This review is really a good start. But its intention is "only" to compare the cards fairly. They didn't try to find out whether NVidia is cheating.Typedef Enum said:We're already seeing indications. FiringSquad just released their MSI 5900 Ultra review, and they used different timedemos for Serious Sam2 and Quake3. Guess which card came out on top with all the bells and whistles enabled?
Yeah, I know! But I simply don't feel like giving NVidia money right now. That would almost feel like rewarding them for cheating. I wish Dave (or Reverend or ...) would spend some time on analyzing possible game cheatings. Well, perhaps they already do. Dave?Typedef Enum said:Your post actually made me think...At this point in time, doesn't the NV35 almost become a product whereby you want to take one home just to 'crack' the thing? It's almost like a hacker competition where you're trying to solve a puzzle...Ya know what I mean?
2senile said:This is a link to a page that wasn't included in the original review because of the strange results in PS 1.0-1.4. The relevent part is below the original PS 2.0 results.
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/5900u/5900u_4old.htm
I agree. A fast 6x non-ordered grid AA mode (preferably gamma corrected) is a must in the NV40. Otherwise I won't even consider buying one. After all it would be embarassing for NVidia, if their next generation NV40 won't even have an equal AA quality to the quite old R300.Uttar said:Well, I've heard of better AA/AF IQ in the NV40. Nothing particularly reliable, but IMO, it makes a lot of sense considering the NV35 uses GDDR2 with a 256-bit memory bus - limiting yourself to 4X AA is *insane* there!
Uttar said:Hmm, well, there doesn't seem to be any cheating in SS:SE "The Grand Cathedral" timedemo on a GF4 Ti4200. The scores are even very slightly higher in the 27.30! ( margin of error I guess, otherwise might be higher GPU usage in the 44.03 )
44.03: The Grand Cathedral standard demo: 32.4
27.30: The Grand Cathedral standard demo: 32,6
FYI, the 27.30 are the original drivers for the GF4 reviews.
And just to make sure, I also did my own custom benchmark in the same level - it isn't made in exactly the same area, but the the type monsters are mostly same, the walls are roughly identical, ... - nothing to justify a huge difference.
44.03: The Grand Cathedral custom demo: 30,8
27.30: The Grand Cathedral custom demo: 31,1
Again, an indentical difference can be spotted.
All scores are without AA/AF. I'll test it with 4x AA soon too.
Uttar