Radeon HD 2900 (R600) reviews thread

Well, I'm perfectly happy if people are coming away with this thinking that HD 2900 XT is as fast as 8800 Ultra!

But, by the same token, note I've not said that we're tapped out in performance in this title either.

 

So in other words. You dont know. And you are presuming that the game isn't optimised based on some crashes FS and perhaps some other editors may have had. Going as far as saying Nvidias DX 9.0 performance isnt indicative of anything. Yet most people who have installed the relevant microsoft hot fixes are having no issues. Also there are other difference between the render paths than just shadows. For instance how the depth buffers accessed in DX10 verses DX 9.0. To help blending of soft particles as they intersect geometry.

Besides that. I dont see how you can formulate a conclusion based upon such incomplete evidence.

1) Nvidia has already applied its AA hotfixes for HDR + AA with this title. Available with the latest Nvidia drivers for both Windows XP and Windows Vista

2) Nvidia has to support Windows XP. How could you possibly conclude that they have ignored DirectX 9.0?

3) The game runs fine Under Vista in DX 9.0 mode in SLI, Single GPU, and AA situations with the relevant hot fixes. It also runs fine under XP.

4) There are are 163.44 drivers available for Windows XP and Vista. Your not honestly going to tell me that Nvidia released XP drivers optimised for DirectX10 are you?

Regardless of the competitive arguments and the whole "ATI Verses Nvidia" rhetoric going on here. Why is anyone surprised about how the G80/R600 compare to each other with AA disabled?

 

But DX9 vs DX10 performance of R600 is indicative, you mean...?

 

Simple. R600 usually performs below par. So when it performs as it should it's a ZOMG surprise and accolades all around. Amusing to watch as always though

 

I don't think I worded it properly. I read what Dave said to mean that currently nV has lacking DX9 performance because they didn't optimize that path all that much, and that the current performance outlook in XP, with the 2900 being on par with the Ultra is flawed due to that, which given his current employer would've been odd.

I do think that it's a safe bet that optimising on both sides of the fence is still in its infancy for the new titles just now hitting the market, even with nV's strong devrel, so probably performance will keep on going up for a while in these with both the R600 and the G80.

 

Ooops. I should mention I'm using a GF 8800. I was just trying to say that the game itself doesn't seem unstable on my hardware under XP DX9. I forgot that this was a HD 2900 thread.

And yeah, I get no AA if I try to force it in DX10 mode. Because I prefer AA over some extra particles or water ripples, I just went right to XP and forced AA.

 

FWIW, NV30 had a shader instruction cache. You may not think of it as "CPU like", but it's a cache backed by framebuffer memory nonetheless.

 

You dont have to use XP to force AA. Just use your games explorer. Right Click Bioshock and play DX 9.0 mode. And you can use AA under Vista in DX 9.0 mode. Just remember to download the patches I pointed too in the earlier part of this thread. Could be important from a stability point of view.

Chris

 

There are certain artifacts though. Probably one of the reasons, take2 didn't want the support calls to ring on their phones.

 

I wonder if those artifacts might vanish with the use of a SM2.0b card and the shader mod... Hmm.

 

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/in...k=view&id=455&Itemid=27&limit=1&limitstart=10

Jawed

 

Wow. Unbelievable. AMD GPG needs to GITG. I understand it's hard work creating a graphics driver in the first place, let alone optimizing for new games and their new API code paths, but come on!

 

Link
R600 based steam computing card with passive cooling, maybe not 80nm based? or GPU runs at 125 celsius with this cooler?

 

MOH Airborne retail performance review


Same engine as Bioshock using.

 

HD2900 sure looks good when it doesn't have to deal with AA.

 

UE3 engine not support AA in dx9, and no AA in dx10 yet.

 

Its nice to see a game that gains performance in DX10 for a change. And suprising to see that gain on the X2900XT!

 

My apology for going slightly off-topic, but is the DX10 mode for Airborne supposed to be any better looking than the DX9? I clearly don't see it being better looking than the DX9 mode from the screenshot comparisons.

 

Nice find. Glad to see a title that the HD 2900 can handle in DX10 mode. Very pleased to see it out-performing the DX9 code path and beating the 8800 GTX while it's at it.

 

Other side of the coin in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars


4xAA, 16xAF


Link