Performance

The ATI Radeon 9700 Pro is a top-end 3D video card, so we're comparing it to the very best the competition has to offer. This includes the current big-dog, the GeForce4 Ti 4600, as well as the GeForce4 Ti 4400, 4200 128-MB and 4200 64-MB. We're also not leaving ATI's previous headliner off the list, and the Radeon 8500 128-MB (275/275) is also featured on the benchmarking list.

We're sticking with what we feel is the highest performance, mainstream platform: the Pentium 4-2.53 GHz processor powered by a SiS 645DX motherboard, using 512-MB of high-end Crucial PC2700. This system is not only lightning fast, but the Pentium 4/SiS 645DX is also an extremely popular configuration with high-end users. At 2.53 GHz, our Pentium 4 CPU may be a bit pricy for some, but this matches up quite well against many of the overclocked speeds we've been seeing.

The ATI Radeon 9700 Pro uses the latest Catalyst 2.2 (7.75) release, while the NVIDIA cards have the latest Detonator 30.82 reference drivers installed. While we have included all the standard game benchmarks this time, we have concentrated on the higher-end tests using High Quality and 32-bit color/textures. This is more in line with current gaming, as those with GeForce4 or Radeon 8500 cards would likely play in 32-bit mode.

Our game benchmarks include Quake 3: Arena, 3DMark 2001SE, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Jedi Knight II, Comanche 4 and Serious Sam; The Second Encounter. We have added the Code Creatures 3D benchmark for this review, as well as going deeper into the actual 3DMark 2001SE detailed tests.

Test System

General Settings:
Desktop Resolution: 1024x768
Color Depth: 16-bit
V-Sync: Disabled

SiS 645DX - MSI 645E Max 2 Motherboard
Processors: Pentium 4-2.53B
Memory: 512 MB Crucial PC2700 DIMM
Motherboard: MSI 645E Max 2
Motherboard chip set: SiS 645DX
NVIDIA reference drivers: 30.82
ATI reference drivers: Catalyst 2.2/7.75
Hard-Drive: Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM ATA100
IDE Interface: Ultra ATA100
Sound: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live
CD/DVD: Panasonic DVD-ROM
Power Supply: Sparkle 400 Watt
Operating System: Windows XP Pro

Video Cards:
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
MSI G4Ti4600-VTD GeForce4 Ti 4600
VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4400
GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128-MB) Reference
GeForce4 Ti 4200 (64-MB) Reference
ATI Radeon 8500 128-MB

Quake III Arena Test Specifics
Version: 1.30 (retail)
V-Sync: Disabled
Sound Disabled
High Quality Defaults

Return to Castle Wolfenstein Specifics:
Version 1.0
High Quality Defaults
Checkpoint MP demo

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter Specifics:
Version 1.05
Elephant Atrium demo

Jedi Knight II Specifics:
Version 1.02 Jk2ffa demo

3DMark 2001SE Pro Specifics:
Version 1.0 patched