ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 and NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650: Taking on DX9
by Andrew Ku on September 14, 2003 11:04 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Right after the Centrino buzz, we reported in March of ATI’s and NVIDIA’s new mobility graphics processors. This got the mobile industry excited because for the first time, we were told that full high performance DX9 mobile parts were going to be released to the market. No small news either, since they were going to bring the relative performance of desktop systems to mobile systems.
It has been a bit hard to get together a Mobility Radeon 9600 and GeForce FX Go5600 head to head because of the odd product cycles that have been going on. Toshiba was the first to release a GeForce FX Go5600 based system, but this was on the Japanese product cycle, which is around spring/summer. Since the relationship between Japan and North America are intertwined via manufacturers, the US and Canada saw units trickle into their marketplaces. Meanwhile, Europe was really the earliest to see production systems that were based on the Mobility Radeon 9600, but due to marketplace relationships, North American didn’t see any of these products retailed. Mobility Radeon 9600 in North America wasn’t really seen until VoodooPC’s Envy M: 460 hit the market, which was just several weeks back.
Required or not these days, students back in North America are commonly buying notebooks for school use, and NVIDIA’s marketing has decided to go after the back-to-school cycle with their GeForce FX Go5600. Meanwhile, ATI’s Mobility Radeon 9600 will be aimed toward the US fall refresh cycle (sometime around late Q3 and early Q4), which means we will see more design wins in the near future. Though, at the moment, both graphic processors can be considered shipping components. Either way, the two cycles have lead to a shifted timeline between Mobility Radeon 9600 and the GeForce FX Go5600. With GeForce FX Go5600 arriving earlier than its competitor, it was sometimes unfairly compared to Mobility Radeon 9000 (code named M9). M9, though, was not a DX9 part nor supported AGP8X.
Today, we have the benchmark results to show for all of the countless hours. Not only do we have Half-Life 2 for viewing pleasure, but we will throw in the anticipated AquaMark 3. This should give you the full spectrum look into the latest and greatest from NVIDIA and ATI, with our look into full DX9 desktop and mobile graphic processors. You may have seen other media report benchmark scores [for these two mobile parts] that have been called into question, specifically involving odd margin results. In our time spent benchmarking the two mobile graphics processors, we have yet to be able to recreate similar scenarios.
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Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#34 you clearly have no idea how reviews work. AnandTech isn't going to use BETA (I repeat, BETA) drivers for a review like this, or any review for that matter unless the review specifically concentrates on the drivers themselves. In addition, the laptops tested and any laptop you can find right now is shipping with 44 or 45 series NVIDIA drivers.Besides, the BETA 50 series of drivers already look suspicious with slightly lower IQ and the absence of fog present in HL2. What other little IQ degradation are in these drivers is anyone's guess.
Point is, AnandTech did exactly what they should of done, not use the 50 series drivers until they're ready to go, or WHQL'ed in other words.
By the way, get a clue NVIDIOT.
Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#34 - You, sir, are a moron. Yeah, download the Det50 drivers and see what happens when nVidia converts all DX9 calls to DX8. Why not just set the game to DX8 yourself and save all the smoke and mirrors? Go ahead and pay $500 for a DX8 graphics card if you're that stupid.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#27 Probavly you just can´t get reasonable frame rates on DX9 environments. They both look amazing in DX 8 games but can´t handle high quality DX 9. That´s why 25 is upset with the lack of focus of the reviewer. Wait the next train, because there is no first seat class in this wagon.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Why can't you answer the question people have asked? Did you use the Det 50 driver? The answer is NO. Say it NO! You used NVIDIA 44.82. Your results are invalid. Are you guys biased or what? Is ATYT paying you off as well. Download 51.75 and run the test. Then tell us what you see. What a bunch of CRAP.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
#26 - if nVidia reduces video quality, they have to be penalized for that. You have to level the IQ playing field before you can compare frame rates. Nvidia lost, give it a rest.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
and a Voodoo PC M460 M10, a Targa M10 (in Germany), a Gericomm M10 (Germany), an Acetbis Peacock M10 (Germany), and ATI told me that there will be 5 more in North America by the end of October.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
M10 won all the tests, and full DX9 (24-bit, according to Microsoft). What more DX9 do you want? Do you work at nVidia or something?Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Sxotty - you're such an immature little bonehead. Are you saying that Nvidia should have won this review? ATI is crushing nVidia at 24-bit, even when nVidia is running in 12/16. And do you really believe the BS spin coming from nVidia that turning off the fog was 'a bug'?Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
Actually, the reviewer used nVidia's latest shipping mobile drivers -- and if you go any NV31M notebook manufacturer's site, you'll see that the ones he uses are in fact the ones posted.Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
There is an 9600 PRO laptop available - it's the Sager NP5680. My father is buying one today. Here's the link: http://www.powernotebooks.com/products.php3?displa...