Compared to the Radeon X1900XTX
For comparison purposes, we decided to include the results from our Radeon X1900XTX review. Mind you, these are obtained with Catalyst 6.2. Some small improvements in performance can be found with newer drivers - these are just for reference only.Call of Duty
| X1900XTX | 7900GTX | |||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | ||||||
| Min | 73 | 72 | 1.37% | 79 | 78 | 1.27% |
| Avg | 185.71 | 180.95 | 2.57% | 201.11 | 190.75 | 5.15% |
| Max | 396 | 377 | 4.80% | 404 | 339 | 16.09% |
| Average | 2.91% | 7.50% | ||||
| 1280 | ||||||
| Min | 73 | 74 | -1.37% | 80 | 79 | 1.25% |
| Avg | 181.95 | 166.46 | 8.51% | 197.42 | 158.77 | 19.58% |
| Max | 368 | 289 | 21.47% | 413 | 271 | 34.38% |
| Average | 9.54% | 18.40% | ||||
| 1600 | ||||||
| Min | 73 | 73 | 0.00% | 80 | 79 | 1.25% |
| Avg | 177.3 | 152.22 | 14.15% | 192.84 | 123.74 | 35.83% |
| Max | 336 | 286 | 14.88% | 383 | 182 | 52.48% |
| Average | 9.68% | 29.85% | ||||
| Weighted Average | 7.37% | 18.59% |
The Radeon X1900XTX (with old drivers) has pretty much 1/2 to 1/3 the penalty of the GeForce 7900GTX. You can definitely see why we gripe about AA penalty on the GeForce 6 / 7 series. Since it's very efficient, it's very likely we won't lose that much performance with even higher resolutions such as 2048 x 1536 or more. It's also very likely to be less sensitive to the use of higher resolution textures as well. There will be a drop off point where there's just not enough bandwidth, but most likely we ran into fillrate limits first.
Homeworld 2
| X1900XTX | 7900GTX | |||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | ||||||
| Min | 46 | 51 | -10.87% | 60 | 63 | -5.00% |
| Avg | 158.67 | 158.72 | -0.03% | 200.5 | 201.32 | -0.41% |
| Max | 378 | 383 | -1.32% | 389 | 394 | -1.29% |
| Average | -4.07% | -2.23% | ||||
| 1280 | ||||||
| Min | 49 | 50 | -2.04% | 58 | 61 | -5.17% |
| Avg | 155.74 | 155.69 | 0.03% | 198.81 | 189.87 | 4.50% |
| Max | 372 | 378 | -1.61% | 389 | 359 | 7.71% |
| Average | -1.21% | 2.35% | ||||
| 1600 | ||||||
| Min | 49 | 49 | 0.00% | 61 | 47 | 22.95% |
| Avg | 152.53 | 146.8 | 3.76% | 194.58 | 142.37 | 26.83% |
| Max | 372 | 374 | -0.54% | 384 | 230 | 40.10% |
| Average | 1.07% | 29.96% | ||||
| Weighted Average | -1.40% | 10.03% |
The 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 960 results on the Radeon X1900XTX are actually negative points - we're system limited here even with AA and AF. Hell, even at 1600 x 1200. That's true too for the GeForce 7900GTX, but again the memory bandwidth limit rear its head at 1600 x 1200. In retrospect, that's not really telling the whole story. Unlike Call of Duty where we see Radeon X1900XTX's nominal frame rates are higher than GeForce 7900GTX's, we're still seeing higher frame rates from the GeForce 7900GTX except at 1600 x 1200. Remember, we're focusing on efficiency here per say and its very likely if we can go any further the penalty will be even higher on the GeForce 7900GTX. Much more so than with the Radeon X1900XTX.
Richard Burns Rally
| X1900XTX | 7900GTX | |||||
| Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | Default | AA AF | Performance Lost | |
| 1024 | ||||||
| Min | 108 | 108 | 0.00% | 106 | 103 | 2.83% |
| Avg | 159.79 | 159.65 | 0.09% | 152.13 | 150.9 | 0.81% |
| Max | 231 | 234 | -1.30% | 228 | 219 | 3.95% |
| Average | -0.40% | 2.53% | ||||
| 1280 | ||||||
| Min | 108 | 109 | -0.93% | 105 | 102 | 2.86% |
| Avg | 159.46 | 151.81 | 4.79% | 152.44 | 148.41 | 2.65% |
| Max | 230 | 222 | 3.48% | 223 | 216 | 3.14% |
| Average | 2.45% | 2.88% | ||||
| 1600 | ||||||
| Min | 107 | 88 | 17.76% | 105 | 90 | 14.29% |
| Avg | 159.27 | 129.14 | 18.92% | 151.47 | 129.68 | 14.38% |
| Max | 230 | 219 | 4.78% | 219 | 207 | 5.48% |
| Average | 13.82% | 11.38% | ||||
| Weighted Average | 5.29% | 5.60% |
In this game, the two cards are pretty equal, the difference is very likely coming from the 1024 x 768 test results. This is an example where the GeForce 7900GTX brute 24 pixel pipelines comes into play. Or is it? If you look at the numbers, you'll find that the Radeon X1900XTX test results at default settings are higher.
For most people, 1600 x 1200 is the highest resolution they can use, though not many want to use it all the time. Yes, the GeForce 7900GTX makes it possible to play at that resolution. But it's still a very 'NVIDIA' approach and still very sensitive to memory bandwidth. From this efficiency test results, we can see that even with old games, 1600 x 1200 is the drop off point where there's not enough bandwidth to maintain the optimal fillrate of the card. What about newer games?
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