{"id":6876,"date":"2009-05-26T08:31:46","date_gmt":"2009-05-26T08:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=6876"},"modified":"2009-05-27T15:59:50","modified_gmt":"2009-05-27T15:59:50","slug":"diamond-hd4890-xoc-review-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/diamond-hd4890-xoc-review-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamond HD4890-XOC, Review – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n <\/span>Welcome to Part 2 of our Diamond HD4890-XOC complete examination.\u00a0 Karan did a great job with the preview<\/a> and now we continue with the benchmarks.\u00a0 We are testing with Catalyst 9-4 which you can directly compare<\/span> to the HD4870 and the HD4870-X2<\/span> to Catalyst 9-3 from our last article<\/a> to judge the progress ATi is making with their drivers.\u00a0\u00a0 We have also updated <\/span>Nvidia’s drivers since last article’s 182.08 where we explored the question whether gamers should upgrade to a 64-bit operating system, or if Vista 64 is necessary or even better than Vista 32-bit, or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

This review benches HD4890-XOC against last generation’s HD4870 as well as AMD’s fastest card HD4870-X2, and our standard GTX280. <\/span> Our readers need to realize that our change to Vista 64-bit was not for gaming, but rather for having the ability to use more system RAM effectively. We determined that we are not losing anything – even though 32-bit applications have to run in a sort of “emulation layer” in the 64-bit version of Vista. From our testing, a couple of the 13 games that we regularly test are actually coded to run faster than 32-bit on Vista 64 and the ones that ran faster in Vista 32 did not make any practical difference or advantage. We did notice very little difference overall between using both operating systems with 4GB of system RAM.
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This month, we also tested our Q9550S<\/a> to finally answer the question: “Is a quad core CPU necessary to get the best out of today’s modern PC games, even paired with a powerful video card?” <\/em>We learned that quad core is indeed very important to frame rates in games that utilize more than 2 cores. We did that review with Catalyst 9-2 and GeForce 180.08 and you will be able to follow the progress of both sets of vendor’s drivers from there into this review as we updated to Catalyst 9-3 and GeForce 180.20; and we are now testing with Catalyst 9-4 and GeForce 182.50 in this one featuring Diamond HD4890-XOC.\u00a0 You can actually follow this series of reviews all the way back to August 2008’s drivers from both vendors to see the progress they have made with drivers in relation to themselves and to each others performance.
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We are continuing to consistently test at two of the most popular demanding wide-screen resolutions, 1680×1050 and 1920×1200, 4xAA plus 16xAF and with maximum DX10 details whenever it is available and with our Q9550S overclocked to 4.0 GHz.\u00a0 We are particularly going to pay attention to HD4890-XOC compared to the older HD4870 and we will even overclock further than the already factory overclocked Diamond version (925\/1050 to 960\/1055) and see how it scales in games. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we did not get a good overclock on our HD4890’s vRAM.\u00a0 Fortunately, its core overclocked from Diamond’s 925 MHz to 960 MHz and will give you a good idea of how even further overclocked HD4890s will perform.\u00a0 We could have got more but the fan speed is annoying over 55% and we also did not want to volt mod.\u00a0 Generally, from our earlier reviews, we found that increasing the core speed – as long as it is matched well to memory speeds – is the most important part of the equation for increasing frame rates.\u00a0 We will also explore further HD4890 testing in CrossFire and also paired with HD4870 and HD4870-X2<\/span><\/span> with Catalyst 9-5<\/span><\/span> in our next review, and as always you can track driver progress from each vendor.
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Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span>
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Test Configuration – Hardware<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S (engineering sample reference 2.83 GHz and overclocked to 4.0 GHz – i.e. 470 FSB.)
\n * ASUS Rampage Formula (Intel X48 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 16x+16x).
\n * 4 GB DDR2-PC8500 RAM (2×2 GB, dual-channel at PC6400 speeds)
\n * ATi Radeon HD4890-XOC<\/span> by Diamond<\/span> (1 GB, Diamond reference clocks 925\/1050 and also further overclocked 960\/1055)
\n * ATi Radeon 4870 (1GB, reference clocks) by ASUS
\n * ATi Radeon 4870-X2 (2GB, reference clocks) by VisionTek
\n * GTX280 (1 GB, reference clocks) by BFGTech
\n * Onboard SupremeFX-II (ASUS P5e Deluxe motherboard daughter-card)
\n * 2 – 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives<\/span><\/p>\n

Test Configuration \u2013 Software<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* ATi Catalyst 9-4; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver, Catalyst AI set to \u201cStandard\u201d<\/span>
\n * GeForce 182.50; high quality filtering, optimizations off, LOD clamp enabled
\n * Windows Vista 64-bit SP1; very latest updates
\n * DirectX March 2008.
\n * All games patched to their latest versions.<\/p>\n

Test Configuration \u2013 Settings<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* vsync is off in the control panel and is never set in-game.
\n * 4xAA enabled in all games and “forced” in Catalyst Control Center for UT3<\/em>; all in-game settings at “maximum” or “ultra” with 16xAF always applied
\n * All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.
\n * Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
\n * Vista 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths<\/span><\/p>\n


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3DMark06<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3DMark06 still remains the number one utility used for a system benchmark. We find that it is mostly useful for tracking changes within a single system, which is what we are doing now. There are four \u201cmini-games\u201d that it uses for benchmarking graphics, as well as two CPU tests. The scores are weighed and added together to give an overall “score” and there is a further frame rate<\/span> breakdown<\/span> possible with these mini games that we are charting for you<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Here is a scene from one of the four benchmark \u201cmini games\u201d used to benchmark GPU performance. It will still give your PC a real workout even though its default resolution is only 1280\u00d71024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the results of our 3DMark06 benchmark comparison using the benchmark at its default settings:<\/span><\/p>\n

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They are just scores.\u00a0 We had to check to make sure the overclocked numbers were not substituted for the stock ones by mistake.\u00a0 But this variability occurs just running the tests over and over.\u00a0 Now the mini-game frame rates:
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‘Playing’ the 3DMark06 Mini-games on the HD4890 would clearly edge out play with the HD4870 and the overclocked HD4890 scales nicely to match or beat the GTX280.\u00a0 The overclocked HD4890 is slightly “faster” than the stock Diamond HD4890-XOC.\u00a0 So, let’s move on to our second synthetic benchmark, Vantage.<\/span>
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Vantage<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Vantage is Futuremark\u2019s latest test. It is really useful for tracking changes in a single <\/em>system – especially driver changes.\u00a0 There are two mini-game tests, Jane Nash<\/em> and Calico<\/em>.\u00a0 There are also two CPU tests but we are still focusing on the graphics performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a scene from Vantage’s first mini-game.<\/span><\/p>\n


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Lets go right to the graphs and first check the Basic Tests with the default benchmark scores<\/span>:<\/p>\n

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We see more scores.\u00a0 Now let’s look at the mini game frame rates:<\/p>\n

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In this synthetic test, the HD4870 is beaten solidly by the HD4890 and the overclocked HD4890-XOC version is even faster than the GTX280.<\/span> The HD4870-X2 is the king here.\u00a0 Let’s move on to real games and real world situations and see what advantage – if any – overclocking the HD4890-XOC any further has.\u00a0 Still, there is nothing that you would notice ‘playing’ these benchmarks as if they were games by overclocking it. Enough of the synthetics as we move on to PC games!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Call of Juarez<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
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Call of Juarez <\/em>is one of the very earliest DX10 games. Techland’s Call of Juarez<\/em> is loosely based on Spaghetti Westerns that became popular in the early 1970s. Call of Juarez <\/em>features its Chrome Engine using Shader Model 4 with DirectX 10. Our benchmark isn\u2019t built into Call of Juarez, <\/em>but is an official stand-alone that runs a simple flyby of a level that is created to showcase its DX10 effects. It offers good repeatability and it is a good stress test for DX10 features in graphics cards, although it is not quite the same as actual gameplay because the game logic and AI are stripped out of this demo.
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Performing Call of Juarez<\/em> benchmark is easy. You are presented with a simple menu to choose resolution, anti-aliasing, and two choices of shadow quality options. We set the shadow quality on \u201chigh\u201d and the shadow map resolution to the maximum, 2048\u00d72048. At the end of the run, the demo presents you with the minimum, maximum, and average frame rate, along with the option to quit or run the benchmark again. We always ran the benchmark at least a second time and recorded that generally higher score.<\/span><\/p>\n

Call of Juarez<\/em> DX10 benchmark at 1920×1200:<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"coj_191\"<\/a>Now at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We see a little scaling with our overclocked HD4890-XOC consistent with a small overclock over Diamond’s own.\u00a0 This game has always favored ATi. The HD4890 beats the HD4870 significantly and the HD4870-X2’s frame rates are completely satisfactory at 1920×1200 with completely maxed out details and with 4xAA\/16xAF applied.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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N<\/span>ext we move on to Crysis,<\/em> a science fiction first person shooter by Crytek.\u00a0 It remains one of the most demanding games for any PC and it is also still one of the most beautiful games released to date.\u00a0 Crysis <\/em>is based in a fictional near-future where an alien spacecraft is discovered buried on an island near the coast of Korea. The single-player campaign has you assume the role of USA Delta Force, \u2018Nomad\u2019 who is armed with various futuristic weapons and equipment. Crysis<\/em> uses DirectX10 for graphics rendering.<\/span><\/p>\n

A standalone but related game, Crysis Warhead<\/em> was released last year. CryEngine2 is the game engine used to power Crysis<\/em> and Warhead <\/em>and it is an extended version of the CryEngine that powers FarCry<\/em>. As well as supporting Shader Model 2.0, 3.0, and DirectX10\u2019s 4.0, CryEngine2 is also multi-threaded to take advantage of SMP-aware systems and Crytek has developed their own proprietary physics system, called CryPhysics. However, it is noted that actually playing this game is a bit slower than the demo implies.<\/span><\/p>\n

G<\/strong>PU Demo, Island<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

All of our settings are set to ‘maximum’ including 4xAA and we force 16AF in the control panels. Here is Crysis\u2019 Island Demo <\/em>benchmarks, first at 1920\u00d71200 resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n

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We could always use a single ‘extra’ frame rate in Crysis<\/em> that overclocking HD4890 provides, yet it would be unnoticeable.\u00a0 Now at 1680×1050:<\/p>\n

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<\/span>We see the HD4890-XOC’s performance is quite a bit better than the HD4870 although our further overclock makes no practical difference.\u00a0 Crysis<\/em> is quite playable with HD4870-X2, even with 4xAA\/16xAF, if you are willing to tweak your settings a bit downward.\u00a0 Our GTX280 brings up the rear this time, except in a couple of cases at maximum frame rate.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Clear Sky<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Prologue:<\/em> S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Clear Sky<\/em><\/span> became a brand new DX10 benchmark for us<\/span> when GSC Game World released a prequel story expansion to <\/span>the original Shadows of Chernobyl, <\/em>last year.<\/span> Both games have non-linear storylines which feature role-playing game elements. In <\/em>both games, the player assumes the identity of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; an illegal artifact scavenger in \u201cThe Zone\u201d which encompasses about 30 square kilometers. It is the location of an alternate reality story surrounding the Chernobyl Power Plant after another (fictitious) explosion.<\/span><\/p>\n

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.<\/em> & Clear Sky<\/em> feature \u201ca living breathing world\u201d with highly developed NPC creature AI.\u00a0 S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Clear Sky <\/em>uses the X-ray Engine – a DirectX8.1\/9\/DX10\/10.1 Shader model 3.0 & 4.0 graphics engine featuring HDR, parallax and normal mapping, soft shadows, motion blur, weather effects and day-to-night cycles. As with other engines using deferred shading, the original DX9c X-ray Engine does not support anti-aliasing with dynamic lighting enabled, although the DX10 version does. <\/span><\/p>\n

We are using the stand-alone “official” benchmark by Clear Sky’s <\/em>creators.\u00a0 Clear Sky<\/em> is top-notch and worthy to be S.T.A.L.K.E.R’<\/em>s successor with even more awesome DX10 effects which help to create and enhance their game’s already incredible atmosphere. Unfortunately, DX10 comes with steep hardware requirements and this new game really needs multi-GPU to run at its maximum settings. We picked the most stressful test out of the four, “Sun shafts”.\u00a0 It brings the heaviest penalty due to its extreme use of shaders to create DX10\/DX10.1 effects. We ran this benchmark fully maxed out in DX10.0 with “ultra” settings plus 4xAA, but did not apply edge-detect MSAA which chokes performance even further.<\/span><\/p>\n

S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Clear Sky<\/em> DX10 benchmark “Sun shafts” at 1920×1200:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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And at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Again we see the HD4890-XOC beating both the HD4870 and the GTX280 with the overclocked version scaling nicely.\u00a0 However, even the HD4870-X2 cannot climb out of the teens for the minimum frame rates.
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PT Boats: Knights of the Sea<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>DX10 benchmark<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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PT Boats: Knights of the Sea <\/em><\/span>is a stand-alone DX10 benchmark utility released by Akella last year. It is actually a tech demo of their upcoming simulation-action game. This DX10 benchmark test runs reliably and apparently provides very accurate and repeatable results.<\/span><\/p>\n

We set the only settings options available to us as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

DirectX Version: DirectX 10
\n Resolution: 1920\u00d71600 and 1680\u00d71050 at 60 Hz
\n Image Quality: High
\n Anti aliasing: 4x<\/span><\/p>\n

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PT Boats<\/em> DX10 benchmark, first at 1920×1200<\/span><\/strong>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"pt_191\"<\/a>Here is 1680×1050 resolution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We see a repeat performance where the HD4890-XOC clearly beats the HD4870 and narrows the gap with the GTX280.\u00a0 All of these cards drop into the 20s at 1920×1200 resolution.\u00a0 We are really looking forward to this game’s release, later on this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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FarCry 2<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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F<\/em><\/span>ar Cry 2 <\/em>uses the name of the original Far Cry <\/em>but it is not connected to the first game as it brings you a new setting and a new story. Ubisoft created it based on their Dunia Engine. The game setting takes place in an unnamed African country, during an uprising between two rival warring factions.<\/em> Your mission is to kill \u201cThe Jackal\u201d; the Nietzsche-quoting mercenary that arms both sides of the conflict that you are dropped into.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Far Cry 2 <\/em>game world is loaded in the background and on the fly to create a completely seamless open world. The Dunia game engine provides good visuals that scale well. The Far Cry 2<\/em> design team actually went to Africa to give added realism to this game. One thing to especially note is Far Cry 2’s <\/em>very realistic fire propagation by their engine that is a far cry from the scripted fire and explosions that we are used to seeing.
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Far Cry 2<\/em> benchmark at 1920×1200 <\/span><\/strong>with AI enabled<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"fc2_192\"<\/a><\/strong>Now at 1680×1050 with AI enabled.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"fc2_161\"<\/a><\/span>All of our video cards can play Far Cry 2<\/em> very satisfactorily.\u00a0 The GTX280 leads the single-GPU cards but the overclocked HD4890-XOC narrows the performance gap somewhat and clearly beats the HD4870.\u00a0 Our HD4870-X2 also puts in an impressive performance as ATi evidently solved their driver issues that plagued this game for a few months after it was released.
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<\/em><\/strong>World in Conflict<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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World In Conflict<\/em> is set in an alternate history Earth where the Cold War did not end and Russia invaded the USA in 1989 and the remaining Americans decided to strike back. World in Conflict (WiC)<\/em> is a real-time tactical\/strategy video game developed by Massive Entertainment.\u00a0 Although it is generally considered a real-time strategy (RTS) game, World in Conflict <\/em>includes gameplay typical of real-time tactical (RTT) games. WiC<\/em> is filled with real vehicles from both the Russian and American military. There are also tactical aids, including calling in massive bombing raids, access to chemical warfare, nuclear weapons, and far more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is yet another amazing and very customizable and detailed DX10 benchmark that is available in-game or as a stand-alone. The particle effects and explosions in World in Conflict<\/em> are truly spectacular! Every setting is fully maxed out.\u00a0 First at 1920×1200 resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n

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World in Conflict<\/em> at 1680×1050<\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"wic_161\"<\/a><\/strong><\/span>This is getting repetitious.\u00a0 Again the HD4890-XOC solidly beats the HD4870 and shows good scaling when overclocked, although overclocking will still not make a practical difference here.\u00a0 Only the GTX280 and the HD4870-X2 really have frame rates that are playable at the minimum without lowering details or filtering options.<\/p>\n

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X3-Terran Conflict<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong>
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X3:Terran Conflict<\/em><\/span> (X3:TC) <\/em><\/span> is another beautiful stand-alone benchmark that runs multiple tests and will really strain a lot of video cards. X3:TC <\/em>is a space trading and combat simulator from Egosoft and is the most recent of their X-series of computer games. X3:TC<\/em> is a standalone expansion of X3: Reunion<\/em>, based in the same universe and on the same engine. It complements the story of previous games in the X-Universe and especially continues the events after the end of X3: Reunion<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to Reunion, Terran Conflict<\/em> features a larger universe, more ships, and of course, new missions. The X-Universe is huge. The Terran faction was added with their own set of technology including powerful ships and stations. Many new weapons systems were developed for the expansion and it has generally received good reviews. It has a rather steep learning curve.<\/span><\/p>\n

First at 1920×1200:<\/strong>
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\"x3tc_191\"<\/a><\/span>X3:Terran Conflict<\/strong><\/span><\/em> at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"x3tc_161\"<\/a><\/span> There is no reason to be dissatisfied with any video card tested, except at the minimums.\u00a0 The HD4870-X2 leads followed by the overclocked HD4890, the Diamond stock HD4890-XOC and then the HD4870.\u00a0 Our GTX280 brings up the rear, but it not at all far behind the pack and it has great maximum frame rates.
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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars <\/em>is an objective-driven, class-based first person shooter set in the Quake universe. It was developed by id Software and Splash Damage for Windows and published by Activision. Quake Wars<\/em> pits the combined human armies of the Global Defense Force against the technologically superior Strogg, an alien race who has come to earth to use humans for spare parts and food. It allows you to play a part, probably best as an online multi-player experience, in the battles waged around the world in mankind\u2019s <\/span>desperate <\/span>war to survive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quake Wars<\/em> is an OpenGL game based on id\u2019s Doom3 game engine with the addition of their MegaTexture technology. It also supports some of the latest 3D effects seen in today\u2019s games, including soft particles, although it is somewhat dated and less demanding on video cards than many DX10 games. id\u2019s MegaTexture technology is designed to provide very large maps without having to reuse the same textures over and over again. For our benchmark we chose the flyby, Salvage Demo<\/em><\/em>. It is one of the most graphically demanding of all the flybys and it is very repeatable and reliable in its results. It is fairly close to what you will experience in-game. All of our settings are set to ‘maximum’ and we also apply 4xAA\/16xAF in game.<\/span><\/p>\n

First we test at 1920×1200 resolution:<\/strong>
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Salvage Demo<\/em> fly-by at 1680×1050 <\/span><\/strong>resolution<\/span><\/strong>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"etqw_161\"<\/a><\/span><\/strong>There are no longer<\/span> <\/span><\/strong>any surprises<\/span>. The HD4870 and the GTX280 trade some blows but the HD4890-XOC rules the single GPU roost and scales well with our modest core overclock.\u00a0 Still, all of these video cards have no trouble handling this game fully maxed out.
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F.E.A.R.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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F.E.A.R. – First Encounter Armed Assault<\/em> – is a DX9c game by Monolith Productions that was originally released in October 2005 by Vivendi Universal Production. Later, there were two expansions with the latest, Perseus Mandate<\/em>, released in 2007. Although the game engine is aging a bit, it still has some of the most spectacular effects of any game. F.E.A.R.<\/em> showcases a powerful particle system, complete with sparks and smoke for collisions as well as featuring bullet marks and other effects including \u201csoft shadows\u201d. This is highlighted by the built-in performance test, although it was never updated. This performance test will tell you how F.E.A.R.<\/em> will run, but both of its expansions are progressively more demanding on your PC graphics and will run slower than the demo. We always run at least 2 sets of tests with all in-game features at \u2018maximum\u2019.\u00a0 F.E.A.R.<\/em> uses the Jupiter Extended Technology engine from Touchdown Entertainment.<\/span><\/p>\n

We test with the most demanding settings. Fully maxed details with 4xAA\/16xAF; soft shadows ‘off’, as they do not play well with AA.\u00a0 Let’s start again first at 1920×1200:<\/span>
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Now at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In this case, the HD4870-X2 appears to be having driver issues and some hiccups at its minimums; even the HD4870 does better.\u00a0 Still, the HD4870-XOC scales nicely when it is overclocked and it is solidly faster than the HD4870.\u00a0 The GTX280 keeps the single GPU leadership here although our overclocked HD4890-XOC comes close.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lost Planet DX10 benchmark<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition<\/em> is a Capcom port of an Xbox 360 game. It takes place on the icy planet of E.D.N. III which is filled with monsters, pirates, big guns, and huge bosses. This frozen world highlights high dynamic range lighting (HDR) brilliantly as the snow-white environment reflects blinding sunlight as DX10 particle systems toss snow and ice all around. The game looks great in both DirectX 9 and 10 and there isn\u2019t really much of a difference between the two versions except perhaps shadows. Unfortunately, the DX10 version doesn\u2019t look that much better when you\u2019re actually playing the game and it still runs slower than the DX9 version.<\/span><\/p>\n

We use the in-game performance test from the retail copy of Lost Planet<\/em> and updated through Steam to the latest version for our runs. This run isn\u2019t completely scripted as the creatures act a little differently each time you run it, requiring multiple runs.\u00a0 Lost Planet\u2019s Snow<\/em> and Cave<\/em> demos are run continuously by the performance test and blend into each other. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here are our benchmark results with the more demanding, Snow<\/em>.\u00a0 All settings are fully maxed out in-game including 4xAA\/16xAF.<\/span><\/p>\n

First at 1920\u00d71200 resolution:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"lp_191\"<\/a>And now at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"lp_161\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The GTX280 rules the single GPU category.\u00a0 However, all of our video cards have troubles with the minimums except perhaps the HD4870-X2.\u00a0 Again, the HD4890-XOC makes a nice improvement over the HD4870 and our slightly overclocked version scales well here, but not enough to make much difference at the bottom.<\/p>\n

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Unreal Tournament 3<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3)<\/em> is the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series. UT3<\/em> is a first-person shooter and online multiplayer video game by Epic Games. Unreal Tournament 3<\/em> provides a good balance between image quality and performance, rendering complex scenes well even on lower-end PCs. Of course, on high-end graphics cards you can really turn up the detail. UT3<\/em> is primarily an online multiplayer title offering several game modes and it also includes an offline single-player game with a campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

For our tests, we used the very latest game patch for Unreal Tournament 3,<\/em> released after its ‘Titan’ pack. The game doesn\u2019t have a built-in benchmarking tool so we used FRAPS and did a fly-by of a chosen level. Here we note that performance numbers reported are a bit higher than compared to in-game. The map we use is called \u201cContainment\u201d and it is one of the most demanding of the fly-bys. Our tests were run at resolutions of 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 with UT3\u2019s<\/em> in-game graphics options set to their maximum values. <\/span><\/p>\n

One drawback of the way the UT3 engine is designed is that there is no support for anti-aliasing built in so we forced 4xAA in each vendor’s control panel. We record a demo in the game and a set number of frames are saved in a file for playback. When playing back the demo, the game engine then renders the frames as quickly as possible, which is why you will often see it playing it back more quickly than you would actually play the game.
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\n Containment Demo<\/em> at 1920×1200:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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And now at 1680×1050:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"ut3_162\"<\/a>There is absolutely no problem playing this game fully maxed out with any of our video cards.\u00a0 Again, the HD4870-XOC edges out the GTX280 and clearly beats the HD4870.\u00a0 The HD4870-X2 is the overall fastest video card but doesn’t scale well except for the maximum frame rates.
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Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare<\/span><\/span>
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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4)<\/em> is a first person shooter running on a custom engine. There are nice graphics but the engine is somewhat dated compared to others and it runs well on modern PCs. It is the first CoD installment to take place in a modern setting instead of in World War II. It differs from the previous Call of Duty<\/em> games by having a more film-like plot that uses intermixed story lines from two perspectives; that of a USMC sargeant and a British SAS Sargeant. There is also a variety of short missions where players control other characters in flashback sequences to advance the story. Call of Duty 4’s<\/em> move to modern warfare introduced a variety of modern conventional weapons and technologies including plastic explosives.<\/p>\n

There are currently 20 multiplayer maps in CoD4<\/em>. It is very popular and there is a new expansion for it. For multiplayer, it includes five preset classes and introduces the Perks system. Perks are special abilities which allow users to further customize their character to suit their personal style. Our timedemo benchmark was created by ABT’s own Senior Editor and lead reviewer, BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable.<\/p>\n

\"cod4_191\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And now at 1650×10<\/span>80:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"cod4_161\"<\/a><\/span><\/strong>Here the further overclock on the HD4890-XOC does make a few frame rates difference, but not enough to improve it so anyone would notice except by looking at charts.\u00a0 The HD4870 is clearly beaten by its newest cousin and now even the GTX280 is forced to trade blows with it, getting edged out more often than not.
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Half-Life 2: Lost Coast<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Half-Life 2<\/em> is still a popular game and it is the oldest game we review for this series. Half-Life 2: Lost Coast<\/em> is an additional level for this 2004 game. Lost Coast<\/em> was released October, 2005 as a free download to all purchasers of Half-Life 2. Lost Coast<\/em> was developed as a playable tech demo that was evidently intended to showcase the newly-added high definition range (HDR) lighting\u00a0 features of the Source Engine.\u00a0 A flyby of this level is played during the HL2<\/em> video stress test and it is very repeatable. All in-game settings are maxed out, including 4xAA\/16xAF.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"hl2_19\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now at 1650×1080 resolution:\"hl2_16\"<\/a><\/strong>Although all of our configurations breeze through this benchmark, the HD4890-XOC, overclocked, wins. They are all grouped tightly and we notice that the HD4870-X2 does not scale and the HD4870 exhibits an oddity at its minimum.\u00a0 It may well be that the game’s 300 FPS cap will also influence the average scores, as many setups are hitting that ceiling. But no matter how you look at it, our overclocked HD4890-XOC wins.<\/span>
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Conclusion <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


Our results are very consistent and we carried on where our Diamond HD 4890-xOC Preview, Part 1<\/a> left off.\u00a0 We see Diamond’s overclocked HD4890-XOC coming on very strongly to replace the HD4870 as AMD’s top single-GPU.\u00a0 We also note excellent scaling over the HD4870 and even continued further good scaling with our very modest overclock.\u00a0 We see the HD4890-XOC even trade blows with Nvidia’s now second-fastest single GPU, the GTX280.\u00a0 We are most impressed and highly recommend Diamond’s HD4890-XOC as offering great bang-for-buck!
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As we move on to the third part of our review series featuring Diamond’s HD4890-XOC in CrossFire and CrossFireX configurations, we will also upgrade to the next set of drivers from each vendor. Catalyst 9-5 and GeForce 185.85.\u00a0 This way you can see the driver’s continued progress and compare their performance directly from one driver set to the next. We intend to closely examine possible architectural differences between the HD4890 and the HD4870 series which will also feature CrossFireX – pairing “FrankenFire’s” HD4890 and HD4870 against “true” HD4890 CrossFire. We will also show you our HD4870-X2 paired with the HD4890 and also the HD4870-X2 paired with the HD4870, compared.\u00a0 And we have a new “Big GPU shootout – revisited”<\/span> in the works for you<\/span> – with many more video cards and game benchmarks than our original from last September.
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Our “Shoot-out Series” <\/em>has been a steady progression examining Intel’s Penryn platform, and we have been upgrading it as necessary to maximize our PC’s gaming performance and to chart those improvements for you.\u00a0 Part IV, The Summary<\/a>,<\/em> showed this by comparing drivers all the way back to August 2008 when we first began benchmarking and focusing on the progress each vendors has made since then. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In our<\/span> installment of Part III, Big GPU Shootout, PCIe 1.0 vs. PCIe 2.0,<\/a> <\/em>we especially focused on the motherboard’s effects on video card performance, using the extremes – P35 PCIe 1.0 vs. X48 PCIe 2.0. We saw how limiting the older motherboard’s PCIe bandwidth can be in certain situations and so we upgraded to X48.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Part II<\/span><\/span><\/a> – The Big GPU Shoot-Out – Setting New Benches –<\/em> demonstrated the need for overclocking our E8600 CPU from its stock 3.33 GHz to 4.0 GHz to take full advantage of our new video cards. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Part I<\/span><\/span><\/a>, The Big GPU Shootout: Upgrade Now or Wait?<\/span><\/span><\/em> we examined the performance of five video cards. We realized that the last generation\u2019s video cards are not sufficient for today\u2019s DX10 maxed-out gaming. Since our Q9550S review article<\/a>, we now use Core 2 Quad Q9550S and recommend it highly! We also started to bench with CrossFireX-3 in Part I which ran on fairly immature Catalyst 8-8 drivers at the time and we have continued to chart its progress until now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stay tuned. We think we will have some very interesting articles for you to read as you plan your own coming upgrades. Well, we are done with our benches and this part of our series featuring Diamond’s HD4890-XOC and we are already working on our next article featuring the HD4890 in CrossFireX! In the meantime, feel free to comment below, ask questions or have a detailed discussion in our ABT forum. We also want to let you know that we will again run a brand new promotion with nice prizes and a contest shortly in our forum. We even have a couple of brand new XBox360 games to give away there! Always look for these announcements on the main ABT page and in our forum. We want you to join us and Live in Our World.<\/em> It is fast expanding and we think you will like what you progressively discover here.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


Mark Poppin<\/p>\n

ABT editor
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