Monthly drivers report and popular 3D
accelerators comparison

Monthy 3Digest is the project of iXBT.com and Digit-Life.com dedicated to informing you about the performance of a large number of graphics cards under Windows XP in the past month.

This issue is dedicated to drivers released from the 15th of October 2006 to the 15th of November 2006. Traditionally our 3Digest informs you about the best price/performance ratios available in the market. Another very important part of any issue is cards' 3D graphics quality shown on the example of a wide selection of games.

It's our 77/78th issue of 3Digest.

October-November 2006

Added benchmarking results for GeForce 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS, RADEON X1650 XT and overclocked X1950 PRO.

Upgraded the testbed.

PLEASE NOTE! This issue contains only PCI-E cards benchmarks! The final AGP benchmarks were made in March 2006 (see this page)!

CONTENTS

1. Testbed configurations and test software
2. Tested videocards list
3. What's new in 3Digest
4. Test summary diagrams and digest bottom line
5. 3D accelerator rating calculations for the end of the month
6. Screenshot gallery
7. Game Quality Section
8. Game Quality Control Section

1. Testbed configuration

• Intel Core2 Duo (775 Socket) based computer
  • Intel Core2 Duo Extreme X6800 (2930 MHz) (L2=4096K) CPU;
  • EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard on NVIDIA nForce 680i;
  • 2GB DDR2 SDRAM Corsair 1142MHz (CAS (tCL)=5; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)=5; Row Precharge (tRP)=5; tRAS=15);
  • WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD.

The testbed has Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, DirectX 9.0c installed. Dell 3007WFP (30") monitor was used.

The list of benchmarks is here.

2. Graphics card list

Below is a list of graphics cards that we tested linked to respective 3Digest feature-description pages.

You can see the quality of 3D produced by tested cards in our monthly updated Screenshot gallery.

Card list:

1. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 256MB DDR 2.8ns (450/550 MHz)
2. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 512MB DDR2 3.0ns (450/500 MHz)
3. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 PRO 256MB DDR 2.5ns (600/800 MHz)
4. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1300 XT 256MB DDR2 2.0ns (500/900 MHz)
5. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 PRO 256MB DDR 1.4ns (590/1380 MHz)
6. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 XT 256MB DDR 1.4ns (600/1400 MHz)
7. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1650 XT 256MB DDR 1.2ns (625/1530 MHz)
8. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 2.0ns (500/1000 MHz)
9. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (585/1400 MHz)
10. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 PRO 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (635/1480 MHz)
11. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 256MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
12. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (575/1200 MHz)
13. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 1.2ns (625/1450 MHz)
14. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1900 XTX 512MB GDDR3 1.1ns (650/1550 MHz)
15. PCI-E-ATI RADEON X1950 XTX 512MB GDDR4 0.9ns (650/2000 MHz)
16. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256MB DDR2 2.5ns (350/800 MHz)
17. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR2 2.8ns (350/666 MHz)
18. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (500/1400 MHz)
19. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (560/1400 MHz)
20. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR3 2.5ns (400/800 MHz)
21. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 512MB GDDR2 2.0ns (550/950 MHz)
22. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XT 256MB GDDR3 2.0ns (425/1000 MHz)
23. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB GDDR3 2.0ns (425/1000 MHz)
24. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB GDDR3 1.6ns (430/1200 MHz)
25. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (450/1320 MHz)
26. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (450/1320 MHz)
27. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (480/1400 MHz)
28. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 1.4ns (540/1500 MHz)
29. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (550/1400 MHz)
30. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 1.1ns (650/1600 MHz)
31. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (500/1200 MHz)
32. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB GDDR3 1.4ns (4x500/1200 MHz)
33. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 1.2ns (512/1600 MHz)
34. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (575/1800 MHz)
35. PCI-E-NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB GDDR3 1.1ns (2x575/1800 MHz)

Archive (videocards, which info is no longer updated)

3. October/November 2006 news and the current business

Added a number of new graphics cards (marked "NEW").

Added a number of benchmarks using HDR. Also, replaced 2048x1536 resolution with 2560x1600 in several tests. Resolution in F.E.A.R. remains the same, since the game doesn't support any higher-res modes.

• 3.1. The following drivers were released from October 15, 2006 to November 15, 2006:
  
  
  • NVIDIA ForceWare for all NVIDIA-based cards:
    
    
    • Windows XP: 97.02 for GF8800 series;
    • Windows XP: 93.71 for GF6xxx/7xxx series;

    
    

  • ATI Catalyst for all ATI-based cards:
    
    
    • Windows XP: CATALYST 6.11
      

  
  
  

• 3.2. This month we used 96.94 drivers for NVIDIA-based card summaries; 6.11 drivers for ATI-based card summaries.
  
  

4. Summary diagrams of graphics cards performance with the latest drivers for October/November 2006

All willing to see the complete results in Excel 2003 format can download this RAR 3.0 or this ZIP archive.

• 4.1. Far Cry, Research (No HDR)
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.2. Far Cry, Research (HDR)
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.3. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (No HDR)
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.4. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (HDR)
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.5. Half Life2, ixbt01
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.6. DOOM III
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.7. 3DMark05 MARKS
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.8. Chronicles of Riddick, demo 44
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.9. F.E.A.R.
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2048x1536

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2048x1536, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.10. Call Of Duty 2 DEMO
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.11. 3DMark 06, Shader Model 2.0 MARKS
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.12. 3DMark 06, Shader Model 3.0 MARKS
  • All resolutions on one page, No AA, No AF
    • 1024x768
    • 1280x1024
    • 1600x1200
    • 2560x1600

  • All resolutions on one page, AA 4x + AF 16x (High Quality for ATI)
    • 1024x768, AA+AF
    • 1280x1024, AA+AF
    • 1600x1200, AA+AF
    • 2560x1600, AA+AF

  
  
  

• 4.13. Archive (information from the previous 3Digests absent in this issue)
  
  
• 4.14. Notes on graphics cards performance with the latest drivers:
  
  
  • If a particular card is not in the summary, i.e. its results are either 0, or 1, it means the given benchmark hasn't worked or has worked incorrectly with this card.

5. 3D accelerator ratings calculations for the end of the month

Calculations were based on gaming benchmark results as well as the results from 3DMark06 new tests (ATI CATALYST 6.11, NVIDIA ForceWare 96.94).

All willing to conduct their own rating calculations with own values are invited to download this Excel XP table in RAR 3.0 or ZIP format.

The method of rating calculation is described here.

Calculations were conducted considering the following assumptions:

1. Percentage of performance and quality demand ratio:
   • performance priority - 60%
   • quality priority - 40%

2. Only the HIGHEST resolution available in games was used to calculate prospect ratings.
3. The usability rating indicates performance and features of a card (numerator) related to its price (denominator).

According to your wishes, we separated ratings into two groups: the first gathers all benchmarks, and the second contains only the gaming tests without m3DMark05/06. Disbelieving the synthetic tests, many think the second group is of higher importance.

Core2 Duo X6800 platform:

Usability rating (rating from the previous 3Digest is in parentheses):

GENERAL prospect rating

#	Card Name	Usability Rating	Prospect Rating	Price	Old #
01.	8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800	2161	2882	1560	(--)
02.	8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800	3119	2295	780	(--)
03.	8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600	2889	1927	645	(--)
04.	X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000	2011	1464	540	(01)
05.	X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550	2154	1416	480	(02)
06.	X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450	2284	1372	429	(03)
07.	X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450	2781	1314	328	(09)
08.	7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200	581	1313	1290	(04)
09.	X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485	2990	1204	270	(--)
10.	X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400	3273	1174	235	(06)
11.	X1900 GT 256MB 575/1200	3000	1135	240	(08)
12.	BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200	828	1046	645	(05)
13.	X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540	2199	940	240	(--)
14.	X1800 GTO 256MB 500/1000	2285	923	224	(12)
15.	X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400	2203	889	218	(14)
16.	7900 GTX 512MB, 650/1600	986	885	417	(07)
17.	7950 GT 512MB 550/1400	1024	828	355	(10)
18.	7900 GS 256MB, 540/1500	1367	787	245	(11)
19.	7900 GT 256MB, 450/1320	990	760	315	(13)
20.	7900 GS 256MB, 480/1400	1362	756	228	(17)
21.	7800 GTX 256MB, 430/1200	845	754	361	(15)
22.	X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380	2999	749	115	(19)
23.	7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320	1341	729	216	(16)
24.	7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400	1366	623	161	(18)
25.	X1300 XT 256MB 500/800	2906	621	85	(23)
26.	7600 GS 512MB, 550/950	1245	564	146	(20)
27.	6800 GS 256MB 425/1000	1354	548	134	(21)
28.	7300 GT 256MB, 500/1400	1562	528	106	(22)
29.	X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800	2054	507	84	(26)
30.	7600 GS 256MB, 400/800	1406	501	102	(24)
31.	6800 XT 256MB 425/1000	1188	477	120	(25)
32.	X1300 512MB, 450/500	1355	449	98	(28)
33.	X1300 256MB, 450/550	1632	412	70	(30)
34.	7300 GT 256MB, 350/666	1191	402	85	(27)
35.	6600 DDR2 256MB 350/800	1013	358	86	(29)

Ingame quality

6. Games screenshot gallery

All test screenshots are compiled into a gallery where you can qualify the work of a chosen videocard and compare it to the reference images taken on ATI Radeon 9500. All shots were taken at the same 1024x768 resolution at the maximum quality. Screenshot gallery

7. Game Artefacts Gallery

Game Quality Section

8. Game Quality Control Section

Game Quality Control Section

We thank all the companies that provided us with graphics cards and other equipment for our 3Digest, including:
Foxconn Russia,
MSI Russia,
Gainward,







HIS (and personally Peter Yueng)
NVIDIA Russia,
ATI Technologies Russia,
Sapphire Technology Russia,
ASUStek Russia,
Gigabyte Russia,
AOpen Russia,
Bench'emAll! (and personally Alexander Kondratyuk AKA Render for helping us optimize bechmarking).

The PSU for the testbed was kindly provided by HIPER

The Dell 3007WFP monitor was kindly provided by NVIDIA

Vitaly Milov (vmilov@ixbt.com)	Danil Gridasov (degust@ixbt.com)

Andrey Vorobiev (anvakams@ixbt.com)

18.11.2006