Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE,
Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE
Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x
on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800SE
& 4200 with AGP8x
|
CONTENTS
-
Peculiarities
of the video cards
-
Testbeds, test
tools, 2D quality
-
Summary information
on performance of GeForce4
Ti 4800SE/4200-8x video
cards
-
Conclusion
Winter is nearing its end. Spring is right around the corner. In 2003
this season will enliven the nature, as well as NVIDIA and ATI video processor
makers. We expect a series of new announcements, especially because of
the greatest computer show display CeBIT'2003 where all vendors are rushing
to to demonstrate their innovations.
The NVIDIA's GeForce4 Ti line is fading away bit by bit although the
American company's attempt to give it the second wind using the updated
processing with AGP 8x support. The interest toward these products is currently
dying away especially because the prices are not cut anymore (it's not
profitable to move the Ti 4200 to the low-end market). Hence are various
marketing tricks to attract users' attention to these video cards, including
name manipulation.
Here is the old line (AGP 4x):
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - 250/222 (444) MHz for 128MB cards, 250/250 (500)
MHz for 64MB cards
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 - 275/275 (550) MHz
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 - 300/325 (650) MHz
and the new one (AGP 8x):
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x - 250/256 (512) MHz
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800SE - 275/275 (550) MHz
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800 - 300/325 (650) MHz
It's important to understand that:
-
The Ti 4200-8x has it better with the frequencies now, they don't depend
on the card's memory (though the previous Ti 4200 had a lot of variations);
-
Ti 4800SE is not IMPROVED but WORSENED version of the Ti
4800! In this case "SE" stands for Slow Edition in contrast to Special
Edition used by many manufacturers for their improved versions.
Below is a list of the previous reviews of almost all variations of the
GeForce4 Ti:
Theoretical materials and reviews of video cards which concern functional
properties of the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti review
- MSI GF4Ti4600 on NVIDIA GeForce4
Ti - concerns anisotropic filtering in the 3DMark2001 SE, and new Advanced
Pixel Shader Test from this packet.
- Leadtek WinFast GeForce4 Ti
4600 on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 - tests based on the Vulpine GLMark with anisotropy
enabled.
- Gainward PowerPack GeForce4 Ultra/700XP
and Ultra/750XP Golden Sample on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400/4600 - Codecult Code
Creatures and Novalogic Comanche4 Benchmark.
- Chaintech A-GF61 SE on NVIDIA
GeForce4 Ti 4600 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed (AMD Athlon
750, 1000 MHz, Athlon XP 1250, 1666 MHz; in Serious Sam II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein).
- Creative 3D Blaster GeForce4 Ti 4400
on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed
(Intel Pentium III 1000, Pentium 4 2000, 2200 MHz; in Serious Sam II, Return to
Castle Wolfenstein).
- ASUS V8440 and V8460 on NVIDIA GeForce4
Ti 4400 and 4600 - dependence of the performance on a CPU speed (Intel Pentium
III 1000, Pentium 4 2000, 2200 MHz, AMD Athlon 750, 1000 MHz, Athlon XP 1250,
1666 MHz; in 3DMark2001 SE).
- ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti on NVIDIA GeForce4
Ti 4400 - AA operation in the 3DMark2001 SE.
- Palit Daytona GeForce4 Ti 4600
- examination of anisotropy on different platforms in 3DMark2001 SE (Game1, Game2).
- Joytech Apollo Bloody Monster
II GeForce4 Ti 4600 - examination of anisotropy on different platforms in
3DMark2001 SE (Game3, Game4).
- S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4400
DVI and GeForce4 Ti 4600 SE - examination of anti-aliasing on different platforms
in 3DMark2001 SE (Game1, Game2).
- Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4
Ti 4600 - examination of anti-aliasing on different platforms in 3DMark2001
SE (Game3, Game4).
- Leadtek WinFast A250LE 64MB and
Gainward Powerpack Ultra/650XP 128MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB,
GeForce4 Ti 4200 SE 64MB, GeForce4 Ti 4200 SE 128MB - examination of anisotropy
in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.
- S/U/M/A/ Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4200
64MB, 4200SE 64MB and 4200SE 128MB - examination of anisotropy in 3DMark2001
SE, RtCW, Serious Sam: TSE.
- Sparkle GeForce4 Ti 4400 and
GeForce4 Ti 4600 cards.
- ABIT Siluro GF4Ti4200, Prolink
PixelView GeForce4 Ti 4200, Palit Daytona GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB and Gainward
Powerpack Ultra/650XP 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
- Albatron
GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB, Sparkle GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB and Gainward Powerpack
Ultra/650XP GS 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - analyses of the Nvidia's
quick anisotropy under the 30.* drivers in 3DMark2001SE.
-
Galaxy 3G Graphic
GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB, MSI GF4Ti4200 VIVO 64MB, Triplex Millennium Silver
GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - operation of VIVO
on such cards of the GeForce4 family, and performance in Unreal Tournament
2003 DEMO final release
-
Albatron Medusa
GeForce4 Ti 4200P Turbo 128MB and GeForce4 Ti 4600
-
Galaxy 3G Graphic
GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB, MSI GF4Ti4200 VIVO 64MB, Triplex Millennium Silver
GeForce4 Ti 4200 64MB on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 - operation of VIVO
on such cards of the GeForce4 family, performance in Unreal Tournament
2003 DEMO final release
-
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti
4200 With AGP8x (NV28)
-
Albatron Medusa
GeForce4 Ti 4200P Turbo 128MB and GeForce4 Ti 4600
-
ABIT Siluro GF4
Ti4200 OTES and ASUS V8420S on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
- Sparkle Platinum GeForce4 Ti 4600
on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 and ASUS V9280S (Super Fast Series) on NVIDIA GeForce4
Ti 4200 with AGP8x
- ABIT, Albatron, Joytech, Leadtek, MSI and X-Micro
video cards on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8x
- Albatron, Chaintech, Gainward, InnoVision, Prolink
and Sparkle video cards on NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8x
What can we see in the new line supporting AGP 8x? It's almost a copy of
the previous one but for the suffix "4800" and the trick with "SE" which
is taken by many as a sign of an advanced solution. I must repeat that
4800SE is the same 4400 only supporting AGP 8x. The tests we did before
proved that a 128MB video card doesn't need AGP 8x and it won't need it
yet for a long time.
Today we are to test three video cards supporting AGP 8x: two on the
Ti 4800SE and one on the Ti 4200-8x.
Cards
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
|
|
| All cards have AGP x8/x4/x2 interface, 128 MB DDR SDRAM
located in 8 chips on both PCB sides. |
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The memory chips are made by Samsung, in BGA package. The access time
is 3.3ns, which corresponds to 300 (600) MHz, but the memory works at 275(550)
MHz. The GPU runs at 275 MHz. |
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The memory chips are made by EtronTech in BGA package. The access time
is 3.3ns, which corresponds to 300 (600) MHz, but the memory works at 275
(550) MHz. The GPU runs at 275 MHz. |
|
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
| The memory chips are made by Samsung. The access time is 4ns, which
corresponds to 250 (500) MHz, but the memory works at 256 (512) MHz. The
GPU runs at 250 MHz. |
|
| Comparison with the reference design, front view |
| Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
|
|
|
| Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 |
Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
| Comparison with the reference design, back view |
| Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
|
|
|
| Reference card NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 |
Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
|
|
|
Although the AGP 8x and new PCB design have an effect, and the Ti 4800SE differs
from previous Ti 4600 (mostly in the right part), the designs are anyway very
similar, the Ti 4800's PCB is based on that of the Ti 4600.
As to Ti 4200-8x, we already mentioned that the Ti 4200's PCB is very similar
to it. Besides, the Soltek's card is based entirely on the reference design.
Now have a look at the GPU.
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The processor has a non-standard marking. It's not indicated
that this is exactly 4800SE. The chip was made on the 47th week of 2002 (i.e.
at the very end). |
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The marking is the same. The chip was produced on the 47th week
of 2002. |
|
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
| Here it's the 49th week of 2002, and it's written that this is
Ti 4200. |
|
I'd like to know how the manufacturers tell the Ti 4800SE from the 4800. Probably,
by the letter "S" on the cover below. Or maybe some processors are clocked
at 275 MHz just for the sake of the cheaper market niche though all of them are
able to work at 300 MHz.
Well, now look at what is a real piece of art on video cards, i.e. coolers
:-).
The Triplex's card is covered with silver. The card's name indicates it, and
we saw a silver layer on the previous solutions as well. In this case we have
a PCB with a thin silver coating:
Look how carefully all logic elements are isolated. Note that the silver coating
is not just a marketing trick but the best PCB shielding and help in cooling down
the card.
All the cards are equipped with external processors controlling TV-out (TV-in).
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| Philips 7104 controls only TV-out, that is why the card doesn't
support VIVO. |
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE, Soltek
GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x, |
| Philips 7108 supports VIVO. |
|
Well, two cards have VIVO, and one supports only TV-out.
Accessories:
|
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The box contains: User Guide, CD with drivers and utilities, S-Video-to-RCA
adapter, TV-out extenders, a sticker for PC case and 2 CDs with old games. |
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| The box contains: User Guide, CD with drivers and utilities, Cyberlink
PowerDirector (for VIVO), VIVO adapter/splitter, S-Video-to-RCA adapter,
TV-out extenders, and DVI-to-d-Sub adapter. |
|
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
| The box contains: User Guide, CD with drivers and utilities, Cyberlink
PowerDirector (for VIVO), VIVO adapter/splitter, DVI-to-d-Sub adapter. |
|
| All the cards ship in retail packages. |
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| A traditional mirror-like shining box from Albatron picturing the Medusa
looking like a pretty girl. |
|
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
| Well, none managed to outdo Triplex in packaging so far.
This is a standard of "stylishness", beauty and a careful approach in designing
the package: the silvery card with an effective cooler looks superb through
the glass of the silvery suitcase! |
|
|
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
| Bright, loud box. In spite of one more cyber hero which everyone is
tired of the design looks pleasant. |
|
That's all about the peculiarities of the cards.
Overclocking
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
275/550 -> 320/700 MHz, excellent overclocking! |
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
275/550 -> 330/715 MHz, simply a record! |
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
250/513 -> 310/630 MHz, not bad results of the chip and superb
scores of the 4ns memory! |
|
Note that:
-
during the overclocking you should provide additional cooling, in particular,
for the card (first of all, for its memory):
-
overclocking depends on a sample, and you shouldn't generalize the results
of one card to all video cards of this trade mark or series. The overclocking
results are not the obligatory characteristics of video cards.
Test system and drivers
Testbeds:
-
Pentium 4 3066 MHz based computer:
-
Intel Pentium 4 3066 MHz;
-
ASUS P4G8X (iE7205) mainboard;
-
1024MB DDR SDRAM PC3200;
-
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD;
-
Windows XP SP1.
-
Athlon XP 2600+ based computer:
-
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (2133 MHz);
-
EPoX (nForce2) mainboard;
-
1024 MB DDR SDRAM PC3200;
-
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD.
-
Windows XP SP1.
The test system was coupled with ViewSonic P810 (21") and
ViewSonic P817 (21") monitors.
In the tests we used NVIDIA's drivers of v42.30. VSync was off, S3TC
was off in the applications.
Test results
Before we start examining 2D quality I should say that there is no a complete
technique of objective estimation of this parameter because:
-
Almost all modern 3D accelerators can have 2D quality much dependent on
a certain sample, and it's impossible to trace all cards;
-
2D quality depends not only on a video card, but also on a monitor and
a cable;
-
Besides, certain monitors do not get along with certain video cards.
As for the tested samples, together with the ViewSonic P817 monitor
and BNC Bargo cable the cards showed excellent quality at the
following resolutions and frequencies: |
| Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
1600x1200x85Hz, 1280x1024x120Hz, 1024x768x160Hz |
| Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE |
1600x1200x85Hz, 1280x1024x120Hz, 1024x768x160Hz |
| Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x |
1600x1200x75Hz, 1280x1024x100Hz, 1024x768x160Hz |
|
Test results: from 3Digest
For the performance estimation we used:
-
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL,
multitexturing, Checkpoint-demo,
test settings - maximum, S3TC OFF, the configurations can be downloaded
from here
-
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing,
Grand Cathedral demo, test settings: quality, S3TC OFF
-
Codecreatures Benchmark Pro (Codecult) - Direct3D, Shaders, Hardware T&L,
Dot3, cube texturing, highest quality
-
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo v.1077 (Final Release) (Digital Extreme/Epic
Games) - Direct3D, Vertex Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing,
default quality
-
3DMark2001 SE Pro (MadOnion/Remedy), Game2 "Dragothic" - DirectX
8.0, Hardware TCL, multitexturing, LOW Details, DXTC
OFF, double buffering, 24-bit Z buffer
-
3DMark2001 Pro (MadOnion/Remedy) - DirectX 8.0, Hardware
TCL, Game1, Game2, Game3, Game4, Low, High detail levels
-
RightMark 3D (one of the game scenes) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing,
shadow buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4).
Summary diagrams of performance of the video cards on the latest drivers
for January 2003
Take a closer look at the diagrams of the NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400. The
speed results of the Ti 4800SE are identical to the Ti 4400 in the tests
we used.
The overclocked cards are marked with red color, the frequencies
reached follow the sign o/c (overclocked).
For the summary diagrams we used drivers v.42.01 for the NVIDIA cards,
v.6.255 for the ATI cards, v.3.07 for the SIS cards and v.1.03.00.043 for
the Matrox cards.
-
1. Return to Castle Wolfenstein -
-
2. Unreal Tournament 2003 DEMO -
-
3. Codecreatures Benchmark Pro
-
4. 3DMark2001, Game2 Low Details (Dragothic)
-
5. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
-
6. 3DMark2001
-
6.1. 3DMark2001 standard tests
-
Windows
XP (January 2003)
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, 3D Marks
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game1 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game1 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game2 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game2 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game3 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game3 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1024x768, Game4
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, 3D Marks
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game1 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game1 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game2 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game2 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game3 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game3 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1280x1024, Game4
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, 3D Marks
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game1 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game1 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game2 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game2 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game3 Low
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game3 High
-
Tests
on Pentium 4 3066 MHz, 1600x1200, Game4
-
7. RightMark 3D
In closing I must say that all the cards worked stably (each worked 24
hours) and showed good build quality.
Conclusion
-
Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE is a good example of the combined perfect
quality, high speed and relatively low price. But the card lacks VIVO or
TV-out via Conexant (which ensures better quality);
-
Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4800SE can be a good present! The
build quality is superb. And another advantage is the VIVO support;
-
Soltek GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x is an ordinary card based on the Ti 4200-8x.
Standard card, standard frequencies. The build quality is high, and prices
for such cards are relatively low. At least, if you need a good Ti 4200
card without numerous bells and whistles and pretensions, this can be a
good choice. VIVO is supported.
In our 3Digest you can find complete
comparison characteristics of video cards of this and other classes.
Highs:
-
Very good performance in 3D games (in the overclocking mode up to Ti 4600
and higher!);
-
Excellent build quality;
-
TV-out on all cards, and Video-In on two of them;
-
All necessary adapters for TV-out (VIVO);
Lows:
-
No DVI-to-d-Sub adapter for the Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4800SE.
Write a comment below. No registration needed!
|
| | |
