System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| Systems | Athlon 64 S939 PCI-Express System | |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | |
| Mainboard | ABIT AX8 K8T890 | |
| Memory | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200 XL | Memory timings | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 |
| Graphics Card #1 | Connect3D X800 GTO 256MB PCIe (400/980) | |
| Graphics Card #2 | GECUBE X800 GTO 256MB Ultimate PCIe (450/980) | |
| Graphics Card #3 | SAPPHIRE X800 GTO² 256MB PCIe (400/980) | |
| Graphics Card #4 | SAPPHIRE X800 GT Hybrid 256MB PCIe (475/980)) | |
| Graphics Card #5 | ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB PCIe (520/1080) | Graphics Card #6 | Galaxy GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCIe (525/1050) | Graphics Card #7 | NVIDIA reference GeForce 6800 GT 256MB PCIe (350/1000) | Disk Drive | 160GB Western Digtal 160JB IDE |
| BIOS Version | BIOS 13 | |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP2 | |
| Mainboard Software | VIA Hyperion Pro v4.55 | |
Software
ATI CATALYST 5.7 for ATI-based cards
NVIDIA ForceWare 77.72 for NVIDIA-based cards
Futuremark 3DMark05 Build 1.2.0 - AA and AF set via application
DOOM 3 v1.1 (1282) Timedemo 1 - AA and AF set via application
Far Cry v1.3 - custom HEXUS benchmark - AA and AF set via application
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - custom HEXUS benchmark
Notes
We'll be looking at both Connect3D and GECUBE X800 GTO 256MB cards' performance against a number of ATI and NVIDIA SKUs. Of course, with a faster engine clock, GECUBE's card will be faster in our benchmarks. The question is, by how much and is the performance increase worth the extra £10 or so the GECUBE card costs over and above the Connect3D's £117.99 retail price?. Note that the SAPPHIRE X800 GTO² is, in essence, a 12-pipe X800 GTO that's flashable into a 16-pipe card. We've benchmarked it with a full complement of rendering quads working. On to the benchmarks.
