Part 2: 2D, Acceleration, And Windows: Aren't All Graphics Cards Equal?

Tom2D: Text Output

Our very first test tackles text output. In every case (except for the Atom processor running Windows XP and our Windows 98 SE test system), ClearType was automatically activated.

Test Content

We used fonts in sizes from 8 up to 197 points in individual increments over a total of 500 sequences. We also randomly selected letters for display, using a randomly selected font color in a randomly selected position on-screen. The initial seed value for the random number generator is always the same, so that all test runs should produce the same results. We used the Arial font for all text output.

GDI Functions called

For the direct text output benchmark:

SetBkMode
GetTextMetricsCreateFontIndirectSetTextColorTextOutSelectObjectDeleteObject

For the DIB Buffer output benchmark:

CreateCompatibleDCCreateDIBSectionCreateSolidBrushRectangleBitBlt

Summary

There’s nothing controversial under this heading. The Radeon cards don't trail too far behind and show relatively little weakness in this test.