Conclusions

Sadly we would have liked to have shown you more today, though but time really was completely against us and we only had a short few days to complete all from fresh.    What is conclusive; is that the base line tests from SPECviewperf® 10.0 and Cinebench 10 have returned substantial amounts of indisputable results for the FireGL V7600 which are exceptional for a High End Card at a Mid Range Card price point.  

To complete all of the tests on the systems has taken some considerable time to accomplish. As a point of note and this is not for the faint hearted; it can take at least a full 3 – 4 hours to properly complete a complete “run all tests” of SPECviewperf® 10.0 depending on the system and professional graphic’s card under test.   However, it does feed back to the end users considerable amounts of information for digestion especially within the Composites and Multisampling Results.   The results that have been shown on this review are from the benchmarks first run in accordance with the SPECviewperf® fair play rules.  Not the average of 3 or so runs as some places seem to think is right.

Last week we showed what the FireGL V5600 really could do and with those of you out there that have done the sums; and have saw really good uptakes in performance.   Many, many heads will be scratching now as to decide which way to proceed.   This one is…. as we have yet to see the cream of the crop the V8600 and V8650 cards.   Though we will not disappoint at these will be shown to you all very soon indeed! 

The driver supplied is an updated version of the 8.391.2.1.1 driver which now encompasses the FireGL V7600.    We can state and have been assured it will be the shipping driver for the FireGL V7600.   This will quash any rumours out before they get chance to make it out of the starting block.

The V7600 does require an additional 8 pin power connector to supply the graphics card though it can safely run from a system that only has a minimum of a 450 Watt PSU; again a huge benefit to those wishing to upgrade their graphic cards and not have to worry about additional costs of a new power supply.   The FireGL cooler fitted was quiet and acoustics were not an issue at all whilst underload throughout the tests.   During the more strenuous tests within SPECviewperf® 10.0 normally this is a point were one would here some serious noise kicking into play from either the system fans or the GPU cooler.   Not so as we stated earlier - nice and quiet.  With continuing support for both Direct X 10 and OpenGL 2.1 will mean no reduction upon the CPU performance which is evident from the Cinebench Scores returned.

The technology uptake that AMD’s FireGL has brought to the fore most certainly is the most comprehensive release of new professional graphic cards.   As a rule cards of this nature from either camp are staggered out over a strategic set period.   Not so in this instance and we must applaud AMD’s FireGL team for getting all right first time around.   It is a magnificent achievement to bring so much out enhanced high quality technology in one swift move.    Analysts and investors alike must be extremely pleased at such an aggressive approach to recover market share with these exceptional products.

Shown previously are the most interesting points of the new SPECviewperf® 10.0 benchmark and adding in the Excel charts gives you the reader that much better idea on how closely matched these 2 products really are!    It may take extensive amounts of time to complete, though the wait for the true professional is well worth it as we have now seen on the last 2 outings of SPECviewperf® 10.0  in its fullest.

The performance of the FireGL V7600 has been remarkably astonishing to say the least.   It does put it up squarely with the high end products from the competition and yet, we have to see more with the 2 other new cards waiting patiently in the wings.   What surprises are they going to bring with them…..

To reiterate; for those in doubt, head over to the SPEC Website and have a look at the current published results.   The facts speak for themselves.  The current advantage seen of the Quadro FX 4600 over the FireGL V7600 is the chance to enable FSAA settings all the way up to X32 in certain settings of applications and the added extra bandwidth.   But take into account this NVIDIA Quadro is listed currently as an Ultra High End Professional graphic’s card!

Taking into consideration its price performance point we have to seriously think about this card when buying a new
system or upgrading.     At a MRSP price point of just £500 UK Pounds or $1000 US Dollars, it does not take a mathematician to formulate out the answer………………………………………..….the irrefutable results shown here today verbalize volumes.

Availability of the card.   For those eagerly awaiting the arrival of the AMD FireGL V7600, our sources have confirmed that the Card will be in distribution in October.    This will once more to put to rest any gossiping nasty rumours.

The gauntlet which was thrown down last week from AMD’s FireGL Team to NVIDIA, and the gauntlet still sits firmly were it was left!   We as a result have to observe this in two ways.   Either NVIDIA have nothing to comment or combat the products now shown, or, they have got a complete new range of products and are sitting waiting patiently for the full remit from AMD to be shown and collectively scrutinise the results before launching a counter attack with a whole new range of professional cards.    Either way, this is an extremely rare occurrence were we have observed such silence.

In the past NVIDIA just about cleared the board here with the full remit of “Editors Choice” awards for their new Professional Graphic Cards.   Now the FireGL Team are starting to dominate the board.   How times have changed, and it’s very difficult to believe this could happen seeing the roles being completely reversed.  

Ultimately, that elite golden crown in the professional graphic card arena which was powerfully in the grasp of NVIDIA’s claw now is constantly slipping from its clutch, level by level.

To reiterate from our last review of the FireGL V5600:-    Next please gentlemen………and please take note of the Fair Play Rules and Gentlemanly conduct.

www.3dprofessor.org award for the AMD’s FireGL V7600 High End RANGE
Professional Workstation Card

Page 1 - Introduction
Page 2 - Introduction Continued
Page 3 - System Set-Up and Software Used
Page 4 - Cinebench 10
Page 5 - SPECviewperf® 10.0 Part I
Page 6 - SPECviewperf® 10.0 Part II
Page 7 - Conclusions