Performance comparison between the MSI StarForce 822, the ATi Radeon 64 MB DDR and the MSI Phantom 8809 (GeForce256) in Expendable Timedemo. It is clear that the Phantom takes the lead, however, at the expense of not supporting EMBM.
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| MSI StarForce 822 (GeForce3 64 MB DDR) Per Aspera Ad Astra | |
| (Review by MS, June 21, 2001) |
The test setup
Performance of the GeForce3 is actually a secondary feature. Most current graphics adapters are powerful enough to satisfy even the most demanding user and if they don't, the reason is very often found elsewhere but not in the graphics card.
There has been a wealth of documentation that the GeForce3 does not reach the GeForce2 Ultra in terms of raw frame rates but there are a few thing to consider when looking at comparisons between different graphics cards. Not all graphics cards support the same features and the more sophisticated any GPU is, the more features it will support and this, in turn, will slow down the average frame rate. One example is Expendable with its environment mapped bump mapping (EMBM). Any graphics card that is able to use EMBM will not only have to do extra work but also have a higher CPU usage for the same frames than a graphics card that does not use and, therefore, cannot see EMBM. The same holds for any other bump mapping feature as e.g. DOT3 bump mapping.
Here are some numbers that make the GeForce3 look like the worst of the bunch tested, in fact, it is outperformed by a landslide by the GeForce256 (MSI Phantom 8809).
Expendable
(all timedemos were run at 640x480x16bpp with sound disabled)
Performance comparison between the MSI StarForce 822, the ATi Radeon 64 MB DDR and the MSI Phantom 8809 (GeForce256) in Expendable Timedemo. It is clear that the Phantom takes the lead, however, at the expense of not supporting EMBM.
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