The Fastest 3D Cards Go Head-To-Head : Taxing Modern CPUs With Powerful Graphics
Source: Tom's Hardware DE – Keywords: radeon, geforce, comparison
Taxing Modern CPUs With Powerful Graphics
Nvidia and ATI have really shaken up the 3D market in the past couple of months. While the GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 hold a number of speed records (simultaneously making the GeForce 9-series look geriatric), AMD’s Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870 provide good performance at aggressive prices. We have been seeing prices steadily sliding in the past few weeks. The GTX 280 started at $649, and it can now be purchased for just $419.
To find the best performing and least expensive combination, we put the fastest graphics cards through a series of tests consisting of 60 benchmarks, numerous side-by-side comparisons, and a price analysis.
This story seeks to answer a number of questions. First, is it worth changing from a Radeon HD 3850, HD 3870, or GeForce 8800 GTS 512 to one of these new GPUs? Second, how well do the old GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS 512 cards hold up? Third, which of the current cards is fastest? Fourth, are the drivers for CrossFire and SLI already well-optimized? Fifth, where can you expect increases in performance? And finally, how fast is the card you want at 1280x1024, 1680x1050, and 1920x1200?
If you’re not sure about the right power supply to drive your graphics setup, we have recommendations for power supply sizes. These should be considered guidelines, as PC configurations differ considerably.
The CPU in our test system reaches its limits here—the Core 2 Extreme X6800 at 2.93 GHz is barely capable of keeping up with current dual-card graphics setups. These twin-configs often show little or no improvement in overall 3D performance. Your resolution of choice often determines whether it is worth purchasing a pair of your favorite cards or if an individual board would be better.
The highlights of our comparison are the factory-overclocked models from MSI. As a result of the faster clock speeds, there is additional performance guaranteed by the manufacturer. Special drivers or tools are unnecessary, as the improved specifications are automatically set in each board’s BIOS. To ensure a fair comparison, each graphics card runs at its normal rate, with a detailed analysis of the overclocking given as an additional feature. All overclocked variations are tested at 1920x1200 pixels with anti-aliasing, and the performance differences over standard clock speeds can be compared directly using the frame rates with percent evaluation.
- Next page Comparing The GPUs And Test Setup
- 1 / 2
- Next
-
- Pro Graphics: Seven Cards Compared
- AMD's Radeon HD 4870 X2: R700 First-Look
- Best Video Cards For The Money: August '08
- Best Graphics Cards For The Money: July '08
- Radeon HD 4870: Better Than GTX 260!
- ATI Radeon HD 4850: Smarter by Design?
- iBuypower Gamer 942IL: Best of the Best?
- Nvidia's CUDA: The End of the CPU?
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review
- Quad SLI Vs. 3-Way SLI
Yet again, loads of this review is missing - get your fingers out people!
yeh what the?? Someone isn't uploading these articles properly, only 7 pages showing, and no scroll bar on the drop down, or even a "next page" link. Only uploaded half the article?
rofl, i don't mean to be picky... but i'm missing something ^_^
To be continued next month folks....
(Or pop over to the USA website for spoilers!!)
Bob
Under 3D full load, the GeForce GTX 260 consumes 336 watts. A solid power supply with 280 to 320 watts of overall power and 23 to 27 A on the 12 volt rail should be sufficient here.
Uhhmmm isn't 336 Watts > 280-320 Watts ??
I've been over to the US site.. The article isn't worth reading guys as the Catalyst driver (v 8.6) is totally out-of-date (current: v 8.8). Just a heads up!!
Bob
well - wouldn't it be obvious to review HD 4870 X2 2GB DDR5 Dual GPU ??? it's the best card from radeon right?
So once again we only have half of the article? WTF?
Could THG get any worse?
Once again Toms UK screws up royally.
Another copy and paste from the US site - and a half-arsed effort at that.
Utter bollocks - just read the US Toms site. All the pages are from there anyway (UK 'staff' can't even bother to change $ to £ in articles) and they're complete.
So once again we only have half of the article? WTF?Could THG get any worse?
Has been going on for a long time iJacks...
I've been over to the US site.. The article isn't worth reading guys as the Catalyst driver (v 8.6) is totally out-of-date (current: v 8.8). Just a heads up!! Bob
+1
Yeh the review is pretty much pointless cos drivers are several months out of date.
Surely if you are comparing "the fastest 3D cards", the 4870X2 should be here
Yet another TomsHardFail.
4870X2??? and i can't see any benchmarks here.
Be nice to have the 9800gx2 in SLI
as also the 280 in TRI SLI
and as others have mention the GDDR5 4870
Maybe these other top dogs will appear in another review.
Haven't I read this already?
Why is it back at the top of the list? Because we have the missing 29 pages?
witch is faster : HD3850 512mb or 8800GT 256mb ? ant how many %? thx
witch is faster : HD3850 512mb or 8800GT 256mb ? ant how many %? thx
8800GT
How can I check the us page? if I write www.tomshardware.com in my firefox browser I am redirected automatically to www.tomshardware.co.uk. I want to see the .com, not the .co.uk
How can I check the us page? if I write www.tomshardware.com in my firefox browser I am redirected automatically to www.tomshardware.co.uk. I want to see the .com, not the .co.uk
Use:
We can see the whole GPU article on the UK website now anyway... Yippie!!
Bob
Sorry (stupid THG comments not working, mutter, mutter)...
Use:
http://www.tomshardware.com/us/
Bob