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AA
Benchmarks |
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Smooth images but
remember the frame rate |
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In the interest of not creating
one silly mess of a bar graph, we decided to expose you to a
different kind of eye chart that shows you the available
modes of AA with the Radeon 8500 and benchmark numbers at
various resolutions and color depths. First we'll
start with Quake 3 Time Demos.
We'll let these
numbers speak for themselves. Respectable performance
is garnered here but it is really not even within striking
distance of GeForce3 "Classic" levels. Specifically,
we have seen standard GeForce3's (200MHz. Core and 460MHz
memory clock speeds) in the 65 fps range, when running 4X AA
at 1024X768 in 32 bit color.
Update 11/14 - 10:15 AM
Since the release of our article last night, we have been
asked by a few HotHardware readers to compare AA performance
with DirectX 8.1 on Win2K versus a GeForce3 Ti500.
We'll represent the results here in easy to read graphs.
Here we see respectable performance from the R8500.
You should consider the default "performance" setting here,
in line with quality level of nVidia product. The
"quality" mode setting scores are representative of somewhat
superior image quality than what is produced by an nVidia
card. We were having trouble getting bright enough
screenshots in Q3 with the R8500, so to reference the
quality difference, we suggest heading over to
this page in Anandtech's review, for reference to the
image quality in ATi's "quality" mode.
We also decided
to show you what a recent DX8 title can do with the Radeon
8500's AA methods.
Anybody that has
run
this benchmark demo knows, that is very taxing on any
current 3D Graphics card on the market. Don't be
alarmed by the relatively low frame rates, even with no AA
on. A GeForce3 Ti500 doesn't handle things much better
in this demo in general. Let's move out to our non-AA
induced test with Max.
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Benchmarks
and Comparisons - R8500 Vrs. GF3 Ti500 |
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The gap closes
somewhat |
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Driven by
DirectX 8, Max Payne is a 3D shooter with loads of eye
candy. Versus
our first pass testing of the R8500, the ATi card
manages to keep up fairly well with nVidia's top of the
line.
MadOnion's
3DMark 2001 utilizes the same game engine, so let's see how
things shake out in this test.
Click here to see scores with the GeForce3 Ti500 and the
first revision of the Radeon 8500 drivers. You'll note
that indeed performance in 32 bit color has improved
significantly and the R8500 beats the GeForce3 Ti500 up to
1600X1200. At 1600X1200 it is a dead heat between the
two.
On the OpenGL
front we have GL Excess scores for you as well, versus the
GF3 Ti500.
In 16 bit color,
the R8500 is strong. The tables turn when the color
depth is turned up to 32 bit however and the GF3 Ti500
prevails by 10 - 15%.
Let's look at a
couple more OpenGL data points and then wrap things up.
Vulpine GL, Quake 3
and the final rating
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