X-bit labs

Sparkle SF-PX88GT256D3-HP Graphics Card: Is 256MB Enough? (page 17)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko

[ 02/28/2008 | 04:25 PM ]

Futuremark 3DMark06

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is confident in 3DMark06, outperforming the ATI Radeon HD 3850 and loses only 430 points to the ATI Radeon HD 3870. FSAA is not enabled by default, so the overclocking helps reach the 11,000 mark and take first place.

The Sparkle card is ahead of the ATI Radeon HD 3850 and even of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 in the SM2.0 tests. The results of the SM3.0/HDR are predictable, too, as the Sparkle, being a copy of the reference card from Nvidia, cannot compete with the ATI Radeon HD 3850 anymore. AMD’s solution is inferior to Nvidia’s one in TMU performance but is far superior to it in sheer computing power which is necessary to execute the complex shaders the SM3.0/HDR tests abound in.

The Sparkle card beats the ATI Radeon HD 3800 in the first test easily due to the specifics of the test, but its advantage over the ATI Radeon HD 3870 is only 5% in the second test.

According to the individual SM3.0/HDR tests, the ATI Radeon HD 3850 beats the non-overclocked Sparkle in both cases. When overclocked, the Sparkle only goes ahead of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 in the second test.

The results of the individual tests agree well enough with the overall scores, though.