

Test System

Test System – VGA Rev. 12
CPU:	Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz (Bloomfield, 8192 KB Cache)
Motherboard:	Gigabyte X58 Extreme Intel X58 & ICH10R
Memory:	3x 2048 MB Mushkin Redline XP3-12800 DDR3 @ 1520 MHz 8-7-7-16
Harddisk:	WD Caviar Black 6401AALS 640 GB
Power Supply:	akasa 1200W
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit
Drivers:	GTX 570 & 580: 263.09 NVIDIA: 260.99 HD 6900: 8.79.6.2 RC2 ATI: Catalyst 10.11
Display:	LG Flatron W3000H 30″ 2560×1600

Benchmark scores in other reviews are only comparable when this exact same configuration is used.

• All video card results were obtained on this exact system with the exact same configuration.
• All games were set to their highest quality setting

Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:

• 1024 x 768, No Anti-aliasing. This is a standard resolution without demanding display settings.
• 1280 x 1024, 2x Anti-aliasing. Common resolution for most smaller flatscreens today (17″ – 19″). A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
• 1680 x 1050, 4x Anti-aliasing. Most common widescreen resolution on larger displays (19″ – 22″). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
• 1920 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical widescreen resolution for large displays (22″ – 26″). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
• 2560 x 1600, 4x Anti-aliasing. Highest possible resolution for commonly available displays (30″). Very good looking driver graphics settings.

Aliens vs. Predator

Aliens vs. Predator is based on a merger of the Aliens and the Predators franchise: two legendary alien species that are in conflict with each other, fighting to the death with human marines caught in between. The first person shooter game was developed by Rebellion Studios, who also developed the first AVP PC title and released in February 2010. It was one of the first DirectX 11 games with support for new features like Tesselation, which is why AMD heavily promoted it at the time of their DX 11 card launches. We used the AVP benchmark utility with tesselation and advanced DX11 shadows enabled.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2, released in March 2010 by Electronics Arts, is the most successful DirectX 11 title so far. Even though it contains a full single-player campaign during which the player has to work with a squad to secure a secret weapon, the game is most well known for its fast paced, exciting multiplayer squad action. Thanks to a CPU-based Havok physics engine and skillful use of scripting, the game has destroyable objects, vegetation and terrain without requiring NVIDIA PhysX.
We tested the truck chase scene of the second single-player mission at maximum settings with DirectX 11 enabled.

BattleForge

BattleForge, a card based RTS, is developed by the German EA Phenomic Studio. A few months after launch the game was transformed into a Play 4 Free branded game. That move and the fact that it was included as game bundle with a large number of ATI cards made it one of the more well known RTS games of 2009. You as a player assemble your deck before game to select the units that will be available. Your choice can be from forces of Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow to complement each other.
The BattleForge engine has full support for DX 9, DX 10 and DX 10.1, we used the internal benchmark tool in DirectX 11 mode to acquire our results.

Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty 4 is a first-person shooter that is built on the award winning Call of Duty Series. It is the first version to play in modern times. In a near-future conflict between the United States, Europe and Russia you get to play as a United States Marine and a British SAS operative. The engine is Infinity Ward’s own creation and has true dynamic lighting, depth of field, dynamic shadows and HDR. Even though the game plot is scripted you will find yourself in intense battles, often working together with computer controlled team mates.

Call of Juarez 2

Call of Juarez 2: Bound in Blood is a prequel to the first Call of Juarez game which was one of the first DX10 titles available on the market. This time the plot evolves around two brothers, before each mission you may pick one to play. Your choices affect the game play since both characters have different ways of handling situations and doing combat.
Call of Juarez 2 uses Techland’s Chrome Engine 4 which adds Edge Anti Aliasing as one of the first engines on the market. Edge Anti Aliasing looks similar to normal AA but comes with a considerably reduced performance drop. However, due to the deferred shading design of Edge AA, normal AA can’t be used on top of it.

Crysis

After the tremendous success of Far Cry, the German game studio Crytek released their latest shooter Crysis in 2007. The game was by far the most hyped and anticipated game in 2007, the forums were full of “Can my system run Crysis?” threads because of the high hardware requirements of this game. Just like in Far Cry the plot evolves on a small island with a thick and richly detailed jungle world. A lot of attention has been given to small details like correct physics. For example when you fire on a tree trunk, it will shatter and the tree will fall over leaving a stump behind. Enemies in a car can be stopped by shooting the tire of the car. The game graphics are by far the best ever seen in a PC game so far, yet the game still runs well on most computers.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II by Relic Entertainment is an RTS game based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Unlike other Dawn of War titles there is no base-building element in the game, you simply command units on the battlefield. Due to the non-linear mission design, the choices which mission and objective you pick to pursue have considerable impact on game play and mission difficulty. A “hero” unit concept adds RPG elements to the game, allowing you to advance the unit in terms of levels and abilities. Dawn of War 2 uses the Essence Engine 2.0, version 1.0 was used in the Company of Heroes Series.

DiRT 2

DiRT 2 is the first game to offer basic DirectX 11 features, even though they are very limited, the title has been used extensively by AMD to market their DX11 products. The game features a large number of different racing events all over the world with tracks ranging from off-road, over stadiums to complex city courses. We chose not to benchmark DX 11 at this time because the number of DX11 effects is not worth the performance hit.

Formula One 2010

F1 2010 is an official implementation of the Formula One 2010 season with accurate teams, drivers and cars. One highlight of the game are the extensive realism options and the detailed weather effects. You pick a driver and get to race over several seasons, constantly improving your skill and trying to impress the big teams to score a contract with them to enjoy the faster car to race for the world championship. The game is based on an improved Dirt 2 engine and features the latest in DirectX 11 technology. We used the highest details setting for our testing.

Far Cry 2

Four years after the success of Far Cry, Ubisoft has published the sequel called Far Cry 2. While the first part was set on an island, Far Cry 2 takes you deep into Africa with game play that resembles Grand Theft Auto much more than the original Far Cry, which was a classical 3D shooter. Ubisoft engineered a completely new 3D engine called “Dunia” which offers a large amount of popular features like DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support, destructible environments, physics and non-scripted AI while not being as much of a resource hog as Crytek’s CryEngine. We tested the Ranch Medium level at DirectX 10 with highest details.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is one of the very few recent flight simulator games on the market. Being a console conversion it emphasizes “flight” more than “simulator”. It is set in a near future in which private military companies have begun fighting conflicts for nations with their own military gear. You are playing an elite pilot who was recruited by such a private company. During the game you get to fly over 50 different aircrafts, ranging from the MIG 21 to the mighty F22 Raptor. One notable feature of its engine is the use of GeoEye satellite imagery for terrain generation which offers one of the most realistic incarnations of battlefield terrain available today.

Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter game that is set in a post apocalyptic Moscow – as the name suggests inside the metro system. You will fight mutants or other humans who like to take away your shelter. The game has many gameplay elements similar to STALKER, also the engine has similar features. This is because two STALKER engine programmers left GSC Game World and started their own company which is now making Metro 2033.
The engine has support for all the latest eye candy like DirectX 11 and Tesselation. Unfortunately it leaves a less than optimized impression, making it a candidate to surpass Crysis for the highest hardware requirements. We tested in DirectX 11 mode with details set to “Very High”.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a first person shooter game set in a far future. You are Riddick, a notorious space criminal played by Vin Diesel in the movies. Dark Athena continues where Escape from Butcher Bay ended. A major aspect of the game is its tactical use of shadows and stealth so that enemies can’t detect you. Vin Diesel’s voice acting also adds greatly to the game experience.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Clear Sky

STALKER Clear Sky is GSC Gameworld’s prequel to the 2007 hit “STALKER”. Just like in the first part the game is set around the Russian area of Chernobyl and Pripyat, most well known for the nuclear accident that occurred there. You play the role of a mercenary who spends his days in The Zone trying to make a living. The Zone is an area which is affected by so-called anomalies which cause mutants to appear and laws of physics to change. While you investigate these anomalies the plot leads up to the events that happened right before the first game starts. A new in-game faction system encourages you to befriend various groups in The Zone in exchange for information or items. While the graphics of Clear Sky are based on the first Stalker game engine, there are numerous improvements, including support for DirectX10 and depth-of-field/volumetric effects. The 0.0 FPS scores for NVIDIA cards at 2560×1600 are caused by driver crashes which seem to be related to card with 512 MB memory and below. Since it works fine on ATI this is not a game problem but an NVIDIA driver issue.