NDA expired? first R9800XT-Review
- Thread starter mboeller
- Start date
Doomtrooper
Veteran
Bring on the R420 
We have just posted our review of ATI’s Radeon 9800 XT 256mb. Benchmarks used in this review are:
3DMark01
3DMark03
Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness (custom Driverheaven benchmark)
Splinter Cell
Elite Force 2 (custom Driverheaven timedemo)
Aquamark3
Shadermark 2.0
Unreal Tournament 2003
The XT is tested against:
Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256mb
Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb
And on one test a Geforce FX 5900 128mb.
In addition to the results tables the review features downloadable result and image files so that readers may compare the XT’s output to their own card.
The article can be found here : http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/9800xt/index.htm
Regards,
Stuart “Veridian3†Davidson
www.driverheaven.net Public Relations and Hardware Editor
3DMark01
3DMark03
Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness (custom Driverheaven benchmark)
Splinter Cell
Elite Force 2 (custom Driverheaven timedemo)
Aquamark3
Shadermark 2.0
Unreal Tournament 2003
The XT is tested against:
Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256mb
Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb
And on one test a Geforce FX 5900 128mb.
In addition to the results tables the review features downloadable result and image files so that readers may compare the XT’s output to their own card.
The article can be found here : http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/9800xt/index.htm
Regards,
Stuart “Veridian3†Davidson
www.driverheaven.net Public Relations and Hardware Editor
Kristof said:
I think they compliment each other well....fine wine and steak etc...
Stu
OpenGL guy
Veteran
Joe DeFuria
Legend
Sage said:but where are HL2 benchies?
I'd like to know that as well...I mean...isn't this launch co-sponsored by Valve?
This I found really interesting: http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2003q3/radeon-9800xt/index.x?pg=9
Doomtrooper
Veteran
Well I finally got my overclocking TAB after years of pestering ATI
Um beyond 3d you should take the next page link off the last page of the review. If you click it you end up with this http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/9800xt_r360/index.php?p=21
two gripes about this so-called "launch"
1. (I've stated this many times and will state it again...) This was supposed to be a Valve / ATi launch. HL2 got delayed, ok I can deal with that. But still, a LOT of the hype about the XT's was HL2 and I have not seen ANY HL2 benchmarks. HL2 is the sole reason I'm upgrading my vid card now and not waiting until R420 / NV40.
2. What happened to the 9600XT? Unless I'm mistaken there were supposed to be *two* products launched. All I can find is the mention that "oh yeah, and there's the 9600XT on .13 low-k @ 500/600, but anyhow back to the show..." That's not really a launch and is really nothing more than a verified rumor. I'm not putting a ~$400 9800XT in my machine and I was really excited about the 9600XT, but it appears to be nothing more than an idea right now.
So spit it out, ATi, where's the real info?
1. (I've stated this many times and will state it again...) This was supposed to be a Valve / ATi launch. HL2 got delayed, ok I can deal with that. But still, a LOT of the hype about the XT's was HL2 and I have not seen ANY HL2 benchmarks. HL2 is the sole reason I'm upgrading my vid card now and not waiting until R420 / NV40.
2. What happened to the 9600XT? Unless I'm mistaken there were supposed to be *two* products launched. All I can find is the mention that "oh yeah, and there's the 9600XT on .13 low-k @ 500/600, but anyhow back to the show..." That's not really a launch and is really nothing more than a verified rumor. I'm not putting a ~$400 9800XT in my machine and I was really excited about the 9600XT, but it appears to be nothing more than an idea right now.
So spit it out, ATi, where's the real info?
Hellbinder
Banned
Frankly...
The fact they allowed this card to be benched without letting them use its Best and ONLY interesting feature..
is just... Like...
STUPID.
Seriously Stupid...
Really, Really, Really STUPID... :?
The performance numbers would look at little more promising than they do now.
Did I forget to mention how I feel about the fact that ATi's Marketing and Management took an OD of Stupid pills recently or Something??
The fact they allowed this card to be benched without letting them use its Best and ONLY interesting feature..
is just... Like...
STUPID.
Seriously Stupid...
Really, Really, Really STUPID... :?
The performance numbers would look at little more promising than they do now.
Did I forget to mention how I feel about the fact that ATi's Marketing and Management took an OD of Stupid pills recently or Something??
Well I should have my card by friday. Which is before the 3.8 cats are due to be out. So its good that they were benched with offical released drivers. I don't care much for reviews with beta driversHellbinder said:Frankly...
The fact they allowed this card to be benched without letting them use its Best and ONLY interesting feature..
is just... Like...
STUPID.
Seriously Stupid...
Really, Really, Really STUPID... :?
The performance numbers would look at little more promising than they do now.
Did I forget to mention how I feel about the fact that ATi's Marketing and Management took an OD of Stupid pills recently or Something??
Hellbinder said:
Actually, it could end up being a wise move by ATI, even if it was unintentional.
Picture this: The 9800XT is released to reviewers, with ATI knowing EXACTLY how it will bench against the GFFX 5900 (After all, that card is available in the shops and so they will have run extensive tests internally).
Result: Lots of reviews on the web talking about the 9800XT and how it's the fastest card around in most tests at the moment.
Scroll down in time a little: The new "dynamic overclocking" drivers are released.
Result: A few short articles about the 9800XT and how it's really good float around.
Scroll down a bit more: The GFFX 5950U is released to reviewers... it's the first full headline moment that the "dynamic overclocking" feature is available, and it will be used on the 9800XTs that will be compared against the 5950Us. The 9800XT wins tests again, but this time over the 5950U rather than the 5900U. Pehaps even by a bigger margin than in its own reviews against the 5900U.
Result: Lots more reviews talking about how the 9800XT is the fastest card around. Except this time the headlines were meant to be about the 5950U
Talk about stealing the limelight.All of the above is, of course, pure speculation. The new drivers could even decrease performance in some circumstances (e.g. high case temps). And the 5950U could actually turn out to be quite good.
And of course there will always be some "reviews" (particularly in the print media) that show whatever result has been paid for...
Just my thoughts
. If ATI marketing folks really are this clever/devious* then it's a good tactic to keep ATI pretty much continuously in people's minds for a month or two at the expense of NVidia - even more so with the apparent "staggered" launch of the 9600XT (IMHO a far more interesting product).*(delete as appropriate)
Thanks for another good review. There are 3 things that spring to mind.
Where oh where is HL2 - was it delayed to give NVidia one last chance at performance optimisations expected with the latest dets and/or the 5950 in just over a week?
Catalyst 3.8 is just over a week away now - but could Rivatuner have been used to notch performance up a tad? Shame Overdive is dleayed but okay - wait and see.
I expected to see Shadermark 2.0 and Aquamark 3 used to analyse things as well.
Where oh where is HL2 - was it delayed to give NVidia one last chance at performance optimisations expected with the latest dets and/or the 5950 in just over a week?
Catalyst 3.8 is just over a week away now - but could Rivatuner have been used to notch performance up a tad? Shame Overdive is dleayed but okay - wait and see.
I expected to see Shadermark 2.0 and Aquamark 3 used to analyse things as well.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
Gnep said:
That shouldn't happen. The 9800XT has a baseline speed which it won't go under, which is a presume what all these reviews were using. With Overdrive, the speed will only go up until it hits the temperature limit (which depends on your cooling). So we should see upwards movement on the 9800XT scores, but not downwards movement. There's also the issue of the fan being able to speed up, so if the fan also ends up with more legs on it than these reviews show, there should be yet more room to raise the clockspeed before hitting the upper temperature limit.
I think you may be right though. Next time a round of comparison tests come up with the new Nvidia cards, the ATI cards will be using Overdrive drivers and could be getting a significant speed boost against it's competitors.
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