F.E.A.R
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 47 | 35 | 25.53% | 46 | 40 | 13.04% | 42 | 41 | 2.38% |
| Avg | 103.94 | 67.22 | 35.32% | 111.48 | 73.74 | 33.85% | 113.01 | 92.34 | 18.29% |
| Max | 242 | 157 | 35.12% | 271 | 177 | 34.69% | 295 | 295 | 0.00% |
| Average | 31.99% | 27.19% | 6.89% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 44 | 27 | 38.64% | 43 | 29 | 32.56% | 40 | 36 | 10.00% |
| Avg | 82.92 | 47.97 | 42.15% | 89.33 | 53.19 | 40.45% | 99.22 | 65.11 | 34.37% |
| Max | 173 | 108 | 37.57% | 192 | 124 | 35.42% | 241 | 241 | 0.00% |
| Average | 39.45% | 36.14% | 14.79% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 34 | 19 | 44.12% | 38 | 21 | 44.74% | 41 | 26 | 36.59% |
| Avg | 58.95 | 33.36 | 43.40% | 65.78 | 37.39 | 43.16% | 80.2 | 45.9 | 42.78% |
| Max | 116 | 73 | 37.07% | 130 | 82 | 36.92% | 169 | 103 | 39.05% |
| Average | 41.53% | 41.61% | 39.47% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 37.66% | 34.98% | 20.38% |
We mentioned in our GeForce 7900GTX review that this card is fast enough if you want to play F.E.A.R at 1280 x 960 with AA and AF. You can look at the benchmark numbers, but by using efficiency as a metric it's easier to see why. We're losing only about half the frame rates compared to the GeForce 7800GTX. However, at 1600 x 1200, the penalty is pretty much the same. so its very likely even the shader processing power from the higher clocked GeForce 7900GTX is still not enough. This is different to what we're seeing at 'traditional' texture dependent games - a more gradual (less drastic) decline going from 1024 x 768 to 1280 x 960 like we saw with Call of Duty.
Quake 4
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 69 | 57 | 17.39% | 70 | 64 | 8.57% | 69 | 64 | 7.25% |
| Avg | 124.51 | 87.5 | 29.73% | 125.23 | 96.39 | 23.03% | 124.51 | 108.01 | 13.26% |
| Max | 168 | 135 | 19.64% | 168 | 148 | 11.90% | 168 | 156 | 7.14% |
| Average | 22.25% | 14.50% | 9.21% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 68 | 37 | 45.59% | 69 | 42 | 39.13% | 61 | 48 | 21.31% |
| Avg | 116.96 | 59.25 | 49.34% | 119.44 | 66.83 | 44.05% | 117.22 | 79.55 | 32.13% |
| Max | 171 | 102 | 40.35% | 167 | 113 | 32.34% | 164 | 129 | 21.34% |
| Average | 45.09% | 38.51% | 24.93% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 66 | 27 | 59.09% | 68 | 30 | 55.88% | 60 | 38 | 36.67% |
| Avg | 97.05 | 43.5 | 55.18% | 104.9 | 49.07 | 53.23% | 112.97 | 59.29 | 47.52% |
| Max | 154 | 81 | 47.40% | 161 | 87 | 45.96% | 156 | 101 | 35.26% |
| Average | 53.89% | 51.69% | 39.81% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 40.41% | 34.90% | 24.65% |
Although the overall penalty is still in the GeForce 7900GTX favor, we can all see it beginning to lose footing at 1280 x 1024. We do see that the trend is less drastic than with the GeForce 7800GTX. If we were to use an even higher resolution, such as 2048 x 1536, it's more likely the penalty will be close to 50 percent on the GeForce 7900GTX - just like what we're seeing on the GeForce 7800GTX at 1600 x 1200. Even with an SLI setup, we will likely not have any aster frame rates, so 1600 x 1200 is the end of the line for the GeForce 7900GTX.
Serious Sam II
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 45 | 0.00% | 46 | 45 | 2.17% | 42 | 43 | -2.38% |
| Avg | 59.55 | 54.63 | 8.27% | 59.63 | 57.21 | 4.05% | 56.76 | 56.07 | 1.22% |
| Max | 84 | 68 | 19.05% | 84 | 74 | 11.90% | 79 | 79 | 0.00% |
| Average | 9.11% | 6.04% | -0.39% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 37 | 17.78% | 45 | 38 | 15.56% | 42 | 40 | 4.76% |
| Avg | 58.85 | 41.73 | 29.09% | 59.48 | 46.62 | 21.61% | 56.62 | 53.33 | 5.81% |
| Max | 82 | 51 | 37.80% | 84 | 57 | 32.14% | 79 | 71 | 10.13% |
| Average | 28.22% | 23.10% | 6.90% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 26 | 42.22% | 44 | 26 | 40.91% | 43 | 32 | 25.58% |
| Avg | 52.33 | 29.35 | 43.91% | 56.43 | 32.9 | 41.69% | 56.33 | 41.06 | 27.11% |
| Max | 67 | 36 | 46.27% | 74 | 41 | 44.59% | 79 | 52 | 34.18% |
| Average | 44.13% | 42.40% | 28.96% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 27.16% | 23.85% | 11.82% |
The picture we're seeing here is pretty similar - you only bought one more resolution with the GeForce 7900GTX. But let's not detract from the fact that at 28.96 percent penalty hit is still very good and understandably so coming from a GeForce 7 architecture. What do we mean by this? It's very likely that NVIDIA made only little tweaks here and there on the GeForce 7900GTX to maximize performance and get so high a clock. In a word - the GeForce 7900GTX is pretty much a 'speed bump'. Like all speed bumps, since efficiency is pretty much the same (on the same clock), the GeForce 7900GTX will most likely behave pretty much like the GeForce 7800GTX. At some point with a game that's heavy enough (either in shaders or textures), you'll begin to see a drastic drop in performance.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | AA AF | Default | AA AF | Default | AA AF | ||||
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 62.66 | 45.02 | 28.15% | 70.58 | 50.74 | 28.11% | 76.91 | 62.94 | 18.16% |
| Avg | 100.05 | 78.1 | 21.94% | 107.88 | 87.35 | 19.03% | 115.02 | 103.14 | 10.33% |
| Max | 178.93 | 155.45 | 13.12% | 198.55 | 166.23 | 16.28% | 198.8 | 192.49 | 3.17% |
| Average | 21.07% | 21.14% | 10.56% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 43.89 | 31.11 | 29.12% | 49.42 | 35.15 | 28.87% | 63.78 | 44.66 | 29.98% |
| Avg | 73.34 | 54.79 | 25.29% | 82.1 | 61.77 | 24.76% | 102.66 | 77.86 | 24.16% |
| Max | 146.1 | 136.75 | 6.40% | 160.93 | 139.08 | 13.58% | 186.06 | 153.15 | 17.69% |
| Average | 20.27% | 22.40% | 23.94% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 32.51 | 22.97 | 29.34% | 36.6 | 25.92 | 29.18% | 47.94 | 33.13 | 30.89% |
| Avg | 54.79 | 39.99 | 27.01% | 61.2 | 45.23 | 26.09% | 79.68 | 57.61 | 27.70% |
| Max | 136.75 | 105.53 | 22.83% | 144.22 | 119.57 | 17.09% | 150.75 | 135.42 | 10.17% |
| Average | 26.40% | 24.12% | 22.92% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 22.58% | 22.56% | 19.14% |
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is quite an anomaly - we're seeing the penalty hit stays pretty much the same across the results from three graphics cards. There are several things at play here. For one, this game is not pixel fillrate limited, but shader limited. So, we're still within the limits of these cards bandwidth window, even at 1600 x 1200 with AA AF. Two, architecturally the two are the same and now we can see just how similar. Kudos to the developers at Ubisoft. They managed to pretty much 'maintain' the penalty rate even with two cards that have a 220 / 200 MHz difference in clocks.
HDR
Serious Sam II
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | HDR | Default | HDR | Default | HDR | ||||
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 42 | 6.67% | 46 | 44 | 4.35% | 42 | 42 | 0.00% |
| Avg | 59.55 | 50.39 | 15.39% | 59.63 | 54.5 | 8.60% | 56.76 | 57.53 | -1.36% |
| Max | 84 | 63 | 25.00% | 84 | 71 | 15.48% | 79 | 78 | 1.27% |
| Average | 15.68% | 9.48% | -0.03% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 30 | 33.33% | 45 | 33 | 26.67% | 42 | 43 | -2.38% |
| Avg | 58.85 | 36.78 | 37.50% | 59.48 | 41.11 | 30.88% | 56.62 | 52.28 | 7.67% |
| Max | 82 | 47 | 42.68% | 84 | 53 | 36.90% | 79 | 68 | 13.92% |
| Average | 37.84% | 31.49% | 6.40% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 45 | 21 | 53.33% | 44 | 23 | 47.73% | 43 | 30 | 30.23% |
| Avg | 52.33 | 25.84 | 50.62% | 56.43 | 28.91 | 48.76% | 56.33 | 37.3 | 33.77% |
| Max | 67 | 33 | 50.75% | 74 | 37 | 50.00% | 79 | 48 | 39.24% |
| Average | 51.56% | 48.83% | 34.42% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 35.03% | 29.93% | 13.60% |
Unlike AA and AF, HDR (with AF in this example) if much more fillrate than bandwidth. With a higher clock, the GeForce 7900GTX has more raw fillrate than the GeForce 7800GTX. But once again, you're still using the same old GeForce 7 architecture, only this time the limit is at a higher resolution. If you compare the penalty rate, you'll actually see the GeForce 7900GTX (1280 x 960 to 1600 x 1200) has a more steep drop than the GeForce 7800GTX (1024 x 768 to 1280 x 1024) So, if you really want to maintain the same level of frame rate, don't go above 1280 x 960 or 1280 x 1024. Looking at the numbers, we still wonder though - why with some games, on system limited situations the GeForce 7900GTX us SLOWER than the GeForce 7800GTX?
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
| 7800GTX | 7800GTX TOP | 7900GTX | |||||||
| Default | HDR | Default | HDR | Default | HDR | ||||
| 1024 | |||||||||
| Min | 62.66 | 46.21 | 26.25% | 70.58 | 52.03 | 26.28% | 76.91 | 65.13 | 15.32% |
| Avg | 100.05 | 76.96 | 23.08% | 107.88 | 85.96 | 20.32% | 115.02 | 101.42 | 11.82% |
| Max | 178.93 | 150.76 | 15.74% | 198.55 | 152.83 | 23.03% | 198.8 | 163.23 | 17.89% |
| Average | 21.69% | 23.21% | 15.01% | ||||||
| 1280 | |||||||||
| Min | 43.89 | 31.53 | 28.16% | 49.42 | 35.5 | 28.17% | 63.78 | 45.94 | 27.97% |
| Avg | 73.34 | 52.48 | 28.44% | 82.1 | 59.06 | 28.06% | 102.66 | 76.36 | 25.62% |
| Max | 146.1 | 130.1 | 10.95% | 160.93 | 134.28 | 16.56% | 186.06 | 144.67 | 22.25% |
| Average | 22.52% | 24.26% | 25.28% | ||||||
| 1600 | |||||||||
| Min | 32.51 | 23.84 | 26.67% | 36.6 | 26.9 | 26.50% | 47.94 | 34.94 | 27.12% |
| Avg | 54.79 | 39.34 | 28.20% | 61.2 | 44.34 | 27.55% | 79.68 | 58.09 | 27.10% |
| Max | 136.75 | 102.42 | 25.10% | 144.22 | 114.65 | 20.50% | 150.75 | 131.71 | 12.63% |
| Average | 26.66% | 24.85% | 22.28% | ||||||
| Weighted Average | 23.62% | 24.11% | 20.86% |
We know Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory has pretty much the same penalty rate across most resolutions here with these three cards. This is apparently true with HDR also. If anything else, this is just more confirmation that the GeForce 7900GTX is just a 'speed bump'. There's virtually no difference between it and the GeForce 7800GTX in efficiency (give or take some minor adjustments). Of course, all NVIDIA have to do to justify the GeForce 7900GTX is to point at the scores, 8 - 10 fps on the minimum fps is significant since we're looking at 30-40 fps here. A 20 fps difference in average fps is nothing to scoff at either.
[Previous Page]
[Go to top]
[Next Page]