790GX vs Radeon 9600(se?)

[crazyhandpuppet]

Now, I don't want this to be a "Rate My Build" type of post, but sometimes it is difficult to find comparables across different generations of hardware.

My wife's PC is currently a P4 2.8 w/ 1GB DDR400 and a Radeon 9600(se?). I think it's an SE although it has 256MB of RAM.

I'm trying to figure out if the integrated video in the 790GX will perform better than the old Video Card. I know the HD3300 in the 790GX performs about as well as a 3470 and the HD3200 in the 780G is about as good as a 3450, but I can't seem to find any good results in older titles for those cards for me to directly compare with the Radeon 9600. Something like 3DMark03 for example. Most of the types of games played on that PC are RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Rise of Legends, older games like that. However, at its current state it can even play Supreme Commander, though at a lower detail. I'm trying to figure out if it is a step down, up or lateral. Adding a card later is fine, but I'm waiting to see if PowerExpress-like feature is implemented.

I'm building this to provide ample power now and that so when the Phenom is EOLed we can step up big for cheap with a new processor and video card. I'm trying to build this new machine with a very low idle energy requirement and this seems to do a good job with good power. Just can't figure out how the current VC and future IGP compare...

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I'm pretty sure that the 790GX will kill a 9600.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I think you must have a Radeon 9600 because the SE version maxed out at 128mb. There may have been an SE with 256mb but it would only have a 64-bit RAM bus as opposed to the 128-bit on the standard Radeon 9600.

There are several AMD 780g chipset motherboards now available with 128mb - 128-bit onboard 'sideport' DDR3 memory at 1066MHz or 1333MHz OC (comes 'standard' on the 790gx). IIRC the RAM speed on the 9600 was 400MHz.

The 780g / 790gx IGP chip is a die-shunk Radeon HD2400XT with a 700MHz GPU clock. I think the 9600 was 325MHz GPU clock.

So I would guess anyway you look at it the 780g/790gx IGP is easily twice as fast as the 9600/9600SE (if not as much as 3x).

The only question is then whether you need the extra x16 PCIe Gen2 slot of the 790gx (or sb750) ???

 

[JPB]

:shocked:

My wife's pc still has a Radeon 9600 AGP in it.

This integrated part is almost 3x faster than that ??

 

[crazyhandpuppet]

Is there another global database like 3DMark's? Does Source have one? I have a hard time believing it's 2x-3x faster even if the clocks are that high. There are so many other factors. If it is, that'd be great, but I'd still like to find some hard numbers. (Even soft and squishy numbers will be ok.)

@heyheybooboo - Do I need the extra x16 PCIe Gen2 slot of the 790gx (or sb750)? Right now no. But why handicap myself? I'll need one in the future for expansion so why not 2? And the 790GX will only be a few dollars more than the 780G once it all sorts out. I'm thinking of putting this build together next month so that will give the vendors a few more weeks to get their products sorted out. And with NewEgg there is always the change of a good combo deal.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: crazyhandpuppet
Is there another global database like 3DMark's? Does Source have one? I have a hard time believing it's 2x-3x faster even if the clocks are that high. There are so many other factors. If it is, that'd be great, but I'd still like to find some hard numbers. (Even soft and squishy numbers will be ok.)

@heyheybooboo - Do I need the extra x16 PCIe Gen2 slot of the 790gx (or sb750)? Right now no. But why handicap myself? I'll need one in the future for expansion so why not 2? And the 790GX will only be a few dollars more than the 780G once it all sorts out. I'm thinking of putting this build together next month so that will give the vendors a few more weeks to get their products sorted out. And with NewEgg there is always the change of a good combo deal.

I seem to recall THG overclocking the GPU clock over 900MHz on a standard Gigabyte 780g. I saw a benchmark (ExtremeTech, maybe?) over 1GHz with the 'sideport' version. IIRC the 780g 'sideport' went over 2000 (?) 3dmarrk06 when OC'ed.

I think one issue you will find is folks are now running Vantage and you will find some '06' benchies - doubtful anyone (maybe you? - ) would be testing a Radeon 9600 on 3dmark06 - much less Vantage.

I think the 2 x16 PCIe2 slots will run x8x8 in CrossFire - x16x16 Gen2 (or x8x8x8x8-lol) is reserved for the 790FX.