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Workstation-Shootout: ATi FireGL V7600 vs. Nvidia Quadro FX 4600
Asus P5W64 WS Pro (rev 1.01, BIOS 0802) with Intel 975X Chipset
Memory
4 GB (4 x 1 GB) Corsair XMS2-6400 (CM2X10246400-C3) at CL 4.0-4-4-12
Optical Drive
Samsung SH-D163A , SATA150
Power Supply
Zalman, ATX 2.01, 510 Watts
Hard Drive
Western Digital WD1500ADFD 150 GB
Swipe to scroll horizontally
System Software & Drivers
Operating System
Windows XP Service Pack 2
3D API Update
DirectX 9.0c
Intel Chipset
Version 8.3.1.1009(INF Update of 24 September 2007)
Driver ATI FireGL V7300
Catalyst 8.391.2.1.1.1-070924a
Driver ATI FireGL V7600
Catalyst 8.42-070820m
Driver Nvidia Quadro FX 4500
Forceware 162.62
Driver Nvidia Quadro FX 4600
Forceware 162.62
SPEC Benchmarks Settings
Application settings according to SPEC Project Group Rules, driver using application optimizations if available
SPEC Benchmarks Used
SpecViewperf 10.0SPECapc 3ds Max 9 (3D Studio Max)SPECapc Solidworks 2007SPECapc Maya 6.5
3D Studio Max 9 : Test Results
3D Studio Mac, which is now available in version 9, is one of the most popular content creation programs in the market. Tom’s Hardware tests it with Service pack 2. One particular feature is that the user can choose between the two APIs Direct3D and OpenGL. While OpenGL was the clear favourite in the past, Direct3D (DirectX) is gaining the upper hand this year. Essentially, this is due to the better support of the hardware shaders.
In our assessment, real application benchmarks (SPECapc 3ds Max 9) play a more important role than the synthetic tests with Viewperf 10.0.
It is interesting to see that the differences in the application benchmarks are not as pronounced as they are in the synthetic test results. The FireGL V7600 takes the lead in two individual tests, while the Quadro FX 4600 takes the Graphics test.The hardware shader test produced some unexpected results. Here, the old FX 4500 pulls ahead of the newer FX 4600 - a reproducible idiosyncrasy that can probably be remedied in a future driver release.
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