LOSTCIRCUITS

Discreet 3ds max5

We ran the benchmarks included on the Training and Learning CD "Benchmark" folder, which, admittedly, test rather primitive, isolated features but, on the other hand, allow to look at the isolated performance and, moreover, the undiluted fidelity of the execution of OpenGL flags. One case in point that we will show in detail is the 8spot lighting. We mentioned that the MAXtreme OpenGL application drivers are optimized for 3ds max but that does not necessarily mean that the raw performance will be better in just terms of fps. On the contrary, the generic drivers more often than not don't see the full extent of the individual commands and will render a scene only partially. Again, we will use the 8spot scene to literally shine more light on these issues.

Driver revisions: We tried several versions of the nVidia Detonator drivers, that is, the 43.09 and the 45.23 and they all gave results that were within the variation from one run to another. Unlike in the case of 3D-gaming, the performance does hardly change from one driver to the next, it may be that this will change with moving on to the 5x.xx series, however, none of these drivers are yet certified by the software vendors, in fact, even the 45.xx series is not certified yet by the majority of vendors. The frame rates are averages of usually 5 runs we got using FRAPS with the 43.09 drivers. All benchmarks were run at 1280 x 1024 x 32bpp settings.

In our review of the ATI FireGL X1, we have screenshots of all benchmarks used; therefore, we will show only the results in this review. All MAXtreme results were obtained at the "speed" setting unless indicated as "quality".

4Viewports

At the "speed" setting, the FX3000 is four times as fast as with the standard detonator drivers and still about twice as fast as at the quality setting.

8Direct

The MAXtreme drivers are still faster than the standard OpenGL drivers.

8Omni

The same picture as above. Interestingly, the FireGL X1 falls behind a bit further than in the Direct lighting scene. Also, note that the Quadro4 does not appear to handle the MAXtreme drivers that well here. Actually, a more accurate statement would be that the Quadro4 is not able to take advantage of the MAXtreme drivers to the same extent as the FX3000 and, therefore, the higher precision of rendering in general when the MAXtreme drivers are loaded takes a greater toll on the frame rates.

Next Page:    => 3ds max5 - II =>