Conclusions

This is going to be as controversial as it gets.

It has been one of those events that we would have wished to have shown more.   The clock ticked hard and fast against us as there is a huge demand to see this excellent new graphics card from ATI.  There is so much it has to offer.   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 have returned substantial amounts of indisputable results for the AMD’s FireGL V8650 which is exceptional for an Ultra High Level professional card.  

Not withstanding and to take a momentary comment on the 2 additional new products that have been covered within todays review.

1. Intel’s new DX38BT Mainboard and the QX9650 Quad Extreme CPU.   This combination has taken very thing that we have thrown at it over these last few weeks.  It has proven to be resoundingly stable.   This feature rich mainboard will have many an end user happy for a very long time to come with all the excellent peripherals it has onboard.  Over the coming months we will be putting to use this mainboard & CPU in many different tests which will show the tremendous flexibility of the combination.   We had heard a few rumours that the supplied HSF was none to stable.  Contrary to those reports and taking into consideration the high-end peripherals within the box the supplied Heatsink fan worked flawlessly.   This was especially evident whilst during the high level renders which in turn produce significant amounts of heat from the graphic cards.    The results shown on the stand alone page for the mainboard has shown it has plenty of scope in many areas with performance to match!   A point worthy of note with this mainboard is the Hard Drive Tach results and the lack of CPU Utilisation from the test.  Normally and under most conditions this test shows at least a 6 - 8% CPU usage.   It really does highlight the potential the board has to offer.

2. Akasa’s new PowerMax 1000W PSU, this has been the significant driving force behind all ensuring a fluent but stable supply of energy to the mainboard, and most importantly the graphic’s card.   As noted this card requires both 6 pin and 8 pin connectors and draws some 225 Watts of power to keep it going.  Though the supply never faltered once throughout the period of tests.  Testaments to the superb engineering of Akasa’s build of the PSU.  At a later date we will cover the PSU in a separate review soon.

To complete all of the tests on the system does take considerable amounts of 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.   Taking these facts this into account, it therefore takes a full 2 days to completely set up each system and run the benchmarks correctly for each card.    What may seem like a few simple scores actually takes a full 4 working days to complete properly. We do rerun the test several times after to ensure that the first out results contain no anomalies.   This did see us having to completely roll back the current Nvidia Quadro Driver of 162.65 back to 162.62 as the 162.65 driver would not complete the FSAA test at all.  

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 from this review are taken 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.

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 are now extremely pleased at the aggressive approach in the market share recovery 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!    Furthermore, with each cards power running both at optimal levels of 1600 X 1200 gives you an even better idea on just how they both perform at these resolutions.   Many viewers out there now sit comfortably with these resolutions (and higher) therefore we felt it imperative to show the results to give unbiased views for you all.  

To reiterate; for those who skipped out a few pages a brief summary.  Red & Higher figures indicate faster in all instances.

Availability of the cards!   The NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 has been to open market for some time now and readily available.   The AMD FireGL V8650 will be shipping from distributors into the UK and EU early January 2008.  Current MRSP (Ex Taxes and VAT) of each card is:

AMD FireGL V8650 – £1350.00 UK Pounds, $2600 US Dollars, €1780 Euros
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 – £1899.00 UK Pounds, $3720 US Dollars, €2520 Euros

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 £1350 UK Pounds or $2600 US Dollars,   the irrefutable results shown here today verbalize volumes.    You have to be completely crazy to miss out on an opportunity of this magnitude.  Remember too, the Quadro FX 4600 costs same price as the FireGL V8650 and take note; the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 has only a 1/3 of onboard DDR3 memory and nearly ½ the memory bandwidth of the FireGL V8650.   It does not take a mathematician or rocket scientist to formulate out the answer………………………………………..

Arguments could be given what of support?   We now know that AMD have a some 175 + team dedicated to the FireGL cards and are delivering out on time hot fixes and vastly improved updated drivers all the time.   This now should put paid to any unfounded rumours which the scuttle butt may have started.  

To ever so briefly deviate, and to give an idea on the whole systems performance overall. We can stipulate within 3DS Max 9 SP2 we have seen CBALLS2 Video Post rendered out in 2 minutes and 2 seconds with Radiosity only taking a meagre 12 minutes and 39 seconds to complete.   A few months back we were all completely aghast at the 30 minute barrier being broken.  How long before we see the 10 minute barrier being smashed in Radiosity?  Time will tell very soon.

On a further important note which you the reader must take fully into consideration.   The FireGL V8650 shown here today is an early shipping sample.   What we can state from information passed directly to us is that the shipping cards will have an additional 10% increase in both Memory and GPU performance, which in turn will mean faster scores and increased productivity.   The final shipping driver of 8.44.1 WHQL will be available very soon from the AMD/ATI workstation website.   Like the given additional information to the core clock speeds we should see faster improvements upon the actual results.
 
The gauntlet which was thrown down from AMD’s FireGL Team to NVIDIA has been picked up they are still well behind!   Major film studios, high-end architects, Gas & Oil Community, Medical & Ultra High-end Imaging Studios/ Life Sciences / Acquisition Modalities all alike have the raw power now from just the 1 card to achieve more than their wildest dreams - without spending an absolute fortune on something else.   These specialist cards are not the standard cash cows for both AMD and NVIDIA and rely upon the major specialist organisations to pick up on these articles like these very quickly.    Once more, with the results shown they have to seriously consider what has been displayed today.

The points gained within SPEC and independent reviews can mean either considerable gains or loses at these mission critical levels.  Many, many important eyes watch results of this magnitude and for what is to come next.

In the past NVIDIA just about always cleared the board here with the full remit of “Editors Choice” awards for their new Professional Graphic Cards.   Now in just a short space of 3 months the AMD FireGL Team have successfully and completely dominated the whole remit.   How the times have changed!    It’s very difficult to believe this could ever happen, seeing the roles being completely reversed especially at these levels.     Now all 4 levels now remain firmly within AMD’s FireGL grasp.

Finally, that every so precious diamond studded golden crown in the professional graphic card arena that was powerfully in the grasp of NVIDIA’s claw now has been ripped away.   The AMD FireGL Team firmly hold the status of being the Dominate Force in all arenas.

www.3dprofessor.org award for the AMD’s FireGL V8650 Ultra High End
Professional Workstation Card

5 out of 5 - Editors Choice

www.3dprofessor.org award for Intel’s new DX38BT Mainboard

5 out of 5 – Editors Recommendation

www.3dprofessor.org award for Akasa’s PowerMax 1000 Watt PSU

5 out of 5 – Editors Choice for the Power User

1.     Introduction
2.     FireGL V8650 Pictures
3.     Intel® Desktop Board DX38BT Extreme Series ATX Mainboard
4.     Intel® Desktop Board DX38BT Extreme Series ATX Mainboard - Pictures
5.     System Set-up and Software Used
6.     Intel® Desktop Board DX38BT Extreme Series Mainboard - BENCHMARKS
7.     SPECviewperf® 10.0  RunAll Tests - 1280 X 1024
8.     SPECviewperf® 10.0  RunAll Tests -  1600 X 1200
9.     SPECviewperf® 10.0  FSAA RunAll Tests - 1280 X 1024
10.   SPECviewperf® 10.0  FSAA RunAll Tests - 1600 X 1200
11.   SPECviewperf® 10.0  THREADS RunAll Tests - 1280 X 1024
12.   SPECviewperf® 10.0  THREADS RunAll Tests - 1600 X 1200
12a. Conclusions