A xbitlabs review

[imported_ST]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
i could, however if the monitor calibration is incorrect, sshots wouldn't matter, would it?

not worried about the whole DV thing, more intersted in the HQAF shots between the GS and XT at default gamma / brightness / contrast settings.

 

[imported_ST]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
i could, however if the monitor calibration is incorrect, sshots wouldn't matter, would it?

not worried about the whole DV thing, more intersted in the HQAF shots between the GS and XT at default gamma / brightness / contrast settings.

 

[wolfman11]

I just took out an eVGA 7600GT and replaced it with a X1800XT. I have to agree with the earlier post, the 7600GT did look color washed in comparison to me. Not a great deal of difference but noticible. The X1800XT has a "deeper" look to the color - maybe a little more vibrant - tough to verbalize, but I agree there is a difference in IQ.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: ST

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
i could, however if the monitor calibration is incorrect, sshots wouldn't matter, would it?

not worried about the whole DV thing, more intersted in the HQAF shots between the GS and XT at default gamma / brightness / contrast settings.

well, that's what i mean.. gamma/color/bright is based upon monitor calibration.. but you had GT and XT, what is your opinion on the difference, if any (not af, but color saturation/gamma, etc)

i do have a couple pics i'm sure.. i'll find the links and post them (have them on my server somewhere)

 

[CaiNaM]

ok, they aren't identical, but should be close enough when comparing color saturation.

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleA.png

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleB.png

so.. you guys wanna guess on which is nv and which is ati?

 

[thilanliyan]

Personally I like the colours in the 1st screenshot.

 

[Ackmed]

Why does most everyone test Oblivion without AA+AF? I know NV cant do HDR+AA, but not everyone likes HDR, and Bloom+AA+AF numbers are needed. Or without bloom.

The GT in this review is about $100 more than the X1800XT 256MB. Thats a lot of money.

High level of noise;

For those who claim the GT is quiet.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
ok, they aren't identical, but should be close enough when comparing color saturation.

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleA.png

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleB.png

so.. you guys wanna guess on which is nv and which is ati?

if you look at the icons on the right side it seems like both screens are exactly the same. the first one is just in dusk and the second one is at night.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: guoziming

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
ok, they aren't identical, but should be close enough when comparing color saturation.

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleA.png

http://www.cet.com/~maniac/pix/WoW/WoWScrnShot_ExampleB.png

so.. you guys wanna guess on which is nv and which is ati?

if you look at the icons on the right side it seems like both screens are exactly the same. the first one is just in dusk and the second one is at night.

Oh whoops, I don't play WOW so I thought they were from around the same time.

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Odd that they would use different motherboards for the different cards considering they didn't test any dual card setups in the mix...

# Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe mainboard (Nvidia nForce4 SLI X16 chipset) for Nvidia GeForce graphics cards
# Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe mainboard (CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset) for ATI Radeon graphics cards

Why? is the ATI board worse?

It's different. Standard practice is to try and minimise any factors that aren't related to what you're testing. As such you'd expect them to test them both on the same motherboard, as most reviews do.

The problem with this is, that there maybe a problem with having a neutral no bias platform, with ustilization of either the Nvidia or ATI motherboard you cna call bias for either or.

The only other alternative would be for them to use neutral 3rd party motherboard like a motherboard based on the VIA chipset.

 

[CaiNaM]

what would be more informative is if they ran both cards on one motherboard, then both on the other. i mean, does any "enthusiast" really care how it runs on a via chipset?

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
what would be more informative is if they ran both cards on one motherboard, then both on the other. i mean, does any "enthusiast" really care how it runs on a via chipset?

And basically double the benchmarking time for a review???

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: coldpower27
And basically double the benchmarking time for a review???

xbit's reviews are always a little slow to come out but they are also some of the most informative (and should be above little things like that), I don't think it would matter if the review took longer xbit isn't exactly known for its timeliness.

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: fierydemise

Originally posted by: coldpower27
And basically double the benchmarking time for a review???

xbit's reviews are always a little slow to come out but they are also some of the most informative (and should be above little things like that), I don't think it would matter if the review took longer xbit isn't exactly known for its timeliness.

Little? Were talking about doubling the benchmarking time here for only a questionable gain.
Even if we benchmarked using a VIA chipset, I don't think the differences between it and Nvidia's SLI or ATI's Crossfire chipsets would be enough to cause concern.

There is also the issue of amounf of work spent for a review within reason. To me what Xbit has done with using the best mobo for each platform, I mean it would be pretty embarassing if an ATI card ran faster in Nvidia's chipset vs ATI's own is logical enough and represents a good balance.

I mean this is analagous and were being generous here, differences between mobos is typically less to testing the 6800 GS and 6800 GT, there is a difference nothing that will turn it to one sides favor.

 

[Shamrock]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
what would be more informative is if they ran both cards on one motherboard, then both on the other. i mean, does any "enthusiast" really care how it runs on a via chipset?

It sounds like you dont have much faith in ATI mobos. They matched up an ATI VGA w/ATI mobo, and nV VGA w/nV mobo. It's more than fair.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Shamrock

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
what would be more informative is if they ran both cards on one motherboard, then both on the other. i mean, does any "enthusiast" really care how it runs on a via chipset?

It sounds like you dont have much faith in ATI mobos. They matched up an ATI VGA w/ATI mobo, and nV VGA w/nV mobo. It's more than fair.

you need to follow the thread. this wasn't about ati vs nv chipsets, rather a reply to the suggestion a via chipset should be used for both.

in regards to the different motherboard tho, the fact is regardless of actual performance on gpu matched with a particular board/chipset, the entire review i skewed as there is no baseline for comparison (although i would question the actual driver settings more than the fact they used different motherboards). further issues could go with board setup, bios settings, and so on and so forth... there are simply too many questionable variables (as well as the fact that the results of these tests go against previous results by other reviews).

at any rate, my comment was regarding what would be more "interesting", not necessarily what would be more "fair".