Due to the time constraints I was under in putting this preview together I only had a limited amount of time for benchmarking. I was able to compare performance of Quake 3 Arena, Soldier of Fortune, and Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens between the GeForce2 GTS and the Creative Labs Annihilator Pro (GeForce DDR).
During the few days I've had the GeForce2 GTS reference card in my system, it became clear that it craves a fast CPU. The faster your CPU, the better the GeForce 2 GTS will perform. Based on its overall performance, I was impressed with the performance of the GeForce2 GTS in comparison to the GeForce 256 DDR - especially when overclocking.
Along with the bar chart benchmark results, I've included line graphs that show the percent increase in frames per second of the GeForce2 GTS over the GeForce 256 DDR. The percent increase provides a relative number which can be used to roughly gauge the expected increase in performance on other processors. The specifics for the benchmark configuration are:
- Pentium 3-550E @683MHz
- 128MB PC100 RAM
- Abit BH6 Mainboard
- Create Labs Annihilator Pro
- GeForce2 GTS 32MB AGP Reference Card
- Default Core and Memory Speeds
- Detonator Driver Version 5.14
- Sound and Vsync Disabled
- Windows 98
Similar to comparisons between the TNT to the TNT2, and TNT2 to the GeForce 256, the GeForce GTS "flexes its muscles" at high resolutions (1024x768 and up). The following chart shows Quake 3 Arena results based on High Quality settings.
Note that when 32-bit color was used (green and yellow bars), 32-bit textures were used. When 16-bit color was used (blue and red bars) , 16-bit textures were used. Results are measured in frames per second.
Quake 3 - High Quality Settings - Demo001
Percent Increase in Frames Per Second
In Quake 3 Arena, at resolutions of 640x480 and 800x600, the GeForce2 GTS provides modest gaines in performance over the GeForce 256 DDR. But at 1024x768 and above, the GeForce2 GTS provides an increase in frames per second ranging from 23% (1024x768 in 32-bit color) to 60% (1280x1024 in 16-bit color).
Now, let's take a look at what many nVIDIOT's, or visitors to nV News, have come to expect with their NVIDIA based graphics cards - OVERCLOCKING! After increasing the GeForce2 GTS core and memory speeds, based on my experience with the Annihilator Pro, I managed to get the reference card running at a core speed of 225MHz and memory speed of 370MHz. The default speeds are 200MHz/333MHz.
Did overclocking make a difference? You bet your britches it did! How about a 10% increase in Quake 3 performance at 1024x768 in 32-bit color - from 78.4 to 87.1 frames per second!
Quake 3 - High Quality Settings - Overclocking
Percent Increase in Frames Per Second
Next up is the popular first person shooter Soldier of Fortune. Based on a modified Quake 2 engine and retrofitted with Raven's Ghoul rendering system, Soldier of Fortune on the GeForce2 GTS begins to differentiate itself from the GeForce 256 DDR at resolutions of 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. I will say that playing at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color provides extremely smooth gameplay on my, uhh..., our system.
Note: These benchmark results are based on my own demo (96K) from level ARM1 with sound disabled (s_nosound "1") using the default graphics settings. The GeForce2 GTS was at its default clock speeds.
Soldier of Fortune - Default Settings
Percent Increase in Frames Per Second
Last up is the steroid enchanced transform and lighting Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens (DMZG) demo from the Whole Experience. I chose this benchmark to verify that the transform and lighting capabilities of the GeForce2 GTS were improved on compared to the GeForce 256. Once again, the higher the resolution, the better the performance.
Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens
Percent Increase in Frames Per Second
Next Page: FSAA and S3TC
