MahlerIsGod

Greetings All,
I was looking at reviews of video cards at Tom's Hardware and I come across this chart:

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/

Personally, I think highly of Tom's site as it has never led me astray before. My question is this: according to this chart it appears that the nVidia 5950 blows the ATI 9800XT out of the water. Yet the general consensus on this board and others is that the ATI card is the best card on the market. So, why the discrepancy? Are Tom's numbers old/mistaken? Am I missing some vital bit of information? Thanks for any info.

__________________
"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history."

Gotenks

From the page you gave me, I see no real trace of the 5950 blow the 9800xt out of the water.
Benchmark tests:

UT2k3 (older dx8 engine)
9800XT - 114FPS
5950 - 108.7FPS

BF1942 (older dx8 engine)
9800XT - 212.1FPS
5950 - 204.9FPS

Call of Duty (new dx8/9 engine)
9800XT - 141.4FPS
5950 - 126.5FPS

Quake3 Team Arena (older dx8 engine)
5950 - 228.1FPS
9800XT - 203.1FPS

WC3 TFT (semi-new dx8)
9800XT - 56.34FPS
5950 - 56.2FPS

C&C Generals (semi-new dx8)
9800XT - 44.2FPS
5950 - 39.2FPS

HALO (newer dx9)
9800XT - 59.54FPS
5950 - 58.5FPS

Nascar 2k4
9800XT - 63.8FPS
5950 - 62.3FPS

X2 Rolling Demo (newer dx8/9)
5950 - 75.3FPS
9800XT - 67.8FPS

AquaMark 3 Scores
9800XT - 46692
5950 - 44845

Also take note that this list is quite a bit old (in GPU terms), and new (better) drivers from both nvidia and ati have been released.

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Lasereth

There are rare cases where one card is simply better than the other. Neither company is dominating the market right now. The 5900 non-Ultra is better than the 9800 non-Pro, the 5700 Ultra is a bit better than the 9600 XT, and the 5200 Ultra is better than the 9200. The 9700 Pro is way better than the TI4600, and the 9600 Pro is a tad better than the 5600 Ultra.

There are a few winners here and there, but when it comes to the high-end market, it all boils down to which games you want to play.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

MahlerIsGod

When I saw the benchmarks and the chart it just got me thinking. If you look at the memoryclock and the chipclock on the 5950 and then the 9800XT you would think the 5950 would kick some serious butt. I was just wondering why the discrepancy between the hardware and the benchmarks? What went wrong? Thanks and cheers

__________________
"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history."

Lasereth

Mainly driver issues. Changing drivers can influence gaming and especially benchmarks. I'm talking about thousands of points on 3d Mark just by using different drivers.

It's also which games you run each card in. NVIDIA's cards are designed for Doom 3-type games, while ATI's cards are designed for Half-Life 2-type games.

Overall, neither card is simply better than the other. Like I said before, it simply depends on which games you want to play, and how good of a deal you can find.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

MahlerIsGod

What does that mean? What is the difference between Doom 3 and Half Life 2? Forgive my ignorance. Thanks for the info, as always, Lasereth.

__________________
"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history."

cj22009

Just FYI Tom's is know to be very biased toward intel and nvidia

Lasereth

Biased towards Intel? Yeah, I'll let ya have that one. But they're certainly not biased towards NVIDIA.

They've tested out ATI's and NVIDIA's cards on Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 officially. The ATI cards simply beat the hell out of NVIDIA's cards on Half Life 2, and the NVIDIA beat the hell out of ATI's cards in Doom 3. Each company is providing amazing driver support for those two games.

I think that drivers will fix this issue down the road, but right now, NVIDIA cards are suited for Doom 3 and ATI cards are suited for Half-Life 2.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert