ATI versus Nvidia – Stop the Benching!

[andresmal]

After attending a Lan Party this weekend, I have vowed never to attend another in my life. The venue was brilliant as to be expected from the people from Thermaltake. Instead of enjoying a day of intense game play, the entire afternoon was spend bickering over hard ware performance, and very little game play. I do believe this was not a unique incident, and that several Lan Party’s suffer from a distinct lack of game play.

You might wonder what the fuss is all about, for the last few years the war between ATI and Nvidia has escalated, and now it reached a new level of absurdity. The argument as to what makes a good gaming graphic card is an open one and I do not believe there is a simple answer for this. I believe it all boils down to what the user demand from the system and the type of game play the user prefer. To put it in simple terms the best graphics card will be the one that can sustain the highest constant frame rate per second throughout the game. This brings us to another question “How many frames per second are sufficient?” Yet again this argument is open to debate, but my believe is that any graphics card that can produce a stable frame rate of 30 frames per second on 1024 x 768 Dpi, 4 X AA, high detail is more than sufficient.

We all agree that certain games perform better on one graphics card than another. This phenomenon is caused by the game programmers and is not due to a lack of design on the part of the graphic card manufactures. Game programmers can sabotage the performance of a game on a specific graphic card in the development faze of the game; the best example of this is Quake 4. ATI scores much lower in Quake 4 although ATI outperforms Nvidia in almost all the other titles on the shelf.

Set out below is the average frame rate per second from all the latest and so called greatest graphics cards money can buy. The tests were conducted with the following settings: 1024 x 768 High Detail 4 X AA.



Sapphire Sapphire Sapphire Nvidia Nvidia Nvidia
X1600XT X1800XT X1900XTX 7800GT 7900GT 7900GTX
Age of Empires (Fps) 21.3 53.7 83.6 42.6 57.2 64.0
4x AA 1024 x 768
Black & White 2 14.0 42.1 46.1 25.5 33.7 42.1
4x AA 1024 x 768
Call of Duty 2 16.1 29.1 59.4 36.0 43.5 48.5
4x AA 1024 x 768
F.E.A.R 33.0 70.0 76.0 34.0 59.0 75.0
4x AA 1024 x 768
Quake 4 49.8 86.8 89.6 99.0 101.0 102.0
4x AA 1024 x 768
Serious Sam 2 21.6 49.0 52.9 43.8 46.6 53.6
4x AA 1024 x 768
3D Mark 2006 825 1773 2166 1435 1860 2132

Overall Performance 26.0 55.1 67.9 46.8 56.8 64.2
Avarege FPS


To wrap up the argument we can clearly see that there is very little difference between our top contenders the ATI X 1900 XTX and the Nvidia 7900 GTX. When you take in account the 30 frames per second recommendation neither of these graphic cards have anything to worry about.

Clearly the best by is the ATI X1900XTX and it is very cool, with its new water cooling system this is the really the dogs bullocks and will make your mates go green with envy. The second best thing about the ATI X1900 XTX is the price, no argument there and they do provide superb value for money.

Clearly the main decision making factor in this case would be personal taste, all these graphic cards with the exception of the ATI X 1600XT, will perform beautifully in most game environments.

You might wonder what the outcome was of the game play at the Lan Party, the winner played on an old outdated system with a Sapphire 9600 All in One Wonder Pro 128Mb. This only goes to prove that no matter how good your system is it cannot cure a useless player. I you want to bench I suggest you get a gym contract and leave the game playing to the real enthusiasts.

Article written by: Andre Smal
Red Dog Technologies South Africa
http://www.reddog.co.za
September 27, 2006