Another Radeon HD 2900XT review

[evolucion8]

I was surfing the web and I found this review that I want to share cause is the only one that I've found that is using the CAT 7.5 drivers, it was reviewed today and the results are different, is not like the Xbit's lab which looks like a copy and paste review.

http://www.tweaktown.com/artic...ntroduction/index.html

Still the 8800 Ultra overall faster but the Radeon HD is catching up, will be able to catch it? We shall see.

 

[Keysplayr]

Just another review to pick apart. I just glanced through the "Jump to" drop down to see what games were benched. Good assortment of games, but, with the 2900XT's cooler completely covered with a "STALKER" sticker, you would think they would at least bench the game. hehe
It appears to have great frames, but further into the review, they show the benches again with 4xAA and 16xAF. So I assume the first bench graphs were without them. Dunno.

 

[thilanliyan]

Yeah it doesn't look that bad for the 2900 but I'd like to know the settings they used for the majority of the benches.

 

[apoppin]

i found several interesting things

the Ultra is much quieter as show by the DB meter ... BUT, ASUS HD2900xt is *very close* to the MSI GTS 640 in noise level ... within 3db and sometimes even quieter
... temperatures were interesting ... the XT is cooler behind the core but hotter at the exhaust

... finally, the test bed is very similar to mine and Keys ... i even have the same OC .. 333x9 ... by looking at FEAR results, i would have to say they are testing with all in game setting completely maxed out

it is a POWER HOG ... 367 watts at load!!!!!!!!!!

BUT ,,, their conclusion is mind boggling

With the new ATI Catalyst 6.7 drivers from AMD due out very soon, no doubt the HD 2900 XT is at the top of the priority list when it comes to performance improvements and even if it doesn?t end up beating the 8800 Ultra, at only half the price, it is very easy to see the value in the Radeon HD 2900 XT. It got some bad press at launch but every time we take a closer look at it, it just seems to get better and better.

and it finally looks like most games are 100% playable at 14x8 or 12x10 with *all* the bells and whistles .. 16x10 is no problem and even higher resolutions can be run on a single card ... so far this Summer

 

[Cookie Monster]

Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.

 

[apoppin]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

with improvement coming so fast ... what has it been 5 .. maybe 6 weeks since it was released? ... and how CRAP it was ... i'd expect AMD to target that AA/AF [and bugs] next ... aren't the next cats due in a few days?

i will be glad to retest all of their benches that i can replicate at 12x10 [basically] with the newest Cats ...

it could be really [really] interesting
... i know i am really interested ... and i guess i should OC my CPU a bit further than theirs to make up for their CPU's extra cache.
--but i am NOT buying an Ultra

and CM, you gotta understand ... i proposed my "HD2900xt Dark Horse Theory" on Day One ... it is kinda exciting for me to see it fulfilling that role ... plus i got a very returnable one.

maybe ... maybe not ... but a false start has turned into a late good race

 

[ND40oz]

New Cats are out, less posting, more benching

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: ND40oz
New Cats are out, less posting, more benching

i gotta take care of my business on line ... FS/T, etc.

and it takes forever to d/l over dial-up

patience

and

thank-you !

 

[n7]

Eh, not impressed with that review TBH.

Definitely seems they only used AA testing on two games at the end, & i gotta say the review sounded very AMD slanted the way things were worded, to say the least.

Granted, the Ultras are a hilariously overpriced joke, but it still seemed pretty biased, just like how HardOCP comes across as far too nV-enamoured.

I'm gonna stick with trusting X-Bit's results for now, since at least they use AA/AF.

All that being said, it does seem that drivers are improving things for the HD 2900 XT, which is a good thing.

 

[soybeast]

I agree with n7; it sounded very slanted towards AMD.

Either way, I've been pretty happy with my 2900xt and I can't wait till Lost Planet comes out in a couple days along with the new Cats. Yay!

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: n7
Eh, not impressed with that review TBH.

Definitely seems they only used AA testing on two games at the end, & i gotta say the review sounded very AMD slanted the way things were worded, to say the least.

Granted, the Ultras are a hilariously overpriced joke, but it still seemed pretty biased, just like how HardOCP comes across as far too nV-enamoured.

I'm gonna stick with trusting X-Bit's results for now, since at least they use AA/AF.

All that being said, it does seem that drivers are improving things for the HD 2900 XT, which is a good thing.

What I didn't like from Xbit review is that they benchmarked the Radeon HD with the 7.5 and obtained the same identical result as with the older 7.4, something is fishy there while in other websites, performance has been improved. After all the Radeon HD with those VLIW fragment shaders will perform better with optimizations in the driver while the GeForce 8 will obtain almost it's maximum performance with little optimization cause of it's scalar design. Don't compare the HD with the FX because the FX design was flawed since the beginning and the optimization in the compiler were necessary to reduce register pressure and optimize the pixel shaders in different order and algorithms, the optimizations will be far more easy with the HD than with the FX cause the main goal in the driver on the Radeon HD is to try to keep busy all the pipeline as much as possible trying to execute as many ops as possible.

 

[Keysplayr]

There is a thread for this very subject over at H. Man is that a tough crowd. They are still tearing the 2900XT apart even though it is doing a bit better with this driver. ::shrugs::

H Link

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
There is a thread for this very subject over at H. Man is that a tough crowd. They are still tearing the 2900XT apart even though it is doing a bit better with this driver. ::shrugs::

H Link

Some people are born blind.

Most people choose to wear shaded glasses & becomes blind to certain colors.

Most people at Hard would fit into that latter category.

As i always say, ignorance is truely bliss.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.

Yeah, that's seems a common trend in benchmarks "favoring" this card.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

Yeah, that's seems a common trend in benchmarks "favoring" this card.

Looks like you still didnt get the 2900 does AA in a different way than any previous card

If thats a good thing or not, I dont know... Depends on alot of things

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: n7
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
There is a thread for this very subject over at H. Man is that a tough crowd. They are still tearing the 2900XT apart even though it is doing a bit better with this driver. ::shrugs::

H Link</end quote></div>

Some people are born blind.

Most people choose to wear shaded glasses & becomes blind to certain colors.

Most people at Hard would fit into that latter category.

As i always say, ignorance is truely bliss.

Lol... Even if the 2900 kicked the Ultra out of the game at 400$, people there would still complain it sucked because its a power hog and noisy

Hardforum is really a "move along, nothing to see here"

 

[tuteja1986]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

thats a lie cookie monster. Your such a fanboy. ATI AA is much quality than Nvidia AA.

8xAA ATI aa can beat up a 8xQAA Nvidia AA.
12xCFA can beatup any AA mode of Nvidia.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Wreckage
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

Yeah, that's seems a common trend in benchmarks "favoring" this card.</end quote></div>

Looks like you still didnt get the 2900 does AA in a different way than any previous card

Based on the screenshots and benchmarks I have seen, they should go back to the old way.

19xx series used to have good AA and not take such a performance hit.

With AA enabled the HD2900 compares with the GTS320 with lesser image quality.

It's rumored that they have a "new" AA mode that has not been enabled in the drivers yet. Which would be a good thing. However I don't understand touting benchmarks without AA/AF.

 

[BFG10K]

I think it's a travesty most of those benchmarks were run without AA and AF.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: n7
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
There is a thread for this very subject over at H. Man is that a tough crowd. They are still tearing the 2900XT apart even though it is doing a bit better with this driver. ::shrugs::

H Link</end quote></div>

Some people are born blind.

Most people choose to wear shaded glasses & becomes blind to certain colors.

Most people at Hard would fit into that latter category.

As i always say, ignorance is truely bliss.

tweaktown does seem slanted toward AMD ... i would have loved to see the detailed settings they used ... i guess "everything maxed"
-- except AA/AF ?

i think we have the very best video forum on the 'net - overall - right here ... plenty of info passes thru here and is subjected to critical scrutiny with plenty of input from all sides

abd ... curious .. is anyone aware of other forums doing what we are doing? -- a community benching/comparison of 2900xt vs gts ??

i think we are on the right track ... i want to look at the AA/AF implementation and be able to change the variables while keeping everything completely open to scrutiny and suggestions

i just wish i had broadband ... most of my saved patches are old
... PREY refused to run with [old] patch 1.02 ... VPU recovery after VPU recovery ... at whatever settings ... i am d/l'ing patch 1.03 and the benchmark to next to go with the latest Cats [d/ling the latest CCC, later .... not sure if they changed it ... i didn't study the release notes, but it doesn't look like they fixed that much and STALKER is not mentioned]

Keys, do you have Serious Sam2, Pacific Fighters, Riddick or DM M&M ?
... i might have already asked ... i have all these games too

i also found i have to keep my room cool to keep my CPU temps low [duh] ... in the room ambient temps in the 70s i get mid 40s ... with low 80s, it goes way up [ i AM in the desert, you know and used to 100F temps - outside]

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I think it's a travesty most of those benchmarks were run without AA and AF.

me too.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Wreckage
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

Yeah, that's seems a common trend in benchmarks "favoring" this card.</end quote></div>

Looks like you still didnt get the 2900 does AA in a different way than any previous card

</end quote></div>
Based on the screenshots and benchmarks I have seen, they should go back to the old way.

19xx series used to have good AA and not take such a performance hit.

With AA enabled the HD2900 compares with the GTS320 with lesser image quality.

It's rumored that they have a "new" AA mode that has not been enabled in the drivers yet. Which would be a good thing. However I don't understand touting benchmarks without AA/AF.

WHAT ARE YOU TAKING ABOUT BLIND FANBOY !!
http://translate.google.com/tr...prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Do you even read article properly or just make up your on rule. ATI AA mode far exceeds of Nvidia G80 you... It was AF-scaling that ATI made no improvement off.


"The 8xAA-Modus succeeded to ATi on the R600 very well and looks certainly better than nVidias 8xQAA. Even the 16xQAA must exert, in order to approach to the eightfold AA on the R600."

Neither 16xQA still another another MSAA mode approach to the result of 12xCFAA.

 

[the Chase]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

Yeah even to the GTS model in the ones ran.

I thought the first run of benches were with AA/AF and was like "wow the 2900XT is coming up to speed- looking kick butt awesome for the price".

Then I got to the other benches with AA/AF and....crap.

And yeah the AMD slant was so steep you could ski down it.

 

[tuteja1986]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: the Chase
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Except that the 2900XT loses every single AA/AF benchmark.</end quote></div>

Yeah even to the GTS model in the ones ran.

I thought the first run of benches were with AA/AF and was like "wow the 2900XT is coming up to speed- looking kick butt awesome for the price".

Then I got to the other benches with AA/AF and....crap.

And yeah the AMD slant was so steep you could ski down it.</end quote></div>

Okay so ATI redoes the drives and decrease the AA mode Quality to Nvidia level to win the benchmarks... then you will be happy .

Forget about IQ... its all about FPS now !!!

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Tuteja1986.. Are you trying to be the Gstanfor of the red side? (which is also green now, damnit! LOL)

Seriously... Theres only one admitted fanboy in this thread and he didnt even show his bias, so there was no need for that... I dont know about the AA quality, but I havent seen anyone else say the AMD card has better quality, actually its more like the opposite...

Anyway, anyone notice Tweaktown already has catalyst 7.6 results up too? Seems like there was basically no improvement... meh