Posted:2007-12-11 By Video card review Number of View:285487
GEFORCE 8800 GTS VS 8800 GT VS HD
2900 XT VS HD 3850 VS HD 3870
REVIEW BENCHMARK AND OVERCLOCKING
By :Video card review
Posted:2007-12-11
xtreview is your : Video card - cpu - memory - Hard drive - power supply unit source
Sooner or later, every games computer fan has to update its graphics accelerator to a new one. This problem was always difficult, the release of Windows Vista, new games with DirectX 10 support , including Crysis are complicating the transition task . Further difficulties are created by video producers, which not quite frequently update their graphics accelerators in a particular price ranges, but also systematically fueling an array of information about new product. Based on today\'s unacceptably low test
results in DirectX 10 games, many prefer to delay the purchase of new video card, sacrificing new games.
Furthermore, with respect to DirectX 10 for today situation where the average price range video cards (last generation graphics chips), such as the GeForce 8600 GT / GTS and Radeon HD 2600 Pro / XT do not provide a comfortable play in games, and new NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and AMD Radeon HD 3870/3850 are unable to provide it. Today we have a detailed review, checking temperature and overclocking capability , as well as examining productivity in the tens Games. All comments on the performance comparison are
based on their recommended price.....
1. Technical characteristics of today tested video card
Technical specifications are presented in the table below :
Technical characteristics
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
AMD Radeon HD 3850/3870
Graphic Processor
G80 (TSMC)
R600 (TSMC)
G92 (TSMC)
RV670 (TSMC)
Technical process, nm
90 (low-k)
80 (low-k)
65 (low-k)
55 (low-k)
Core Area
484
420
í/ä n / a
408
The number of transistors in million
681
700
754
666
Graphics processor Frequency , MHz
513 (1188 shader)
740 (506 in 2D- mode)
600 (1512 shader)
670 / 775 (297 in 2D- mode)
Effective video card frequency, MHz
1584
1650 (1026 in 2D- mode)
1800
1660 / 2250
The amount of memory in MB
320 / 640
512 / 1024
256 / 512
256 (512) / 512
Type of supported memory
GDDR3
GDDR3
GDDR3
GDDR3 / GDDR4
Memory system bus , Bit
320
512
256
Interface
PCI Express x16 (v1.x)
PCI-Express x16 (v2.0)
The number of unified stream processors .
96
320
112
320
The number of texture units.
24
16
56 (28) 56 (28)
16
The number of blocks (ROP\'s) pieces.
20
16
16
Vertex Shaders / Pixel Shaders
4.0 / 4.0
4.1
Video memory bandwidth, Gb / s.
~61.9
~ 106.0
~57.6
~53 / ~72
Theoretical maximum fill rate speed Gpiks. / s.
~12.0
~ 12.0
~9.6
~ 10.7 / ~ 12.4
Theoretical maximum speed ( sample patterns ) Gteks. / s.
~ 24.0
~ 12.0
~ 33.6
~ 10.7 / ~ 12.4
Peak power in 3D mode, Watt
~ 106
~ 161
<110
<95 / <105
Power unit Requirements, Watt
~ 400
~ 550 (750 for CrossFire)
~ 400
~ 350 / ~ 400
Video card Dimensions (reference design) mm
228 õ 100 õ 39
241 x 100 x 40
220 õ 100 õ 15
220 x 100 x 15/35
Connection
2 õ DVI-I (Dual-Link), TV-Out, HDTV-Out, HDCP
2 x DVI (Dual- 2 x DVI (Dual- Link), TV-Out, Link), TV-Out, HDTV-Out
2 x DVI-I (Dual-Link) TV-Out, HDTV-Out, HDCP
Additonally
SLI support
CrossFire support
SLI support
CrossFire support
The recommended price in dollars
359 ~ 399
~ 399
199 / 249
~ 159 / ~ 199 *
XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb DDR3 (PV-T80G-TDF4)
GeForce 8800 GTS are not novelties in the market of graphics accelerators. In Today's review XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb DDR3 (PV-T80G-TDF4) is build on base of G80.
A small but heavy box . On its face we have the company name and game Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions picture .
On the back side we can see the video card cooling system .
Here is the Video card on its package :
Below the card we have the packed accessories:
one 15 pin DVI / D-Sub;
S-Video cable;
Video connectors;
Drivers CD ;
DVD games with Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions;
User instructions for installing video cards and drivers.
The XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb DDR3 is an exact copy of the reference design with the green PCB :
Video card cooling system is placed over the hole card :
Two DVI-I (dual link) and TV- out on the rear panel :
Cooling system is mounted on the PCB through eight screws :
At the top of PCB the MIO connector allow to combine a pairs of such video card in SLI operation mode . At peak load the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB with default frequencies consumes about 106 Watt.
The Graphic processor G80 refers to a new revision A3, which should overclock higher than A2 .
This chip is released in Taiwan on the 36 weeks of the year (in September). The clock frequency in 2D and 3D modes are the same and equal to 513 MHz . Shader domain operates at 1188 MHz.
The Ten memory chip GDDR3 are made by Samsung company:
The memory access time is 1.2 NS (K4J52324QE-BC12), which corresponds to 1667 MHz theoretical frequency (effective). But here the memory operates at 1584 MHz .
Cooling system is completely reference. Copper base with two flat heat pipe in contact with the graphic processor through the thick layer of dense thermal past :
Using the test Firefly Forest from 3DMark 2006 with the resolution 1680 x 1050 +16xAA and 4x AF and Room temperature equal to 24.5 ~ 25 deg .Here is the result obtained :
Quite modest for modern graphics processor heating standards . At 2100 rpm the noise became barely visible against the quiet Systems unit , At the maximum rotation speed the video card temperature dropped noticeably :
However, the maximum 2800 rpm result in 37.6 DB witch still acceptable for a brief time, but it is clearly not comfortable for long term use.
Without loss in stability and images quality the graphics processor was able to overclock up to 675 MHz (+32% from the default value), and the video memory up to 2000 MHz (+26% from the default value)! These frequencies was made with reference cooling system and without any volt mod:
Now, we check again the graphics card temperatures (fan set to automatic):
GPU temperature exceeded 90 degrees Celsius and 70 degrees video card temp , such high temperature for graphics cards become normal not only in the highest price ranges, but in the average class also. It remains to add that this video card is now considered as the cheapest and lowest among other video card produced by XFX company ( GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb ) . The Retail price for XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb DDR3 varies around 380 dollars.
The next graphics card is the XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb DDR3 XXX, which was provided to us for tests without package.
Green PCB, one slot cooling and complete reference design cooling system . Here we have only one MIO connector, so we can forget about the triple sli.
This Video card is equipped with PCI-Express interface (version 2.0), dual link DVI and one TV out :
Here is the card without cooling system :
NVIDIA place the memory chips around the graphic processor, just as NVIDIA GeForce 7900. The length of PCB is 220 mm, witch is only 8 mm shorter than the GeForce 8800 GTS. In the upper Right side is located the four pin power connector . According to the specifications, in peak load the GeForce 8800 GT consumes less than 110 Watt, therefore such card require an adequate power supply (at least 400 Watt with at least 18-20 A in the 12v line ). Note the simplified power scheme in comparison with the GeForce 8800
GTS.
Unlike The older and more expensive GeForce 8800 GTS , The graphics core do not have a protective cover :
It is not difficult also to notice the smaller core area due to modern standards . Let us recall that in the thin 65-nm technical process the G92 chip have 73 million transistors witch is even more than in 90-nm G80. Our XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb DDR3 XXX graphics core was released in Taiwan in the 40 weeks this year and applies to the A2 revision . Core Frequency is 670 MHz and the shader domain operate at 1700 MHz! NVIDIA specifications for the GeForce 8800 GT is 600 MHz for the GPU and 1512
MHz for the shader domain.
This Video Card is equipped with 8 chip memory standard GDDR3 with the total of 512 MB. The memory system bus is equal to 256 bits. Chip Producer is Qimonda company .
The chips-HYB18H512321BF-10 are rated at 1.0 NS access with theoretical effective frequency 2000 MHz. However, the memory operates at 1950 MHz, which is also above the specifications for the GeForce 8800 GT (1800 MHz).
Now here is the cooling system for the GeForce 8800 GT:
The one slot cooling system has a copper base and aluminum radiator .
We placed in the graphics card Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 radiator with 120-mm fan from Glacial-Tech ( speed ~ 950 rpm ):
We Checked the temperature using the same methodology as for the GeForce 8800 GTS :
It is clear that at default frequencies the GeForce 8800 GT equipped with high-performance air cooler, has been very modest in heat .
We Check the video card overclocking capability with the same cooling system. As result, without any loss in stability and images quality we achieved 729 MHz frequencies on the graphic processor (1836 MHz shader domain) and 2036 MHz memory frequency :
GPU overclock impress since the default frequency for the G92 was increased by 21.5% ! But here we expected higher clock from the 1.0- NS memory chips.
Again, we check the video card temperatures (Now overclocked):
Note that even with overclocked setting the core temperature do not exceeded 60 degrees Celsius.
The recommended maximum value for the GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB is 249 dollars, the prices of such video cards is too high today.
Power-Color Radeon HD 3850 512 Mb and Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256 Mb
Now we pass to two new video card Power-Color Radeon HD 3850 512 Mb and Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256 Mb. The first comes in an interesting box with a vertical orientation :
The face side identifies the type and amount of graphics card memory, interfaces in addition to a small cooling system photo. The lower box side is filled by Power-Color graphics card specifications in several languages , describing the graphic processor technologies.
Sapphire Products has a new look for their packages :
Here is the video card Package :
Power-Color
one 15 pin DVI / D-Sub;
S-Video cable;
S-Video entry component cable;
cable to connect the supplementary video card power;
flexible connecting bridge (CrossFire);
Drivers CD ;
Instructions for installing the video cards and drivers.
Sapphire
one adapter 15 pin DVI / D-Sub;
DVI to HDMI adapter;
Flexible connecting bridge (CrossFire);
S-Video entry component cable;
Adapter DVI-to-HDMI;
Coupon for Half-Life 2;
Cable to connect the supplementary video card power;
Drivers CD ;
3DMark 2006 CD (including all the latest patches);
CD with Power DVD;
CD DVD Suite software;
User instruction in several languages.
It is clear that Sapphire video card is much richer in terms of software as well as adapters and cables.
Let us look to the graphics card:
We Immediately note that Power Color Radeon HD 3850 has an original cooling system from ZERO-therm. company . But the video card from Sapphire used the reference Radeon HD 3850 cooling. Both video cards has a red colored PCB with a length equal to 220 mm.
PCB of Sapphire video card correspond to the reference design, but Power-Color card has its own PCB design:
At the top of the two card we has a pair of interfaces for combining two, three or four video card in CrossFire mode.
Video card from Power-Color is equipped with a HDMI- connector, replacing one dual link DVI.
Without cooling system the PCB of both video card was identical, so below we listed only one photo :
All video memory is located on the front card side . In the upper right corner we have the additional power connector . Power Requirements for the Radeon HD 3850 is slightly lower than the GeForce 8800 GT or Radeon HD 3870 . What is needed is the power with no less than 350 ~ 400 Watt with 18-20 A in the 12v channel . But the peak input power, according to the specifications must not exceed 95 Watt.
Here is the Video chip :
RV670 crystal Area is only 408 kmm witch is even lower than the G92. The frequency of the graphics processor for the enhanced PowerColor Radeon HD 3850 is 720 MHz. Sapphire video card GPU frequency is 670 MHz (668 MHz according to monitoring). In 2D- mode the frequencies of both graphics processors drop to 297 MHz.
Both video cards are equipped with memory chips GDDR3 from Samsung company production :
Chips from PowerColor are K4J52324QE-BJ1A; and for Sapphire - K4J55323QI-BJ11. The memory access time is equal to 1.0 ns for the first card and 1.1 ns in the second. The effective memory frequency for the enhanced PowerColor Radeon HD 3870 is equal to 1800 MHz, while the memory in Sapphire card operates
at standard frequency 1656 MHz. However, the main difference between the graphics card is not the increased frequencies or the cooling system, but the twice larger memory volume ! Instead of typical Radeon HD 3850 256 MB ( PowerColor) we have Radeon HD 3850 with 512 Mb memory .
Here is now the two cooling system :
The Construction of cooler from the virtually unknown to us ZEROtherm company is very similar to Zalman VF900-Cu LED. Two thermal tubes with large number of thin copper slice. The fan speed is not controlled automatically or manually. So The noise level is high .
The one slot cooling system in Sapphire card consists on copper base and small fan:
The fan speed is automatically regulated.
In my opinion this is a very high temperature for video card in average price segment. At least the cooler noise level is not too high (only 48% of its maximum speed), while in 2D the fan work in quite regime . At 100% speed , the cooling system becomes too noisy and clearly not acceptable. But the high noise level is compensated by the increased cooling efficiency:
The use of active Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 generally makes the temperature even better :
Here is the result of ZEROtherm cooling in PowerColor card :
This is pretty good result but it is far from Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 .
Let us check the Radeon HD 3850 overclocking capability . Using Accelero S1 and default cooler we get an identical result . PowerColor Radeon HD 3850 512 Mb overclock to 776/2000 MHz, and Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256 Mb up to 763/2000 MHz.
Here is the temperature in the overclocked state:
The cost of video Radeon HD 3850 was reduced from the recommended earlier 179 dollars to $ 159.
HIS Radeon HD 3870 512 Mb and Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 512 Mb
The latest card in our today review are HIS Radeon HD 3870 512 Mb and Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 512 Mb.
Adaptator DVI to HDMI;
One Adaptator 15 pin DVI / D-Sub;
Flexible connecting bridge ( CrossFire );
S-Video entry component cable;
Adapter DVI-to-HDMI;
Cable to connect the supplementary video card power;
Drivers CD and overclock utility;
guide;
Half-Life 2 coupon.
One Adaptator 15 pin DVI / D-Sub;
Adaptator DVI to HDMI;
Flexible connecting bridge ( CrossFire );
S-Video entry component cable;
Adapter DVI-to-HDMI;
Half-Life 2 coupon.
Cable to connect the supplementary video card power;
Drivers CD
3DMark 2006 CD (including all the latest patches);
CD with PowerDVD;
CD DVD Suite softwaresoftware;
User instruction in several languages.
The two video card met the reference design :
AMD Radeon HD 3870 has the size 220 x 100 x 32 mm:
Interface: two DVI and TV out:
In addition, the graphics card has a pair of connector for CrossFire mode. According to AMD specifications , the Radeon HD 3870 for the normal operation require power supply capacity of 400 Watt with not less than 18-20 A in the 12v channel . peak power for the Radeon HD 3870 should not exceed 105 Watt.
Video card cooling system is mounted only with four screws :
Let us look to the graphic processor image :
The GPU frequency is the same according to monitoring data and it is equal to 776 MHz (specifications for the Radeon HD 3870 GPU is 775 MHz). In 2D mode the GPU frequencies also drop to 297 MHz.
Both video cards are equipped with 512 MB GDDR4 standard from Samsung company production :
The chip-K4U52324QE-BC08, is rated at 0.8 ns, and the theoretical effective frequency is 2500 MHz. In both Radeon HD 3870 the memory operates at 2250 MHz. The memory system bus is equal to 256 bits.
The cooling system design is one slot and extremely simple.
With such high frequency the cooling system efficiency will heavily depend on the fan rotation speed . The latter is released by NTK Technologies company:
The fan speed is automatically regulated depending on the graphics processor temperature .
Here is the memory cooling system :
In the automatic mode the fan rotate at 43% witch is relatively quiet. In This case the graphics processor temperature reaches 91 degree Celsius:
At the very noisy 100% speed, as expected, the cooling efficiency increases sharply :
The GPU temperature does not exceed 60 degrees Celsius. An excellent result for efficiency, but an unacceptable level of noise and comfort.
With active Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 , the graphics core do not go above 56 degrees:
Both video cards was overclocked using Accelero S1. HIS overclock up to 857/2520 MHz, and Sapphire a bit worse with 850/2500 MHz. Graphics processor Temperatures do not go over 63 degrees Celsius:
The Radeon HD 3870 in retail Exceeds the recommended price and the cheapest graphics card is offered for 356 dollars.
Power supply: Enermax Galaxy EGA1000EWL 1000 Watt ;
Monitor: 22 inch LG L226WTQ-WF Flatron (1680 x 1050, DVI, 70 Hz).
The Central processor was overclocked to 3500 MHz with 1.55 v :
In this case the memory operated at 1170 MHz with 5-5-5-9 latency and 2.25 V.
DirectX 9 tests were in the operating system, Windows XP Professional Edition SP2 (with the latest updates). Motherboard chipset Drivers are , Intel Chipset Drivers version 8.6.0.1006. Video drivers: Catalyst 7.11 for AMD Radeon and ForceWare 169.09 for NVIDIA GeForce. For DirectX 10 tests we used Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (also with the latest updates), which ForceWare and Catalyst from the same versions.
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (Direct3D 9) - version 1.08, embedded benchmark, Maximum graphics settings , Soft Shadows = Off;
Prey (OpenGL) - version 1.3, maximum quality, demo-zapis ;
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (Direct3D 9) - version 1,004, includes full dynamic lighting and other settings maximum quality graphics ;
Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Direct3D 9) – version 1.1, maximum quality, HDR .
Windows Vista Ultimate Edition x86 preSP1
Call of Juarez Bench (Direct3D 10) - maximum graphics quality settings in benchmark but shadows disabled;
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions (Direct3D 10), version 1.4, graphics level = Maximum quality, HDR Rendering Medium-built bench;
World in Conflict (Direct3D 10), version 1.0.0.2 (b82), a profile of graphics quality we used Very High , UI texture quality = Compressed; Water reflection size = 512; DirectX 10 rendering activated;
PT Boats Knights of the sea Bench (Direct3D 10) - maximum graphics quality settings, smoothing fullscreen not used due to the too low frame rate ;
Crysis (Direct3D 10) - version 1.0, profile settings Very High, a triple test loop , Crysis Benchmark Tool version 1.05.
Here is the complete list of the tested video card :
Radeon HD 3850 256 MB 668/1656 MHz @ 763/2000 MHz;
Radeon HD 3850 512 MB 668/1656 MHz @ 776/2000 MHz;
Radeon HD 3870 512 MB 776/2250 MHz @ 857/2520 MHz;
Radeon HD 3870 CrossFire 2 x 512 MB 776/2250 MHz @ 850/2500 MHz.
4. Performance results :
We begin as always with the synthetic benchmark from Futuremark company .
3DMark 2006
Here Both Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870 are placed in ascending order, according to their recommended price, given that the 512-MB version (HD 3850) has a slight advantage over the 256-mb card. The Radeon HD 3870 in default mode slightly lag behind its oldest Radeon HD 2900 XT, but thanks to the higher overclocking potential . Among the leaders we have the single GeForce 8800 GT. The Couple HD 3870 in CrossFire mode is outside the competition.
Now the same test but with anisotropy filtering and fullscreen smoothing :
In principle, radical changes are happening. The GeForce 8800 GT became faster and the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb is moving to the second place . The Radeon HD 2900 XT as earlier lost productivity dramatically with the inclusion of qualitative regimes. This is the same situation for the Radeon HD 3850, and HD 3870, based on the RV670.
Now the results in real games.
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Here we can see exactly the same figure as in 3DMark 2006. The Radeon HD 3850, and HD 3870 are Ranked on productivity and cost , slightly faster then the Radeon HD 2900 XT. CrossFire operates brilliantly from the high productivity side but glitches and image defects were observed.
Prey
First, we have a substantial difference in performance between the Radeon HD 3850 256 Mb and the same graphics card, but with higher memory volume . In the "Easy" mode differences in speed is not so visible, but in qualitative regime the difference in literally visible in the gameplay.
We note the equality between the Radeon HD 2900 XT and Radeon HD 3870. In addition, the Radeon HD 3850 512 MB lag behind the HD 3870, even with its higher frequency . This is due to low latency in GDDR3 memory against GDDR4 .
With full-smoothing and filtering the 8800 GTS begin to take the lead .
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- Shadow of Chernobyl
If in all previous tests, we have seen a not so noticeable lag betweeen the Radeon HD 3870 and the GeForce 8800 GT, STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl has thee advantage of new NVIDIA video card . The difference in productivity between the Radeon HD 3850 256 MB and 512 MB will be visible in game especially in the resolution 1680 x 1050. The CrossFire pair demonstrate an excellent scalability in STALKER.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Anniversary Test results do not bring any new leader. But CrossFire failure in this game is clear .
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions
As you know, embedded in game Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions benchmark consists on two test scenes: Snow (snow) and Cave (Cave). Here is both result :
In the two different scenes CrossFire works differently. The Snow test demonstrate an excellent productivity growth while Cave show a complete failure. Otherwise, nothing new, except superiority of the GeForce 8800 GT over all other cards.
Call of Juarez Bench (DirectX 10)
The first and the last victory in today test for the Radeon HD 3870 over the GeForce 8800 GT took place in Call of Juarez game , but only in one mode . Unfortunately, the architecture of R6xx is not optimized for AA and AF . The couple of Radeon HD 3870 is an evident winner.
World in Conflict (DirectX 10)
Almost the same picture as in Call of Juarez . Radeon graphics card and drivers are not yet optimized for AA and AF, as the drop in performance is critical, and CrossFire is not functioning in principle.
PT Boats Knights of the sea Bench (DirectX 10)
Only two video card has an acceptable performance for a comfortable game play. CrossFire again Fail......
Crysis
Crysis Tests was strange for some reasons .Here is what we observed Under Windows XP using the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB in the High Quality mode .
Now the same test, but with full-smoothing 4 x and filtration level 16 x:
Obviously, the 256-Megabyte graphics card will be limited in performance .
We was unable to test all Radeon graphics card in Windows XP and Direct3D 9 . The Installation of proposed hotfix- AMD, Catalyst 7.10 and the last affordable Catalyst 7.11 have not affected the result. The GeForce 8800 GT and GTS under DirectX 9 has stable frames rate level 25-40 frame per second, depending on the quality and resolution .
Under Windows Vista x86 there is no problems with graphics cards from AMD :
5. Test Summary
The first chart demonstrates the advantage in performance for the Radeon HD 3870 512 MB over the Radeon HD 3850 256 MB:
The difference in the recommended price is 25% (from $ 199 to $ 159,) .
The second figure show the Radeon HD 3870 vs the GeForce 8800 GT:
Here, the average advantage of the GeForce 8800 GT over the cheaper Radeon HD 3870 is in the 27 ~ 33% . At the same time, the GeForce 8800 GT cost is 25% higher than the Radeon HD 3870.
And finally a summary chart with the results of GeForce 8800 GT and GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB :
The GeForce 8800 GT on average is faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB by 14% !
Conclusion
Let 's evaluate all the new items, Tested today, in turn. AMD Radeon HD 3850 256 ÌB is approaching the most profitable acquisition with 200 dollars. The GeForce 8800 GT with 256 MB memory volume and the recommended price 199 dollars do not have competitors ( the HD 3850 is far in performance ). The Radeon HD 3850 with 512 Mb memory volume still competitive, as well as the 256 MB but for new today games this is not enough.
The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT was the fastest graphics card on the totality of today's tests : Absence of problems with drivers in the tested today game , high overclock capacity but a noisy cooling system
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