{"id":15705,"date":"2010-02-22T05:51:40","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T05:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=15705"},"modified":"2010-05-02T21:57:20","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T20:57:20","slug":"catalyst-10-2-performance-analysis-featuring-win-7-and-4870-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/catalyst-10-2-performance-analysis-featuring-win-7-and-4870-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalyst 10-2 Performance Analysis featuring Win 7 and 4870 series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n               google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">As part of a brand new feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor will be comparing the performance of 22\u00a0benchmarks with the current monthly Catalyst driver release versus the one from the previous month.\u00a0 Catalyst 10-2 was just released last week with an impressive feature set that was previewed <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=15571\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 However, we naturally ask ourselves if the performance improvements and features only applies to the new Radeon 5000 series or also to the more popular and established 48X0 series.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We are going to test Catalyst 10.2 against Catalyst 10.1 using our current benchmark suite of 19 games plus three synthetic benchmarks. Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit using Core i7 920 at 3.80 GHz, 6 GB DD3, and our video cards are HD 4870 and HD 4870-X2 (standing in for 4870 CrossFire).\u00a0 All of our games are tested at 1920&#215;1200 and 1680&#215;1050 resolutions and\u00a0with maxed-out in-game settings plus 4xAA\/16xAF and we use DX10\/10.1 whenever possible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">CrossFireX Profiles is the main feature of the Catalyst 10.2 release which introduces these application profiles in a separate .XML file that are updated by AMD and then downloaded and installed by the user.\u00a0 We tested this for our HD 4870-X2 using Catalyst 10-1, 10-2 and 10-3 beta, but did not find any performance advantage.\u00a0 We will explore this further in next month\u2019s performance analysis and report how CrossFire-X profiles work for the 5000 series of Radeons also.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Let\u2019s get right to the test configuration and the tests.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"font-size: large\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Intel Hardware Core i7<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Intel Core i7 920 reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 3.8 GHz); Turbo (21X multiplier for 3.97 GHz of a single core) is on. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Gigabyte <\/span>EX58-UD3R <span style=\"font-size: small\">(Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 16x+16x).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 18000 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at PC 16000 speeds; 2&#215;2 GB supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Radeon HD 4870-X2 (2GB, reference clocks 750\/900) by VisionTek<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Radeon HD 4870 (1GB, reference clocks 750\/900) by ASUS<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Silent Pro 600 watt power supply supplied by<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\">Cooler Master<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Catalyst 10-1 and 10-2; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver, Catalyst AI set to \u201cStandard\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">DirectX August 2009.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">vsync is off in the control panel and is never set in-game.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">4xAA enabled in all games and &#8220;forced&#8221; in Catalyst Control Center for<em> UT3<\/em>; all in-game settings at &#8220;maximum&#8221; or &#8220;ultra&#8221; with 16xAF always applied<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">3DMark06<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Vantage<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Far Cry 2<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Crysis<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">F.E.A.R.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Unreal Tournament 3<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">PT Boats Demo<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">World in Conflict<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Call of Juarez<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Half Life 2<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Left4Dead<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Lost Planet<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Call of Duty 4<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">X3:Terran Conflict<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Enemy Territories: Quake Wars<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ARMA2<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">H.A.W.X.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Battleforge<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Dirt 2<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Resident Evil 5<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Heaven (Unigine)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Benchmarks &amp; Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Here are the charts comparing performance with last month\u2019s Catalyst 10.1 in 22 benchmarks with this month\u2019s 10.2\u00a0 The benchmarks are self explanatory with average framerates (or scores) compared directly to each other.\u00a0 Wins are\u00a0bolded.\u00a0 If there is a tie, both scores are bolded.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15706\" title=\"cat10.2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2.jpg?resize=480%2C593\" alt=\"cat10.2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2.jpg?resize=480%2C593 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-242x300.jpg 242w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-2.PNG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18050\" title=\"cat10.2.2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-2.PNG?resize=480%2C556\" alt=\"cat10.2.2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-2.PNG?resize=480%2C556 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-2-258x300.PNG 258w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-3fix.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15730\" title=\"cat10.2.3fix\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-3fix.jpg?resize=480%2C515\" alt=\"cat10.2.3fix\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-3fix.jpg?resize=480%2C515 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/cat10-2-3fix-279x300.jpg 279w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see almost no significant performance difference between Catalyst 10-1 and 10-2 with either our HD 4870 or HD 4870-X2.\u00a0 ATI\/AMD already has very mature drivers for these video cards and we can expect most of their current and future efforts will go into improving Radeon 5000 series drivers.\u00a0 We would recommend upgrading to Catalyst 10.2 because there is no disadvantage whatsoever and whatever slight plusses we found outweigh any slight negatives and it makes reasonable sense to use it.\u00a0 Of course, if you have a 5000 series Radeon, it would be wise to upgrade just for the features of Catalyst 10.2 over 10.1<\/p>\n<p>We will be back next month to compare performance of Catalyst 10.3 versus 10.2.\u00a0 We have the beta and are testing with it now.\u00a0\u00a0 Happy gaming!<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Benchmarks &#038; Conclusion--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=15705\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Catalyst-10-2-Performance-Analysis.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,6],"tags":[3163,3162,3164,3165,1799,1676],"class_list":["post-15705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-news","tag-catalyst-10-1","tag-catalyst-10-1-vs-10-2","tag-catalyst-10-2","tag-catalyst-performance-analysis","tag-hd-4870","tag-hd-4870-x2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}