Source Engine: Counterstrike Beta Hits The Street
by Derek Wilson on August 26, 2004 5:22 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
Our benchmarks will take a look at the graphics stress test at 3 different resolutions with and without AA/AF (where available). We decided it was time to add 2048x1536 to our tests formally. These latest drivers make it much easier to take advantage of the highest resolution available to the highest end cards these days. It's been a much easier experience on NVIDIA hardware (all we had to do was pick the resolution and it worked). On ATI hardware, we've had to fiddle with monitor settings and maximum refresh rate settings in order to finally get 2048x1536 @ 75Hz to become a reality. We don't run this resolution with AA; if you've got a monitor with a dot pitch to do it justice, you just won't need AA anymore. We do still run with 8xAF at playable resolutions on some of the newer cards (which is truly amazing).| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (oc to 2.6GHz) |
| RAM: | 2 x 512Mb OCZ 3200 Platinum Rev 2 (2:2:2:10) |
| Hard Drives | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers | VIA Hyperion 4.51 |
| Video Card(s): | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Ed. ATI Radeon X800 Pro ATI Radeon 9800 XT NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4400 |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 4.8 NVIDIA ForceWare 61.77 |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | MSI MS-6702E (VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset) |
We do have to note that this isn't an apples to apples test. The NVIDIA 5950 and Ti 4400 couldn't run AA at all. The 5950 will not run in DX9 mode (though we are still looking for ways to force it on just for testing purposes). We suspect that AA is currently tied to DX9 functionality, but the beta makes note of a known bug that could be causing the problem. In addition to not being able to run with AA on, these cards would also not run with water reflections enabled. So far, this seems to be the only DX9 only feature we've seen in the engine. This may or may not change by the time HL2 ships. The effect is lost in the video stress test (there's just too much going on), but could prove very dramatic if Valve made proper use of it in the game.
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DerekWilson - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
#18 If there are any typos, please point them out any typos and they will be corrected. We have already fixed the problem our first commenter pointed out.#19 We have Extreme cards from a couple different manufactures. We also have Platinum cards from a couple different manufactures. We wouldn't still be testing these cards if all we had were NV and ATI reference samples.
Drayvn - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Umm, i dont know why, but there are no official Ultra Extremes only overclocked ones, nVidia has stated that they told the Add on manufacturers they can indeed overclock their cards, but they cannot call it the Ultra Extreme, so i dont know why u have that card in there as there are none, if u would have called it an Ultra OC then that would have been fine, because it seems there will never be an Ultra Extreme.esun - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Regardless of the quality of the article and benchmarks and whatnot, it seems like there are a lot of typos in this article (just takes away from its credibility and professionalism IMO).DerekWilson - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
#15Sorry, the video stress test does not run with any sound. It actually does (as much as possible) what it says -- it focuses on video performance.
Jalf - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Shame about the X800 pro. Would be interesting to be able to compare it to the GT at high-res. Would be interesting to see how much the GT benefits from having all 16 pipelines at the high-res scenario... (Or how much it loses)In either case, I disagree with #5.
It doesn't show clearly that NVidia isn't performance leader.
On the other hand it shows that NVidia isn't clearly the performance leader. :P
Performance-wise, I'd call it a tie for now. They're both damn fast as far as I'm concerned. ATI are working on improving their Doom 3 performance, and I have a hunch NVidia are going to put some more effort into their HL2 performance now.
Anyway, to those wanting to see a mid-range card, you've got the 4400. You should be able to extrapolate from that.
ir0nw0lf - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Was the sound turned on or off during these tests? There is no mention that I could find of that, perhaps I missed it being mentioned?thelanx - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Granted these are real game benchmarks, but we can extrapolate and estimate like the article said. HL2 will probably be more cpu intesive and less graphically intensive. These benchmarks will cheer up many people I think. Those with high end cards will be happy that whatever they chose to buy, it will run HL2 great, and mid-range card owners will be happy that their cards should run HL2 very well. The real game will probably be less graphically demanding but more cpu intenstive, so my 9700pro with my 2.5GHz A64 will probably run the game better than the graphics stress test, especially at 10x7, my lcd's native resolution.Zephyr106 - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
I agree completely with #2. Benchmark it on some of the midrange cards. And a $400 6800GT isn't midrange. Specifically because Valve has said they hope the game will be scalable for slower hardware, and alot of those 9600 Pro/XT owners have HL2 vouchers, and I'm sure not all have upgraded.Avalon - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Can't exactly call ATI the performance winner here. the X800 XT PE is often only a few frames better than the 6800 UE, and the GT is often a few frames better than the X800 pro. Seems almost more closer to a tie than one side actually performing better. Regardless, by using a little observation, it seems like my 9700 pro will be able to run the game just fine at 10x7, and I might even have room for a bit of eye candy :)PsharkJF - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
Why would you even need to run HL2 at 20x15? lol.10x7 or 12x10 is fine for me, and it looks like my old GF4Ti4200 can run it well enough.