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 X700 XT vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
As far as PCI Express platforms go, the Radeon X700 XT and the GeForce 6600GT are about as evenly matched as you can get in terms of price and performance and thankfully they are both readily available today. Let's see how they perform head to head under Half Life 2:
In our first demo, the two basically tie - we aren't considering performance differences of ~3% or less to be anything significant.
| Half Life 2 AT_canals_08.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X700 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 116.4 |
113.5 |
2.6% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 78.7 |
78.1 |
0.8% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 55.9 |
57.7 |
3.1% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 75.3 |
72.7 |
3.6% |
| Winner | - |
- |
Tie |
Our second demo shows the X700 XT pulling ahead and definitely taking the lead when AA is enabled.
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X700 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 133.5 |
129.6 |
3.0% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 112.3 |
107.9 |
4.1% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 81.9 |
78.5 |
4.3% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 115.8 |
107.2 |
8.0% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X700 XT |
We have a tie once again in our third demo:
| Half Life 2 AT_coast_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X700 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 115.7 |
113.6 |
1.8% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 88 |
88.2 |
0.2% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 63 |
64.4 |
2.2% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 87.5 |
87.1 |
0.5% |
| Winner | - |
- |
Tie |
Our fourth demo shows the X700 XT pulling far ahead with AA enabled, but otherwise the two perform identically:
| Half Life 2 AT_prison_05.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X700 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 119 |
116.1 |
2.5% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 79.4 |
77.2 |
2.8% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 55.5 |
55.7 |
0.4% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 85.1 |
74.6 |
14.1% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X700 XT |
In our final demothe X700 XT manages to maintain the greatest performance advantage, even at 1600 x 1200 without AA the X700 XT is over 10% faster than the 6600GT.
| Half Life 2 AT_c17_12.dem | |||
ATI Radeon X700 XT |
NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT |
Performance Advantage |
|
| 1024 x 768 | 87.3 |
82.9 |
5.3% |
| 1280 x 1024 | 82.2 |
76.4 |
7.6% |
| 1600 x 1200 | 69.2 |
61.6 |
12.3% |
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 77.4 |
70 |
10.6% |
| Winner | - |
- |
X700 XT |
We averaged all of the X700 XT's wins together to make up the table below. From the looks of it, the X700 XT is significantly faster when AA is enabled, but is otherwise a relative equal to the 6600GT. What is important to note here is that the sweet spot for image quality and performance on these two cards appears to be at 1280 x 1024, where they are both virtually equal in performance.
| Summary | |||
Average Performance Advantage (X700 XT over 6600GT) |
|||
| 1024 x 768 | 3.0% |
||
| 1280 x 1024 | 3.1% |
||
| 1600 x 1200 | 4.5% |
||
| 1024 x 768 - 4X AA | 7.3% |
||
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Kovie - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Mis-type, meant to say 6600GT being gouged.Kovie - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
"Recently a number of users have asked that we compare the $300 GeForce 6800 to the $200 GeForce 6600GT to see if the added cost is truly worth it."Actually we asked to compare the currently $245 6600GT (newegg) against the currently $250 6800 (outpost). Once the 6800GT stops being gouged and goes down to its supposed price then it will be a better buy. Right now the $5 difference between them and the ability to potentially unlock the extra pipes on the 6800 make it a better buy.
Le Québécois - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
For my part I'm more curious about Slower CPU, to see how much it affect the FPS.mikecel79 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Where's the ATI 9600 and 9500 series cards in this? The are DX9 cards also.LocutusX - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
So... I wonder how all the poor souls who went with GF59xx's are feeling now... ;)But yes, both manufacturers' "current-gen" parts are doing very well.
ciwell - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
I find the 6800 vs the 6600GT results to be intriguing as the 6600GT stacks up very nicely. I wonder how the comparison is in other games though.Akira1224 - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
I know the flames are going to start soon. I would like to say great job to both Nvidia and ATI. Both cards are spectacular this round and we should all be impressed with the tech being shown in this roundup. To anyone who is gonna start with the ATI RULZ NVIDIA SUXORZ or vice versa lets all just save it. The performance is so close either way you can't lose. For the record I have a 6800GT.Jalf - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
Well, I can give you the results with my hardware. :)I'm running an ancient Geforce 2 GTS (32mb) and Athlon TBird 1400 MHz.
I haven't noted down actual FPS values, but in 800x600, with medium-ish settings, it runs perfectly smoothly. That's impressive, if you ask me. :P
So I doubt you'll have a problem. :)
ksherman - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - link
i wonder how old, old hardware will be... mabye theyll go as far back as the 8500 and Ti400's.... (cuz thats what i have ;)