ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB PCI-E Preview

Reviews: Hardware

Motherboards | Power Supplies | Memory | Systems | Video Cards

Author:
Editor:
Sponsor:
Published:

Kurtis Kronk
Brian
ATI
Oct. 16, 2006

Specifications

<< Previous

Home >>

Performance Summary

Half-Life 2 Episode 1

In HL2, ATI has traditionally been the leader, and this remains true with the X1950 Pro and 7900 GS. 1600x1200 with 2xAA / 4xAF is nice and smooth with the X1950 Pro.

F.E.A.R.

In the F.E.A.R. test we see the X1950 Pro and 7900 GS perform within a few FPS of eachother, if not tying. Playing this game at 1024x768 with 2xAA / 4xAF (with all the settings on high, of course) would be pushing it.

Chronicles of Riddick

As usual, NVIDIA wipes the floor with ATI in Riddick. You can even manage to play at 2048x1536 with 2xAA / 4xAF with the 7900 GS.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

The X1950 Pro leads, but only by a couple FPS so the difference is negligible. Either card will give you smooth gameplay at 1024x768 with Full AA / Full AF, or if you don't mind a little less responsiveness you can go up to 1280x960 with Full AA / Full AF.

X3: Reunion Demo

Things start out pretty evenly at 1024x768, but as you pump up the resolution and enable AA/AF, the gap widens in ATI's favor.

3DMark '06

3DMark '06 definitely spit out some numbers after I ran it on each card, but as we've seen in the past, 3DMark scores have little correlation with real-world performance.

Closing Thoughts

It's very clear that ATI's X1950 Pro is solid competition to NVIDIA's 7900 GS. Though they trade leads here and there, for the most part they end up tied, or close to tied. If you play mostly OpenGL games, you'll probably benefit by going with a 7900 GS, whereas if you play mainly Direct3D games, the X1950 Pro will usually be a little better of a choice.

While it doesn't look like performance is going to be a big deciding factor between these two cards, there are some things to be excited about with the X1950 Pro. The new native Crossfire implementation where a master card is not required is a big plus and the Crossfire bridges are much more convenient than the old dongle method. This isn't a plus over NVIDIA, of course, just a nice improvement in ATI's product that is worth mentioning.

That's all I'll say for now. I'll be testing some more cards over the next couple of weeks and I'll also be overclocking cards to see where there is the most legroom. At that point I'll be able to give a better 'big-picture' view of the current ATI and NVIDIA offerings on the market and give conclusive recommendations.

<< Previous

Page 10 of 10

Home >>

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Cards
Page 3: Test Setup
Page 4: Testing - Half-Life 2 Episode 1
Page 5: Testing - F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Recon
Page 6: Testing - Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher's Bay
Page 7: Testing - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Page 8: Testing - X3: Reunion Demo
Page 9: Testing - 3DMark '06
Page 10: Performance Summary & Closing Thoughts

Subscribe to Video Cards [more info]

Add Comment

0 User Comments

Add Comment

To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields.