|
Performance
One of the nicer
aspects about using a A64 test bench is you're going to be able to run a
XL very well. Compared to our X850XT PE review only Doom3 performance
showed where the XL was lagging behind. Of course we used our
vapochilled test bed courtesy of Asetek, but on a lighter note most of
the newer games such as Doom 3 and Half Life 2 scale better according to
your GPU unlike a few years ago when it was all about CPU speed. This is
why when it comes time to either upgrade or build your system video card
selection is so critical.
For our testing
we ran a system of benchmarks, but we had a few problems with a couple
of them. We could not find any way to get Futuremark's 2001SE to run our
image quality tests, and Chronicles of Riddick proved to be to
inconsistent to run. Other than that our XL never once crashed until we
started overclocking which is to be expected when you are trying to find
out the maximum speeds. One of the nicer aspects of owning an ATI card
is that you can grab ATI Tool to find out your maximum overclock in just
under an hour. It'll gradually up your clocks and run heat-cycles to
insure that those clocks can hold under the stress of gaming for hours
on end. On to the benchies!
Test Setup:
AMD Athlon 3500+
Newcastle core @ 2.75Ghz cooled by Asetek Vapochill LS
Soltek K890Pro-939 Via K890 Chipset
2x512mb PDP Systems Patriot XBL (TCCD) at 250Mhz 2.5-3-5-3-3 2.7v
Fortron Source AX500-A 500W Power supply
Gaming Image
Performance Benchmark
1024x768/1280x1024/1600x1200/ x32, AA-no, AF-no, TRU-FORM off, VSynch-Off,
Perf Image Quality on Driver, Max Detail on Game
Gaming Image Quality
Benchmark
1024x768/1280x1024/1600x1200/ x32, AA-4x, AF-8x, TRU-FORM off, VSynch-Off,
Default image Quality on Driver, Max Detail on Game
Gaming 'Overclocked'
Image Quality Benchmark
Default vs. Overclocked
1024x768x32, AA-6x, AF-16x, TRU-FORM ON, VSynch-Off. Quality image
Quality on Driver, Max Detail on Game
The
XL is quite the performer for a $300 video card! Even better is the
Image quality performance since Anti-Aliasing and anisotropic filtering
can really stress a card and bring it to its knees. With the extra four
pipes in comparison to the X800 Pro, the XL is able to circumvent any
disadvantage caused by the slower clocks. The only dilemma is you're
still stuck with the slow clocks, and judging by the overall overclock,
the card appears to be pretty much 'maxxed' out perhaps from the
apparent voltage differences compared to the X850XT PE. Still, a 11%
overclock is above average, so we expected less.
Futuremark Testing
3DMark 2005
1024x768x32 ~
4990
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 4327
with 6xAA,16xAF,TRU-FORM on ~ 4207
1280x1024x32 ~
4034
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 3399
1600x1200x32 ~ 3308
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 2724
3DMark 2003
1024x768x32 ~
11200
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 9603
with 6xAA,16xAF,TRU-FORM on ~ 7524
1280x1024x32 ~
8914
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 5717
1600x1200x32 ~ 7206
with 4xAA, 8xAF ~ 4456
3DMark 2001SE
1024x768x32 ~
26709
1280x1024x32 ~ 22988
1600x1200x32 ~ 20086
Tickling the 5K barrier is quite
the achievement, although using a well overclocked x800 Pro will get you
6K with this same kind of setup. The only exception that I wanted to
illustrate most of all with the XL, in comparison to its Pro brother, is
that the XL is not a benchmarking card, its a gamers card that
distinguishes itself when image quality is desired. The XL takes off
where the Pro gives up whenever you want to run your games in high
quality modes. Playing HL2, D3, etc with the eye-candy engaged is
one of the nicer aspects of PC gaming, and with the XL you have all the
power you need to do that. If you're a benchmarking fan you're better
off grabbing an XT or XT PE, whereas if you're a gamer this card is a
must have.
The
overall conclusion regarding the XL is that its absolutely breathtaking
that you can walk into just about any computer store, plop down 3 bills,
and walk out with a card that is +/- 25% less of a performer than the
flagship X850XT PE. Its even better if your system is a strong
performer, and your key interest is playing games. I personally think
that the XL is a poor choice if your only interest is benchmarking and
surfing the web. The XL is too be enjoyed as a card that provides
excellent value for the money. True, it's not an outstanding overclocker,
but its overclocked performance is much better than most, and at default
clocks it'll be able to handle just about anything you throw at it at
1280x1024 using ATI's Quality setting. I would have to say that if you
are looking for a new card using the newer PCI-Express interface, you
don't want to shell out 5 or 6 bills, and want to find out what image
quality is about, the XL is for you. Club Overclocker Recommended!
|
Club
Overclocker Rating |
|
Innovation: |
10
out of 10 |
|
Performance: |
10 out of 10 |
|
Quality: |
10 out of 10 |
|
Stability: |
10 out of 10 |
|
Overclocking: |
8.5 out of 10 |
|
Software Pack: |
9.0 out of 10 |
|
Value: |
10 out of 10 |
|
Overall Rating 9.5 |
|
|
|
|
Skill Level |
|
Project Skill Level
(10 being hardest) |
2
out of 10 |
|
