System Setup and Notes
| NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512 Preview Test System | |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 FX 2800MHz, 1MiB L2 |
| Mainboard | ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe |
| Memory | 2 x 512MiB Corsair XMS3200 XL DDR-400 2.0-2-2-5 @ 400MHz |
| Disk Drive | 80GB Seagate PATA |
| Graphics Cards | NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512, 512MiB (G70) (550/850) NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX, 256MiB (G70) (430/600) ATI Radeon X1800 XT, 512MiB (R520) (625/750) PCI Express 16X |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional, SP2 |
| Mainboard Software | NVIDIA nForce4 Platform Driver Version 6.39 |
| Graphics Driver Software | NVIDIA ForceWare Release 80 - 81.89 BETA ATI CATALYST - 5.11 WHQL |
| Display | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen LCD Display |
Notes
We pondered using the FX-57 at 3.0GHz for the entirety of our testing, such is the CPU limitation you can see in certain places. In the end, the CPU was used at stock clocks throughout, across the nine tested games and game demos. Modern titles (mostly first person shooters, such is the nature of the beast when choosing benchmarks at somewhat short notice) were used throughout to stress the cards, and resolutions from 1024x768 to 1920x1200 were used (inclusive), with and without varying degrees of IQ-enhancing options.Driver defaults were used for image quality optimisations throughout, and stock clocks were used for all cards. If in-game controls could be used for both antialiasing and anisotropic texture filtering, they were, otherwise the driver was used to force the required levels (if applicable and the game allowed it without rendering errors).
Tests were run a minimum of three times at each setting, and the median value reported. In the case of manual 'run-through' testing with FRAPS, three consecutive runs that produced repeatable results, after further analysis, were used. If values weren't part of a repeatable set, they were discarded and obtained again.
If you have any questions about our testing methods, please feel free to ask at any time in the HEXUS.community.
The format of the graphs is the same throughout this preview. The line plots are the baseline scores without antialiasing or anisotropic texture filtering applied, the column plots the values with AA and AF applied. Green is the GTX 512, near black is the GTX, orange is the Radeon X1800 XT.
Best playable settings are the opinion of the reviewer and should be used as a guideline.
Testing Issues
The CATALYST 5.11 driver applies an incorrect fix to F.E.A.R. on the X1800 XT, so the executable is renamed to avoid the issue. CATALYST 5.12 will fix the issue completely.The 81.89 showed intermittent hitching when loading new textures in-game, with F.E.A.R.
