We already have a pretty good idea on how the standard Radeon 9800 Pro stacks up in performance testing, especially as the AiW Radeon 9800 Pro sports the same basic design. Our job is still to test out the video card's 3D performance levels, without taking the hardware specs at face value, and not just assuming performance equivalency. Even so, we're taking a slightly less-detailed benchmark view for the sake of brevity, and only presenting results at 1280x1024, 32-bit (or 1280x960 for UT 2003).
The base platform matches the high-end nature of the AiW Radeon 9800 Pro, and includes a Pentium 4-3.0C processor, an i875P AGP 8X motherboard, and 2x256-MB of Kingmax DDR400. Keeping the platform consistent not only helps provide comparison benchmarks, but also gives the video card selection a wealth of headroom and ensures that the reference system won't hold them back.
Since we're really confirming that the AiW Radeon 9800 Pro matches up to the base desktop models, we'll be offering comparison scores from Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB, Radeon 9800 Pro (128-MB), Radeon 9700 Pro, and Radeon 9600 Pro boards. We've used the Catalyst 3.6 drivers, with Windows XP Pro/DirectX 9.0a as our operating system base. As always, the video cards have been tested with AGP 8X and Fast Writes enabled.
Our game benchmark selection includes old favorites like Quake 3: Arena, 3DMark 2001SE Pro, Jedi Knight II and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, along with a few newer benchmarks such as 3DMark 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2003. All benchmark testing has been performed using standard 32-bit settings, as well as further testing with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering modes.
* Please note that unless otherwise stated, all performance graph results equate to the standard "higher is better" format.
General Settings:
Desktop Resolution: 1024x768
Color Depth: 32-bit
V-Sync: Disabled
Intel 875PE Test Platform
Processors: Pentium 4-3.0C
Memory: 2 x 256-MB Kingmax DDR400 DIMM
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
Motherboard chip set: Intel 875P
ATI reference drivers: Catalyst 3.6
Hard-Drive: Western Digital 40-GB 7200 RPM
CD/DVD: LG 16X DVD-ROM
Power Supply: Sparkle 400 Watt
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP1
Video Cards:
ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Ultimate
Quake III Arena Test Specifics
Version: 1.30 (retail)
V-Sync: Disabled
Sound Disabled
MAX: High Quality Defaults, Details Max
Return to Castle Wolfenstein Specifics:
Version 1.0
High Quality Defaults
Checkpoint MP demo
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter Specifics:
Version 1.05
Elephant Atrium demo
Jedi Knight II Specifics:
Version 1.04
jk2ffa demo
