Gigabyte and Palit GeForce 9800 GT Face Off
Test System and 3DMark06 Results
HOW WE CONFIGURED THE TEST SYSTEMS:
We tested all of the graphics cards used in this article on either an ASUS Striker II Formula nForce 780i SLI motherboard powered by a Core 2 Duo E6800 dual-core processor and 2GB of low-latency Corsair RAM. The first thing we did when configuring the test system was to enter their BIOS and set all values to their "optimized" default settings. Then we manually configured the memory timings and disabled any integrated peripherals that wouldn't be put to use. The hard drive was then formatted, and Windows Vista Ultimate and the latest DX10 update was installed. When the installation was complete, we then installed the latest chipset drivers available, and installed all of the other drivers necessary for the rest of our components. Auto-Updating and System Restore were also disabled and the hard drive was defragmented.
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Video Cards - Memory - Audio - Hard Drive - |
Hardware Used: |
OS - DirectX - Video Drivers - Synthetic (DX) - Synthetic (DX) - DirectX9 - DirectX10 - DirectX10 - DirectX10 - OpenGL - |
Relevant Software: Windows Vista Ultimate DirectX 10 NVIDIA Forceware v177.19 (98xx) NVIDIA Forecware v175.19 (88xx) ATI Catalyst v8.7 Benchmarks Used: 3DMark06 v1.0.2 3DMark Vantage Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Company of Heroes Crysis PT Boats: Knights of the Sea Enemy Territory: Quake Wars* * - Custom Test (HH Exclusive demo) |
Performance Comparisons with 3DMark06 v1.0.2
Details: www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark06
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3DMark06 3DMark06 is the most recent addition to the 3DMark franchise. This version differs from 3Dmark05 in a number of ways, and includes not only Shader Model 2.0 tests, but Shader Model 3.0 and HDR tests as well. Some of the assets from 3DMark05 have been re-used, but the scenes are now rendered with much more geometric detail and the shader complexity is vastly increased as well. Max shader length in 3DMark05 was 96 instructions, while 3DMark06 ups that number to 512. 3DMark06 also employs much more lighting and there is extensive use of soft shadows. With 3DMark06, Futuremark has also updated how the final score is tabulated. In this latest version of the benchmark, SM 2.0 and HDR / SM3.0 tests are weighted and the CPU score is factored into the final tally as well.
If we look at the overall score for our collection of graphics cards, we see that the two 9800 GTs are running more in line with the HD 3870 from Sapphire than they are with the overclocked 8800 GT from EVGA or PNY's 8800 GTS 512. And, although they share the same clock speeds for GPU, Shader, and Memory, we found that Gigabyte's version of the 9800 GT outmuscles Palit by just over 100 points.
Taking a closer look at the individual Shader Model scores, we still see that the 8800 GTS 512 and 8800 GT are running first and second. Gigabyte claims the third spot in both Shader Model runs, edging out the Palit card by a few points each run through. Whereas NVIDIA typically does better in SM 2.0 than 3.0. we see quite the reverse with ATI-branded cards. The Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 run the SM 3.0 tests better, with the HD 3870 we used in this round outperforming the Palit 9800 GT, and almost completely catching up to Gigabyte as well.
