ATi Radeon X1950PRO 256MB CrossFire Evaluation

Product: ATi X1950PRO 256MB Crossfire
Author: Paul Mercer
Category: Value/Performance
Date: November 2006
Product cost: MSRP US $199.99
Manufacturer: ATi
Spelling and Grammatical Editor: Sean Kalinich & Jason Hambly

 

With all the talk and rumours lately about DirectX10 graphics cards, it was a little surprising that ATi recently launched yet another DirectX9 card in the form of the X1950PRO.
The Radeon X1950PRO is the successor to the X1900GT and was the first graphics card to make use of new native CrossFire technology. This means internal CrossFire links, similar to the Nvidia solution and finally no more master/slave cards. The new X1950PRO?s also have a new core, aptly named the R570. The R570 core differs from the R580 by having 36 pixel shader processors and 12 pixel shader pipelines as opposed to the 48 and 16 of the R580 (aka. X1950XTX and X1900XT/XTX). The new R570 core is also one of the first GPUs manufactured on an 80nm process which, while allowing the chip to run cooler and consume slightly less power, in theory might allow for some decent overclocking headroom too. *crosses fingers*

{mospagebreak title=Specifications and Features}
RADEON? X1950PRO Chipset Features and Specifications

Shader Technology
 ? Support for Microsoft? DirectX? 9.0 programmable vertex and pixel shaders in hardware.
 ? Shader Model 3.0 vertex and pixel shader support:
    – Full speed 32-bit floating point processing.
    – High dynamic range rendering with floating point blending and anti-aliasing support.
    – High performance dynamic branching and flow control.
 ? Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL? 2.0.

Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering
 ? 2x/4x/6x Anti-Aliasing modes:
    – Sparse multi-sample algorithm with gamma correction, programmable sample patterns,
       and centroid sampling.
    – New adaptive anti-aliasing mode.
    – Temporal anti-aliasing.
    – Lossless color compression (up to 6:1) at all resolutions, up to and including wide screen
       HDTV.
 ? 2x/4x/8x/16x Anisotropic Filtering modes:
    – Up to 128-tap texture filtering.
    – Adaptive algorithm with performance and quality options.
    – Improved rendering with higher subpixel precision and LOD computation levels.
    – New rotational high quality rendering mode.

3Dc+? Advanced Texture Compression
 ? High quality 4:1 compression for normal maps and luminance maps.
 ? Works with any single-channel or two-channel data format.

New Ring Bus Memory Controller
 ? Programmable arbitration logic maximizes memory efficiency, software upgradeable.
 ? New fully associative texture, color, and Z cache design.
 ? Hierarchical Z-Buffer with Early Z Test.
 ? Fast Z-Buffer Clear.
 ? Z Cache optimized for real-time shadow rendering.
 ? Optimized for performance at high display resolutions, up to and including widescreen HDTV.

Avivo? Video and Display Engine
 ? New advanced video capabilities, including high fidelity gamma, color correction and scaling.
 ? Dual independent display controllers that support true 30-bpp throughout the display pipe.
    – Full symmetry on both heads.
    – Each display controller supports display resolutions beyond 2560×1600.
 ? Advanced DVI capabilities, including 10-bit, 16-bit HDR output.
 ? YPrPb component output for direct drive of HDTV displays.
 ? Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time.
 ? MPEG1/2/4 decode and encode acceleration.
    – DXVA support.
    – Hardware motion compensation, iDCT, DCT and color space conversion.
 ? All-format DTV/HDTV decoding.
 ? Adaptive per-pixel de-interlacing and frame rate conversion (temporal filtering).

CrossFire? Support
 ? Multi-GPU technology ready.
 ? Four modes of operation.
    – Alternate frame rendering for maximum performance.
    – Super tiling for optimal load-balancing.
    – Scissoring for compatibility.
    – Super AA for maximum image quality.

?    256MB-256bit 8 channel GDDR3 memory
?    36 Pixel shader processor
?    8 Vertex shader processor
?    8 Geometry Pipelines
?    Ultra-threaded SM 3.0 Engine
?    512-bit Ring-bus
?    ATi Avivo
?    High Precision Architecture
?    CrossFire Support
?    PCI Express? x16 lane native support

{mospagebreak title=Overview} Overview

ATi were kind enough to send not one, but two of their 256MB cards for an evaluation. As these came directly from ATi, they were not in any retail packaging and had no extra leads or drivers included.

The reference cards were fitted with a single slot all-copper heatsink to draw heat away from both GPU core and memory chips.

Most, major resellers will be changing this cooler for something a little more powerful.
Removing the copper heatsink allows us to see the various chips used on the cards:

Looking up the serial number for the memory (K4J55323QG), I found that it is actually rated for 700MHz:
http://www.samsung.com

The new cards also have digital power regulation, this should give a much cleaner signal to the core and memory and also allows for a less cluttered board.

As mentioned earlier, these cards have the new internal compositing engines to do away with the master/slave configuration, and come with CrossFire bridges. They may seem similar to the SLi bridge, but since there are two, this allows for  two-way communication and 24-Bit transfers between the cards.

On the backplate of the card we see the dual DVI-D ports and the VIVO socket.

With the CrossFire ?dongle? connector removed and replaced with a second DVI-D port, disabling CrossFire now allows users to utilise up to four monitors at a time on two cards.

{mospagebreak title=Performance}

Performance

For testing, I chose a few fairly popular games:

Call of Duty 2
F.E.A.R.
Oblivion
Need For Speed: Most Wanted
Tomb Raider Legend

I tested a single X1950PRO first at 1280×1024 and then again, with the same settings, but increasing the resolution to 1680×1050. After recording the frame rates using FRAPS, I plugged in the second card, enabled CrossFire and tested the same settings and resolutions to see how much performance would increase by adding a second card.

Test System:
Intel D975XBX ?BadAxe?
Intel Core2Duo E6700 @ 2.66GHz
2GB TeamGroup PC5300 3-3-3-8 @ DDR2-800 4-4-4-8
 2x ATi Radeon X1950PRO 256MB
 2x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar 7200RPM SATA2 w/8MB cache
Tagan EasyCon 580W
Catalyst 6.9 Driver Version: 8.291-1-060822a-036024C

As usual, a selection of software (Office, Diskeeper, etc.) was pre-installed and all drives defragged before testing began.

Call Of Duty 2
When testing CoD2 I had some rather unusual results. I noticed that the framerates showed little to no benefit when running CrossFire even though it is supposed to be a CrossFire supported game. In fact, while playing the game, the single card framerates felt smoother and made it easier to aim. This could be because of the new native CrossFire technology and/or immature drivers and I hope to see some improvements when newer drivers appear.

CoD2 @ 1280×1024	CoD2 @ 1680×1050

F.E.A.R. @ 1280×960	F.E.A.R. @ 1680×1050

Oblivion @ 1280×1024	Oblivion @ 1680×1050
	Easy AdSense by Unreal

{mospagebreak title=Overclocking}

Overclocking
The cards arrived from ATi with a default core speed of 574MHz and the memory running at 682MHz. Using the ATi Catalyst Control Centre software to overclock, I tested the stability by leaving RTHDRIBL running for approx 30-40 minutes for maximum heat generation. If in this time the application didn?t hang and/or kick in the VPU recover function, I considered it semi-stable and continued to test using games and 3DMark to check for any graphical corruption.

It didn’t take too long to find the maximums of the cards I received. Disappointingly, I only managed to increase the core to 601MHz and the memory to 736MHz. This is a very small overclock and barely made any difference to any tests. With no way to increase the voltages (current software is incompatible) there was no way to improve the clocks further. Although the increases were measurable in some cases by using software, any improvements were not noticeable while actually playing. So, unfortunately despite being manufactured on an 80nm process, there was not a lot of room for improvement on these particular cards.

Gaming Tests @ 1680×1050 

Win XP x86: Single card	Win XP x64: Single card

Win XP x86: CrossFire	Win XP x64: CrossFire

During all testing, the only times the fans spun up to maximum speeds were before the ATi drivers were installed and as the pc was rebooted. While playing games, running 3DMark etc. the fans stayed at a low setting, even when overclocked.

Temperatures recorded (using ATi Catalyst Control Centre):
Stock:
Idle = 41
Load = 64
Overclocked:
Idle = 43
Load = 66C

{mospagebreak title=Pricing and Warranty} Price/Warranty

The recommended retail price from ATi is $199, but looking around, these cards can be found for as low as $164.99 for an Asus version (with a much better cooler) at Newegg.com. With cards available at well under $200, the performance is even more incredible.

Warranties will be honoured by the individual manufacturer and so can vary, but you can expect at least a 12 month guarantee.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion

Overall the X1950PRO cards are pretty good performers for someone on a budget, put two in a CrossFire configuration and you have a setup that is able to play most of todays current games in 1680×1050 widescreen.
As always the ATi image quality was excellent while playing games or watching videos. The X1950PRO offers AVIVO technology and is HDCP ready (although it is up to the manufacturers to implement this on their cards). With the current available drivers, AVIVO does not work in CrossFire mode, videos can be played with CrossFire enabled, but AVIVO will not improve them. At the moment, the drivers are a little buggy, and sometimes artefacts can be seen while watching videos with CrossFire switched on.
One aspect I did not have time to test was the new Folding@Home graphical client. When folding proteins on an ATi X19xx GPU, performance is supposed to be many times quicker than a 3.0GHz Pentium 4. The X1950PRO might appeal to some folders out there looking for any advantage to claw their way to the top of a leader board since it?s the cheapest card available currently supported by the client.
Another consideration when it comes to choosing a new GFX card might be Windows Vista; the new OS from Microsoft offers promises of a fancy user interface coupled with performance and security. Although the ATi Radeon X1950PRO comes endorsed as being ?Vista Ready?, one major selling point of Vista will be DirectX10. ATi have made no official announcements when their DX10 parts will be available, but we know both ATi and Nvidia are working on new chips, the first of which will be seen before Christmas.
On the other hand, one of these cards might be just the thing as a stopgap before DX10 hits mainstream and games are actually developed for it, they?re cheap enough and fairly powerful. Although some of the results I saw showed that some games run better on a single card than two, once ATi iron out the wrinkles in the current drivers, I’m sure we can look forward to seeing some improved performance for a X1950PRO CrossFire setup.

Pros:
Native CrossFire
Quiet operation
Low price
"VistaReady"

Cons:
Only 256MB of memory
DirectX10 is coming soon
Depending on the games played, no benefit to CrossFire

Scores:
Specifications and Features: 4.5/5
Overview: 4.25/5
Performance: 4/5
Price and Warranty: 4.5/5
Overall: 17.25/20

We would like to thank the folks over at ATi for giving us the oppourtunity to test some of their latest cards.