Back to Page 7 Conclusion It appears as though ATi’s confidence in the core architecture the company released with the Radeon 9700 Proback in 2002 is a gamble that hasn’t yet backfired. The X800 series of boards has won numerous OEM contracts and been extremely popular with gamers in the retail market, though availability for […]
Back to Page 5 Image Quality ATi’s GPUs have since the 9700 Pro supported programmable multi-sampling modes of anti-aliasing. In addition, the X800 does not possess a hardware ROP (render output) limitation, allowing for more than four sub-samples to be used. While the AA modes are programmable, when enabled via the control panel a static, sparse […]
Back to Page 6 IL-2: Forgotten Battles – Aces Expansion Pack was used to test the performance impact A.I. has on texture filtering with 8x anisotropic enabled. Image quality differences with A.I. disabled or set at low are extremely difficult to discern, with a slight increase in texture aliasing in certain titles being the most […]
Back to Page 4 Far Cry benchmark numbers are generated by repeated playing of the Research map, which consists of an good mix of beach, jungle, and interior settings found throughout the game’s various levels. Fraps is used to record performance as the same path is taken through the map during each test. Both anti-aliasing […]
Back to Page 3 Benchmark Scores The test option of High Quality represents scores with both 4x AA and 8x AF enabled. Lock On: Modern Air Combat was tested using the MiG-29 Intercept demo. In-game settings were at their highest options, except for several features such as water and heat bltr which were set to […]
Back to Page 2 One new feature found in the X800 parts that ATi has been heavily touting is 3Dc, a compression tool for normal maps. As game developers strive to create more detailed and realistic looking environments, one of the key means of doing so has traditionally been through higher levels of […]
Back to Page 1 X800 Architecture Overview As mentioned above, the Radeon X800 XT is a 16 pipeline configuration that also includes six vertex units, identical to the GeForce 6800 GT PCIe board SimHQ reviewed earlier this year. The following is a list of the features the X800 boards support: Smartshader HD Support for DirectX 9.0 programmable vertex and pixel […]
by John Reynolds Introduction The old adage, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” comes to mind with ATi’s Radeon X800 graphics boards. When ATi released the 9700 Pro in the fall of 2002 using a 150nm process, the world-and more importantly for the company, their competition — was taken by surprise. The R300 architecture, upon which the 9700 […]
Back to Page 4 Final Recommendations and Opinions This is the part that I think Geoffrey really wants to know. He was curious to see if the device would sell in a real world simulation market and wants my opinion. Well, my honest opinion is I am not sure. No I am not waffling, […]
Back to Page 3 Playing the game with the SimSit I tried out the SimSit with IL2: Forgotten Battles, Pacific Fighters, Aces High, WW2 Online, Wings of Valor, and Falcon 4.0 to get a feel for what it felt like with various games currently on the market. Overall the device felt great for all […]
Back to Page 2 Sitting in the USS Enterpoop The first time I sat in a chair with the SimSit attached I got the impression that I was sitting in the Captains Chair of the USS Enterprise, or maybe Dr. Evil’s chair depending on your opinion of me. It is kind of cool to […]
Back to Page 1 Home is where your rump rests Geoffrey’s design idea for the SimSit is rather simple. Have a one piece item that can easily handle the throttle and joystick for most modern HOTAS setups while at the same time keep the intrusion into space at a minimum. The SimSit is a […]
