Workstation Graphics: AGP Cross Section 2004
by Derek Wilson on December 23, 2004 4:14 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
SPECapc 3D Studio Max 6 SP1 Performance
We ran the SPECapc 3D Studio Max benchmark using both the built in OpenGL driver for workstation cards, as well as vendor supplied custom drivers. We made sure to follow SPEC compliant settings for each driver. Consumer level cards were run using the D3D driver set on DX9. The custom drivers for each vendor improved performance and quality for each part that we tested, and we would recommend using the plugins if possible over the default OpenGL driver.When we look at 3DStudio Max Performance, the Quadro FX 4000 clearly comes out on top overall. With respect to wireframe graphics, the FireGL X3-256 has the upper hand, but the Wildcat Realizm 200 doesn't come close in anything but the Object Creation/Editing/Manipulation test. The default OpenGL driver running on the Wildcat Realizm 200 performs particularly poorly, coming in at or around the performance of the consumer level products. In both the custom and standard OpenGL driver, the transparency/opacity tests were slower than the other cards tested.
These benchmarks look quite different than the SPECviewperf 3dsmax test because we are focusing on custom driver performance under particular settings. For more information, see the SPEC website.
We do need to note one issue with the Wildcat Realizm custom driver under 3DStudio Max R6 when paired with their latest few drivers. Rotating, and manipulating objects in certain ways results in the object flickering in the viewport. It doesn't look like double buffering is disabled, but the effect is reminiscent of single buffered graphics. It could be possible that under certain conditions, the image is copied straight to the front buffer, but it seems like that would cause more performance and stability problems than it would solve. We can't really figure out what's going on, but we've asked Creative and 3Dlabs to look into the issue for us.
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DerekWilson - Thursday, December 23, 2004 - link
johnsonx,thanks for the suggestion. we're definitly exploring options for other workstation articles.
since this is the first of the graphics workstation articles we've tackled in quite a while, we wanted to start with current technology (R4xx, NV4x, and WC Realizm based parts). There aren't curently lower end parts (with the exception of the Wildcat Realizm 100) based on the technology we tested for this article.
thanks again. let us know if there's anything else we can look into doing for future reviews.
Derek Wilson
johnsonx - Thursday, December 23, 2004 - link
How about benchmarking some of the lower Quadro and FireGL cards? ATI has the FireGL 9600 (aka FireGL T2-128), FireGL 9700 (aka FireGL X1), and FireGL 9800 (aka FireGL X2-256t) at $250, $500 and $600 price points repectively. Comparable Quadros are available as well.For many professional uses, a workstation class card (with attendant workstation class, certified drives) is desired, but ultra-high performance isn't important. It'd be nice to see the comparitive performance of the lower end cards.
DerekWilson - Thursday, December 23, 2004 - link
ksherman,You may have some luck with the 6600gt under AutoCAD, espeically if you don't intend to push the graphics subsystem as much as we did (no AA lines, less tess, etc...), but depending on the Pro/E workload, you may have trouble.
The SPECviewperf veiwset tests a much larger workload than the OCUS benchmark. If you're working with smaller data, you should be fine, but if we're talking millions of verts, you're going to have increasing ammounts of trouble with a 128MB card.
Derek Wilson
ksherman - Thursday, December 23, 2004 - link
You guys should throw in a few mainstream graphics cards for comparison. I am trying to build a systems whos primary use will be with Pro/Engineer and AutoCAD and i certainly do not have the money for a $1000+ video card. Im just wondering how the other cards match up (like the 6600gt AGP)Speedo - Thursday, December 23, 2004 - link
Nice review!