Far Cry SS - NO 56K - Test your IQ Knowledge

***Disclaimer***
This is not a direct comparison between the two cards, but just my experiences. I am not a reviewest for any site, nor do I pretend to be.
***Disclaimer***

I used 1024x768 res because I believe thats what most people will use. And to be honest, at 1280x1024 the 5900 was just too slow, often times in the low teens. I took the screen shots with 4.1 drivers for my 9800XT. I uninstalled them, and ran the cat uninstall file. I then shut down the PC, and changed the cards. Installed the 53.03 drivers, and set AA/AF to app preference, and all other quality settings to high. The same was done for the 9800XT. Both drivers were set to the same thing, and all game settings were left the same.

This is just to try and judge image quality, and give a rough estimate on how the cards do in the game. I realize its not a real 5950, and I think the extra ram will help it over the 5900NU I used, although probably not by much. Usually you dont see much of a difference from 128meg vs. 256meg untill you reach high res's, like 1280x1024 and especually 1600x1200 with lots of AA/AF.

There was no 3rd party tweaking software of any type. Just the drivers set to highest quality. I tried to enable PS 2.0 for the FX with Rivatuner, but I couldnt find the settings, so it was not used.


System I used was:
[email protected]
IC7 MAX3
1gig HyperX DDR 520@1:1
9800XT @stock clock
5900NU @475/475
Audigy 2 ZS
Raptor 36gig
PC Power&Cooling 510 ATX Deluxe

This is on Farcry beta version 2.

Game settings:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/Settings.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../Settings2.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/1.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/8.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/3.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../9800XT/10.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/2.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/9.jpg




More to come in a few.

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/4.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../9800XT/12.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/5.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../9800XT/11.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/6.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../9800XT/13.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/7.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/6.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/8.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/7.jpg


5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/Farcry/5900NU/9.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/4.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../5900NU/10.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/5.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../5900NU/11.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/1.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../5900NU/12.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/2.jpg

5900NU:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/.../5900NU/13.jpg

9800XT:
http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Comp/...U/9800XT/3.jpg

Thats all the pics I have. I cant see much of a difference at all. The only huge difference is the FPS between the two. But again, this is not a comparison as its not a true 5950 Ultra, so its not really fair. I am not sure how much a difference the extra 128megs of ram would have for the 5900, but probably not that much. Not sure how much of an impact PS 2.0 would have on frames either. But it can be argued that since its hard to tell which show is which thats its not needed.

I cant explain the Monkey Bay shots. The 9800XT was 2fps lower in both shots. The FPS were jumping around a little hovering in that area. One thing I did notice was that Monkey Bay by FAR was the hardest on my system. I should have taken some more shots on that map it seems, different areas and such, to see if the trend continued.

Nice pics and in very few can you tell much of a difference at all very few... I play it on a Chaintech fx5900 stock at medium and runs without a hitch besides the usual demo quirks. I think alot people jumped on the i need a $400 video card to play half life 2 and STALKER band wagon while ATI sat back and smiled as nvidia has for years..... when in all honesty I think the ones running the ti4600's and ati 9500's will be laughing as there playing all these hyped up games just fine just my 3 cents and a nickel. Oh and i own a 9800pro and enjoy the fx5900 better......we will see when a full dx9.0 game comes out... as we should all know by now a demo means crappppppppp when it comes to the finished product .. well mabey halo is an exeption :)

I need to get me a copy of this game - looks great.

Quote:

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Originally posted by russ_watters
I noticed the trees looked terrible like Colossus, but didn't say anything because I assumed (like he did) that the game just didn't do trees well. It didn't even occur to me that someone would post an image quality comparison that wasn't using the best quality possible. Or for that matter, it didn't occur to me that someone would post an ATI/Nvidia image quality comparison that didn't have an ATI image in it.

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If I can do higher quality than 1600x1200x32 @ 4xaa 8xansio @ very high settings (6xaa 16xansio on 9800XT) on an nVidia card let me know.

Image quality wise, I honestly cannot see ANY difference between the two cards. However the FPS was definately surprising, as soon as my 5900nu arrives, I'll try and run the game on my system at the same settings, though with only a 2.0ghz p4 compared to your oc'd processor, IDK how well its going to compare to your scores. :D

Keep in mind its not a true 5950, but a 5900NU@5950 speeds. The extra ram would probably not make but a few FPS difference though. But who knows for sure. Also keep in mind its just the 2n beta, things can change I guess. :shrug: I should have tried with no AA/AF though, to compare that as well. Perhaps another time, I was over doing it when I finished :)

But it is very hard to tell a difference in image quality to me as well. Perhaps there are better angles to try to tell, but if you have to go that far, I think its fair to say you are not going to notice in game.

Ackmed thank you for helping me to prove my point.

Quote:

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Originally posted by OpStar
Ackmed thank you for helping me to prove my point.

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So you proved nVidia has just as good IQ. Isn't ATI still faster when displaying high IQ?

Still, maybe this will put to rest the claims that ATI has superior IQ overall.

I never once said nVidia was FASTER I said the IQ between the two were a mute point.

Quote:

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Originally posted by OpStar
I never once said nVidia was FASTER I said the IQ between the two were a mute point.

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Yes I know, but one of the things you said is you couldn't understand why people won't buy the 5950 right now (or whatever card it was). The reason is you can get the same IQ with higher FPS for slightly more (9700 or 9800).

Also I think you meant to say moot.

I'd also like to add that when people say ATI's IQ is better, perhaps they mean:

ATI has better IQ with acceptable performance.

What good is nVidia's IQ if you can't use it b/c the performance is horrible??? You know?

Nvidia > ATI

yAY! :D

Quote:

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Originally posted by Paladyr
Yes I know, but one of the things you said is you couldn't understand why people won't buy the 5950 right now (or whatever card it was). The reason is you can get the same IQ with higher FPS for slightly more (9700 or 9800).

Also I think you meant to say moot.

I'd also like to add that when people say ATI's IQ is better, perhaps they mean:

ATI has better IQ with acceptable performance.

What good is nVidia's IQ if you can't use it b/c the performance is horrible??? You know?

---

I did mean moot, thank you.

I said I didn't understand why people bought the 9700 Pro over the 5900 Non Ultra. I seriously doubt that the 9700 Pro has any significant performance lead over the 5900 Non Ultra, no matter the aa/af level or rez used, and it costs more.

As for your last statement, I think my last statement covers it.