System Setup
Hardware
- ASUS V9980U/VTD, 256MB, AGP8X, NV38
- ASUS Radeon 9800XT/TVD, 256MB, AGP8X, R360
- ATI Radeon 9600XT, 128MB, AGP8X, RV360
- NVIDIA GeForceFX 5700 Ultra, 128MB, AGP8X, NV36
- Intel Pentium 4 3.0 'C', 15 x 200MHz, 512KB L2, HyperThreading
- EPoX EP-4PDA2+, Intel i865PE (Springdale-PE), Socket 478, dual DDR400
- Corsair XMS3200LLPT, 2 x 256MB, 2-2-2-5
- Enermax 431W PSU
- Swiftech MCX478
- Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 80GB
Software
- Windows XP Professional w/SP1 and current Windows Update patches (as of 14/10/03)
- ATI CATALYST 3.8
- Detonator FX 52.16
- Intel Chipset Driver 5.00.1012
- DirectX 9.0a Runtime
- 3DMark 2001SE v330
- 3DMark03 v330
- Aquamark 3
- Serious Sam 2 (SDC demo, Extreme addon)
- Unreal Tournament 2003 Retail (HEXUS custom demo)
- X2: The Threat Rolling Demo
- Tiger Woods 2004 (HEXUS custom best shot)
ASUS recommended we use ForceWare 53.03 or 53.04 for benchmarking the V9980U, but for consistency and to save driver analysis for a future article, WHQL'd 52.16 was used.
As always, benchmarks were run three times, the top and bottom results of the triplet discarded to leave the median. A mix of old and new render tests to reflect the current games market and my tardiness in creating Enemy Territory and Call Of Duty benchmarks.
Don't expect the graphs to show anything we haven't seen already, bar the odd possible surprise in a test or two.
The card drivers were used to set the maximum image quality possible, meaning the Quality slider position in the ForceWare control panel and the ATI driver equivalent. There's some differences in anisotropic filtering quality, between ATI and NVIDIA drivers and cards, but that's something for a different article or a trip to 3dcenter.de or Beyond3D.com when you get the chance.
