ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256 MB

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
ATI
Sep. 8, 2004

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Image Quality

To compare the image quality of the X800 Pro and 6800 GT, we took screen captures using FRAPS from a few different games With Doom 3, HL2 Stress Test, and Far Cry, we were able to take the exact same shot with each card. However, with Need for Speed Underground, since there is no way to save in the middle of a race or record a demo, there was no way to take the exact same screen capture every time. In that case, the picture was taken right after a race had started on the Olympic Square map with the car in the same starting position each time. The Half-Life 2 Stress Test posed a similar problem. The Stress Test runs through a map on a predefined course and you can not stand still or save the "game.' Because of this, the screen captures were taken while the camera was moving. While the captures for these two games are not exactly the same pixel to pixel, they are close enough for a good comparison.

This first set of screen captures is from the first level in Doom 3. With Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering disabled, the X800 Pro reveals a very unsightly bug which doesn't seem to appear with the 6800 GT or 5950 Ultra.

When 4xAA and 8xAF are enabled, there seems to be a slight difference in the quality between the two cards. The X800 Pro looks like it is handling Anti Aliasing a bit better than the 6800 GT. The X800 Pro does a better job of handling the jagged edges. The bug noticeable in the X800 shot above does not appear when AA and AF are enabled.

This is a set of screen captures from the Half-Life 2 Source stress test which has an object with a stained glass shader effect applied to it. AA and AF were disabled when these shots were taken. While the X800 Pro and 6800 GT provide equal image quality, the 5950 Ultra shows terrible texture filtering quality.

In Far Cry, with AA and AF disabled, the X800 Pro and 6800 GT seem to provide very comparable texture filtering. There is virtually no difference between the cards.

When 4xAA and 8xAF are enabled, there is still no difference in quality between the cards.

The image quality when AA and AF are disabled in Need for Speed Underground looks to be about the same. There are no noticeable differences between any of the cards. I also want to note that the lighting bug (which can be seen at the bottom of this page in our Leadtek A380 Ultra review) previously seen with NVIDIA cards has been fixed with the latest Forceware drivers which we used during this testing.

When AA and AF are enabled, we see once again that the X800 Pro seems to be doing a little bit better than the 6800 GT, but the difference isn't too noticeable. However, the 5950 Ultra seems to do a much worse job than both the X800 Pro and 6800 GT.

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Page 11 of 13

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Card
Page 3: The Card (cont.) / The Bundle
Page 4: Test Setup
Page 5: Benchmarks: Doom 3
Page 6: Benchmarks: Half-Life 2
Page 7: Benchmarks: Far Cry
Page 8: Benchmarks: Need for Speed Underground
Page 9: Benchmarks: Splinter Cell
Page 10: Benchmarks: Call of Duty
Page 11: Image Quality
Page 12: Overclocking
Page 13: Conclusion

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4 User Comments

1 - Posted by Rich on September 9, 2004 - 8:45 am

I am curious why you chose not to install SP2 for the testing. Any idea if there is a performance difference between SP1a and SP2 for XP?

2 - Posted by Brian on September 9, 2004 - 11:16 am

Testing of the cards began prior to the release of SP2. After the upcoming review of the XFX 6800 GT, the test system will have SP2 installed.

3 - Posted by Rich on September 10, 2004 - 8:42 am

Makes sense, I would be a bit interested to find out if there are any performance differences between SP1a and SP2.

4 - Posted by Brian on September 10, 2004 - 8:49 am

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-237-1.h...

SP1 and SP2 seem to constantly switch places in different performance tests. Overall SP2 is slightly faster but definitely not noticeable unless you are comparing bench #s.

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