Testbed and Method

Since large amounts of graphics memory can be actually used only in high resolutions with enabled full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, we decided to introduce a new test mode, which would load the memory subsystem most heavily. The thing is that in low resolutions with disabled FSAA the size of the graphics memory of the card doesn’t have any influence on the performance of the accelerator. If you would like to play games in 1024x768 or 1280x1024 without FSAA, you should be OK even with 128MB of graphics memory. This statement is proven by the benchmark results we obtained for GeForce 6600GT, which is usually faster than ATI RADEON 9800 XT in this case, although the latter is equipped with 256MB of onboard graphics memory and features a 256bit bus. However, once FSAA is enabled, the situation changes completely: RADEON 9800 XT is very often ahead of GeForce 6600GT in this case due to faster bus and higher graphics memory capacity.

Contemporary high-end graphics accelerators are so fast that even FSAA 4x will hardly reveal the benefits of the 512MB of graphics memory. That is why besides the pure performance tests and FSAA 4x + AF 16x, we also introduced the test mode with the maximum FSAA level: 6x for ATI graphics cards and 8xS for NVIDIA graphics cards. We believe that the tests in this mode will allow us to find those games where doubled onboard graphics memory of ATI RADEON X800 XL 512MB will be truly beneficial. We assume that with disabled FSAA the performance gain will be minimal compared with the results shown by RADEON X800 XL 256MB, or will simply be null. Our benchmarks will help prove or deny this statement very soon.

For our tests we used our standard PCI Express platform with the following configuration:

• AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU (2.4GHz, 1MB L2);
• ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mainboard;
• OCZ PC-3200 Platinum EB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB, CL2.5-3-2-8);
• Samsung SpinPoint SP1213C HDD (Serial ATA-150, 8MB buffer);
• Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card.

We used the following software:

• Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0c;
• ATI CATALYST 5.4;
• NVIDIA ForceWare 71.89.

For a more illustrative comparison and better performance analysis we used the following graphics cards alongside with our today’s main hero:

• ATI RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition 256MB (540/1180MHz) (for details please see our article called ATI RADEON X850 Platinum Edition: Good Things Go Better);
• ATI RADEON X850 XT 256MB (520/1080MHz) (for details please see our article called PowerColor X850 XT and PowerColor X800XL Graphics Cards Review);
• ATI RADEON X800 XL 256 MB (400/980MHz) (for details please see our article called ATI's 0.11 Micron Chip on the Run: ATI RADEON X800 XL Review);
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra  256 MB (400/1100MHz) (for details please see our article called NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra and GeForce 6800: NV40 Enters the Scene);
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB (350/1000MHz);

According to our standard lab methodology the CATALYST A.I. optimizations were enabled as Standard, Mipmap Detail Level option was set to Quality. The optimizations in the NVIDIA ForceWare drivers were also activated, except Anisotropic mip filter optimization. Image settings engine was set to Quality, too. This way, ATi and NVIDIA graphics cards were running at equal conditions.

As for the game settings, we set the image quality to the maximum possible level, which was the same for all graphics adapters. If the game allowed adjusting FSAA and anisotropic filtering settings, we used this opportunity, otherwise the required settings were forced through drivers. Since most games supporting FSAA level adjustment do not allow enabling 8xS for NVIDIA graphics cards, we would force it from the ForceWare driver.

During our tests we used the following games and applications:

First Person 3D Shooters:

• Doom III;
• Unreal Tournament 2004;
• The Chronicles of Riddick;
• Far Cry;
• Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell;
• Half-Life 2;
• F.E.A.R. Multiplayer Beta;

Simulators:

• Il-2 Sturmovik: Aces in the Sky;
• Lock On: Modern Air Combat;
• FlatOut;
• Colin McRae Rally 2005;

Strategies:

• Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War;
• Perimeter;

Semi-synthetic Benchmarks:

• Aquamark3;

Synthetic Benchmarks:

• Futuremark 3DMark03, build 360;
• Futuremark 3DMark05, build 120.

Please note that we excluded games that could not enabled full-scene antialiasing (FSAA) properly due to the fact that high-end graphics cards with 512MB of memory onboard are currently meant to run games with FSAA enabled.