Introducing the Radeon X1650 XT: A New Mainstream GPU from ATI
by Josh Venning on October 30, 2006 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Black & White 2 Performance
Black and White 2 was a somewhat disappointing game for us, in that we hoped for much more in terms of gameplay and creature A.I., particularly since we were such fans of the first Black and White. But in spite of its gameplay flaws, the graphics are still some of the best we've seen in any game, and as such it makes a great performance benchmark. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for us to test because of the clunky game interface (especially at higher resolutions) and the fact that we have to use FRAPS to test each resolution.
The frame rates we want to see here for being able to play this game are around 25 FPS or higher. This isn't a fast-paced game really, so some users may find a little lower frame rates acceptable. When we say a game is "playable" at 25 FPS, this just means it's the FPS at which we think the average user would be willing to play it, and still have a fairly enjoyable experience (more or less depending also on the quality of the game).
We see here that again the NVIDIA 7600 GT and ATI X1650 XT get very similar performance in this game, which will be a trend in all of these tests. Because this is a fairly graphically intensive game, the X1650 XT has trouble running it over 1280x1024 resolution. At 27.8 FPS at 1280x1024 you might not run into any problems, but running it at 1024x768 could be safer, especially when dealing with densely populated towns or casting any of the epic miracles.
Black and White 2 was a somewhat disappointing game for us, in that we hoped for much more in terms of gameplay and creature A.I., particularly since we were such fans of the first Black and White. But in spite of its gameplay flaws, the graphics are still some of the best we've seen in any game, and as such it makes a great performance benchmark. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for us to test because of the clunky game interface (especially at higher resolutions) and the fact that we have to use FRAPS to test each resolution.
The frame rates we want to see here for being able to play this game are around 25 FPS or higher. This isn't a fast-paced game really, so some users may find a little lower frame rates acceptable. When we say a game is "playable" at 25 FPS, this just means it's the FPS at which we think the average user would be willing to play it, and still have a fairly enjoyable experience (more or less depending also on the quality of the game).
We see here that again the NVIDIA 7600 GT and ATI X1650 XT get very similar performance in this game, which will be a trend in all of these tests. Because this is a fairly graphically intensive game, the X1650 XT has trouble running it over 1280x1024 resolution. At 27.8 FPS at 1280x1024 you might not run into any problems, but running it at 1024x768 could be safer, especially when dealing with densely populated towns or casting any of the epic miracles.
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guidryp - Thursday, November 2, 2006 - link
They spec like this:1650XT: 8 vertex Pipes, 24 pixel pipes, 8 Raster pipes, 575MHz, Mem 675MHz X 128 bus.
7600GT: 5 vertex Pipes, 12 pixel pipes, 8 Raster pipes 560MHz, Mem 700MHz X 128 bus.
And the ATI card barely holds it's own? I was expecting a walkaway after reading the specs.
coldpower27 - Saturday, November 4, 2006 - link
It should be 24 Pixel Shaders vs 12 Pixel Shaders.while both have 8 ROP's, it is probably the X1650 XT only has 8 TMU while the 7600 GT has 12 as both are half their flagship derivatives. Ignore vertex amounts those tpyically aren't half and don't contribute to much on the most part to performance it seems anyway.
X1900 XTX 48 Pixel Shaders, 16 Rasterization Operators, 650MHZ, Mem 775MHZ x 256 Bit Bus
7900 GTX 24 Pixel Shaders, 16 Rasterization Operators, 650MHZ, Mem 800MHZ x 256 Bit Bus
The X1900 XTX doesn't walkaway from the 7900 GTX on the whole either.
trinibwoy - Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - link
Do you guys do other testing that you comment on that is not represented by the graphs? The numbers show a 1 fps difference, yet you use terms like "significant" and "clearly beats". Maybe some median low fps numbers would help demonstrate what you're saying.soydeedo - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
hey i know i can make an educated guess as to where the x1650xt would end up on q4 benches compared to nvidia's offerings, but i'm still curious why this game was not included in the testing? with quakewars around the corner i think people are still interested in doom 3 engine performance.johnsonx - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
I suppose this name is part of ATI's general trend lately. It used to be that the XT moniker meant the same GPU with slightly higher clocks. Now it seems like the XT parts are a separate family. The X1300XT has nothing to do with the other X1300's (rather it's a rebadged X1600Pro), the X1900XT has more pipes than non-XT members of the X1900 family, and now the X1650XT has nothing to do with the rest of the X1600/1650 family.It all makes it a bit hard to choose.
Kougar - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
On page 10 it is mentioned thatThis is completely going against the bar graphs, specifically the HL Episode One graph. The x1650XT got up and began walking away from the 7600GT without AA, but with AA it tripped and slide into place just behind the 7600GT. At resolutions below 1600by1200 it even began losing by a sizeable margin.
Josh Venning - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
This paragraph has been tweaked a little bit. In HL2 Episode one the X1650 XT only does better than the 7600 GT at the highest resolution with AA enabled, but in Battlefield 2 it performs a little better over most of the resolutions.Cybercat - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
How many vertex units does this thing have?JarredWalton - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
See (updated) table on page 2: it has 8 vertex units, 24 pixel pipes, and 8 ROPs. Basically, lots more power than the X1600 XT. I would guess the pixel pipes are more like R580 pipes (i.e. more shader power, but not necessarily the same as an NVIDIA pixel pipeline in raw power).Cybercat - Monday, October 30, 2006 - link
Alright, cool. I keep a chart with stats of graphics cards, so I'm just making sure I have the vertice throughput correct. Other than the useless X1650 Pro, ATI seems to have a much more competitive mainstream line now. There is now more confusion than ever, though.