Incoming Gameindex.exe (640x480) frame rates for the Permedia3 Create!, ATi Rage 128 Fury, Matrox G400 and Diamond Viper 770 Ultra
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| 3DLabs Permedia3 Create! Mind Over Matter | |
| (Review by MS, October 2, 1999) |
After so much good, there has to be a sore spot, otherwise, nobody would even consider any other card. Unfortunately, the sore spot is where the gamers are hurt most, that is, compared to other high end 2D/3D cards, the Create! only marginally qualifies for games. However, it really does depend on the application, moreover, the operating platform plays a huge role in how far behind the Create! falls.
SS7 Platform and Gaming
3Dmark 99 Max (800x600x16bpp)
Despite the fact that the Create! drivers are optimized for 3Dnow!, the raw numbers are not too thrilling. However, everything is running smoothly and scores of 7193 / 3363 (CPU Mark / 3Dmark) are definitely acceptable. Interestingly, there is hardly a difference between the different bump mapping/ embossing passes, the single pass looks as good as the dual pass. Also note the high CPU Marks, what better argument could be made for a low CPU usage (G400: 7071 / 3748, same setup)
Another application where the Create! performance is comparably low but still in the acceptable range is Incoming which runs at an average of some 82 fps. While this is still lower than the 96 fps achieved by the Matrox G400 and the Viper770, there is no real reason to complain.
Incoming Gameindex.exe (640x480) frame rates for the Permedia3 Create!, ATi Rage 128 Fury, Matrox G400 and Diamond Viper 770 Ultra
Final Reality
Similar as in Incoming, the Create! ranks at the bottom of the field. However, the numbers somehow give a wrong impression. While, e.g. the Rage Fury achieves nominally higher scores, the image quality is nowhere near the Create. A similar statement, albeit not as extreme can be made about the Diamond Viper 770 Ultra. The best example is the "pendulum" in the last scene where the Create! is the only card that perfectly captures the round shape of the digits whereas the same appear somewhat polygonal with any other card. The only other graphics adapter coming close to the image quality of the Create! is the Matrox G400.
| Final Reality 1.01 | Create! | Viper 770 | G400 | Rage 128 Fury |
| Overall | 4.08 | 4.24 | 5.11 | 4.94 |
| 3D | 3.99 | 4.77 | 4.60 | 4.67 |
| 2D | 4.56 | 4.34 | 4.47 | 4.82 |
| Bus | 3.33 | 2.10 | 8.23 | 6.07 |
Overall the field is pretty packed. The G400 clearly leads, trailed by the Fury which, however, displayed quite a few artifacts. E.g., the transparent dome in the "City Scene" is simply not there (in this version of the drivers) and the pendulum is rather coarse. In addition the reflexions on the ground are missing.
Unreal
The Flyby scene is certainly useful as a benchmark but does not do any justice to the feast that is displayed by the Create!. Nonetheless, here are some benchmarks. The one weakness noticed was a slight stutter in certain environments when turning, indicating some problems with the texture transfer and/or rendering. This stutter occurred independent of the resolution. Surprisingly, also, the Create! outruns the Matrox G400 by quite a margin at any given resolution and color depth. If anyone needs a convincing argument for virtual textures management, this should be it. However, if the incorrect D3D driver is selected, the smooth run turns into rough sailing or rather an irritating sequence of stop action pictures.
Unreal Flyby frame rates for the Permedia3 Create! at 16 bit (light bars) and 32 bit (medium bars) as well as the Matrox G400 at 16 bit color (dark bars) for comparison
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