ATI FireGL V5000: Well-Rounded Mid-Range
by Derek Wilson on January 31, 2005 3:52 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Shader Analysis and Image Quality
We tested the FireGL V5000 with Shadermark v2.1 and added the numbers to the list we compiled previously. Here's what we have now:Shadermark v2.1 Performance Chart | ||||||
GeForce 6800U | Quadro FX 4000 | Radeon X850XT | FireGL V5000 | FireGL X3-256 | Realizm 200 | |
shader 2 | 893 | 596 | 996 | 425 | 731 | 41 |
shader 3 | 736 | 493 | 735 | 311 | 531 | 28 |
shader 4 | 737 | 493 | 732 | 311 | 531 | 28 |
shader 5 | 669 | 448 | 608 | 256 | 438 | 16 |
shader 6 | 680 | 467 | 735 | 310 | 530 | 28 |
shader 7 | 631 | 417 | 654 | 282 | 485 | 23 |
shader 8 | 383 | 255 | 406 | 163 | 301 | 11 |
shader 9 | 894 | 630 | 1263 | 536 | 977 | 55 |
shader 10 | 807 | 553 | 819 | 345 | 617 | 43 |
shader 11 | 680 | 467 | 694 | 291 | 509 | 27 |
shader 12 | 446 | 319 | 263 | 102 | 186 | 13 |
shader 13 | 383 | 276 | 361 | 143 | 252 | 13 |
shader 14 | 446 | 316 | 399 | 161 | 280 | 18 |
shader 15 | 328 | 244 | 285 | 119 | 206 | 21 |
shader 16 | 314 | 224 | 336 | 136 | 244 | 8 |
shader 17 | 425 | 309 | 429 | 180 | 315 | 8 |
shader 18 | 56 | 39 | 40 | 17 | 30 | 2 |
shader 19 | 180 | 134 | 139 | 58 | 99 | 6 |
shader 20 | 57 | 41 | 47 | 19 | 33 | 3 |
shader 21 | 90 | 63 | - | - | - | - |
shader 22 | 119 | 96 | 204 | 89 | 154 | 14 |
shader 23 | 133 | 106 | - | - | - | 15 |
shader 24 | 80 | 67 | 143 | 63 | 108 | 118 |
shader 25 | 97 | 69 | 118 | 50 | 86 | 6 |
shader 26 | 93 | 67 | 123 | 50 | 89 | 6 |
The performance of the V5000 is significantly lower than the X3-256 under HLSL shaders. This is obviously to be expected with memory bandwidth halved, pixel pipes halved, and clock speed lowered.
We still don't have a good GLSL test, but we are working on it for our next workstation graphics card article. ATI GLSL support is still sub par when compared to the rest of the pack.
Here is our previous discussion of the workstation image quality situation. The situation has not yet changed. We will continue to evaluate and test new drivers and hardware from each vendor as it becomes available to us.
For now, we will continue to urge hardware designers to strive for the highest level image quality they can achieve. 3D performance is all about efficiency. But in the workstation market accuracy is of the utmost importance as well.
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nadirshakur - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
please please please someone tell me what the hell is that thing in the middle, it looks like s-video but has three pins instead of the usual four on s-video i have the card and trying to connect it to my computer, someone please help, thanks!nadirshakur - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
nadirshakur - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
Draven31 - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
But, it won't fix the occasional OpenGL errors you'll get by risking putting an ATI card in your workstation. No thanks.Shadowmage - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Damn, that's pretty bad. nVidia's going with a mere THREE vertex shader card?Yeah, I didn't mean to demean your review; I just think that getting $500 performance with a $200 card is rather amusing. That's even better than getting $550 performance (X850XT PE) out of a $400 card (X800 Pro VIVO)!
And yeah, there are some driver hacks that let you install the workstation drivers on an UNMODIFIED consumer card.
DerekWilson - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Shadowmage ...There are a few other factors that go into it, but the silion they've stuck on there is the same as the x700.
The differences are the fact that the X700 lacks the 2 Silicon Image TMDS transmitters for 2x dual-link dvi, the stereo connector, has a different bios, and also uses different drivers. Build quality is also generally better with pro boards, and cap/resistor/pcb layouts are slightly different in some cases.
The reason we focused on the hardware rather than on the consumer part from which it is derived is that we are going to take a look at NVIDIA's 3 vertex 8 pixel workstatoin design shortly. We would rather see NVIDIA go with a 6 vertex 8 pixel design for their workstation as well, but this would have meant deviating from their consumer desing (6600). It just so happened that ATI was lucky and their consumer part fit what we wanted to see in a midrange workstation.
We want to encourage NVIDIA and ATI to look at their workstation parts as requiring different silicon. Maybe eventually they will actually start doing things the right way with respect to the end user. Of course, maybe I poured that message on a little thick at the beginning, but we feel it's very important.
By the way, there was actually a guide to modding r3xx cards to their respective fgl cards on adrian's rojak pot in january. We haven't seen documentation on modding r4xx based cards into the fgl v series. It's interesting to note that it's not enough to simply flash the bios and install the drivers -- ati makes it more difficult than that.
Derek Wilson
Shadowmage - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
LOLThis is just the X700 with a different driver! :D
phaxmohdem - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
LOL I just found the pricing info. My bad. Great job Anand.And BTW
1st and 2nd Post's bitches!!! (since that seems to be the staple of bragging rights these days for whatever reason.)
phaxmohdem - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Crap! A story thats been up for nearly 24 hours with no comment love.....Fear not I have not forsaken thee!!
I wish I could find pricing information on this card. Looks to be perfect for my needs dabling in 3D design.