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Test System Setup And Benchmarks

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System Hardware
Processor(s)Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 (Kentsfield), 2.7 GHz, FSB-1200, 8 MB Cache
PlatformMSI P7N SLI Platinum
Nvidia nForce 750i, BIOS A2
RAMA-Data EXTREME DDR2 800+
2x 2,048 MB, DDR2-800, CL 5-5-5-18 at 1.8 V
Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar WD50 00AAJS-00YFA
500 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache, SATA 3.0 GB/s
Networking
On-Board nForce 750i Gigabit Ethernet
Graphics CardsAsus EAH4850 MT 512 MB DDR3 PCIe
Gigabyte GV-N250ZL-1GI 1 GB DDR3 PCIe
Power Supply
Ultra HE1000X, ATX 2.2, 1000W
Software and Drivers
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit 6.0.6001, SP1
DirectX Version
DirectX 10
Platform Driver
nForce Driver Version 15.25
Graphics Driver ATI Catalyst 9.3
Nvidia Forceware 182.08
3D Game Benchmarks and Settings
Crysis Version: 1.2.1, Video Quality: Very High Details, Demo: CPU-Benchmark + Tom’s Hardware Tool
Left 4 DeadVersion 1.0.1.1, Video Quality: all settings at maximum, Demo: Tom's Custom Benchmark
Fallout 3
Version 1.4, Video Quality: Ultra, Demo: Tom's Custom Benchmark + Fraps
World in Conflict Version: 1.0.0.9, Video Quality: Very High details, Demo: Game-Benchmark
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
Version 1.1, Video Quality: All settings at maximum, Demo: Tom's Custom benchmark & Fraps

Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark Vantage                               
Version: 1.0.1, Demos: Performance, High, and Extreme Presets                                              
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rags_20 04/20/2009 7:02 AM
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-0+

In the second picture of the 4850, the card can be seen bent due to the weight.

rags_20 04/20/2009 7:44 AM
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-0+

The Gigabyte would be more effective with 2 fans.

tuannguyen 04/20/2009 8:02 AM
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-3+

rags_20 :
In the second picture of the 4850, the card can be seen bent due to the weight.



Hi rags_20 -

Actually, the appearance of the card in that picture is caused by barrel or pincushion distortion of the lens used to take the photo. The card itself isn't bent.

/ Tuan

jebusv20 04/20/2009 11:00 AM
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-5+

demonhorde665... try not to triple post.
looks bad... and eratic. and makes the forums/coments system
more clutered than need be.

ps. your not running the same bench markes as Toms so your not really comparable.
yes, same game and engine, but for example in crysis, the frame rates are completely different from the start, through to the snowey bit at the end.

pps. are you comparing your card to there card at the same resolution?

alexcuria 04/20/2009 11:37 AM
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-2+

Hi,

I've been looking for a comparison like this for several weeks. Thank you although it didn't help me too much in my decision. I also missed some comments regarding the Physix, Cuda, DirectX 10 or 10.1 and Havok discussion.

I would be very happy to read a review for the Gainward HD4850 Golden Sample "Goes Like Hell" with the faster GDDR5 memory. If it then CLEARLY takes the lead over the GTS 250 and gets even closer to the HD4870 then my decision will be easy. Less heat, less consumption and almost same performance than a stock 4870. Enough for me.

btw. Resolutions I'm most interested in: 1440x900 and 1650x1080 for 20" monitor.

Thank you

spanner_razor 04/20/2009 1:55 PM
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--1+

Under the test setup section the cpu is listed as core 2 duo q6600, should it not be listed as a quad? Feel free to delete this comment if it is wrong or when you fix the erratum.

KyleSTL 04/20/2009 3:11 PM
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-4+

Why a Q6600/750i setup? That is certainly less than ideal. A Q9550/P45 or 920/X58 would have been a better choice in my opinion (and may have exhibited a greater difference between the cards).

B-Unit 04/20/2009 3:21 PM
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-6+

zipzoomflyhigh :
and no the Q6600 is classified as a C2D. Its two E6600's crammed on one die.



No, its classified as a C2Q. E6600 is classified as C2D.

KyleSTL 04/20/2009 3:34 PM
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-3+

ZZFhigh,

Directly from the article on page 11:

Quote :Game Benchmarks: Left 4 Dead
Let’s move on to a game where we can crank up the eye candy, even at 1920x1200. At maximum detail, can we see any advantage to either card?

Nothing to see here, though given the results in our original GeForce GTS 250 review, this is likely a result of our Core 2 Quad processor holding back performance.

Clearly this is not an ideal setup to eliminate the processor from affecting benchmark results of the two cards. Most games are not multithreaded, so the 2.4Ghz clock of the Q6600 will undoubtedly hold back a lot of games since they will not be able to utilize all 4 cores.

To all,

Stop triple posting!

weakerthans4 04/20/2009 3:36 PM
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Quote :The default clock speeds for the Gigabyte GV-N250ZL-1GI are 738 MHz on the GPU, 1,836 MHz on the shaders, and 2,200 MHz on the memory. Once again, these are exactly the same as the reference GeForce GTS 250 speeds.


Later in the article you write,
Quote :or the sake of argument, let’s say most cards can make it to 800 MHz, which is a 62 MHz overclock. So, for Gigabyte’s claim of a 10% overclocking increase, we’ll say that most GV-N250ZL-1GI cards should be able to get to at least 806.2 MHz on the GPU. Hey, let’s round it up to 807 MHz to keep things clean. Did the GV-N250ZL-1GI beat the spread? It sure did. With absolutely no modifications except to raw clock speeds, our sample GV-N250ZL-1GI made it to 815 MHz rock-solid stable. That’s a 20% increase over an "expected" overclock according to our unscientific calculation.


Your math is wrong. A claim of 20% over clock on the GV-N250ZL-1GI would equal 885.6 MHz. 10% of 738MHz = 73.8 MHz. So a 10% overclock would equal 811.8 MHz. 815 MHz is nowhere near 20%. In fact, according to your numbers, the GV-N250ZL-1GI barely lives up to its 10% minimal capability.

dimaf1985 04/20/2009 4:53 PM
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This whole article is completely invalid and the results are skewed because, as was documented on tweaktown, Catalyst 9.3 performance is much lower compared to 9.2. Catalyst 9.4 reclaims some of those performance losses, but 9.2 is still a bit better, if you compare the two analyses. Redo these tests with 9.2 drivers.

universalremonster 04/20/2009 5:07 PM
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weakerthans4 :
Later in the article you write,Your math is wrong. A claim of 20% over clock on the GV-N250ZL-1GI would equal 885.6 MHz. 10% of 738MHz = 73.8 MHz. So a 10% overclock would equal 811.8 MHz. 815 MHz is nowhere near 20%. In fact, according to your numbers, the GV-N250ZL-1GI barely lives up to its 10% minimal capability.



No what he is saying is this- Gigabyte claims that the extra copper in the PCB will allow for a 10%-30% further increase compared to how much a standard cards speed can be raised by overclocking. So saying that a standard card oc's to 800MHz which is a 62MHz increase, Gigabyte is claiming a 6.2 (10%) to 18.6 (30%) MHz further increase on top of that. So "technically" a 20% increase would have put it at 816.4 MHz, only 1.4MHz more than the 815MHz he acheived.

Dax corrin 04/20/2009 5:12 PM
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-17+

Time to ban DemonHorde 665, the abuse of the English language is making all dead spelling teachers spin in their graves.

universalremonster 04/20/2009 5:12 PM
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-3+

personally I think it's the Zalman accounting for a bulk of the 20% extra and not the couple ounces of copper. That cooler rocks.

Ramar 04/20/2009 5:44 PM
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tacoslave 04/20/2009 7:06 PM
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cleeve 04/20/2009 8:56 PM
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KyleSTL :
Why a Q6600/750i setup? That is certainly less than ideal. A Q9550/P45 or 920/X58 would have been a better choice in my opinion (and may have exhibited a greater difference between the cards).



It's in the specs but I should have stressed the point: I overclocked the Q6600 to 2.7 GHz, it was plenty quick for these cards.

cleeve 04/20/2009 8:59 PM
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Ramar :
To the reviewer: Good article, but you forgot two things: The GTS 250 is a 9800GTX+ is a 9800GTX is -also- an 8800GTS 512.



Not exactly. The 8800 GTS at least sported diffrent clockspeeds. I also believe it was on a larger die, if memory serves.

cleeve 04/20/2009 9:00 PM
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-1+

tacoslave :
it is known that nvidia cards tax the cpu less.



Is it? If so, please provide some proof of that statement as I haven't seen evidence of that.


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