DFI LANParty UT RDX200: ATI’s Crossfire AMD for the Bleeding Edge
by Wesley Fink on October 18, 2005 11:03 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gaming Performance
It is perhaps a bit unfair to test the latest NVIDIA 7800GTX at 1280x1024 without any eye candy turned on. Turning on Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering demonstrates more clearly the performance advantages of this card. However, the results are interesting. At this somewhat low resolution, the 7800GTX shows a substantial lead only in a few very demanding titles like Half Life 2 and Doom3.
What this shows is that for most the 7800GTX will not be worth the extra cost if they game on a 19" LCD at 1280x1024. Unless you game at 1600x1200 or higher, or mainly play one of those few titles where the 7800GTX performs better at 1280x1024, the 7800GTX may be a wasted expense that will bring you little additional performance for what the 7800GTX costs.
It is perhaps a bit unfair to test the latest NVIDIA 7800GTX at 1280x1024 without any eye candy turned on. Turning on Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering demonstrates more clearly the performance advantages of this card. However, the results are interesting. At this somewhat low resolution, the 7800GTX shows a substantial lead only in a few very demanding titles like Half Life 2 and Doom3.
What this shows is that for most the 7800GTX will not be worth the extra cost if they game on a 19" LCD at 1280x1024. Unless you game at 1600x1200 or higher, or mainly play one of those few titles where the 7800GTX performs better at 1280x1024, the 7800GTX may be a wasted expense that will bring you little additional performance for what the 7800GTX costs.
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ozzimark - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
it's very very very dependant on the cpu. notice that they used the FX-57 for those tests, which is a cpu that typically has some of the best memory controllers around.Wesley, how do 4xDS sticks perform with the 4000+?
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
THe 4DSx1T worked fine on the 4000+. The key to this feature is the DRAM Drive Strength option in the BIOS. With older A64 drive strength needs to be set at 14 to 15. You can get things to work with a bit less DRAM Drive Strength with the newer controllers like those on the FX57.We mainly used the FX57 in the iT tests becuase it's fast, and the high stock test numbers made it easier to see the impact of the iT Command Rate on the various memory configurations.
ozzimark - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
awesome, thanks Wesley. that's definitly a good thing to knowmongoosesRawesome - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
depends on how high your memory will clock, and at what timings.LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
I'm trying to make sure I understand this quote, Wesley...at the end, were you trying to say that you get little additional performance with the 7800GTX when compared to the 7800GT?
dornick - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
He means you're wasting your money to buy a 7800gtx and play games at those settings when there are plenty of cheaper cards out there that do the job just as well.j@cko - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
can i use nVidia SLI on ATi mobo?Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Not yet. I have seen nVidia SLI running on the ATI Crossfire board but it required hacked video drivers. You will not see this option, or the reverse, until nVidia and ATI sanction this in their drivers.