Voodoo Envy M:855 Part 1 - Athlon 64 DTR and Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro
by Andrew Ku on November 4, 2003 5:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Splinter Cell IQ - 1_1_2Tbilisi
Splinter Cell has three codepaths: Class 2, Class 1, and Class 0. ATI’s Rxx and R3xx use the Class 1 codepath, while NVIDIA’s NV2x and NV3x use the Class 2 codepath.
Class 2 Graphic Adaptors:
NV2x/NV3x chips
Dynamic Lighting system = Shadow Buffer
Vertex position modifiers = Yes
Light beams stopped by depth texturing = Yes
Pixel Shader effects/filters/water = Yes
Reflection/Details texturing/Specular = Yes
Class 1 Graphic Adaptors:
R2xx/R3xx/Parhelia/Xabre 200/Xabre 400/Xabre 600/chips/Creative P9
Dynamic Lighting system = Shadow Projector
Vertex position modifiers = No
Light beams stopped by depth texturing = No
Pixel Shader effects/filters/water = Yes
Reflection/Details texturing/Specular = Yes
This does means that some visual effects will be different between the two hardware solutions, as the codepaths are different. Class 2 graphic adapters can run as Class 2, Class 1, and Class 0, while Class 1 graphic adapters can run as Class 1 and Class 0. Forced emulation is possible, but by default, the hardware will chose the appropriate codepath intended. We ran everything by default, which means that two different codepaths were used.
We originally believed that the Class 2 graphic adapters would output a possibly higher image quality then Class 1, due to the naming derivative. However, the image quality issue isn’t all black and white. Instead, we have found scenarios that seem support both sides of the spectrum.
The last pair of pictures shows a stark example between the two codepaths. NVIDIA’s GeForce FX Go5650 won’t show the explosion of the computer when shot at, while ATI’s Mobility Radeon 9600 and Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro will. This is concurrent in the desktop products, as well. So it seems that ATI’s hardware is doing more work in this scenario, despite still coming out well on top (even when considering the CPU scaling). Meanwhile, the pixel shader use seems to be a bit more smoothed out on NVIDIA hardware (the first and second pair of pictures), but we do have some reservations over the quality of the pixel shaders used. We will let you be the judge...
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
24 Comments
View All Comments
Shalmanese - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
Well, seeing as this is the first 9600 based production notebook they have in the lab in the moment, its kinda hard to bench it against any others. WHEN they review the Sager, I'm sure they will have the Voodoo benchie in there.ssamurai26 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
Ok, who makes the closest notebook to the Voodoo then?Locutus4657 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
No offence.... But why didn't you compare the preformance of this notebook v. several other notebooks when it came to game preformance... I'm more than a little dissapointed to see yet another ATI/nVidia comparison in what should be a comparison of finished notebook products.KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
#7: AnandTech doesnt get paid to do reviews. What a troll. Did you even notice Andrew wrote this review and not Anand? I'm writing this on a Sager by the way.Kristopher
petz - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
"Up to par" with DELL's best? Is that what you call 50 to 100% higiher FPS on every benchmark?Madcat207 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
In NO way is AW the closest.Unless your taking about the deepest pockets......
ssamurai26 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
Yes, would have been nice to see some competition in there. It was interesting none the less, but it even says in the review that the closest competitor is Alienware. And Alienware has both fx5600go and M10 in their machines.Madcat207 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link
Andrew, that is fine, but it still doesnt explain why there was no comparable model tested. Was Anand not paid enough to test a Sager along with it?Boonesmi - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - link
unlike some of the folks above, i liked the review... and im looking forward to part 2 (part 2 will have the info im more interested in)Andrew Ku - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - link
There is a reason that this can still be called a 9600 Pro. First of all, the revelation of the requirements for the Pro name only came to light in the last 48 hours. Sager themselves wouldn't have known about this until recently.