Portables4Gamers Comparison: HD3870 x2 vs 8800M GTX SLi

ummmm, nope. dmc4 was a ati game...according to that review. lol

edit: and my drivers are no good. wonder when i'll get me some real drivers. if i had real drivers i would be getting 18k in 3dmark06.

im on a driver campaign now with ya'll.

 

LOL.. we should all campaign. Ok, so DMC4 is not an ATI game based on the NVIDIA flash screen when it loads

and I did 2 runs @ 1920.1200 max settings - One with the 8.10 Catalyst Package, and one with the 8.11 w/hotfix.

This one is 8.10



and 8.11


...and not much difference between the 2 at ALL. Actually, Im very disappointed.

 

hummm, so it would seem that they made some other changes that they forgot to mention in that article....

try running in dx9 now E

 

DX9 @1920.1200 max settings run for comparisons sake.

 

and I know you guys will hate me for this pic and resolution... but, tell ya what. that game looks visually stunning @ 1920.1200, and this scene is my fav of the benchmarks. It's just f'in awesome.

 

whats up with the 3rd one? it says dx10 and @ close to same as your dx9 run..

 

stock

over clocked dx9 and dx10

 

ahhh....lemme OC and see if i get any changes. gotta install diff drivers. grr.

 

next set of test...world in conflict
they also have a demo with benchmark included

http://files.filefront.com/World+in+Conflict+Demo/;8391048;/fileinfo.html

aeris:
can you do a stock 3dmark06 and vantage run please. thanks.

 

johnksss, what the heck did you OC in that DMC4 test? GPU, CPU or both? Your OC vs. stock results at 1900x1200 are RIDICULOUS!

 

i just over clocked the gpu since that's all we can over clock....

 

john.. you have an easy method for flashing eh?

 

yeah. it's the medthod i gave you a while back.

1: buy a thumb drive just for your laptop flashing
2: store all your flashing files on it
3: make sure system is always set to boot flash drive first
i have mine set to auto flash, but im using two computers. one will have nibtor 4.6 already open and waiting for me to make changes and save. then i just insert in laptop and auto flash new settings. this goes for bios flashes as well. takes all of about 20 seconds.

 

nice scores. Anyone here have Trackmania?

 

Okay, stock 3Dmark 2006 and 3DMark Vantage (PhysX On and Off):

3DMark 2006 / 8800m GTX SLi @ Stock / Q9450 @ Stock / Dox's ForceWare 180.70:




3DMark Vantage W/ PhysX Off / 8800m GTX SLi @ Stock / Q9450 @ Stock / Dox's ForceWare 180.70:



3DMark Vantage W/ PhysX On / 8800m GTX SLi @ Stock / Q9450 @ Stock / Dox's ForceWare 180.70:





For VBIOS flashing, I use a USB floppy drive, an old Windows 98 MS-DOS Boot disk, Nvflash and a small batch (.bat) so that I only have to restart the machine with the floppy connected to the USB port, type in "NV, NV2 or NV3" depending on the configuration I want, tap "Y" 2 times, take the USB Floppy Drive out and then restart.

Weird, but I have noticed that the issue that I have with the max. clocks not being set at startup but the throttle clocks until that I enable SLi again is now a tool, if I set the clocks too high or anything, I can still boot on the machine normally without having to boot to safe-mode, since I have to activate the max. clocks myself, and they do not poof after log-off's, but until that the laptop is restarted / rebooted.

I am sorry to let you down, guys, in the World In Conflict benchmark, but I cannot wait for a super-huge 1.4 GB file to download using my poor 1.5 Mbps / 383 Kbps cable modem connection.

 

nope, but if you find us the demo...we can all download it and give it a try for ya.

 

I thought that you posted the demo's link:

 

Bah, that review needs to be corrected. And plus, it's definitely an NVidia game with the TWIMTBP gimmick

Interesting note about that site, they actually featured my research regarding the Alienware M9750 and the ATi cards working...and spelt my name wrong ( http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://portables4gamers.com/?p=5030)

 

I mean for Trackmania

 

yes... didn't they obtain that from the gog website?

nevermind, i see it says notebookreview at the bottom.

 

glad everyone is having fun running the demo benchmark. Ichime a few pages back you asked about why the performance was on par in the crysis benchmark but not in some other games. The reason several drivers back in the 17x.xx series for nvidia you actually had to make a sli profile in the nvidia panel to get dmc to run in sli mode.

Since most review sites either copy and paste their info from another site, or the one that actually do recieve a test model assume the system is suppose to run 100% out of the box. An example could be anandtech, they actually do a complete reinstall of the laptop and benchmark it. Yet they have no knowledge about sites like laptopvideo2go and reinstall the dated oem drivers. The other problem is the oem maker of the laptop is also the one who ships the original customized version of a driver. Modifying it in a way like laptopvideo2go does ensuring the system functions properly at the time of ordering.

The problem with that especially in Alienwares case, it's not uncommon that they take weeks and sometimes months to actually ship the product. They also only seem to update the driver every few months. Hence not only does the customer receive a dated driver for their laptop, but also so do the reviewers.

 

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood the post and thought it regarded to World in Conflict.

Anyway, there is the demo for Trackmania (posted in URL tags because the link is really long).:

[Link.]

 

Ok, Trackmania Nations Forever (Demo?):

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/12049/TrackMania+Nations+Forever+-+Free+Game

 

Ok, I installed Trackmania Nations Forever (demo). I can't find any benchmarks/performance tools built into the game itself, so I used fraps:

Edit, nevermind, I'm a moron. There's a huge button that says "Bench" Under Configuration>Advanced. I'll use that.

Ok, at 1920x1200, High Quality (says Shader is PC3 low), No AA, 4xAF I get 59.8 fps, Very High goes down to 38.3. Everything maxxed out (8xAA, 16xAF, all boxes on the right side checked, shadows set to complex gets me 28.3 fps

Side note: this is a pretty fun racing game.

 

just got home. downloading it now

 

My internet access is down. Otherwise I'd be all over it. My oc of DMC4 gained some fps but nothin crazy. I'll be on when I can.

 

Ok since everyone is benchmarking here are somegames that i think should be inclucded. (i don't know why other companies are not posting these. but We should do them one at a time so it doesnt become a mess.
Also play the game for a little Because benchmarks are always the same while playing anything could happen.

Lost Planet demo benchmark
http://www.lostplanetcommunity.com/demo.php

I cant find other linnks but other games are:
Fear
Doom
Farcry2(i think alot of people has done this already)
Rts Games (I know it is cpu dependant, but i read somewhere that ati is cpu dependant, so i wonder if a game is using all the cpu then what would happen to the gpu)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R(i know there is a demo but i dont know if there is a benchmark.)
UT3(Please redo)Bioshock(I know there is a demo but no benchmarking tool, So i dont know how this would work.)
Call of duty 4

 

Bioshock maxes at 60fps and it will never fall below.

 

I think that the Notebook GPU's are going to share the same characteristics as their desktop counterparts

the 3870 was never faster than 8800 line for the most part, but the differences we're usually fairly neglible. ATi was still plagued with a lot of issues then, one of their biggest issues was Anti Aliasing.

Usually enabling it plumited the overall framerate this issues however was completely fixed in the 4xxx series. So much so that you could usually get away with a decent ammount of AA and not effect the Frame rate

( http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUzMSw3LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA== is an example with a 4870x2 you could probably get away with 2-4x "free" on a 4870 depending on resolution)

The 3870 is a great card, its not as fast as the 8800M line (pretty much 8800 GT's with the GTS just offering a few less shaders) but their incredible value MORE than makes up for it for example

Updating to Crossfire 3870's costs you 230 dollars on XoticPC (250 for AW)
While the SLi option on a Sager NP9262 will set you back 750 rediculous dollars, and an alienware M17x SLi config will cost you 800 dollars.

the 9xxx series nVidias are rebranded 8800's (512GTS's and 512GT's for the most part) some with a smaller 55nm core I believe A desktop 9800GT (55nm clone 8800GT) can be had for 120 dollars while a sapphire 3870 can be had for around 90.

The main thing is that in a Crossfire Configuration depending on the game at a high resolution (1920x1200 for most) you'll be very well compared to an 8800M for a considerable less ammount in price.

Here's a table that compared 8800 GT's in SLi(again pretty much 8800M's and some 9800M's) to 3870's in Crossfire they should be close to Mobile 3870 and 9800M GTX

http://en.expreview.com/2007/11/26/hd-3870-crossfire-vs-8800gt-sli.html?page=4

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=6

 

I can appreciate that. And agree with most of it. However, considering there is not an official ATIdriver available for these cards then it's safe to assume that all of your typing and comparisons are in vein. The cards are close, based on performance, to what you mention. However, they will not continue to be. IMHO.

 

WoW really I didn't know that their was no Official ATi Driver so have OCZ and Alienware been doing their own?

 

I guess we will have to wait until that the official drivers for the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870's are released by the ATI, right now, one cannot tell if the current performance of the HD 3870's is their max. performance, or there is more juice to get out of them, until that those drivers are released...

So, it cannot be assumed that they will be more / less / equally powerful than the 8800m GTX SLi / 9800m GT SLi / 9800m GTX SLi for now.

---

Some HD 3870 Single (and CF) VS 8800 GT Single (and SLi) comparations that I found on google (Japanese, the important links and comparative graphs are in English):

[Link.]

 

nah, it doesn't. you have to take that verticle sync stuff off. other wise it stays at 60 fps. me and brainer went at it when i had my gateway 8800m gts and got like 90+ fps

another comparison..... we are a bit cool on the comparison's. kind of why everyone is benching to see what the real deal is. and come up with our own version of those other peoples reality. so they can link from here about it... in stead of us linking from them.

for you to bench a game or program... it takes time. can't be done in 10 minutes. the bench must first be understood. what's it's limitations are. older drivers vs newer ones. whether sli or crossfire are really working. what you can and can't do. if there is a way to circumvent the system or is it a sure fire way to gauge performance. how well it does stock vs over clock vs a bunch of running task vs no task running. different resolutions and different degrees of detail. aa/af to the max or off and so on.... quite a few other things on that list, but you get the picture.

 

Good post.

 

why, thank you!

 

You explained the reason for doing benchmarks here at NotebookReview very well, that is why.

 

it's more of an expression than a me asking you a question...

example: some one gives you a rose...you might reply...why, thank you. that was very nice of you.

 

Oh, alright then! Thanks for the tip, man.

 

Agreed that was a great way to put it =D

I'll be more than happy to help out when I get my Lappy

 

Sorry for the delay.. comparison of OCd vs non-OCd runs -
Posting a previous result just so ya dont have to thread search to find the non-OCd run.



Slight GPU OC

 

Nice scores, the O/C is really noticeable.

 

Thanks...almost as nice as your GTX scores

 

It's nice what a good ol' OC can do.

 

hey, i cant see it E??

ah, there it goes...it was delaying.

can always count on E with the unbias posting of benchmarks!

the more the merrier!!

 

cant see what?

112.98 87.99 133.55 88.25 - OC'd
scene 1, 2, 3, 4
101.54 79.32 118.37 81.24 - non OC'd

that?

 

yep. but i can see it now.
also...i got a trick for your extra sized pic's..lol

ctrl - 3 times @ 1920x1200

i can see everything now.

 

hah. Nice I like big pics. That way I don't have to squint I got some modded drivers from KS over at DNA..bout to install and see what he did for me. The M88 is supported per E's request Soooo..off to driver sweep.

 

nice!!! i see we are now making a bit of head way on this. very nice indeed.

edit: mah bad. i meant to say..."head way"

 

Hmm? Whatcha mean?