{"id":2063,"date":"2008-12-20T03:47:27","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T03:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=2063"},"modified":"2008-12-21T17:25:41","modified_gmt":"2008-12-21T17:25:41","slug":"ati-catalyst-drivers-811-vs-812-performance-mini-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/ati-catalyst-drivers-811-vs-812-performance-mini-review\/","title":{"rendered":"ATI Catalyst Drivers: 8.11 vs 8.12 Performance Mini-Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"catalyst-811-vs-812\"<\/p>\n

Written by: Leon Hyman<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With ATI’s latest driver release, Catalyst 8.12, there has come marked improvements in certain titles. This is documented in the ATI Catalyst 8.12 Release Notes and can be found here<\/a>. This follows on the heels of Nvidia releasing their Big Bang 2 driver (180.43).<\/p>\n

This mini-review will explore the performance differences in a few of the titles. The benchmarks that were used are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 3DMark 06<\/li>\n
  2. 3DMark Vantage<\/li>\n
  3. Far Cry 2<\/li>\n
  4. Crysis<\/li>\n
  5. Call of Juarez<\/li>\n
  6. PT Boats: Knights of the Sea<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Each benchmark was run on a 4870 1GB and also on two 4870 1GB cards in CrossFire configuration. This was done for both the Catalyst 8.11 and Catalyst 8.12 drivers. Now let us take a look at the rest of the test setup.<\/p>\n

    \"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    Test System Specs<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Both drivers were tested on the exact same system with the exact same settings so as to eliminate external factors that could have influenced the benchmarks in one way or another.<\/p>\n

    The table shows the test system specifications.<\/p>\n

    \"test-system-specs\"<\/p>\n

    Keep in mind that our E7200 processor is overclocked to 3.8GHz which helps to eliminate the CPU bottleneck. Also the card both single and in CrossFire ran at their stock settings of 750MHz core clock and 3600MHz memory clock.<\/p>\n

    Now on to the benchmarks.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    3DMark 06<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    3DMark 06<\/em><\/a>, from Futuremark<\/a>, has been a stalwart in GPU benchmarking since its release and is one of the most complete utilities for benchmarking your computer system(s). It tests the CPU and GPU subsystems; but as all other hardware remains exactly the same, the section that will make the difference in the scores, will be the GPU tests.<\/p>\n

    Now for the results …<\/p>\n

    \"3dmark-06\"<\/p>\n

    In the Overall and Shader Model 3.0 tests we see the 4870 dropping a few points with the new driver while gaining in the Shader Model 2.0 test. On the other hand, the 4870 CrossFire configuration boasted increases right across-the-board.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    3DMark Vantage<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    3DMark Vantage<\/em><\/a> , is the latest in GPU benchmarking from Futuremark<\/a>. Since its release, it has found its way into many test suites, including this one. Similar to 3DMark 06<\/em> , it tests the CPU and GPU subsystems;\u00a0 since all other hardware remains exactly the same, the section that will make the difference in the scores, will be the GPU tests.<\/p>\n

    The following graphs shows the results:<\/p>\n

    \"3dmark-vantage\"<\/p>\n

    The only positive for the 8.12 drivers in Vantage<\/em> came from the GPU Score in single card configuration. The 8.11 drivers prevailed in all other tests.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    Far Cry 2<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Far Cry 2<\/em><\/a> is the latest first-person shooter from Ubisoft<\/a> . It is built on the Dunia Engine which has features such as dynamic weather systems and fire propogation. It has a comprehensive built-in benchmark utility which played its part in this review.<\/p>\n

    The graphs show the results from three of the built-in benchmarks: Ranch Small, Ranch Medium and Ranch Long.<\/p>\n

    \"fc2_small\"<\/p>\n

    \"fc2_medium\"<\/p>\n

    \"fc2_long\"<\/p>\n

    The Catalyst 8.12 drivers have increased Far Cry 2<\/em> performance right across the board. Showing increases of up to 11.22% in these tests.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    Crysis<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Crysis<\/em><\/a>, is a cutting edge PC game that really pushes the envelope in terms of hardware requirements. It is published by Electronic Arts<\/a>, developed by Crytek<\/a>, and is considered to be the most brutal games that you can subject you computer to. This review takes advantage of the built-in GPU benchmark on the Island level.<\/p>\n

    Settings: All Very High
    \n Resolution: 1440×900
    \n DirectX Version: DX10
    \n Anti-Aliasing: 8x<\/p>\n

    \"crysis\"<\/p>\n

    The results for Crysis<\/em> were split as the single card gained just over 2% performance while the CrossFire setup lost just over 1%.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    Call of Juarez<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Call of Juarez<\/em><\/a> is a first-person shooter developed and published by Techland<\/a>. The DX10 benchmark utility released for this game is nothing short of breathtaking in terms of visual quality and functionality.<\/p>\n

    The settings used are as follows:<\/p>\n

    Video<\/strong>
    \n Basic
    \n <\/span>Resolution: 1440×900
    \n Fullscreen: Yes
    \n Details: Custom<\/p>\n

    Advanced<\/span>
    \n Shadowmap size: 2048×2048
    \n Shadows quality: High
    \n Anti-Aliasing: MSAA x4<\/p>\n

    Audio<\/span>
    \n <\/strong>Enabled: Yes<\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n

    Here are the results of the test:<\/p>\n

    \"coj\"<\/p>\n

    Call of Juarez<\/em> receives an almost 7% increase from the new drivers in single card configuration, while CrossFire gains almost 5%.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    PT Boats: Knights of the Sea<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    PT Boats: Knights of the Sea<\/em><\/a> is a benchmark utility released by Akella<\/a>. It is a tech demo of their upcoming action sim game. Simple and intuitive, this test runs well and provides comparative results.<\/p>\n

    The settings used are as follows:<\/p>\n

    DirectX Version: DirectX 10
    \n Resolution: 1440×900 at 60 Hz
    \n Image Quality: High
    \n Antialiasing: 8x<\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n

    Here are the results of the test.<\/p>\n

    \"pt-boats\"<\/p>\n

    PT Boats<\/em> has set sail with the 8.12 drivers as el capit\u00e1n<\/em> and demonstrates improvements from 11.58% to as much as 31.73%. This gives PT Boats<\/em> the largest margin of gains among the games tested using the new drivers.<\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/a>\"Next<\/a>
    <\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    Here are the final results based on the benchmarks used. The average framerate for the games tested were used to generate the percentage difference. If the value is red, the 8.11 drivers win. If the value is green the 8.12 drivers win.<\/p>\n

    \"Benchmark<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \"final-benchmark-percentages\"<\/p>\n

    After analysing these results, it is fair to say that Catalyst 8.12 (as promised by ATI) does deliver performance increases in quite a few titles. Keep in mind that your mileage may vary and that this was just a small test scenario.<\/p>\n

    However, on a wider scale, you can expect to see this trend continue with other titles not used in this review. An overall performance increase of 4.52% in the titles tested might not seem like much, but it might be enough of a difference to make a game playable instead of annoyingly choppy.<\/p>\n

    We all look forward to more improvements in future from both ATI and Nvidia. I’m sure both companies love having satisfied customers.<\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n

    You are welcome to discuss this review and others with the rest of the Alien Babel Tech community in the ABT Forum<\/a>. Registration is completely free.<\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n

    Leon Hyman
    \n ABT Editor<\/em><\/strong>
    <\/p>\n

    \"Previous<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n


    <\/p>\n


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