X-bit labs

There Will Be Speed: The Clash of Modern Multi-GPU Technologies (page 11)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko, Anton Shilov

[ 03/24/2008 | 05:01 PM ]

Performance in First-Person 3D Shooters

Battlefield 2142

This game doesn’t support display resolutions of 16:10 format, so we use resolutions of 1920x1440 and 2048x1536 pixels (4:3 format) instead of 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 for it.

The new card from Nvidia isn’t brilliant in this test: it is just slightly ahead of the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB and even finds itself behind the latter at 1280x1024. The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is not that fast, but stays les than 10% behind the GeForce 9800 GX2. At resolutions of 1600x1200 and 1920x1440 it ensures the same playing comfort, but generates less heat, doesn’t require an 8-pin power connector, and supports multi-monitor configurations.

As for the multi-GPU solutions based on more than two GPUs, ATI’s CrossFireX technology looks advantageous. Having worse technical specs, the quad-processor system from ATI is ahead of Nvidia’s configuration at every resolution save for 2048x1536. In the latter case the difference is only 6%, though. The minimums of speed we’ve recorded should not be taken seriously because they can vary wildly when it comes to multi-GPU technologies. We didn’t spot a serious delay of response but sudden fluctuations of speed are perceptible and even annoying at times. Even if this behavior is due to insufficiently optimized drivers and can be corrected in the future, it is no good for systems that claim to be elite gaming platforms with unprecedented level of performance.

BioShock

BioShock doesn’t support FSAA when running in Windows Vista’s DirectX 10 environment. That’s why we benchmarked the cards without FSAA.

SLI technology works right for the single GeForce 9800 GX2 ensuring a good performance increase at resolutions of 1600x1200 and higher. The new card is the new leader among single graphics cards. The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is only 15% behind the GeForce 9800 GX2 in terms of average performance while having the same minimum of speed. Considering the lower price (by $150 at least), the ATI solution is a preferable buy.

We can’t say anything good about the Quad SLI system: the pair of GeForce 9800 GX2 cards delivers lower performance than one such card. CrossFireX technology works perfectly: the system with two Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards is over 30% faster than the single card at 1920x1200 and ensures excellent performance for 2560x1600.