System setup
Hardware
| Graphics cards | XFX Geforce 9600 GSO XXX 384MB GDDR3 | XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB GDDR3 | ZOTAC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3 | Inno3D 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 | Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 | Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256MB GDDR3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £66.93 | £69.31 | £76.42 |
£97.76 |
£64.59 |
£69.99 | |
| Shader model | 4.0 | 4.1 | |||||
| Stream processors | 96 | 96 | 64 | 112 | 320 | 320 | |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 680 | 550 | 650 | 600 | 750 | 669 | |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 1,700 | 1,400 | 1,625 | 1,500 | 750 | 669 | |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 1,900 | 1,600 | 1,800 | 1,800 | 2,000 | 1,658 | |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 192 | 192 | 256 | 256 | 128 | 256 | |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, dual-core) | ||||||
| Motherboard | XFX nForce 780i | Foxconn P45A-S | |||||
| Motherboard BIOS | P01 | P05 | |||||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA device driver 15.17 | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | |||||
| Memory | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR PC8500 | ||||||
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15 2T @ 1066MHz | ||||||
| PSU | Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W | ||||||
| Monitor | Dell 24in 2405FPW - 1,920x1,200px | ||||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB - 32MB cache - SATAII (ST3500320AS) | ||||||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.79 | Radeon HD 4670 press driver | Radeon HD 4670 press driver | |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business SP1, 64-bit | ||||||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts v2.301: DX10 - ultra quality Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.5 (demo_00010.dem, map Valley): OpenGL - vhq GRID v1.2 - custom-recorded benchmark - ultra quality Call Of Duty 4 v1.7.568 custom HEX benchmark: DX10 - highest quality |
|---|
Notes
Looking at the spec table, we can see that the 9600 GSO features greater theoretical shader-processing power than the 9600 GT, but has been restricted by a cut-down 192-bit-wide memory interface, and reduced memory clocks.
XFX's 9600 GSO XXX Edition increases the memory clocks to narrow the gap, yet still looks to be somewhat imbalanced - with the potential for memory bottlenecks, in terms of both bandwidth and capacity.
We're looking at the performance of a range of cards available between £60-£100, including VAT. This spans from the recently launched Radeon HD 4670, through the GeForce 9600 GSO (and XXX variant), 9600 GT, and up to the 9800 GT - which is borderline high-end at just under £100.
This allows us to see whether it's worth spending that little bit more, or a little bit less, compared to the XFX 9600 GSO XXX 384MB.
Benchmarks were run at 1,280x1,024 and 1,680x1,050 with varying degrees of image-quality enhancement.
