AnandTech Half-Life 2 Info :)

[GrumpyMan]

I'm very happy I got one the last 9700 Pros produced. It overclocks to 400/355 with no artifacts and just standard cooling. The drivers and IQ have been a pleasant surprise too.

 

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: Pocatello
I guess all those Linux servers waiting for Counter Strike 2 will be dissapointed. It would be amusing to see all those M$ haters forced to use Windows 2000 and XP :evil:

Eh? Since when does a command line server depend on D3D to run it's servers? (Steam doesn't have to be run in GUI mode).

VALVe, after much convincing way back in the day (about 4 years ago, although the porting took a lot longer than that), realized how important it was to provide Linux binaries to the Server admins to allow them to run Linux based HLDS. I'm fairly certain that's not going to change with the release of HL2.

 

[Shagga]

Just saw this over at W2S -

NVIDIA statement: The Optimizations for Half-Life 2 shaders are in the 50 series of drivers which we made available to reviewers on Monday [Sept. 8, 2003]. Any Half-Life 2 comparison based on the 45 series driver are invalid. NVIDIA 50 series of drivers will be available well before the release of Half-Life 2

More nVidia optimisations eh!

[edit]

Full story at Guru 3D

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
I'm very happy I got one the last 9700 Pros produced. It overclocks to 400/355 with no artifacts and just standard cooling. The drivers and IQ have been a pleasant surprise too.

"Last one produced?" ATI is still making 9700Pros, AFAIK.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77
And as to the claims that "these results are not reliable because Valve is in bed with Ati!": Have you ever considered that they might be working with Ati since their game works the best with Ati? They don't have to waste any time "optimizing" for Ati hardware, it just works.

And isn't NVIDIA "in bed" with Electronic Arts??

 

[GTaudiophile]

Maybe this thread should be stickied so we don't get a dozen spin-offs?

 

[UlricT]

This is starting top look real sticky. Guru3D has just posted some benchmarks from aquamark3.... aquamark3

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: UlricT
This is starting top look real sticky. Guru3D has just posted some benchmarks from aquamark3.... aquamark3

Guru3D is just as bias as Rage3D. Want to talk about optimizations? That's what the DET 50s are. Just how much IQ has been lost?

 

[UlricT]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: UlricT
This is starting top look real sticky. Guru3D has just posted some benchmarks from aquamark3.... aquamark3

Guru3D is just as bias as Rage3D. Want to talk about optimizations? That's what the DET 50s are. Just how much IQ has been lost?

ummm... shouldn't we look at both sides of the equation? Or is Nvidia always the evil empire? Maybe they can increase performance without sacrificing quality... like the good old days!

 

[UlricT]

BTW, the Nvidia problems for HL2 started well before the deal with Ati was signed. Anyone remember when valve remarked that HL2 with AA/AF would not run on Nvidia hardware???

 

[Acanthus]

I think AT should watch what they post, they could be commiting credibility suicide tomorrow if det 50s don't hurt quality. And it was some retarded bug valve plopped in there to make ATi look good. Anyone else remember the multi million dollar announcement that HL2 will be bundled with ATi cards?

 

[GTaudiophile]

The inquirer speaks:

TECH REPORT'S just-published summary of Valve's Half-Life 2 presentation at an ATI function is nothing short of grim when it comes to the company's projections of how Half-Life 2 will perform on Nvidia DX9-class hardware. While a certain amount of Radeon-push / GeForce FX-bashing can be expected - this is, after all, an ATI-sponsored event - there are differences to the marketing-speak that demonstrate just how serious the NV3X problems are. You'd normally expect lots of presentations filled with statements like: "ATI is a superior platform for our game", not graphs showing ATI hardware pulling no less then double the frame rate of Nvidia's best, to say nothing of slide after slide discussing the problem.

As one of the first (and certainly one of the most-awaited) fully DirectX 9 games, Half-Life 2 will be one of the biggest hits of the year and will serve as a technology demo and benchmark for years to come. The new Half-Life 2 engine will doubtlessly be used in other games; implying that the problems Valve is having with Nvidia's DX9 hardware may reoccur repeatedly, especially if they are not particularly unique to the Half-Life 2 engine?and we're inclined to think they aren't.

While it was no secret to anyone that NV30 performance wasn't all that great, NV35 is looking increasingly leaky as things go by. First we had the 3DMark 2003 controversy (where Nvidia's poor Pixel 2.0 performance first came to light). A lot of people actually blamed this one on a bad benchmark on FutureMark's part, and considering that 3DMark '03 isn't actually built on a game engine, that criticism had some teeth.

Then some enterprising MIT youngsters found a way to get Nvidia's very impressive "Dawn" demo running on ATI hardware (a supposedly "impossible" feat according to Nvidia) only to find that it actually ran faster under ATI's hardware than Nvidia's. Bring on the driver issues, optimization problems, 3DCenter's recent in-depth focus on NV3X hardware, and now this, and the tide of evidence is turning very much against Nvidia. Its not clear why the NV30 series has the problems that it does, but its clear that either FutureMark and Valve are in close cahoots to make Nvidia look bad, or there are serious architectural problems with NV30 and 35 that keep them from performing well. While some fanboys will no doubt jump for the former, an objective look at the data points more towards the latter.

Just how bad are things? Pretty bad. Even the Radeon 9600 Pro out-paces the GF FX by over 50%, while the Radeon 9800 Pro doubles the FX's feeble 30 fps. These are in benchmarks without AA or AF enabled. The game isn't even playable on anything below an FX 5900.

What about Nvidia's claim that the FX benefits dramatically from optimized code? It might be true, but it won't save the situation. While GF FX 5900 Ultra performance did increase a fair amount from optimization, the 5200 and 5600 are still completely unplayable and barely benefited?though this may be because these two designs are, in fact, based upon the even-worse-performing 5800 Ultra design. This isn't really a solution either, since it took Valve 5 times as long to code the Nvidia specific data as the general DX9 path. Valve's solution at the moment? Run the GF FX series as a DX8 part. Of course this means giving up all the DX9 eye-candy, but eye-candy isn't really useful when you can't play the damn game.

With Half-Life 2 scheduled to ship before NV40, it looks like there's no getting around the fact that ATI is the only game in town when it comes to HL2. As for Nvidia, NV40 had better bring substantial performance increases?or its going to get real ugly in the graphics war. µ

 

[Finnkc]

Wooooow ATI works better then Nvidia at one new game ....




big deal ... how long have you ATI guys been sitting around waiting to hear that?


I never played HL1 so I really don't care if I don't play HL2 ... and Doom3 is going to own HL2 anyway so I really don't see the big deal .... oh wait it's the big ATI vs Nvidia deal ...

please,

 

[GrumpyMan]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
I'm very happy I got one the last 9700 Pros produced. It overclocks to 400/355 with no artifacts and just standard cooling. The drivers and IQ have been a pleasant surprise too.

"Last one produced?" ATI is still making 9700Pros, AFAIK.

No they don't make them anymore, the 9800 Non Pro has taken over for the 9700 Pro I do believe.

 

[dmw16]

If nVidia gets the edge in Doom3 and ATi gets it in HL2 then I would say ATi got the better end of the deal...glad I have an ATi card.
-doug

 

[Czar]

the dawn demo running faster on ati card isnt the whole story, the wrapper skips a few details like eyelashes and a few other things

 

[UlricT]

Looks like things are just gonna keep getting worse. The industry is going to be ripped apart by these two players. If NV3x specific enhancement is necessary, what makes them that much different from 3Dfx? Maybe... it could be the ghosts of 3dfx's past coming back to haunt Nvidia? Or maybe its just the 3dfx engineers who worked on NV3x?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Finnkc
Wooooow ATI works better then Nvidia at one new game ....




big deal ... how long have you ATI guys been sitting around waiting to hear that?


I never played HL1 so I really don't care if I don't play HL2 ... and Doom3 is going to own HL2 anyway so I really don't see the big deal .... oh wait it's the big ATI vs Nvidia deal ...

please,

Way to be objective! If the game comes out and scores perfect 10's all over the place, you will show everyone how stupid they are with your intellectual approach.

 

[draggoon01]

so is the game still going to be released on the 30th? i've only seen mentioned that some test will be released to the press on 30th. does that mean game is delayed???

 

[sash1]

Firingsquad already has some of their results up here: http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/hl2_performance_preview_part1/

~Aunix

 

[NOX]

So what I've concluded from all of this is:

ATI + HL2 = Best Performer

Nvidia + DoomIII + Best Performer

Also, what disturbs me the most is Valves cost per fps chart! Why would a game developer market a particular hardware at such an extent? My only thought would be Money?

This is getting worse then the console market... next we'll have games which will only run on ATI or Nvidia cards.

 

[MaDDaWg1018]

I dunno, I still kinda think that this issue is being judged based on the present layout of the video card market/technology. Things may change in a few months, at least in our favor.

 

[dmw16]

Ok...so the 9600 is good and of course the 9800 is good...does the 9700pro fall right between the 2?
-doug

 

[LukFilm]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Ok...so the 9600 is good and of course the 9800 is good...does the 9700pro fall right between the 2?
-doug

Yes.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: Zuni
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1862

Check it out, more to come

omg, since when does the great zuni have time for us peons ;-)

how are the kids, zuni?