AMD Radeon HD 3800 Series. Tests of the "low-end" HD3850
Date: 04.12.2007
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The running of tests in the below games is more likely an express test. The motives for choosing just these graphic modes in which we ran the tests are more likely intuitive rather than based on precise calculations. However, even these results can be quite indicative. We are already preparing a detailed investigation of the system requirements and analysis of traits of the new games, but now we are introducing you to the first results. These results can be referred to as preliminary for the simple reason that two of the three games are still at the beta version stage.
World in Conflict
The game World in Conflict has an integrated performance test, and it's just these results which are displayed in the below diagrams. Since the game is new and highly abundant with graphics and objects, we did not select the maximum graphic quality mode but stopped at the “High” level defined from the graphic settings menu. In this mode, the FSAA 2? mode is already enabled.
As you can see, although the settings are not the maximum, the average FPS is not high. 8800GT and HD3850 are going on par, with HD2900XT setting the pitch.
With the selected graphic mode, the game is demanding for the video memory capacity. Therefore, with the rise of resolution the performance ratio between 8800GT and HD2900XT remains unchanged since they both are equipped with 512 MB video memory. But HD3850 starts lagging behind them substantially. Like it or not, but 256 MB is a bit too little for modern games in quality modes.
NFS Pro Street Demo
We decided to include Need for Speed Pro Street Demo into the list of tests as a future successor to NFS Carbon, and also for a variety of shooters. All the graphic settings, except the full-screen antialiasing mode, were set to the maximum. We measured the FPS using the FRAPS utility. The time of tests - two rounds over the circular track.
And here the HD3850, overclocked for the first time, failed. Some time after the start of the game, the “VPU Recover” error message popped up. We did not succeed in riding two full rounds with the overclocked HD3850, so the results are missing on the diagrams.
Interestingly, HD3850 and HD2900XT show almost identical results. But 8800GT demonstrates an absolutely abnormal drop of performance, which does not depend on the resolution. It is hard to tell the reason for such behavior of results. Perhaps NVIDIA has not yet optimized the drivers for this game. Maybe the game is a bit raw - it is still beta. As we remember, at NFS Carbon the video cards by NVIDIA first did not show their best, but then all broke even. So we are attributing all to the beta status of the game and get round to the most exciting part.
Crysis Single Player Demo
How we ran the tests in Crysis. We first took Crysis Single Player Demo which was released in October and appears to be the first tier of the game. Secondly, we tested manually using the FRAPS utility. Since the game is quite hard even for powerful video adapters, we decided to switch of the graphic settings to Medium. There isn't much practical sense in comparing 10 FPS versus 12 FPS, but at the medium graphics settings you can play quite comfortably. We'll be examining the system requirements for Crysis after release of the official version, but now we're reporting our moves in this Single Player Demo.
This screenshot shows a view in the original point of the test. On the hillock in the distance, there is a hostile hut with a motorway passing around and opening a magnificent view on the sea, palms, and ships. Prior to saving at this point, we "cleared" all the enemies so as not to distract the tester from the race. Then all goes on simple – keep your head straight, press the Shift key and off you go. In fact, the race itself looks very simple – from the starting point we run up to the hut, around it over the terrace and then back to the original point.
Surprisingly, but 8800GT at first loses to AMD video cards at this test. At the same time, HD3850 and HD2900XT go on par smoothly, and only with the rise of resolutions the HD3850 starts giving in. Most likely, it is the shortage of video memory that makes itself felt. On the whole, the results can be referred to as good. Especially for mid-end products like HD3850 and 8800GT.
Effect of the memory bus
Finally, we bring in one more graph that shows the effect of the memory bus width in HD3850 and HD2900XT. The architecture of video processors in these video processors is almost identical, the same is about the number of functional units (if we disregard the UVD unit which is not related to image rendering in 3D). Although the frequencies are different, we can make them equal. That's what we did. The methodology remained the same as it was in the review "512-bit video memory bus width for modern GPU". The GPU frequency on HD3850 was set to 740 MHz and then we built a graph of FPS dependence versus video memory for Quake 4 at 1280?1024 and for two video modes – No AA/AF, and 4AA/16AF. We selected not the highest resolution so that the smaller video memory capacity in HD3850 did not affect. You can see the result below.
If we compare the results for HD3850 and HD2900XT in the same modes, there is a difference of course. The lower the video memory frequency, the more vivid is the difference. But at frequencies close to the nominal the difference in performance between HD3850 and HD2900XT appears to be minor because HD2900XT is unable to leverage the advantage of the 512-bit memory bus. In this sense, the HD3850 appears to be more balanced. Judging by the graph, we can expect a performance gain on overclocking both the GPU and the video memory, which should please thrifty fanciers of overclocking.
As regards the migration from No AA/AF to 4AA/16AF, there aren't great changes over here. This test shows that for both HD2900XT and HD3850 we see an almost two-fold drop in results. Actually, this looks logical if there are no radical differences in the architecture.
Final Words
As the first introduction of HD3850 has shown, this series of products looks highly promising. The lower-end card which we have so far tested is striving to expel the current residents of the middle-end sector into the lower pricing range. With merely a 128-bit memory bus, they will have a very hard time competing against the power of RV670 and its 256-bit memory bus. That applies to both HD2600Pro/XT and 8600GT/GTS. Certainly, all that holds true provided AMD and its partners are able holding the declared recommended prices and filling the market with sufficient number of these promising products.
Now let's imagine how an ideal video card based on RV670 would look in the regular user's viewpoint. In reality, that will be something average between HD3850 and HD3870. Let me explain why. The higher-end model will be equipped with GDDR4 video memory and run at 2.25 GHz clock speed. However, as we saw it on the example of HD2600XT with various types of video memory, the higher frequency of GDDR4 is made up for by the longer latencies, so in the end the overall performance appears to be almost the same. Let's take the risk to assume that we'll see the same situation also with HD3850/70. On the other hand, modern games are highly demanding for the video memory capacity, therefore, it makes sense to give preference to video cards of 256 MB and not 512 MB memory. Then, RV670 offers quite a good performance and good overclocking capability. So, on the ideal card we wish we saw a powerful but quiet cooling system like HD3870. In the end, we get the following kit – GPU RV670 at about 800 MHz, 512 MB of GDDR3 video memory running at about 2000 MHz DDR, plus a powerful and quiet two-slot cooler. And the price should not be higher than that for HD3870. I wonder how soon such "hybrids" of HD3850/70 will appear in sales. So, ladies and gentlemen, make your bets.
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