AM2 X2 4800+(ES) and Geforce 7950GX2 Quad SLI

Manoj

Gawd
Joined
Oct 19, 2002
Messages
969
Yesterday I tested the AM2 X2 4800+(ES) @ 2.81Ghz and Geforce 7950GX2 Quad SLI.

The AM2 x2 4800+ is a very early engineering sample. It is not a good overclocker. My AM2 3800+ @ 2.97Ghz (Stable) is a better one but I lent it to a local hardware reviewer who lent me a Geforce 7950GX2 and the 4800+ ES to test in exchange.


One of the Geforce 7950GX2 cards is the XFX Geforce 7950GX2 XXX Edition (570mhz core and 775mhz mem) while the other is a reference card from Nvidia with standard clock speeds. I am not sure what speeds both are running in Quad SLI but I can see in the control panel that the clock speeds are 570mhz core and 775mhz mem. Is this the actual speeds of the cards in Quad SLI or just the clock speeds of the first card (XFX Geforce 7950GX2 XXX Edtion). I am not sure. Anyway, both cards are running at the default clocks

Here are the results.

3DMark 2003
= 40227 3DMarks

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=4841022


3DMark 2005
= 14577 3DMarks

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=2077852


3DMark 2006
= 9397 3DMarks

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=353005


FEAR (1600 x 1200 4xFSAA and 16x AF)

http://premium1.uploadit.org/ManojM//FEAR-Quad-SLI.JPG


FEAR (1920 x 1200 4x FSAA and 16x AF)

http://premium1.uploadit.org/ManojM//FEAR-Quad-SLI-b.JPG

Will test in Quake 4 later today and may be Serious Sam 2 and Half LIfe Episode One.

From my findings, both 91.27 beta drivers and 91.31 WHQL provide similar results. So I will stick with 91.31 WHQL drivers for now.
 
That's a rather "large" system. In fact it's got a fair bit of juice, very nice output. I'd like to see some Oblivion FPS testing as well as Tomb Raider Legend using Next Gen graphics enabled. :)
 
Warpy said:
That's a rather "large" system. In fact it's got a fair bit of juice, very nice output. I'd like to see some Oblivion FPS testing as well as Tomb Raider Legend using Next Gen graphics enabled. :)


I can test Tomb Raider but not sure how to run the benchmark. Can anyone explain how to run the benchmark in Tomb Raider?
 
Manoj said:
I can test Tomb Raider but not sure how to run the benchmark. Can anyone explain how to run the benchmark in Tomb Raider?

I don't think that Tomb Raider has a built in benchmark. You can use FRAPS, which it a very straight forward benchmarking tool. Search for it and give it a try.

I'm getting my second XFX XXX 7950 tomorrow, and would like to see your results. I've got S939 with a 4800+ but mines only clocked to 2.6GHz, at these resolutions however, I doubt anything is CPU so I should be getting close to your numbers.

The 3DMark06 score seems low. With a single 7950, I'm getting 8400, and with your added CPU speed making up a part of that, I was hoping to see 10k+, but then again, I guess these are not production drivers, and of course the deault resoultion of 1280x1024 probably isn't enough to give the QUAD-SLI much to do.

Please keep the testing coming!
 
heatlesssun said:
I don't think that Tomb Raider has a built in benchmark. You can use FRAPS, which it a very straight forward benchmarking tool. Search for it and give it a try.

I'm getting my second XFX XXX 7950 tomorrow, and would like to see your results. I've got S939 with a 4800+ but mines only clocked to 2.6GHz, at these resolutions however, I doubt anything is CPU so I should be getting close to your numbers.

The 3DMark06 score seems low. With a single 7950, I'm getting 8400, and with your added CPU speed making up a part of that, I was hoping to see 10k+, but then again, I guess these are not production drivers, and of course the deault resoultion of 1280x1024 probably isn't enough to give the QUAD-SLI much to do.

Please keep the testing coming!


3DMark 2006 gives only 10% to 15% gain with Quad SLI compared to just using one card. It is sad but true. 3Dmark 2005 has no gain but 3DMark 2003 has a good gain.

DO you know that with a cheap AM2 X2 3800+ @ 2.97Ghz and XFX Geforce 7950GX2 XXX Edition I get 9239 3DMarks in 3DMark 2006?

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=349251

So you can see that Quad SLI really doesn't do much at all in 3DMark 2006.

I have never used Fraps. Where to download it and how to use it?
 
Would be interesting to see wether or not the new conroe chip could push those quad cards a little further.
 
Bigjohns97 said:
Would be interesting to see wether or not the new conroe chip could push those quad cards a little further.

I am sure they will. Running Quad SLI you at least need a CPU running at 2.8Ghz and higher.

What I have in mind is to buy the Conroe XE and Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition). However,I am hearing that the Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition) is not a good overclocker. That is why Conroe XE is needed since it is an unlocked CPu and can adjust the CPU multiplier.
 
You can get FRAPS from here: http://www.fraps.com/

Conroe may help, but at these resolutions and settings, I really can't see an X2 CPU running at 2.97GHz as being a bottelneck.

I might be wrong, but I'd be supprised if Conroe gave anything more than a 5% or so gain most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I might being going the Conroe route, but I just put in a QUAD-SLI and a Physx accelator in this rig, and there really isn't anything that's going to tax that I think the rest of the year.

I think its time to wait for DX10 and Vista in six months or so.

Really, I think up next might be a 30" 2560x1600 monitor!
 
heatlesssun said:
You can get FRAPS from here: http://www.fraps.com/

Conroe may help, but at these resolutions and settings, I really can't see an X2 CPU running at 2.97GHz as being a bottelneck.

I might be wrong, but I'd be supprised if Conroe gave anything more than a 5% or so gain most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I might being going the Conroe route, but I just put in a QUAD-SLI and a Physx accelator in this rig, and there really isn't anything that's going to tax that I think the rest of the year.

I think its time to wait for DX10 and Vista in six months or so.

Really, I think up next might be a 30" 2560x1600 monitor!

Why did you get a Physx Card? You will get it for from Nvidia with future drivers with SLI or Quad SLI.

I will get Conroe XE with Quad SLI. It will good for 6 months when I will upgrade again.
 
I was curious as much as anything. Plus, it seems to me its better to have hardware dedicated to physics, which puts more stain on the GPU's because there is more to render anyway, than to take GPU power and use it for physics.

Not the best purchase I ever made, but Cell Factor looks very promising. My guess is that if Microsoft decides to put physics into DirectX, it won't matter what the underlying implemenation is anyway, you'll just need a driver, be it a GPU physics driver or Ageia physics driver.

One question, what power supply are you using? I think I'll be okay with my Enermax 660W SLI certified, even Alienware is only putting 700W PSU's in their QUAD-SLI machines and it looks like reviewers have been able to do QUAD-SLI with a lot less than 660W, but just wanted to see what your using.
 
heatlesssun said:
I was curious as much as anything. Plus, it seems to me its better to have hardware dedicated to physics, which puts more stain on the GPU's because there is more to render anyway, than to take GPU power and use it for physics.

Not the best purchase I ever made, but Cell Factor looks very promising. My guess is that if Microsoft decides to put physics into DirectX, it won't matter what the underlying implemenation is anyway, you'll just need a driver, be it a GPU physics driver or Ageia physics driver.

One question, what power supply are you using? I think I'll be okay with my Enermax 660W SLI certified, even Alienware is only putting 700W PSU's in their QUAD-SLI machines and it looks like reviewers have been able to do QUAD-SLI with a lot less than 660W, but just wanted to see what your using.

I was planning on buying the ASus Physx card but dicided not to because I don't like Ghost recon and the other games in the list are not exciting. Only Unreal Tournament 2007. By then Nvidia will release their drivers and all will be good for free. I don't have much space for PCI slots. I have used one for a slot cooling fan between the 2 Geforce 7950GX2 and one PCI slot for X-FI Fatality Edition sound card.

I am using the Seventeam 750W power supply. It is perfect.
 
Thanks for then info. Yeah, the jury is out on physics, I just like the idea of a dedicated part for it rather than taking away GPU for it. Of course, ATI is trying to sell another GPU for the problem, and I guess QUAD-SLI has room to spare for it.

But right now, only Ageia actually has anything in the field, so it'll be intresting to see where this all goes. Ageia claims that GPU's are not really deigned for physics, but of course what else are they going to say.

UT2007 will either make or break Ageia, if nVidia or ATI come along with a free physics solution for that game that works well, game over for Aegia.

My second XFX XXX is on the way, so I'll definately be intrested in seeing any more numbers you have. It might be a good indicator too of how much CPU performance impacts QUAD-SLI. Conroe looks great, but I really want to see it make a difference in gaming, especially with QUAD-SLI technology and I'd like to see some people break their teeth on nForce 590 Intel motherboards, don't see a lot of them yet.

Thanks again!
 
Manoj said:
I am sure they will. Running Quad SLI you at least need a CPU running at 2.8Ghz and higher.

What I have in mind is to buy the Conroe XE and Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition). However,I am hearing that the Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition) is not a good overclocker. That is why Conroe XE is needed since it is an unlocked CPu and can adjust the CPU multiplier.

Or a 30 inch sreen with all eye candy on.
 
jacuzz1 said:
Or a 30 inch sreen with all eye candy on.

I think it can also work with a 24" will all eye candy on. It is not like Quad SLI will not work unless the system detects a 30" LCD monitor. :D
 
Manoj said:
I think it can also work with a 24" will all eye candy on. It is not like Quad SLI will not work unless the system detects a 30" LCD monitor. :D

No what i was refering to was cpu bottlenecking. I run a little X23800 @2ghz and Frankly its all I need at the moment. I will be picking up an FX60 on the cheap after the price drops of July occur only becuase i will most likely need it with games like Crysis.
 
Manoj said:
I am sure they will. Running Quad SLI you at least need a CPU running at 2.8Ghz and higher.

What I have in mind is to buy the Conroe XE and Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition). However,I am hearing that the Nforce 590 SLI (Intel Edition) is not a good overclocker. That is why Conroe XE is needed since it is an unlocked CPu and can adjust the CPU multiplier.

What's wrong with 975x with hacked driver?
 
Bigjohns97 said:
What's wrong with 975x with hacked driver?


I am not sure how quad SLi will work with hacked drivers. Seeing the big issue it has been for offical Nforce boards already.

Even if someon hacks the driver one will be running SLi at x8 and x8 compared to the full speed of x16 and x16 with the Nforce 590 SLI (Link Boost Technology enabled).
 
jacuzz1 said:
No what i was refering to was cpu bottlenecking. I run a little X23800 @2ghz and Frankly its all I need at the moment. I will be picking up an FX60 on the cheap after the price drops of July occur only becuase i will most likely need it with games like Crysis.

I have noticed that the higher I overclock the CPU with Quad SLI the better the system performance. So it is better to have a CPU clocked at 2.8ghz or higher to make good use of Quad SLI.
 
jacuzz1 said:
No what i was refering to was cpu bottlenecking. I run a little X23800 @2ghz and Frankly its all I need at the moment. I will be picking up an FX60 on the cheap after the price drops of July occur only becuase i will most likely need it with games like Crysis.

Just see what this conroe does more with just x1900xt's cf'd with just the cpu changing, then imagine with it would do with your 4 video cards.

with dual gx2's you are cpu limited big time.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=185555
 
Thank you Manoj. You are the first user I have seen that has posted some 7950 GX2 benchies.
I am gonna start a thread for that purpose, hopefully it will encourage people to do some benching
and post there scores.

By the way these are spots number 20 and 21 in my 3DMark05 list:

20_Manoj___14,673__7800 GTX SLI__624/1800__81.95________X2 3800+@__2,800
21_Manoj___14,577__7950 GX2 SLI__570/1550__91.31___AM2 X2 4800+@__2,810

Come on Manoj! You can totally take that loser in spot 20 down! He's got nuthin!
I believe in you!
 
Manoj, how are the drivers working out for you that I sent to you?
 
Bigjohns97 said:
Just see what this conroe does more with just x1900xt's cf'd with just the cpu changing, then imagine with it would do with your 4 video cards.

with dual gx2's you are cpu limited big time.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=185555


I would not say big time since I use a very large monitor at high levels of eye candy and get the performanc i expect and desire.

That haveing been said, I will overclock the cpu this weekend and see how much of a real world difference it makes on with a screen this size.

I do acnkowledge that as it relates to benchies like 3d06 , i am deffinately bottlenecked biggy time.
 
Back
Top