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ascetic

ATI HD 2900XT Review: Best Bang for Gaming and Workstation?

Daily Tech has just recently announced some benchmarks of the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 2900XT ($449 approx). Equipped with the new R600 core, 320 Stream Processors, 512MB GDDR3 memory at 1.65GHz, an amazing 512-bit eight-channel memory interface, and of course DirectX 10 compatible. This card is expected to take on NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800GTS which ‘only’ features 96 Stream Processors and a 320-bit memory interface. This 11.5″ beast also comes with a red dual-slot cooling which fits nicely within the 9.5″ PCB.

 

Now let us see how well this card performs:

Setup:

- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700

- Intel D975XBX2 BadAxe2

- 2×1GB DDR2-800 MHz

- Fresh installed Windows XP

- 8.361 Catalyst RC4 driver for ATI card

- ForceWare 158.19 driver for NVIDIA card

 

Results:

Gaming Performance:

*Half Life 2: Episode 1 showed an abnormal framerate for the NVIDIA 8800 GTS card that scaled with lower resolutions.

Workstation Performance:

As you can see the results are quite amazing. In fact the driver being used for the test is still under testing (Beta), which supposedly should perform better if the final version arrives.

This beta testing even outperforms NVIDIA’s 8800GTS on every benchmark. And the most interesting part—at least from my point of view—is that this $449 Gaming card can surprisingly outperforms the ridiculously expensive NVIDIA’s workstation card (Quadro FX5500). Meaning that it will be a great card for 3D Designers who also have interest in playing some heavy games. It also means that this baby is optimized for both Direct3D and OpenGL based applications. So, the great news is: Those designers don’t have to waste a ridiculous $2,500 for a workstation card.

However, the results above are not yet final until the retail version and final driver arrive. The real results might just be different—faster/slower—from this beta testing. In fact it might also be different in the real world applications. Well let us just wait and see…and try

Hopefully the war between these two ‘giants’ will again continue and we—as a customer—should be prepared to get the best bang for our needs. Be wise, if ain’t for benching, don’t get confused only by numbers

Regards
Ascetic

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