by Alexey Stepin
08/01/2005 | 10:14 AM
Despite the growing popularity of the PCI Express interface, the bulk of PCs currently in use are still equipped with an AGP slot. Even the most optimistic analysts estimate the share of PCI Express systems at 8-10%. With so many AGP-using PCs around, the market of AGP-interfaced graphics cards is and will remain in near future a place of much interest for the GPU makers.
Until recently, the fastest graphics processor ATI offered for the AGP platform was the R420 which was employed in the RADEON X800 series, while the more advanced and faster RADEON X850 cards only existed for PCI Express. It turned out, however, that ATI Technologies didn’t want to lose the sector of high-performance AGP solutions even though these graphics cards account for no more than 5% of the whole market.
On its way back to AGP, ATI developed the Rialto chip which allows attaching processors with native PCI Express support to the AGP bus. The new solutions for the AGP platform were officially announced on February 28 (for details see our news story called ATI Officially Releases New RADEON X850, X800 Products for AGP 8x ), and it turned out that the Rialto chip would be used only with the 0.11-micron R430 processor (RADEON X800) which was a replacement of the R423. For more advanced AGP solutions (RADEON X850) ATI had developed a new graphics processor R481 with native support of the AGP interface. This chip, like the R480, is manufactured on 0.11 tech process with low-k dielectrics which allows it to work at frequencies up to 540MHz. Besides the different interfaces the R480 and R481 do not differ at all, so you can refer to our article called ATI RADEON X850 Platinum Edition: Good Things Go Better for technical info on the chip.
We should note that there are no AGP platforms available that would support dual-core CPUs. That’s why it is unlikely that there will ever appear AGP versions of the today’s fastest NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card or of ATI’s upcoming R520. It means the ATI RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition and the GeForce 6800 Ultra may remain the fastest AGP graphics cards in history.
We’ve got one of the first products that use the new chip. It is the X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP graphic card from PowerColor.
The package of the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is not as big as boxes with graphics cards from ASUS or MSI and easily fits into a medium-size bag.
We described this type of packaging in our PowerColor RADEON X850 XT review: the transparent plastic box with the graphics card and its accessories is packed into a glossy cardboard package (for details see our article called PowerColor X850 XT and PowerColor X800XL Graphics Cards Review). The external package has a window through which you can see the paper insert inside. The graphic card lies on a plastic tray under the insert. The following accessories are located under the card:
The user’s manual is very informative, but is only in the English language. There’s only one DVI adapter included because the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is equipped with one DVI and one D-Sub connector. It is rather unusual for a modern top-end graphics card to have a D-Sub output, by the way.
The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP differs noticeably from its PCI Express version, particularly in the power circuitry, in the connectors, and in the interface area.
Graphics cards with the PCI Express interface can receive quite a lot of power (up to 75 watts) directly through the slot, while high-power AGP devices should receive additional power through a Molex connector (the AGP slot can only provide about 40 watts at best). That said, the power circuitry of the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP isn’t much more complex than that of the PCI Express version. It just includes more electrolytic capacitors. The AGP version doesn’t include a Richtek RT9173A voltage regulator, too.
For some reason ATI didn’t implement two DVI-I connectors in the reference design of the RADEON X850 XT AGP. Moreover, this possibility isn’t even an option since there’s no place for an additional TMDS transmitter on the PCB. Thus, all R481-based graphics cards that follow the reference design have to use the out-dated DVI-I + D-Sub solution. We don’t know why ATI refused to have two DVI connectors on the card even as a possibility. There’s not much sense in this limitation because monitors with the analog interface can be easily connected to DVI-I outputs via appropriate adapters. But maybe it is just another hint that the AGP interface is too old? Well, PCI Express versions of the RADEON X850 need two DVI-I connectors just for the multi-GPU CrossFire technology to work, because a portion of the image is transferred from the slave card to the composition engine across this interface (for more details see our article called ATI Crosses the Swords: Multi-GPU CrossFire Technology Previewed).
The cooling system deployed on the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is quite ordinary: it is the same dual-slot cooler with a copper heat-spreader, a blower, and a plastic casing. The air from the inside of the system case is blown through the heat-spreader and is then exhausted to the outside. The heat-spreader is made from a solid piece of copper. Its sole touches the GPU surface through a layer of thick gray-colored thermal paste. The memory chips contact the aluminum base of the cooler through special elastic pads. As we have already said in our reviews, the efficiency of the new reference cooler from ATI is very high, while the smart control over the speed of the blower allows to keep the noise low, unlike with the reference cooling system of the GeForce 6800 Ultra, for example.
The memory chips at the reverse side of the PCB are cooled with a simple L-shaped aluminum plate which becomes rather hot at work (not surprising, considering the high frequency the chips are clocked at). But it does its job right. At least we never had any failures due to memory overheat when testing the PowerColor card as well as any other model from the RADEON X850 family.
The PCB carries 1.6ns memory chips from Samsung. It means the memory can work at 600 (1200DDR) MHz, but it is actually clocked at 590 (1180DDR) MHz on this card, the latter frequency being the default one for the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition. The graphics processor works at 540MHz, like in the reference design. Besides other things, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is equipped with a Rage Theater chip for capturing video from external sources. The Rage Theater is a rather old solution, using 8-bit ADCs, but it will suit well for digitizing your VHS recordings, for example.
The acoustic characteristics of the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP are identical to those of all RADEON X850 cards that use the reference cooling system. That is, the device is loud the first few seconds after you have started the computer, but then the speed of the fan goes down and the card becomes very quiet, if not completely silent. We had a period of hot weather here at the time of our tests, but the fan never tried to speed up, which was another confirmation of the high efficiency of ATI’s reference cooler.
We had predictable results at overclocking, making the GPU work at 570MHz (30MHz above the default). The memory was even better than expected, overclocking to 1300MHz. We sometimes saw image artifacts at this frequency, though, and had to step it down to 1280MHz. That’s a good result for 1.6ns chips rated for 1200MHz clock rate. To make sure the memory wouldn’t overheat, we set an additional 120mm fan from A.C.Ryan to blow at the overclocked card during our tests.
The quality of the image in 2D applications was sharp in all resolutions up to 1800x1400@75Hz. We also attached our Dell P1110 monitor to the card’s DVI output via an adapter, but noticed no worsening of the image, either.
We performed our tests on the following testbed:
Graphics cards:
Drivers:
Following our traditional methodology, we enabled the ForceWare optimizations, except the Anisotropic mip filter optimization. The Image settings slider was set to the Quality position. In ATI’s Catalyst we enabled Catalyst A.I. using the Standard mode. The Mipmap Detail Level option was set to Quality. We disabled the VSync option in both drivers.
If possible, we control FSAA and anisotropic filtering from the application. Otherwise, we force the necessary mode from the driver. We don’t edit any configuration files. The graphics quality settings in the games were set to the maximum level, the same for graphics cards from NVIDIA and ATI Technologies. The following games and applications were used:
First Person 3 D Shooters :
Third Person 3D Shooters:
Simulators:
Strategies:
Semi-Synthetic Benchmarks:
Synthetic Benchmarks:
We wouldn’t say the PowerColor X850 XT PE AGP suffers a catastrophic defeat against the GeForce 6800 cards in this game, but id Software’s game engine clearly prefers NVIDIA’s architectural solutions. At the default frequencies the PowerColor card can’t overtake the GeForce 6800 GT, a graphics card which belongs to a lower category.
The PowerColor looks better in the “eye candy” mode when we enable full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. When overclocked, it successfully competes with the GeForce 6800 GT. At the default frequencies it is no more than 10% slower than NVIDIA’s card. The GeForce 6800 Ultra is unrivalled in this test.
It’s worse for the PowerColor X850 XT PE AGP on the d3dm4 map where it is far behind the GeForce 6800 GT in the “pure speed” mode. In the “eye candy” mode, however, the PowerColor performs like the GeForce 6800 GT and – at the overclocked frequencies – like the GeForce 6800 Ultra. Anyway, Doom 3 and the rest of the games based on the same engine from id Software evidently run better on GeForce6 and GeForce7 series cards.
The central processor’s performance is the main limiting factor on the Torlan level. From the point of view of graphical features, Unreal Tournament 2004 doesn’t present anything too difficult for a modern graphics card. That’s why we can only see some differences between the cards in the highest resolution (1600x1200) and with full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled. The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP wins this mode.
The RADEON X850 XT PE is also superior on the less CPU-dependent Metallurgy map, but again you can only see it in the “eye candy” mode.
Even having higher frequencies, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is slower than the GeForce 6800 Ultra in this game. The fact is The Chronicles of Riddick , just like Doom 3 , is an OpenGL application, and this API is better supported in NVIDIA’s drivers.
Our enabling full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering cannot change the situation. The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP has only to compete with the GeForce 6800 GT.
The Pier demo contains a large-scale scene, so its speed is determined by the performance of the whole system, especially in the “pure speed” mode.
Graphics cards with GPUs from ATI Technologies win the “eye candy” mode. The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is 20% faster than the GeForce 6800 Ultra in 1600x1200.
The PowerColor is in the lead on the Research map, too, but the GeForce 6800 Ultra follows it closely .The gap between them is no more than 10% in the highest resolution. This result is due to the nature of the scene (the action goes on indoors) and to the support of Shader Model 3.0 by all modern solutions from NVIDIA.
Like Unreal Tournament 2004 , this add-on to the original Painkiller isn’t very demanding about the performance of the graphics subsystem. The speed is limited by other factors, rather. And still we can see it in the high resolutions of the “eye candy” mode that the game prefers high clock rates: the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is on top, even though closely followed by the GeForce 6800 Ultra.
The demo on the d1_canals_12 map is much alike to Far Cry ’s Pier map. That is, we have an open environment with some water. The speed of the scene depends heavily on the CPU performance, while the graphics card’s capabilities only show up in higher resolutions. Here, the PowerColor enjoys a victory once again.
Although the scene on the d3_17_02 map is different, the cards are ranked in the same order: the PowerColor takes the first place, while the RADEON X800 XL looks even better than in the first demo, leaving the GeForce 6800 Ultra behind.
The new beta version of this game works only in 1024x768 resolution, but it’s no big problem. The game is so hungry for resources that only top-end graphics cards and only in this resolution can ensure a playable frame rate at the maximum graphics quality settings. The participating graphics cards can all yield a frame rate like 45+ fps in the “pure speed” mode. And it is already good since F.E.A.R. is surely a next-generation game. So, the GeForce 6800 Ultra takes the first place, and the PowerColor shares the second one with the GeForce 6800 GT. As you see, NVIDIA’s GeForce6 cards perform better in this game than the RADEONs. As for the “eye candy” mode, none of the cards could give out a comfortable 30 frames per second in it.
ATI’s and NVIDIA’s solutions are not under the same conditions here. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory has two rendering modes, Shader Model 1.1 and 3.0, the latter ensuring a much higher graphics quality. The game doesn’t support any in-between modes like the widely accepted Shader Model 2.0.
We made an exception from our rules for this game. That is, we didn’t select the same game settings for all the participating graphics cards, but benchmarked the GeForce 6800 Ultra and GT in the SM 3.0 mode, while the RADEONs were tested in the SM 1.1 mode. That’s why the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is so fast here – it just works in a favourable environment. The GeForce6 cards, on the contrary, work with complex version 3.0 pixel shaders to give you more realism.
We don’t publish the results of the “eye candy” mode since full-screen antialiasing is not supported with Shader Model 3.0. But we can say that the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP makes resolutions up to 1280x1024 comfortably playable in this mode.
The GeForce 6800 Ultra is ahead of the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition in the lowest resolution, but they match each other in higher resolutions. Overclocking gives a 10% speed boost to the PowerColor.
Working with a more efficient OpenGL driver, the GeForce 6800 Ultra takes the first place with ease, while the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP only contends with the less expensive GeForce 6800 GT.
It’s a little different in the “eye candy” mode: the PowerColor card is rather far behind the GeForce 6800 GT in low resolutions. In higher resolutions, however, the cards are ranked just like in the “pure speed” mode.
The GeForce 6800 Ultra is a little ahead of the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP in low resolutions. In higher display modes the two cards perform similarly.
The PowerColor uses its advanced memory controller and technologies for efficient use of the available memory bandwidth to get an advantage in resolutions above 1024x768. The game is rather capricious, so the numbers should be regarded as approximations.
This rally simulator prefers ATI’s RADEON X800 and X850 graphics cards with their high frequencies to the GeForce 6800 family. High frequency means a faster execution of the simple pixel shaders that create the game’s special effects like the dust shooting from under the wheels. The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is far ahead of its competitors in all the modes and resolutions. Well, even the RADEON X800 XL easily beats the more advanced GeForce 6800 Ultra in this game.
The PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP rivals the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the “pure speed” mode, but loses speed when we enable 4x FSAA with anisotropic filtering. Only overclocking helps it keep on the same level with the 6800 Ultra in the “eye candy” mode. This must be due to some specifics of the game engine because RADEON X850/X800 usually do full-screen anti-aliasing faster than GeForce 6800 cards.
The PowerColor is a little ahead of the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the “pure speed” mode. In the “eye candy” mode, however, its performance goes down to the level of the GeForce 6800 GT. Well, anyway, modern graphics cards only make 1024x768 resolution of this game playable with comfort in the “eye candy” mode.
The numbers don’t need any comments: the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP hits the 6,000 points mark, while the GeForce 6800 Ultra can’t even get 5,500 points. This benchmark is designed in such a way that it requires the graphics card to have a high geometry processing speed and an efficient graphics memory subsystem.
NVIDIA’s solutions used to be superior in Aquamark3 , but the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition with its sky-high operational frequencies changes this situation. The PowerColor wins this test, even though the GeForce 6800 Ultra is a mere 2-3fps behind.
As for the “eye candy” mode, RADEON X850 and X800 graphics cards have always been good here thanks to their efficient graphics memory subsystem.
Despite having the advantage of higher frequencies, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP scores almost the same amount of points as the GeForce 6800 Ultra in 3DMark03. It’s natural since three out of this benchmark’s four game tests run better on the GeForce6 architecture, but let us discuss them one by one.
The first test uses only DirectX 7 functions, and the PowerColor card is only ahead of the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the “eye candy” mode. We want to remind you that 3DMark defaults to using 1024x768 resolution without anti-aliasing when counting up the overall score of a graphics card.
The second test uses normal maps and dynamic stencil shadows. The GeForce 6 and 7 architectures are particularly good at processing shadows, but the high-frequency PowerColor delivers a performance comparable to the GeForce 6800 Ultra, also in the “eye candy” mode.
Things are absolutely the same in the third test which doesn’t differ much from the second one from the technological point of view. The load on the vertex processors is higher here, though. They have to realistically model the hairdo of the girl in the scene.
The fourth test makes use of version 2.0 pixel and vertex shaders to render the water and the foliage on the trees, respectively. This is the most complex test math1ematically. RADEON X8 processors execute such shaders faster than GeForce6 ones, so the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP deservedly takes the first place.
The overall score seems correct, too. The PowerColor card was either worse than or equal to the GeForce 6800 Ultra in three tests out of four and only won the fourth test.
The scores are different in 3DMark05: the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is over 950 points better than the GeForce 6800 Ultra. But where does this success come from?
The first test renders relief using normal maps and also creates per-pixel lighting. There are up to eight light sources in this scene which looks like a typical sci-fi 3D shooter. The high frequencies of the PowerColor card help it win the test in the “pure speed” mode, especially since 3DMark05 supports Shader Model 2.0b.
But the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP lacks Pixel Shader 3.0 support and goes down to the level of the GeForce 6800 GT in the “eye candy” mode.
The second test mostly loads the vertex processors of the card as there’s a lot of dynamically generated vegetation here. The PowerColor can do geometry processing well enough: its 6 vertex processors clocked at 540MHz easily beat the GeForce 6800 Ultra in both test modes.
The third test is terribly difficult both math1ematically and texturally. There are reflections, refractions and depth fog on the water surface. The walls of the canyon are generated with a shader that uses up almost all of the Shader Model 2.0 specification. The realistic shadows are just the last drop to knock out any graphics card, maybe save for the new-generation GeForce 7800 GTX solution.
Well, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is fast enough, outperforming the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the “pure speed” mode.
The PowerColor isn’t brilliant in the “eye candy” mode, but doesn’t lose this test to the GeForce 6800 GT, nonetheless.
The overall result is correct again: the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP wins all the three game tests of 3DMark05.
Beyond doubt, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is the highest-performing solution with the AGP interface for today. And it will probably remain such forever unless NVIDIA and ATI think it proper to release AGP versions of their GeForce 7800 GTX and R520. But we think the demand for such solutions would be too low to interest the companies. Yes, there are still many PCs with the AGP bus, but few of them use top-end graphics hardware: gamers who are limited in money and for this reason haven’t yet transferred to a PCI Express platform are unlikely to shell out $500-600 for a graphics card.
So, an owner of an AGP platform has a choice between GeForce 6800 Ultra and RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP as the best graphics card available (if he/she doesn’t want to change the platform, of course). The RADEON is faster in almost all modern games, especially in full-screen anti-aliasing modes, but doesn’t support Shader Model 3.0 which may affect its performance negatively in upcoming games.
But if you do want highest performance right now, you should certainly consider the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP. This graphics card doesn’t have any noticeable defects and comes with rich accessories. It also features good overclockability thanks to its 1.6ns memory. And people who digitize their VHS archives will surely appreciate the VIVO functionality and the appropriate software.
Yet considering the recommended price of the new solution ($549) we think it might be more reasonable to upgrade to a PCI Express platform and then purchase a GeForce 7800 GTX for $599. This would be more expensive, of course, but the performance of the new card from NVIDIA is a few times that of ATI’s flagship product in many applications.
Highs:
Lows:
Having summed up our test results we here at X-bit labs decided to award PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP graphics card with the prestigious Editor’s Choice Title as the today’s Fastest Graphics Card for AGP Interface:
