Graphics Chip Comparison And Test Configuration

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4:30 AM - 09/26/2008 by Tino Kreiss

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To make it easier to compare the performance of the different graphic chips and generations, we provide additional results for Nvidia’s GeForce 8, 9800 GTX, and GTX 260, and AMD’s Radeon 38x0 and 48x0. The GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon 4870 are tested with two different driver versions to make it easier to see the differences upon updating from ForceWare 175.16 to GeForce 177.92, or from Catalyst 8.6 to 8.8.

The Asus EN9600GT Silent with 512 MB runs at the Nvidia standard clock speeds, just like the reference 9600 GT with 1 GB. MSI slightly increases graphics processor (GPU) and shader speeds, while Palit and Sparkle increase GPU, shader, and graphics memory speeds.

Nvidia Graphics Cards
Card Manufacturer and Chip	Code name	Memory	GPU Speed	Shader	Memory Speed	SPs
GeForce GTX 260	GT200	896 GDDR3	576 MHz	4.0, 1242 MHz	1998 MHz	192
GeForce 9800 GTX	G92	512 MB GDDR3	675 MHz	4.0, 1688 MHz	2200 MHz	128
GeForce 9600 GT SLI	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
Asus GeForce 9600 GT	G94	512 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
MSI GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1680 MHz	1800 MHz	64
Palit GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1750 MHz	2000 MHz	64
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT	G94	512 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1850 MHz	2000 MHz	64
GeForce 8800 GTS	G92	512 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1944 MHz	128
GeForce 8800 GT	G92	512 MB GDDR3	600 MHz	4.0, 1500 MHz	1800 MHz	112
GeForce 8800 GTX	G80	768 MB GDDR3	576 MHz	4.0, 1350 MHz	1800 MHz	128
GeForce 8800 GTS	G80	640 MB GDDR3	500 MHz	4.0, 1188 MHz	1600 MHz	96
GeForce 8800 GTS	G80	320 MB GDDR3	500 MHz	4.0, 1188 MHz	1600 MHz	96

Card Manufacturer and Chip	Memory Bus	Manufacturing Process	Transistors	Interface
GeForce GTX 260	448 Bit	65 nm	1400 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT SLI	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Asus GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
MSI GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Palit GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTS	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTX	384 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS	320 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS	320 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1

AMD Graphics Cards
Card Manufacturer and Chip	Code name	Memory	GPU Speed	Shader	Memory Speed	SPs
Radeon HD 4870	RV770	512 MB GDDR5	750 MHz	4.1	3600 MHz	800
Radeon HD 4850 CF	RV770	512 MB GDDR3	625 MHz	4.1	1986 MHz	800
Radeon HD 4850	RV770	512 MB GDDR3	625 MHz	4.1	1986 MHz	800
Radeon HD 3870	RV670	512 MB GDDR4	775 MHz	4.1	2252 MHz	320
Radeon HD 3850	RV670	256 MB GDDR3	670 MHz	4.1	1658 MHz	320

Card Manufacturer and Chip	Memory Bus	Manufacturing Process	Transistors	Interface
Radeon HD 4870	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850 CF	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3870	256 Bit	55 nm	666 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3850	256 Bit	55 nm	666 MB	PCIe 2.0

^{Memory clock speed=DDR clock speed doubled; physical clock speed is one half
DDR5 clock speed quadrupled; physical clock speed is one quarter
SPs=Stream-Processors, P and V=Pixel shader and Vertex shader
TC=Turbo Cache
HM=Hyper Memory
OC=overclocked (clock speed higher than standard)
SLI=Parallel mode with 2 Nvidia Cards
3SLI=Parallel mode with 3 Nvidia graphics chips
4SLI=Parallel mode with 4 Nvidia graphics chips
CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 2 AMD cards
3CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 3 AMD graphics chips
4CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 4 AMD graphics chips
R680=2xRV670
Shader 2.0=DirectX 9.0; 3.0=DirectX 9.0c; 4.0=DirectX 10; Shader 4.1=DirectX 10.1}

Nvidia Single graphics card, AMD Single and CrossFire graphics cards
CPU	Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 2.93 GHz (11x266 MHz), Socket 775, 1.28 V, 65 nm, 4 MB L2 Cache
FSB	1066 MHz (4x266 MHz)
Motherboard	Asus P5E3 Deluxe, PCIe 2.0 2x16, ICH9R
Chip set	Intel X38
Memory	2x 1 GB Ballistix (Crucial Technology) 1.5 V DDR3 1066 7-7-7-20 (2x533 MHz)
Audio	Intel High Definition Audio
LAN	Intel 1000 Pro
Hard Drives	Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500 GB, S-ATA, 16 MB Cache Hitachi 120 GB, S-ATA, 8 MB Cache
DVD	Gigabyte GO-D1600C
Power Supply	CoolerMaster RS-850-EMBA 850 W

Nvidia SLI Graphics Cards
Motherboard	Asus P5N-T Deluxe, PCIe 2.0 2x16
Chip set	Nvidia nForce 780i SLI
Memory	2x1 GB, A-Data Technology 1.8 Volt, DDR2 800 5-5-5-18 (2x400 MHz)
Audio	ADI 1988B SoundMax
LAN	Marvell 88E1116 Gigabit Ethernet

Drivers & Configuration
Graphic	AMD Catalyst 8.6 and 8.8 Nvidia ForceWare 175.16, GTX 260 ForceWare 177.39, 9600 GT ForceWare 175.16 and GeForce 177.92
Operating System	Windows Vista Enterprise SP1
DirectX	10 und 10.1
Chip Set Driver	X38 Intel 8.3.1.1009 780i Nvidia nForce 9.64

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jaydeejohn 09/26/2008 11:58 AM

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So it beats the GTX eh? And you can find brand new nVidia drivers, but no ATI ones? And wheres the 4670? Got halfway thru, decided to skip the rest

jaragon13 09/26/2008 12:12 PM

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What about the HD 4850? It costs less than the "last 8800 GTS 512's"
Asus sells them for what? 170 dollars,free shipping on Newegg?
Maybe I even saw one @ 160...

Sus-penders 09/26/2008 2:11 PM

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Why would anyone get an 8800GTS for $179 when you can buy a better performing HD 4850, for LESS money??? ATI still exists, you know...

Ryun 09/26/2008 3:03 PM

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No offense, as the article and tests run were good (I especially like the overall FPS charts), but this information would have been more pertinent, like, 6 months ago.

Niva 09/26/2008 3:13 PM

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L1qu1d 09/26/2008 3:37 PM

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-1

Waste of 3 mins, it makes very little sense, the 9600 GTs in sli are around the 280 GTX in performance, yet it manages to get destroyed by the 4870.

This article would've meant something around the time the cards came out...now I'd much rather like to see the 4850 cards compared or 260s or w.e else that is this gen.

MooseMuffin 09/26/2008 4:17 PM

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Niva :
Uh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!

Exactly what is open about nvidia's drivers?

wh3resmycar 09/26/2008 4:38 PM

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nobody reads the introduction anymore?

warezme 09/26/2008 4:49 PM

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warms my heart to see the old 8800GTX included in this test list.

It's amazing this ancient cards at default speed still sit in the middle of the pack and quickly rise to the top when you turn up AA and texture quality up, beating most every other card cept for 260GTX and SLI and CF rigs.

It also explains why a pair of old 8800GTX's in SLI OC'ed to at least Ultra speeds on a fast rig are still very hard to out perform by any single card (period)

Anonymous 09/26/2008 4:52 PM

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There is a reason to get the 9600GT over the 8800GT, power consumption. Look at the numbers, the 9600GT has 1/2 the number of shaders (hence a smaller die). I know the shader clock runs a little faster but a good quality stock PSU with 300W (real, like antec, corsair, etc) should be fine for running it.

bf2gameplaya 09/26/2008 7:08 PM

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The 8800GTS/512 is still a top performer...not bad for a "two" generations old card, if you believe the marketing.

I am a loyal Nvidia customer and I wont touch the GTX280. I am patiently waiting for the GeForce 11 series.

sgmeridian 09/26/2008 7:52 PM

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Why doesn't Tom's use the 9800GTX+ in these benchmarks? All we ever see are scores for the slower, now defunct 9800GTX.

GlItCh017 09/26/2008 8:00 PM

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-3

9600 GT...I got nothing.

computerninja7823 09/26/2008 8:04 PM

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njalterio 09/26/2008 8:29 PM

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-3

Computerningja, you are such a tool. Nvidia does make hardware: It's called a graphics card you dunce. Don't believe me? Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware

Right there on the list of types of hardware are video cards. I will agree, Nvidia DOES NOT have any glaring manufacturing flaws, but neither does ATI as you suggest through your friends experience. So he bought five ATI cards and none worked? Please. And no, this is not a great article. Why would I care about the negligible performance difference between four different brands of the same old card? This would only have been helpful six months ago.

ravenware 09/26/2008 9:19 PM

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I ran an ATI Radeon 9800XT for 3 years and never had problems with their driver suite. I had a much more enjoyable experience with the ATI card than my current 7800GT card.

And yes I would buy the 4850 over the 9600GT, 8800GT and 8800GTS.

zbranigan 09/26/2008 9:22 PM

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Bought a 9600GT from NewEgg for $99 bucks with free shipping. I had trouble finding solid benchmark comparisons. Here they are. I was beginning to doubt my purchase. Tried Assassins Creed on my 8600GT this card is much better. Tried Crysis, but that game is only good to make you kick yourself for any card purchase. Thanks Tom.

Chuck Norris 09/26/2008 9:37 PM

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Thanks for the article, I appreciate all of the testing. I would have liked to have seen the 4670 included as well, though, considering it's the direct parallel to the 9600GT for price.

TheFace 09/26/2008 10:24 PM

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I would like to say I appreciate throwing the 3850 256mb in there. Got mine after they just came out when it was impossible to find a 3870 anywhere..for weeks... I appreciate it because I know exactly how far behind my graphics solution is. Just upgraded cpu, mobo, and RAM. HDD, and Vid card soon to follow.

Anonymous 09/27/2008 1:34 AM

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-1

Long Live ATI HD48** Series and this article is outdated! Why didn't you review Geforce MX? Boring Toms, Really, I Mean it!

oh, and why fight? we just want better hardwares for lesser money... calm down buddies...

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