Old Hand Meets Young Firebrand: ATi FireGL X1 and Nvidia Quadro4 980XGL

Introduction

Battle Of The Generations

Nvidia is under pressure. Following a long record of easy successes, ATi has suddenly responded with a technologically superior graphics chip. That's because, in the profitable consumer segment, the ATi Radeon 9700 Pro is several lengths ahead of the GeForce4 Ti4600. The superficial reworking of the interface from AGP4x to AGP8x that Nvidia signaled soon after with its "new" NV28 chip revision failed to bridge that gap. But anyone who draws hasty conclusions regarding OpenGL workstations is setting off down a slippery slope. Different rules apply here.

In the spotlight of this test are the PNY/ Nvidia Quadro4 980XGL, based on the NV28 chip, and the ATi FireGL X1, whose driving power is the Radeon/ FireGL 9700 Pro hardware. Before we present the test candidates in detail, here's an overview listing all modern OpenGL graphics cards now available on the market.