FPS comparison : Nvidia 8800 GT vs. ATI 3870 (QuadCore 6600 Vista 5 Box)

[Taipan]

Greetings,

First of all, congrats to the admin for the new forum and the smooth transition.

I'd like to share with the community my experiment with testing latest mid-upper range GFX cards from Nvidia and ATI in terms of FPS while multi-boxing.
This is something I've been looking for, while shopping for a new multi-boxing system and I thought I could share it if it can help anyone.

Disclaimer : this is no scientific testing "à la Tom Hardware", I am not a professional hardware tester so please take this as a candid experiment and look for other tests from multi-boxers. Nor am I affiliated to ATI, Nvidia, any GFX manufacturer, hardware reseller or any third party that could benefit from my post.

Exec summary : my MSI ATI Radeon 3870 512mo seems to deliver -roughly- about 20% better FPS than my Point of View Nvidia 8800 GT 512mo.

Now getting in more details.

My system :

- CPU : Intel QuadCore 6600 2.4ghz overclocked to 3.0 ghz (basic bios o/c)
- MB : Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R rev 2
- Ram : Gskill Extreme2 PC6400HK 4*1go (4go total)
- HD : Western Digital Raptor 150go - 16mo 10,000 rpm
- Case : Antec Nine Hundred (massive air cooling : 1*200 mm fan and 3*120 mm fans)
- Power : Seasonic S12-650 Energy+ (650watts, 80-plus certified)
- Monitors : 2 * Samsung Syncmaster 226BW (1680*1050 each) in Vista extended desk (so 3360 * 1050 overall)
- O/S : Vista Family Ed. Premium 32 bits
- Maximizer : Maximizer 1.4.1 (not Keyclone Maximizer, haven't tried it yet).



3DMark05 ratings with different GFX (rounding numbers) :
- Sapphire ATI Radeon 1950 Pro 256mo : 11 500 (aka ATI 1950 Pro)
- Point of View Nvidia 8800 GT 512mo : 19 100 (aka Nvidia 8800GT)
- MSI ATI Radeon 3870 512mo factory O/C : 17500 (aka ATI 3870)

Four basic tests, with Multi-boxing spread as Main on one 22" 1680*1050 and 4 Alts on one 22" 1680*1050.

1. Ironforge at gryphon.
- ATI 1950 Pro : 30fps Main and 30fps on alts
- Nvidia 8800GT : 40-45fps Main and 55fps on alts
- ATI 3870 : 55-60fps main and 55fps on alts

2. Ironforge in front of Bank (heavy-populated area at 8pm local time).
- ATI 1950 Pro : 20fps Main and 30fps on alts
- Nvidia 8800GT : 30-35fps Main and 55fps on alts
- ATI 3870 : 35-40fps main and 55fps on alts (though one alt, the 4th, was bumping between 20 and 55fps, can't explain why).

3. Stormwind at gryphon.
- ATI 1950 Pro : 30fps Main and 30fps on alts
- Nvidia 8800GT : 40-45fps Main and 55fps on alts
- ATI 3870 : 50-60fps main and 55fps on alts
so basically same as Ironforge gryphon, no surprise.

4. Flying from Stormwind to Ironforge.
- ATI 1950 Pro : 30fps Main and 30fps on alts
- Nvidia 8800GT : 40-45fps Main and 55fps on alts
- ATI 3870 : 55-60fps main and 55fps on alts

Note : loading time in front of Ironforge bank (highly populated area) is significantly faster on both 8800GT and 3870 than on the 1950Pro.
-> I'm talking about the shadows of players seen on the ground turning into showing the actual players, when I enter that zone coming from the gryphon.
I guess it's due to the faster gpu but I can't say how much is due to faster gpu or to larger gfx ram (the 1950Pro only has 256mo, not 512mo like the 8800GT and 3870).

I'd be interested in other player comparing similar GFX cards in similar setups.

/salute

[Bravo]

No stats to put up, but I originally purchased a ATI card for my 2 19" monitors which run a resolution of 1440 x 900, it was unable to give me a resolution of 2880 x 900. I called technical support and found the representative unprofessional and quite frankly a little rude. They were unable to help, so I returned the card and purchased an Nvidia card, went to the control panel and with 2 mouse clicks had exactly what I wanted with horizontal span.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

It should be noted that the P35 chipset does not support PCI Express 2.0, which those cards do support if you have it.

[Los]

Dont go ati, ati drivers cant handle more then 1 directx game per pc, i could get it to work with more then one with omega drivers, but i get screen tearing in all boxes. (have a 2900pro)

[Taipan]

Dont go ati, ati drivers cant handle more then 1 directx game per pc, i could get it to work with more then one with omega drivers, but i get screen tearing in all boxes. (have a 2900pro)

This is bad luck because I never experienced that, neither with the ATI 1950Pro on XP on DuoCore 6850 and Vista on QuadCore 6600, nor with the 3870 on Vista on QuadCore 6600.

Sorry that I can't be more helpful though with an explanation.

I guess if people trust Nvidia over ATI, or vice-versa, they'd better off sticking with their trusted manufacturer.

My post was more intended as "food for thought" for people with USD 220-275 GFX budget and who haven't made up their mind yet.

/salute

[Oswyn]

Just like AMD and Intel, nVidia and ATI go through cycles where one leads over the other. Although ATI (er...AMD now) is really focusing more on the mainstream price/performance market than the highend. Both make great cards. As for drivers, one day nVidia is lagging, the next day is ATI lagging. So it just depends.

I've got a handful of ATI cards and nVidia cards and really haven't had to much to complain about with either.

I just built my new box with an HD 3870 and have 4 wow running on them. I'll try to get some fps numbers up in the next few days...