Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480

Name: Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 - Page 10
Brand: Sapphire

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, October 24, 2005, 11:00 PM EDT

To start our in-game testing, we did some low-resolution benchmarking with Unreal Tournament 2004. When testing with UT 2004, we use a specific set of game engine initialization settings that ensure all of the systems are being benchmarked with the exact same in-game settings and graphical options. Like the other in-game tests in this review, we used a "Low-Quality" graphical settings and low screen resolution which isolates CPU and memory performance.

Unreal Tournament 2004

DirectX 8 Gaming Performance

In yet another test, the Intel powered system lagged behind the two AMD powered systems, and the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI and Sapphire PI-A9RX480 performed at very similar levels. Technically, the nForce 4 powered Gigabyte motherboard finished the test with highest framerate, but its 2.21 FPS margin of victory equates to only a 1.6% advantage.

Benchmarks with Doom 3

OpenGL Gaming Performance

For our next game test, we benchmarked all of the test systems using a custom multi-player Doom 3 timedemo. We cranked the resolution down to 640 x 480, and configured the game to run at its "Low-Quality" graphics setting. Although Doom 3 typically taxes today's high-end GPUs, when it's configured at these minimal settings it too is more CPU and memory-bound than anything else.

Our Doom 3 results mirrored what we saw with Unreal Tournament 2004, but the Intel powered system put up a much better performance here. In our custom, low-res Doom 3 benchmark, the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI outpaced the Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-A9RX480 by 2.5 frames per second, or 1.7%. Not an earth-shattering victory by any means, but a technical victory nonetheless.

Tags: ATI, Sapphire, App, X4, pure, nova, SAP, innovation, Pi, AP

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com