ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 and NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650: Taking on DX9
by Andrew Ku on September 14, 2003 11:04 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness is one of the first playable titles to use DX9’s pixel shader 2.0. The title has a built-in benchmark, but it auto detects hardware settings and selects the optimal quality settings for the best game play. In this case, the GeForce FX Go5650 was auto-detected, and the game selected lower quality settings than it did on the Mobility Radeon 9600. We ran the benchmark in four different settings to give an idea of the different code paths, and the respective ability of each graphics processors to run through each scenario. As the character [Lara Croft] ran through the pipes and waded through water, the image quality of each scenario reflected the settings we set.
As we bump up to higher and higher code paths, we see the differential between the two mobile graphic processors increase, as well. The Mobility Radeon 9600 takes a 51%, 88%, 96%, and a 181% lead, respectfully. When we hit the DX9 code path, the scores on both ends get to be extremely low and actual game play becomes unreasonable. While Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness is DX9, it is still nothing like the use of DX9 in Half-Life 2. Read on to see those benchmarks.
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Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#34 you clearly have no idea how reviews work. AnandTech isn't going to use BETA (I repeat, BETA) drivers for a review like this, or any review for that matter unless the review specifically concentrates on the drivers themselves. In addition, the laptops tested and any laptop you can find right now is shipping with 44 or 45 series NVIDIA drivers.Besides, the BETA 50 series of drivers already look suspicious with slightly lower IQ and the absence of fog present in HL2. What other little IQ degradation are in these drivers is anyone's guess.
Point is, AnandTech did exactly what they should of done, not use the 50 series drivers until they're ready to go, or WHQL'ed in other words.
By the way, get a clue NVIDIOT.
Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#34 - You, sir, are a moron. Yeah, download the Det50 drivers and see what happens when nVidia converts all DX9 calls to DX8. Why not just set the game to DX8 yourself and save all the smoke and mirrors? Go ahead and pay $500 for a DX8 graphics card if you're that stupid.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#27 Probavly you just can´t get reasonable frame rates on DX9 environments. They both look amazing in DX 8 games but can´t handle high quality DX 9. That´s why 25 is upset with the lack of focus of the reviewer. Wait the next train, because there is no first seat class in this wagon.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Why can't you answer the question people have asked? Did you use the Det 50 driver? The answer is NO. Say it NO! You used NVIDIA 44.82. Your results are invalid. Are you guys biased or what? Is ATYT paying you off as well. Download 51.75 and run the test. Then tell us what you see. What a bunch of CRAP.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#26 - if nVidia reduces video quality, they have to be penalized for that. You have to level the IQ playing field before you can compare frame rates. Nvidia lost, give it a rest.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
and a Voodoo PC M460 M10, a Targa M10 (in Germany), a Gericomm M10 (Germany), an Acetbis Peacock M10 (Germany), and ATI told me that there will be 5 more in North America by the end of October.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
M10 won all the tests, and full DX9 (24-bit, according to Microsoft). What more DX9 do you want? Do you work at nVidia or something?Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Sxotty - you're such an immature little bonehead. Are you saying that Nvidia should have won this review? ATI is crushing nVidia at 24-bit, even when nVidia is running in 12/16. And do you really believe the BS spin coming from nVidia that turning off the fog was 'a bug'?Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Actually, the reviewer used nVidia's latest shipping mobile drivers -- and if you go any NV31M notebook manufacturer's site, you'll see that the ones he uses are in fact the ones posted.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
There is an 9600 PRO laptop available - it's the Sager NP5680. My father is buying one today. Here's the link: http://www.powernotebooks.com/products.php3?displa...