Mobility Radeon X800 and X300 Launch to Low Availability
by Derek Wilson on November 23, 2004 5:57 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test and Halflife 2 Performance
We used a test bed configuration similar to our previous M28 review: 3.4GHz P4 Prescott 1GB RAM. Our 6800 Go system this time around was the same but with a speed boost to 3.4GHz as well. We were running the same system clocks as last time as well: 400/400 for the MR X800 and 300/300 for the 6800 Go.We had to do our testing on site under very rushed conditions, and we were only able to get a couple of Halflife 2 runs in to update our benchmarks from last time. This time around we'll also include Anand's desktop numbers. Unfortunately, he was benching with an Athlon 64 4000+, so the numbers will not be directly comparable. Of course, the only way we could really get directly comparable numbers would be to get PCI Express mounted versions of the mobile GPUs and compare them in a desktop system against our desktop cards. Or if we were to stick to mobile, the modular design of some laptops would allow us to swap out ATI and NVIDIA solutions. But here we will make due. First, we'll take a look at what happens when we run without AA and AF turned on.
As we would expect from our previous look at the two GPUs, the M28 based chip outperforms the NVIDIA solution at both resolutions we tested. Not only that, but the ATI mobile part puts in a decent showing, only losing to the desktop cards. Again, keep in mind that we are looking at two different platfoms, and that Anand hasn't run down all the caveats of Intel vs. AMD performance numbers under HL2. Even so, these numbers are impressive. Next we take a look at just the mobile parts with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. Not a setting mobile gamers are used to running.
Under Halflife 2 with 4xAA and 8xAF, the MR X800 means the difference between playability and choppy framerates when compared to the 6800 Go. That's a very nice option to have for the gamer on the go, and one that will be hard to turn down for the hard core fan of the notebook DTR.
Again, if you're interested in seeing more extensive benchmarking of this card, check out our previous article on the subject. The long and short of it is that the MR X800 seems the more powerful card at initial shipping clock speeds. We will be waiting to get our hands on faster parts to see how these GPUs scale, both in performace, and in power.
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skunkbuster - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
would it be possible (in the future) to test the mobility x800 and the 6800 go at the same clock speeds?400/400 for the MR X800 and 300/300 for the 6800 Go...
i just wonder what (if any) performance advantage ati has because of that.
it might be interesting to see how they compare to each other if they are clocked the same.
nserra - Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - link
There are a lot of Mobility 9700 notebooks in my country and cheap ones.Is the mobility 9800 already available?
I don’t understand how ati can make so many different chips? I mean Mobility 9800 looks like an X700 chip but in reality due to the number of vertex (4 vs 6) and memory interface (128 vs 256) is not?
So many product lines, isn’t more complicated? Nvidia is faster in bringing the product to market because of this and because of the lower market share. One card is easier to sell over five, especially if you don’t have five….
onix - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link
"DerekCan you post a comparison of power consumption between the 6800go X800 X300 and older chips like the 9800, 9700 and 9600 mobility? "
I agree. I would like to know what I'm passing up before buying a top of the line ThinkPad.
Sputt - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link
Is it worth waiting for the x800 if im getting a laptop very soon with 6800 ?DerekWilson - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link
Historically, we cover prodcut launches when the technology is announced. We have never talked about features like DLCS, and we hadn't put a name to hypermemory.The important thing to remember is that this isn't an update, its a launch. And the fact that we've got no product in our hands (we would love to bring you a power comparison #1, but we can't yet) is a problem for ATI to deal with when NVIDIA has shown that it is very doable to move product immediately.
That's big enough news for us to talk about. It's important for companies not to paper launch products, and we don't like seeing it happen.
LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link
Wee...why did you even bother posting this second "update"? Was it that slow of a news day?Anandtech should take a stand and say "If you won't give us sufficient testing time to give our readers valuable data, then we're not testing your hardware". You wasted your readers' time when you could have said "We'll post a review when there's a product you can actually buy, and when we're given enough review time to give you battery life specs, and video playback performance". You're an "industry leading site"...I encourage you to actually lead.
trikster2 - Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - link
Derek
Can you post a comparison of power consumption between the 6800go X800 X300 and older chips like the 9800, 9700 and 9600 mobility?
Also it would be useful to include in the comparisons the older AGP based mobil chips, so we that are about to buy a laptop can decide if these new chips are worth waiting for.
Great review!
Thanks!