Yet another PCI video card comparison

[Mloot]

Here's another one, this time doing some benchies with the Powercolor 9000 PCI 64mb, the AIW VE PCI 64mb, and the MX440 PCI 128mb, with Intel integrated video (845G chipset) thrown in as a way to show the advantage a PCI card can have over on-board video. The PC 9000 and VE benchies are pasted from an earlier comparison I did, but besides changing video adapters, the rest of my system has stayed the same:

Dell 4500S SFF
P4 2.4 (400)
512mb pc2100
WinXP home edition

Tests done: 3DMark2001 SE, UT2K3 Demo at 800x600x32, and Dungeon Siege benchmark at 800x600x32.

Abbreviations used (for space concerns):
NSBH - Not Supported by Hardware
FRST - Fill Rate Single Texturing
FRMT - Fill Rate Multi-Texturing
HPC (1L) - High Polygon Count 1 Light
HPC (8L) - High Polygon Count 8 Lights

Powercolor 9000 PCI 64mb (250/380)
ATI AIW VE PCI 64mb (260/500)
Inno3D MX440 PCI 128mb (270/400)
Intel Integrated Video 845G chipset, with up to 64mb of shared memory (who knows?)

RESULTS
3DMark Score 4288/5049/4474/1312
Game 1 - Car Chase - Low Detail 58.2 fps/77.9 fps/113.8 fps/23.6 fps
Game 1 - Car Chase - High Detail 33.8 fps/40.2 fps/42.3 fps/10.5 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - Low Detail 61.6 fps/84.3 fps/56.2 fps/23.7 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - High Detail 37.1 fps/42.5 fps/21.3 fps/11.0 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - Low Detail 67.9 fps/90.4 fps/82.3 fps/23.2 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - High Detail 33.1 fps/43.5 fps/34.0 fps/8.8 fps
Game 4 - Nature 16.5 fps/N S B H/N S B H/N S B H
F R (S T) 283.8 MTexels/s - 385.2 MTexels/s - 465.2 MTexels/s - 185.9 MTexels/s
F R (M T) 971.4 MTexels/s - 1095.5 MTexels/s - 873.1 MTexels/s - 344.6 MTexels/s
H P C (1 L) 17.4 MTriangles/s - 16.2 MTriangles/s - 20.9 MTriangles/s - 3.8 MTriangles/s
H P C (8 L) 4.4 MTriangles/s - 4.1 MTriangles/s - 7.4 MTriangles/s - 3.5 MTriangles/s
Environment Bump Mapping 66.2 fps/83.2 fps/N S B H/N S B H
DOT3 Bump Mapping 29.6 fps/59.9 fps/62.0 fps/20.8 fps
Vertex Shader 30.9 fps/22.7 fps/4.4 fps/19.4 fps
Pixel Shader 50.3 fps/N S B H/N S B H/ N S B H
Advanced Pixel Shader 44.3 fps/N S B H/N S B H/N S B H
Point Sprites 7.6 MSprites/s - N/A - 10.4 MSprites/s - 1.3 MSprites/s



UT2K3 Demo:

Botmatch:


antalus(9000)

2.110784 / 32.175224 / 68.548256 fps
Score = 32.196850

(VE)

1.151169 / 34.282494 / 77.447548 fps
Score = 34.312931

(440)

11.211288 / 38.518528 / 82.275017 fps
Score = 38.536709

(Intel)

5.083484 / 8.029878 / 13.397987 fps
Score = 8.037565



asbestos(9000)

2.218444 / 50.793316 / 103.953682 fps
Score = 50.823841

(VE)

8.670625 / 50.024899 / 113.048470 fps
Score = 50.054611

(440)

13.149632 / 57.665260 / 108.203308 fps
Score = 57.694843

(Intel)

8.864931 / 16.093853 / 30.554979 fps
Score = 16.113834



anubis(9000)

14.790266 / 48.343506 / 158.245987 fps
Score = 48.359257

(VE)

17.580750 / 50.974907 / 111.765251 fps
Score = 50.977638

(440)

11.421926 / 59.397789 / 125.142128 fps
Score = 59.395889

(Intel)

7.581641 / 14.010988 / 33.863937 fps
Score = 14.017144




citadel(9000)

2.217937 / 34.774178 / 89.601166 fps
Score = 34.831947

(VE)

7.880892 / 38.391552 / 96.366898 fps
Score = 38.445648

(440)

9.926117 / 43.689411 / 94.515358 fps
Score = 43.747749

(Intel)

4.507603 / 10.136305 / 26.318239 fps
Score = 10.143694




Flyby's:


antalus(9000)

14.763944 / 58.286644 / 272.050446 fps
Score = 58.306358

(VE)

15.087923 / 88.336533 / 395.545166 fps
Score = 88.382843

(440)

26.841190 / 97.674019 / 505.069458 fps
Score = 97.711815

(Intel)

9.682326 / 13.979654 / 41.115639 fps
Score = 13.983832



asbestos(9000)

19.540274 / 113.939278 / 433.728119 fps
Score = 113.994568

(VE)

61.938869 / 146.164124 / 459.275452 fps
Score = 146.263794

(440)

59.851429 / 155.061584 / 482.084503 fps
Score = 155.175934

(Intel)

14.180817 / 25.640005 / 50.193054 fps
Score = 25.662964




citadel(9000)

15.608399 / 63.117706 / 294.840027 fps
Score = 63.227913

(VE)

21.036356 / 88.435448 / 296.567444 fps
Score = 88.614807

(440)

30.070734 / 91.231529 / 302.744019 fps
Score = 91.459595

(Intel)

10.765337 / 17.479795 / 51.670361 fps
Score = 17.493420



Dungeon Siege Benchmark at 800x600x32


FPS Summary (9000)
-----------

Total Sample Time : 192.73 s (8212 frames)
Min Frame Delta : 4.30 ms (232.63 fps)
Max Frame Delta : 166.67 ms (6.00 fps)
Average Frame Delta: 23.47 ms (42.61 fps)


FPS Summary (AIW VE)
-----------

Total Sample Time : 192.52 s (9014 frames)
Min Frame Delta : 5.70 ms (175.51 fps)
Max Frame Delta : 166.67 ms (6.00 fps)
Average Frame Delta: 21.36 ms (46.82 fps)


FPS Summary (440)
-----------

Total Sample Time : 192.38 s (12631 frames)
Min Frame Delta : 3.32 ms (300.88 fps)
Max Frame Delta : 166.67 ms (6.00 fps)
Average Frame Delta: 15.23 ms (65.66 fps)


FPS Summary (Intel)
-----------

Total Sample Time : 192.83 s (5941 frames)
Min Frame Delta : 8.32 ms (120.20 fps)
Max Frame Delta : 166.67 ms (6.00 fps)
Average Frame Delta: 32.46 ms (30.81 fps)


If you've read this far, I hope you liked it.

 

[Peter]

Interesting result there ... really surprising that the RAM speed seems to make all the difference and even pushes the 7500 ahead of the 9000.

btw, is that Powercolor card fanless? Is the AIW?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The PowerColor 9000 PCI is fanless, and so is the AIW VE PCI. Seems very interesting that the 7500 based AIW actually seems to be the best bet if you go PCI, seems to be right up there with the 440 if not ahead of it in most all the benchies, plus you get the AIW goodies along with it, only $118 at newegg... Seems too bad though, no DVI on the AIW VE PCI... Straight up gaming, the PCI 440 is probably the best bet as it can be found for $70-80 as well... PCI 9000 seems a little dissapointing @ $99, although it does have the DVI and it does support DX8.1 unlike the DX7 7500 and 440 options, wonder if the 9000 can overclock any, and if so how well it might perform then. Probably isn't worth it nor would you really want to, fanless low profile video card, I would hope it is faster than the same 7500 solution. That AIW VE seems to be a winner.

 

[GaryKevin]

Thanks for the timely info. My son's Dimension won't allow play of the Battlefield 1942 game, and i'm on the verge of springing for one of these cards or something like them that comes in PCI format (no AGP slot).

Seems like the VE or 440 are tops in speed, but what about the 9000's ability to do "shaders" and "point sprites"? I'm new all of this, but does this indicate, in distinction to the other cards' "NSBH" ratings in these areas, that the 9000 is a more versatile solution? (in terms of the breadth of games that it will successfully play/render?)

Thanks in advance. . .

 

[Mloot]

Well, the 9000 has the newest architecture, but I haven't really noticed much difference with the added features. The games look a little better, but compared to the 440 and VE, there is a noticeable difference in speed, and if you're looking for a PCI card, you may want all the speed you can get since you're funneling everything through a PCI bus. Also, the 9000's cannot be overclocked, so the speed you see is the speed you get. The VE, and to some extent the 440, can both be overclocked. If I remember correctly, the VE uses 3.6ns RAM and the 440 has 5ns RAM.

Personally, I will take the speed over a little better picture quality any day.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Mloot
Well, the 9000 has the newest architecture, but I haven't really noticed much difference with the added features. The games look a little better, but compared to the 440 and VE, there is a noticeable difference in speed, and if you're looking for a PCI card, you may want all the speed you can get since you're funneling everything through a PCI bus. Also, the 9000's cannot be overclocked, so the speed you see is the speed you get. The VE, and to some extent the 440, can both be overclocked. If I remember correctly, the VE uses 3.6ns RAM and the 440 has 5ns RAM.

Personally, I will take the speed over a little better picture quality any day.

Also, I wouldn't base a buying decision on the future benefit of certain features, particularly with a lower performance part on the PCI bus. Chances are good that the DX 9 features it "supports" will bring it to its knees. Unless you are on the blistering fast end of the technology spectrum, card's are typically obsolete by the time the features they support are fully integrated into games.

Chiz

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

Nice info., but would have liked to have seen the Hercules 9000 PCI (with the non-cripped memory) in there too.

 

[Mloot]

I would have, but the Herc. card will not fit in my case. Sudhian reviewed the Hercules 9000 PCI here:

link