bit-tech News: Winter 2008 Graphics Performance Update

[news 28]

Hi all,

 

We have just published our *Winter 2008 Graphics Performance Update* -

if you could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated.

 

*Link:*

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/11/10/winter-2008-graphics-performance-update/1

 

 

*Picture:*

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/11/winter-2008-graphics-performance-update/fp_img.jpg

 

 

*Quote:

*/If you are looking for more performance than that, the GeForce GTX 280

looks to be a good option now and we¡¦d dare say it¡¦s a better option

than the Radeon HD 4850 X2, especially as a stock GTX 280 is a good ¢G50

cheaper. Admittedly there are times when the 4870 X2 will completely

blitz the GTX 280, but there are just as many examples where the

dual-GPU behemoth will suffer from performance inconsistencies like

those we saw in our Far Cry 2 DirectX 9.0 tests thanks to unoptimised

drivers or engine limitations. The bad news is that official driver

support from AMD isn¡¦t coming until January, so 4870 X2 owners may well

feel a little let down by AMD's drivers here.

 

The other interesting thing we¡¦ve learned from our new testing is that

the GeForce 9800 GTX+ is now a much more compelling option compared to

the Radeon HD 4850. OK, so it¡¦s not as clear cut as, say, choosing the

4870 1GB over either the 4870 512MB or GeForce GTX 260+ and there are

times when the 4850 is quite a lot faster than the 9800 GTX+, but there

are now some scenarios where the 9800 GTX+ is notably faster ¡V we just

couldn¡¦t say that just a few short months ago.

 

Looking at both Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 shows that Nvidia is now

offering at least comparable, if not better performance than the

competition from AMD in the latest titles. I¡¦m sure AMD has its own

optimisations to do in these games as well, but things are looking a lot

more promising for Nvidia at the moment.

 

A driver update can¡¦t turn the world upside down though and AMD still

holds a clear performance lead with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 when the

drivers and game engine allow ¡V that¡¦s unlikely to change any time soon

as well, based on what we¡¦ve been hearing. In short then, the Radeon HD

4870 1GB is still the card we'd spend our own money on at the moment,

but the playing field isn¡¦t quite as clear elsewhere as it used to be ¡V

that¡¦s a good thing for consumers though, as there¡¦s now not really a

bad buy in sight any more./*

 

*Cheers guys!

 

Tim Smalley

www.bit-tech.net