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Page 5 of 5
Comanche 4 Demo - Direct3D Testing
To test Direct3D performance, we ran Novalogic's Comanche 4 demo.
The Pentium IV 2.0 GHz CPU definitely shows its age here. CPU is a major factor in the frame rates on both cards at lower resolutions. The GeForce3 Ti500 still takes a pretty sizeable hit with FSAA enabled, though.
Again, the CPU is a limiting factor with the Sapphire card. Notice there is almost no performance hit when FSAA 4x is enabled at 1600x1200 on the 9800 Pro. The GeForce3 Ti500 is slowed down majorly by this setting.
3DMark03 - Direct3D DX9.0a Testing
Since no games really utilize DirectX 9.0a yet, we had to use 3DMark03, a purpose-built benchmark program to test the DX9 performance of the cards. While not exactly a fair comparison, it demonstrated interesting results.
The Sapphire card ran nearly every test perfectly with FSAA disabled. The GeForce3 Ti500 chunked along at virtually every complicated scene. With FSAA enabled, the GeForce3 became a slideshow, where the Sapphire card still ran pretty well. While using a program designed specifically for benchmarking is somewhat unfair, the numbers indicate how smooth this ran on the Sapphire card vs. the NVIDIA card. Conclusion
Comparing a brand-new, state-of-the-art, Radeon 9800 Pro with passive cooling to a GeForce3 Ti500 is somewhat pointless. The GeForce has obviously been out a lot longer (almost two years now), and a lot changes in two years in this market. But we were looking at this product from an upgrading perspective, and the Sapphire card would certainly be one hell of an upgrade.
If you're using a CPU in the 1500+ MHz range, you'll probably see a very nice improvement at higher resolutions if you were to upgrade from a system similar to what we used. The Radeon 9800 Pro has tons of nice features and is so fast that it's kind of silly, if not crazy, to have this much video power. No games available yet even come close to pushing this card's true limits. Perhaps we'll see a change of that when Doom 3 comes out, but for now, it's practically unstoppable.
So what's the verdict? This 9800 Pro card is one of the finest on the market. The bundle and packaging are great. Everything you could expect is included and the two retail games are some of the best available for the PC. The Zalman heat pipe cooling system is unique and effective, but is it necessary? If you're trying to get all the 'bling' out of a system you can or are really annoyed by the humming of an active cooler, then this is probably the best alternative for you. Otherwise, you'd be better off saving the extra money and buying a different 9800 Pro card. If you're looking to buy the best of the best, the Sapphire 9800 Pro Ultimate Edition delivers in every category.
Overall Rating - 9.3 / 10
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