Half Life 2 GPU Roundup Part 1 - DirectX 9 Shootout
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 17, 2004 11:22 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Head to Head: ATI Radeon X800 Pro vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT
Priced at $400 our next head to head comparison is between the 12-pip Radeon X800 Pro and the 16-pipe GeForce 6800GT.
In our first demo, the 6800GT pulls ahead in all of the resolutions:
| Half Life 2 AT_canals_08.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 Pro |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 125.6 |
133.3 |
6.1% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 101 |
110.8 |
9.7% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 82.3 |
88 |
6.9% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 106.8 |
113.2 |
6.0% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 75.4 |
77.1 |
2.3% |
| Winner | - |
- |
6800GT |
Our second demo shows a much closer competition, with the X800 Pro pulling ahead in the highest resolution AA test:
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 Pro |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 133.1 |
131.3 |
1.4% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 124.8 |
123.8 |
0.8% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 110.7 |
109.1 |
1.5% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 130.5 |
129.5 |
0.8% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 113.4 |
107.7 |
5.3% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 Pro |
The balance shifts over to NVIDIA once again, but the two perform very similarly here as well:
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 Pro |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 119 |
123.3 |
3.6% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 105.1 |
107.8 |
2.6% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 86.2 |
90.5 |
5.0% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 111.4 |
112.2 |
0.7% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 84.5 |
86 |
1.8% |
| Winner | - |
- |
6800GT |
The 6800GT takes it once again in our fourth demo:
| Half Life 2 AT_prison_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 Pro |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 135.7 |
147.4 |
8.6% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 106 |
112 |
5.7% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 80.8 |
83.2 |
3.0% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 111.3 |
118 |
6.0% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 82.5 |
79.8 |
3.4% |
| Winner | - |
- |
6800GT |
And in our final demo the X800 Pro comes away with the win.
| Half Life 2 AT_c17_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X800 Pro |
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 88.1 |
84.6 |
4.1% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 84.6 |
84 |
0.7% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 79.2 |
77 |
2.9% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 84.8 |
82.8 |
2.4% |
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | 77.1 |
72.6 |
6.2% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X800 Pro |
Averaging all of the scores together tells us that the 6800GT and the X800 Pro basically perform identically to one another, regardless of resolution:
| Summary | |||
Average Performance Advantage (6800GT over X800 Pro) |
|||
| 1024 x 768 | 2.6% |
||
| 1280 x 1024 | 3.3% |
||
| 1600 x 1200 | 2.1% |
||
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 1.9% |
||
| 1280 x 1024 - 4X AA | -0.8% |
||
Head to Head: ATI Radeon X800 XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
Head to Head: ATI Radeon X700 XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
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ballero - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
it'd be nice a comparison between cpuJalf - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
To those wanting benchmarks on older hardware, remember that this is a hardware site, not a games review site.Their focus is on the hardware, and honestly, few hardware enthusiasts can get excited about an 800 mhz cpu or a Geforce 3. ;)
For AT, HL2 is a tool to compare new *interesting* hardware. It's not the other way around.
CU - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
I would also like to see slower cpu's and 512meg systems tested. It seems all recent cards can run it fine, so it would be nice to see how other things affect HL2.CU - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Based on the 6800nu vs 6600gt I would say that HL2 is being limited by fillrate and not bandwith. I say this since they both have about the same fillrate, but the 6800nu has around 40% more bandwidth than the 6600gt. So, unlocking extra pipes and overclocking the GPU should give the most increase in fps. Anyone want to test this?Jeff7181 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
... in addition... this is a case where minimum frame rates would be very useful to know.Jeff7181 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Those numbers are about what I expected. I'm sorta thinking that triple buffering isn't working with the 66.93 drivers and HL2 because I have vsync enabled, it seems like the frame rate is either 85 or 42.I also suspected that anistropic filtering wasn't particularly necessary... I'll have to try it without and see how it looks... although with 4XAA and 8XAF I'm still getting acceptable frame rates.
nserra - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
#8 i never heard of 6800 extra pipes unlocked, where did you see that. Arent you making some confusion with the Ati 9500 cards?MAME - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Make some budget video card benchmarks (Ti4200 plus or minus) and possibly a slower cpu or less ram so that people will know if they have to upgradeAkira1224 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
#8 Thats not a fair comparison. Yes atm it would seem the 6800Nu is a better buy. However if you go to Gameve you will find the XFX (clocked at PCIe speeds)6600GT for $218. Thats a much better deal than your example using Newegg. You talk about a $5 diff... if you are a smart shopper you can get upwards of a $50 diff.THAT makes the 6600GT the better buy. Esp when you consider that the market this card is aimed at is not the same market that will softmod their cards to unlock pipes. Either way you go you will get great performance.
I digress off topic.... sorry.
nserra - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
You didn’t use overclocked nvidia cards like hardocp did. That Kyle has the shame to say he used stock clock, those BFG OC are overclocked from factory. Just 25Mhz but its something.Very good review!!! Better then the NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT AGP review where something was missing.