The complete 9800XT Doom3 "review"

Let me start off here by saying that I (along with many other fellow [H] members) greatly appreciate the time and work put into the [H]ardware Guide, but I'm sure some people are curious to know of some more in-depth results for their cards before they try things out. At the moment I only have the 9800XT to do testing on, or I would be bringing forward more results for you guys. Don't worry though, I'll have my Leadtek A400GT in 1 week or less and I'll be running all the exact same tests on that card.

What I have done is taken my sig system and knocked everything down to stock, out of the box clock speeds/timings, run Doom3's timedemo1 through every resolution I could (my monitor can't do 1600x1200 ) along with every possible detail level. That wasn't enough though, I also wanted to see how my 9800XT would scale up in performance with a faster CPU/system behind it, so I went and bumped my 2.8C up to 245fsb, for a clock of 3.43GHz, a 643MHz increase. I'm not going to go into any more explanations or anything right now, I'll just give you the numbers to let you make your own conclusions, but I will finish up with a point form summary of my thoughts.

For the following tests, the results will be displayed in the form 2.8GHz / 3.43GHz, so that you can clearly see the fps differences once I had kicked in my cpu overclock. Note, all results are average fps readings.

Here we go:

Ultra Detail
1280x1024: 29.3fps / 29.3fps - 0% gain
1024x768: 40.9fps / 41.5fps - 1.5% gain
800x600: 51.2fps / 54.8fps - 7% gain
640x480: 57.7fps / 64.3fps - 11.4% gain

High Detail
1280x1024: 32fps / 32fps - 0% gain
1024x768: 45.3fps / 46.8fps - 3.3% gain
800x600: 56.8fps / 62.1fps - 9.3% gain
640x480: 62.2fps / 71.8fps - 15.4% gain

Medium Detail
1280x1024: 34.1fps / 34.3fps - 0.6% gain
1024x768: 48.9fps / 51.4fps - 5.1% gain
800x600: 60.4fps / 68.1fps - 12.7% gain
640x480: 63.0fps / 75.7fps - 20.2% gain

Low Detail
1280x1024: 34.2fps / 34.5fps - 0.9% gain
1024x768: 49.0fps / 51.6fps - 5.3% gain
800x600: 60.4fps / 68.4fps - 13.2% gain
640x480: 63.1fps / 76.4fps - 21.1% gain

- As you can see, the 9800XT simply doesn't have the power to compete at 1280x1024, as it basically does NOT benefit from the faster processor
- Only at 800x600 and 640x480 is the 9800XT CPU limited, as once we hit 1024x768, the gains from the extra 600MHz on the processor dwindle down to gains of 5% of less.
- Raising the detail level in the game has VERY little effect on the performance (until you hit Ultra Detail)....what matters more is the resolution, as you can see for yourself.
- While raising the detail level doesn't have a HUGE effect on the cards performance, it does cut back on the effectiveness of the CPU overclock, again, as you can notice from my results.
- I did try overclocking the card from 412/730 to 440/800 however, even though these overclocks are perfectly fine elsewhere Doom3 IS extremely anal about GPU overclocks, as Carmack said...I had massive checkerboarding even at these points. What's more is that even at 1280x1024 High/Ultra I only saw gains of 2fps on average, showing that there really isn't any need to overclock this card for Doom3.....especially at lower resolutions where the 9800XT is CPU limited to begin with.

I hope you all enjoyed my little analysis here, and be sure to start looking again in about 1 weeks time, when I'll have all the same results up for the Leadtek 6800GT, both at GT and Ultra clock speeds (assuming it hits them, which it should). Until then, feel free to leave any thoughts or comments you have for me, as I love to hear from my readers.

good job, cornelious!

I'm getting my 9800XT in the mail today, i'm looking forward to 1024 @ high detail

computerpro3 said:

good job, cornelious!

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Thx man, by the way.....I'm finally gonna be sittin' happy with a fully volt-modded P4C800-E in a month or so, I can't wait!!! This AI7 is just killin' me man.....make it stop.

Nice "review".

This is great corn! Thanks...

Heh, I think what I need more then anything else right now is a nice 19" Monitor so that when I do all these different tests and stuff for you guys I can actually run 'em at 1600x1200.....It's actually starting to bug me not being able to.

Thanx man. Puts a nice finishing touch on our old thread. Speaking of which, you ran these demos with the config imagecache tweak, right?

I ran mine last nite with usecache enabled and cachemink increased and the game started fine. Got sidetracked and ended up playing cs all night, but tonight I'll see if the game runs any better.

ehZn said:

Thanx man. Puts a nice finishing touch on our old thread. Speaking of which, you ran these demos with the config imagecache tweak, right?

I ran mine last nite with usecache enabled and cachemink increased and the game started fine. Got sidetracked and ended up playing cs all night, but tonight I'll see if the game runs any better.

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Well now that you brought it up, I tried the timedemo tests with AND without the cachemeg tweak and it honestly didn't make any difference. I tried 640x480 low detail and 1280x1024 Ultra detail with and without the tweak, thinking I might see some differences.....but I didn't. That's why I didn't mention it, because it had no effect on any of my end results. I'm not saying the tweak doesn't work like it's sposed to, but I'll give it another go, when I get my 6800GT in a week.

EDIT: Also, I didn't take the time this time around, but when I run all these tests on the 6800GT I'll be running the stock and overclocked cpu tests ALL with and without 4xAA enabled, so there'll be twice as many results when it's all said and done.

You have a lot of free time on your hands, don't you?








Heh, but we all appreciate the effort

ehZn said:

You have a lot of free time on your hands, don't you?








Heh, but we all appreciate the effort

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These tests honestly didn't take that long to complete.....I'd say maybe a couple hours or so.....but the 6800GT tests are gonna take WAYYY longer, cus I'm running every single test at stock clock and ultra clock, along with implementing 4xAA on each one in addition to the original results. Man, I'm getting tired just THINKING of it.....but I love you guys, and this is just how I like to give back to the forum that got me started on hardware in the first place.

Great Review but I had one question if you would be so kind as to answer
I have an old mobo/processor combo and a 9800 Pro as you can see in my signature. I wanted to upgrade just my mobo/processor and get something with a good "bang for the buck". Do you think I would see any significant performance increase if I purchase a Athlon 64 3500+ or even 3000+ and new mobo. Would it be worth it for me as I figure its probably time to upgade anyway? I have an unlimited budget but I don't like to blow money of course thats why I like the high end "Bang for the buck" purchases. Thanks for your opinion is advance.

Well trust me, I'll be waiting on that review even more, since I should be picking up a 6800GT within a week or two. It seems we get about equal performance, so your results will give me and idea of what to expect.

Can't wait to finally turn on the eye candy in farcry and halo!!!

*edit: And holy crap yes you would see a huge imrpovement. That cpu has got to be holding you back.

Krycek1, yes, even a 3000+ setup will be GREATLY appreciated by Doom3, and almost any other game you're going to load up. Even back when S754 was coming to light in the market, it was (for the most part) already outdoing Intel in gaming test 9 times out of 10, further labelling AMD as the gamers CPU, and Intel as the Professional Application (rendering/encoding/decoding etc......) CPU. The way things are for you right now you're going to be even MORE cpu limited then I was during my tests, so adding that 3000+ setup (along with a total of 1GB of ram) into the equation would give you enough headroom to move up to, and most like surpass the numbers I've shown you today. Go for it dude, you've got my official thumbs up.

ehZn, tha's why it dawned on me that I very well should be writing up the same thing for the 6800GT, as it's the hot item of the season (or year for that matter) and there will be FAR more people who'll be appreciative of the results in that much depth.

Don't worry, I'm just as ancy as you are to see the results.

cornelious0_0 said:

Krycek1, yes, even a 3000+ setup will be GREATLY appreciated by Doom3, and almost any other game you're going to load up. Even back when S754 was coming to light in the market, it was (for the most part) already outdoing Intel in gaming test 9 times out of 10, further labelling AMD as the gamers CPU, and Intel as the Professional Application (rendering/encoding/decoding etc......) CPU. The way things are for you right now you're going to be even MORE cpu limited then I was during my tests, so adding that 3000+ setup (along with a total of 1GB of ram) into the equation would give you enough headroom to move up to, and most like surpass the numbers I've shown you today. Go for it dude, you've got my official thumbs up.

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Ok, sweet. I figure I'm going to just buy it all on Newegg today after I make up my mind on which to get. Which do you think will give me the most longevity keeping in mind I may hold out until the next gen of ATi or nVidia flagship cards to upgrade the vid card but for now I want to buy one of the following and a new mobo 3000+, 3200+, 3400+, 3500+, or 3800+ (all athlon 64 of course)? Its a difficult choice because they're so many options and the 939 socket sounds good but I just don't know which to go with. Your thoughts?

if u got the money s939 is gonna be around and still be powerful for awhile....however s754 is still beastly and will get you a powerful cpu......its basically how much your willing to spend....the 3800+ is around 700$.....i honestly dont think its worth it when you can get a 754 3200+ that will kick the crap out of almost anytihng for 200$+ but like i said...its all on how much your willing to spend

Krycek1 said:

Ok, sweet. I figure I'm going to just buy it all on Newegg today after I make up my mind on which to get. Which do you think will give me the most longevity keeping in mind I may hold out until the next gen of ATi or nVidia flagship cards to upgrade the vid card but for now I want to buy one of the following and a new mobo 3000+, 3200+, 3400+, 3500+, or 3800+ (all athlon 64 of course)? Its a difficult choice because they're so many options and the 939 socket sounds good but I just don't know which to go with. Your thoughts?

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First off, do you have the cash to go with a s939 setup? Even the "cheapest" s939 (the 3500+) comes at quite a high price, and so a lot of people haven't yet made the switch. If you've got the cash then I'd say to go with the 3500+, as it still give you excellent performance in that s939 setup, at a much lower price then the 3800+. If you dont feel like droppin that much green on the 3500+ then you could always go for a 3000+ or 3200+.....as prices have been dropping, and I haven't ever seen the 3000+ this cheap.....and with it you'd still be getting excellent performance out of Doom3 and so many other games out there today. Keep in mind that the s754 does NOT carry a dual channel memory setup, and you'll be "stuck" at about 3GB/s.....whereas the s939 does support dual channel configurations, and would put you up to between 5 and 6GB/s worth of bandwidth. The funny thing is that even the s754 A64's have been beating Intel silly in cpu intensive games since the platform has been available. I believe (here in Canada anyways) the price of a A64 3000+ is finally down to about $240, $40 cheaper then my 2.8C. Going by out-of-the-box performance, the A64 smokes my P4, even with the single channel memory.

Hope I could help, let me know if you've got any other concerns.....its mostly gonna come down to how much cash you wanna spend, cus even a 3000+ s754 setup will give you a nicer gaming machine then my P4, and at a lower cost to boot.

cornelious0_0 said:

These tests honestly didn't take that long to complete.....I'd say maybe a couple hours or so.....but the 6800GT tests are gonna take WAYYY longer, cus I'm running every single test at stock clock and ultra clock, along with implementing 4xAA on each one in addition to the original results. Man, I'm getting tired just THINKING of it.....but I love you guys, and this is just how I like to give back to the forum that got me started on hardware in the first place.

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But look on the bright side. The GT will fly through those tests in less than a third of that time.

xSyzygy666x said:

if u got the money s939 is gonna be around and still be powerful for awhile....however s754 is still beastly and will get you a powerful cpu......its basically how much your willing to spend....the 3800+ is around 700$.....i honestly dont think its worth it when you can get a 754 3200+ that will kick the crap out of almost anytihng for 200$+ but like i said...its all on how much your willing to spend

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I wish they had a socket 939 3200+ but oh well. I think you right. The 3200+ sounds good but I'm kind of confused. On newegg.com they have two 3200+ and one has 2.0 clock speed with 1mb cache and the other has 2.2 clock speed and half the cache. Is that an error or should I be aware that one may be better than the other in games like Doom III?

The Batman said:

But look on the bright side. The GT will fly through those tests in less than half the time.

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Well that's just a BIT of an overexageration, but point taken.

Let's try and keep things on topic here guys, I'd like to free up space in the thread for people asking specifically about the results or such things.....I just personally realised that I was going on and on about the A64 upgrade thing in my own thread too. If you've got something unrelated to say to me plz PM me, otherwise I'd like to keep the thread tidy for ppl interested in the results. I'm just saying this because I know how easy it is to get sidetracked, and I've become quite good at noticing when it's happening.....and it is.

EDIT: Krycek1, Doom3 LOOOOOVES more cache, and you WILL benefit from it.....that's all I'll say. But like I already said, please.....keep things on topic, continue on in another thread about the buying plan stuff if you can please.

cornelious0_0 said:

Well that's just a BIT of an overexageration, but point taken.

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No. I get 70.9 FPS in 1600x1200 High no AA [61.77]. On the 62.20s I get 75.3. I can break the 50FPS barrier with 4xAA on.

However, I do have the card OCed to 400/1100 for D3. On the flip side, Ultrashadow II is currently disabled in the Nvidia drivers so we should see another few frames when Nvidia finally gets around to implementing it properly.

The Batman said:

No. I get 70.9 FPS in 1600x1200 High no AA [61.77]. On the 62.20s I get 75.3. I can break the 50FPS barrier with 4xAA on.

However, I do have the card OCed to 400/1100 for D3. On the flip side, Ultrashadow II is currently disabled in the Nvidia drivers so we should see another few frames when Nvidia finally gets around to implementing it properly.

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You're also running an A64 which simply butchers my P4 in Doom3, so I'm not going to be "scoring" that high when I get my GT oc'ed anyways, that's kinda where I was coming from. Point taken though, the card is hella fast.....now stop building it up in my mind, I still gotta wait a week for mine to get here.


Please people, I'm asking nicely here that you respect my "wishes" and please stay on topic, I know how easy it is to keep talking about whatever, but please.....

I can't get past 29fps with my current setup

2.4ghz P4 ht
1GB PC3200
ATi FireGL x1 (running the CAT4.9 atiogl.dll)

is it my cpu? during the timedemo i can see that it stutters when the fireballs are about to be thrown and also when you switch to flashlight...

Ultra Wide said:

I can't get past 29fps with my current setup

2.4ghz P4 ht
1GB PC3200
ATi FireGL x1 (running the CAT4.9 atiogl.dll)

is it my cpu? during the timedemo i can see that it stutters when the fireballs are about to be thrown and also when you switch to flashlight...

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Is that after you have run the timedemo two or three times? I know that the first time that I run it, the demo stutters and pauses, but then the second run is always "flawless" in that regard.

Kinda bad news here guys, it looks like it's gonna take an extra week for me to get my card. That not only means that I'll be without Doom for two weeks, but it's gonna take a little longer to get the review posted up for you guys.

I'm pretty sure one of my friends has a little dinky card lying around that I can at least get into XP with so that I dont have to sit on my parents uber-gay 1800+ to MSN ppl and go on forums.

I'll be sure to keep you all posted if there are any updates with the ETA on the card, as that will effect when I can get the Doom3 analysis finished up for you guys.

Cross your fingers for me, I can hardly wait as is.