Test Setup & Methodology
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core Duo e4300 @ 2.25 GHz, 1400 FSB, 2MB Cache |
| Motherboard | ASUS P5B, BIOS: 1604 |
| RAM | Wintec Ampo PC2-6400, 2x 1024 MB, CAS 5.0-5-5-16 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar WD2500JS
250 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA 300 |
| Networking | Realtec onboard RTL8168/8111 Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Graphics Cards | Powercolor Radeon 2600 XT, 256MB RAM
Sapphire Radeon 2600 XT Ultimate, 256MB RAM Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT, 256MB RAM |
| Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 |
| DirectX Version | 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| Platform Driver | Intel INF 8.0.1.1002 |
| Graphics Driver | ATI Catalyst 7.8
Nvidia ForceWare 162.18 |
First off, I’d like to make it clear that we chose to limit testing to Windows XP and DirectX 9. The amount of folks with both Vista and a DirectX 10 card out there is still relatively miniscule at this time, and we’ll cover the DirectX 10 angle in the future when there’s a little more meat on the subject - specifically, when Crysis is released.
The Sapphire and Powercolor flavors of the 2600 XT have identical clock speeds and any performance differences were within the margin of error in our testing. To eliminate redundancy and make the graphs easy to read, we only published one set of results for the 2600 XT.
The test system is running an e4300 processor, with a very mild overclock to 2.25 GHz to simulate processors a little higher on the food chain.
- Previous page The Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT ULTIMATE
- Next page Test Results
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2600XT
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How much more performance inprovement would it be sensable to expect from the drivers and partner overclocking?
Would it say get to the point where it would be viable for those with 7600gt and x1650xt cards to change over to these new "midrange cards" ?
Mactronix
Ive just upgraded from HD2600XT's (DDR4) in Crossfire mode and their performance as a single card solution were poor to say the least but very good in Crossfire (equal to that of HD2900XT/PRO on 3DMark06 - around 9,000-10,000 with 5000+ AMD)... but if you're upgrading from a 7600GT or X1650XT then I very much doubt there'll be much difference apart from the HD benefits. These cards are hugely limiting themselves with the 128-bit bus and it shows at high res's... maybe wait for the next wave of midrange cards to be released that could have 256-bit memory bus.