Haggs
AI Team Member Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 2723 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota	Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2004 12:06 am    Post subject: Latest ATI Catalyst, Omega, and DNA Drivers Benched   Introduction: The time has come once again to see which ATI driver will claim the benchmark crown. The drivers up for contention were ATI's own Catalyst 4.5, and Catalyst 4.6 beta, Omega 2.5.44 (based on the Catalyst 4.5), and DNA 2.5.4.5a (also based on the Catalyst 4.5). Each driver was tested with a series of five different benchmarks: 3DMark 2001 SE (some say that this benchmark is outdated, but we threw it in the mix for good measure), 3DMark03, Aquamark 3, Gun Metal BenchMark 2, and Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 2. In between each driver we reset the computer to a common restore point to ensure that one driver would not interfere with each other. Unlike some of our past driver benchmark tests, this series had a clear winner. ATI's Catalyst 4.6 beta driver came out on top in all five of our benchmarks and did not have any noticeable compatibility issues. Of course no driver is flawless and due to the fact that it is still in its beta stage there must be some issues left to be resolved, but it showed a lot of promise. Test System Specs (same as first ATI driver test): Processor: AMD XP2700+ cooled with Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Memory: 512M DDR PC2700 Motherboard: MSI KT4V with onboard 10/100LAN + AC '97 Audio Sound Card: Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Power Supply: Antec 400 Watts "SL400" Primary Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 1800FP 18" LCD Secondary Monitor: Mag Innovision 986FS 19" CRT (disabled for these tests) Speakers: Logitech 400Watt 4.1 Video Card: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 AGP 8x by Sapphire Tech (Directx9.0b) Hard Drive 1: Maxtor 60 GB w/2MB Cache (for Windows only) Hard Drive 2: Seagate 160 GB w/8MB Cache (for everything else) DVD-ROM: 16x CD-RW: 52x24x52x Operating System: Updated Windows XP Professional w/SP1 Method We created a system restore point (visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp for more information on system restore points). Next we installed our first driver and ran the five benchmarks: 3DMark2001 SE, 3DMark03, AquaMark3, Gun Metal Benchmark 2, and Final Fantasy Benchmark 2 version 1.0 respectively. Then we reverted back to our system restore point and benchmarked the next driver. The drivers were tested in the following order: ATI Catalyst 4.5, ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta, Omega 2.5.44 (based on the Catalyst 4.5 driver), and DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on the Catalyst 4.5 driver). [page] Benchmark Information: 3DMark2001 SE (build 330) http://www.futuremark.com Settings 7 of 7 Game Tests 6 of 6 Theoretical Tests 4 of 4 Directx 8 Feature Tests Demo Looping Disabled Demo Sounds Disabled Game Sound Effects Disabled Game Music Disabled Detail Level High Resolution 1024x768x32 bit color, compressed textures D3D Pure Hardware T&L (Textures and Lighting) No Antialiasing 3DMark03 (build 340) http://www.futuremark.com Settings All 4 Game Tests 2 of 2 CPU Tests 5 of 5 Feature Tests 3 of 3 Sound Tests 1024x768x32 bit color No Pixel Processing Optimal Texture Filtering 4 Max Anisotropy Optimal Vertex Shaders No Repeated Tests No Fixed Framerates AquaMark3 http://www.aquamark3.com Settings 1024x768x32 bit color No FSAA 4x Anisotropy Very High Detail Gun Metal BenchMark 2 (version 1.20s) http://www.yetistudios.com Settings Benchmark 1 Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 2 v1.0: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/benchmark.html Settings Benchmark Only High Resolution [page] Published Driver Information: ATI Catalyst Version 4.5 Release Notes http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_45_Release_Notes.html ATI Catalyst Version 4.6 Beta Release Notes http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=796 Omega 2.5.44 (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) http://www.omegacorner.com DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) http://www.dna-drivers.nl/viewtopic.php?t=2393 3DMark2001 SE Screenshots: ATI Catalyst 4.5 ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta Omega 2.5.44 (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) [page] 3DMark03 Screenshots: ATI Catalyst 4.5 ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta Omega 2.5.44 (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) Aquamark3 Screenshots: ATI Catalyst 4.5 ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta Omega 2.5.44 (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) [page] Gun Metal BenchMark 2 Screenshots: ATI Catalyst 4.5 ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta Omega 2.5.44 (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) DNA 2.5.4.5a (based on Catalyst 4.5 drivers) Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 2 v1.0 Screenshots: Unavailable because benchmark program shuts down when a key is pressed. [page] Results: Graphs: 3DMark2001 SE 3DMark03 Aquamark3 Gun Metal BenchMark 2 Final Fantasy XI Benchmark 2 v1.0 Conclusions: ATI's Catalyst 4.6 beta driver was the clear and obvious winner in this round of benchmarking. I did not experience compatibility issues with any of the drivers in the five benchmark programs, Unreal Tournament 2004, Warcraft III, Call of Duty, or Battlefield 1942. It looks like ATI did a good job putting together a well-performing driver across the board. If you don't want to download the Catalyst 4.6 while it is still in beta, wait until the full release. If the performance holds true to its beta, you can expect the Catalyst 4.6 driver to have the most compatibility of any driver thus far (since its the latest version, duh) with a kick of speed to match. Links: ATI Catalyst 4.5 download ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta download Omega 2.5.44 download DNA 2.5.4.5a download
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