System setup and notes
Hardware
- ASUS v9520/TD GeForce FX 5200, 128MB, 8x AGP, 250/405
- ABIT Radeon 9800 XT 256MB, 8x AGP, 412/730
- AOpen Aeolus GeForce FX5900XT 128MB, 8x AGP, 390/700
- PowerColor Radeon 9600 XT, 128MB, AGP8X, 500/675
- AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 2200MHz
- EPoX 8HDA3+ S754 VIA K8T800 Motherboard (12/12/03 BIOS)
- Corsair XMS3500C2, 2 x 256MB, 2.5-2-2-6 @ DDR400
- Samcheer 420w PSU
- AMD reference cooler
- IBM 120GXP 40GB Hard Drive
- Dell P991 19" flat-faced CRT monitor
Software
- Windows XP Professional w/SP1
- ATI CATALYST 4.2 (4.1s for the Radeon 9600 XT)
- NVIDIA ForceWare 53.03
- VIA Hyperion v4.51 chipset drivers
- DirectX 9.0b Runtime
- FRAPS 2.0.0
- 3DMark 2001SE v330
- 3DMark03 v340
- AquaMark3
- Splinter Cell (Beyond3D Demo)
- Unreal Tournament 2003 Retail (patched up to 2225 - HEXUS custom benchmark)
- Call Of Duty - HEXUS Custom Benchmark
- RTCW: Enemy Territory - HEXUS Custom Benchmark
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (patched to v1.1) - HEXUS Custom Benchmark with FRAPS
Notes
ASUS' card runs just a touch above specification. 405MHz MHz translates to around 6.5GB/s of memory bandwidth that will be eroded by the GPU's inability to run colour and Z compression. We'll be running it through our usual gamut of benchmarks at 1024x768, 1024x768 with 4x FSAA and 8x anisotropic filtering, and 1600x1200 4x FSAA and 8x aniso. The last resolution is absolutely pointless from a gamesplaying perspective, but it will show how a low-end card compares with more illustrious company when the going is made artificially tough.
We're most interested in numbers at 1024x768/ Thats's the resolution which the FX 5200 has to do well at. We can see the card being specified on £500 machines with 17" monitors. All benchmarks were run three times and the lowest and highest results were discarded. Time to see how it performs!.
