VALVe releases Half-Life 2 benchmarks

[Axyon]

In an unexpected presentation yesterday, VALVe's founder, Gabe Newell, released several charts showing what to expect from Half-Life 2 with various nVidia and ATi graphics cards. The Tech Report has created a 3-page article about the presentation, and goes into detail about what was said and shown.

From briefly looking over the charts, you can see that the ATi Radeon line of cards came off superior in the tests, with the nVidia FX range trailing somewhat dissapointingly:

NVIDIA's NV3x-derived chips are way off the pace set by the ATI DirectX 9-class cards. The low-end GeForce FX 5200 Ultra and mid-range GeForce FX 5600 Ultra are wholly unplayable. The high-end GeForce FX 5900 Ultra ekes out just over 30 fps, well behind ATI's mid-range Radeon 9600 Pro (and yes, that score is from a 9600 Pro, not a stock 9600—the slide was mis-labeled). The Radeon 9800 Pro is twice the speed of the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.

It's a very interesting read, especially if you're considering buying a graphics card for the sole purpose of Half-Life 2.

 

[Frank]

I'm gonna play it before I consider buying a new graphics card

 

[Droogie]

Originally posted by Frank
I'm gonna play it before I consider buying a new graphics card

Exactly.. Its better to "feel" the fps than just see the number

 

[Matrix]

i agree but that still pisses me off, i have a geforce 4 ti4200128 mb, if i play the game and it runs like shit im going to want to break something, i just bought some new ram , what now i gotta go out and buy a 600$ ati card?

 

[Droogie]

Originally posted by Matrix
i agree but that still pisses me off, i have a geforce 4 ti4200128 mb, if i play the game and it runs like shit im going to want to break something, i just bought some new ram , what now i gotta go out and buy a 600$ ati card?

i know exactly how u feel.. i mean if u built a computer system, ur mission is to build a computer that can make half life 2.. thats like the goal.. and then u fail.. lots of money have been wasted.. "Mission Failed, Time go go mad:flame: "

 

[Matrix]

yea ! like **** , i have a 128 mb geforce 4 and then there is the ati 128 mb, my geforce is hardly playable yet the ati is amazing?

NVIDIA YOU BETTER GET YOUR ****ING ASSES STARTED ON A NEW DRIVER TO COMPETE WITH ATI OR IM GOING TO BE PISSED. I WORK AT A MINIMUM WAGE JOB IT TAKES ME LIKE 3 MONTHS TO RAISE 600$+

Ill be pissed if i have to go out and buy a brand new card when mine is soppost to be just under top preformance.

 

[Droogie]

Originally posted by Matrix
yea ! like **** , i have a 128 mb geforce 4 and then there is the ati 128 mb, my geforce is hardly playable yet the ati is amazing?

NVIDIA YOU BETTER GET YOUR ****ING ASSES STARTED ON A NEW DRIVER TO COMPETE WITH ATI OR IM GOING TO BE PISSED. I WORK AT A MINIMUM WAGE JOB IT TAKES ME LIKE 3 MONTHS TO RAISE 600$+

Ill be pissed if i have to go out and buy a brand new card when mine is soppost to be just under top preformance.

well atleast u have a job.. i dont have any because im too young, imagen how long it will take for me..

 

[Matrix]

true its just lately the past year , upgrading is going nuts, like too expensive you know?

 

[X.a.n.d.e.r]

i aint got a damn job, i dont know if i can get a job to pay for half-life

 

[Mjolnir]

I just bought a FX 5600 cause i have always used Nvidia cards.......
Big, Big mistake.......
I will see how it plays HL2, but it looks like I'll have to get a Radeon.
Then fine another idiot to buy my FX lemon.

 

[festivalman]

well, nvidia fired back a response and I felt that it warranted a graphic...

http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/000732.html

 

[Mountain Man]

Before anybody gets too hot and bothered about all this, let's look at things with a little perspective:

1) Valve obviously has a very tightly knit partnership with ATI and has been heavily promoting the card manufacturer from day one.

2) Valve's first public unveiling of Half-Life 2 was at the E3 ATI booth.

3) Valve comes out blasting ATI's largest competitor at a press conference sponsored by ATI.

Interesting, no?

 

[festivalman]

I've been saying that Valve's been in bed with ATI for a good while now, and Apos (the moderator here) and I had a heated debate that didn't really resolve anything. Obviously there will never be a way to get inside their heads to know what really went on, but if what Nvidia says is true, that Valve purposely used many month old drivers to do rankings, that's officially cheezy. I'm not saying ATI still isn't the better board and maybe Nvidia's new drivers wouldn't have helped anyway, but that's not right to not be fair about it.

 

[alco]

Originally posted by Matrix
i agree but that still pisses me off, i have a geforce 4 ti4200128 mb, if i play the game and it runs like shit im going to want to break something, i just bought some new ram , what now i gotta go out and buy a 600$ ati card?

The game will run great. Just don't use any DX9 effects. I hope you weren't planning on using them before the benchmards...

 

[festivalman]

yeah, but after seeing that new direct x 9 video that came out tonight, that's going to be really hard to disable all that.

 

[alco]

Originally posted by Mountain Man
Before anybody gets too hot and bothered about all this, let's look at things with a little perspective:

1) Valve obviously has a very tightly knit partnership with ATI and has been heavily promoting the card manufacturer from day one.

2) Valve's first public unveiling of Half-Life 2 was at the E3 ATI booth.

3) Valve comes out blasting ATI's largest competitor at a press conference sponsored by ATI.

Interesting, no?

Valve also said that they didn't optimize it for ATI, unlike what all the 'forum geniuses' will tell you. They spent lots of time, however, optimizing it for the Nvidia cards. Hell, even John Carmack said that NVidia's PS2.0 is shit, and he's certainly not 'in bed' with ATI.

 

[Fat_Bob]

Well i dont belive that either John Carmack or Gabe newell is "in bed" with ATI.. I think whats going down here is the speaking of handling the game and its pixles... I mean, If i say Smothvision 2.1, smartshading 2.1 and HyperZ III.. I problably hope you know what i mean.. But i even think that the post of Gabe newell that says ATI will be Twice that speed than the 5900Ultra is isn't very correct... Either way.. I got my ATI radeon 9800 PRO yesterday =)

 

[kilword]

YEA

After seeing that new DX9 video im glad i got my 9800 pro

 

[JohnnyBeverage]

I have a GeForce 4 Ti4600, it looks like it'll be ok for me. It'll have to be I have a choice to make, new card or mortgage. The mortgage is lucky this time, i'll pay it.

 

[Mountain Man]

The Ti4200/4600 are a DX8 cards. They'll run just fine.

 

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by alco
Valve also said that they didn't optimize it for ATI, unlike what all the 'forum geniuses' will tell you. They spent lots of time, however, optimizing it for the Nvidia cards. Hell, even John Carmack said that NVidia's PS2.0 is shit, and he's certainly not 'in bed' with ATI.

Be that as it may, I still find it very interesting that Gabe is willing to play bulldog for ATi and viciously attack ATi's biggest competitor. While Valve may not have done any special software optimizations for ATi hardware, no doubt they're getting some nice kick-backs for this latest media stunt.

 

[ag3nt187]

Be that as it may, I still find it very interesting that Gabe is willing to play bulldog for ATi and viciously attack ATi's biggest competitor.

the reason he's attacking nvidia is because valve had to use alot of their time optimizing the NV30x drivers just to get them to run playable. while in the meantime, they didnt have to do anything for the ATI cards, which both cards are touted as being built around dx9.

if they didnt have to spend so much time optimizing the driver ( which they had to because so many of their customers have Nvidia ) they could have gotten HL2 out on its proposed date. *crosses fingers*

not to mention that the new 50.x series driver that Nvidia is coming out with supposedly does not render fog correctly in HL2, which is another gesture toward them cheating to get playable frame rates. which, if i was a dev, would piss me off as well.

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by ag3nt187
the reason he's attacking nvidia is because valve had to use alot of their time optimizing the NV30x drivers just to get them to run playable. while in the meantime, they didnt have to do anything for the ATI cards, which both cards are touted as being built around dx9.

if they didnt have to spend so much time optimizing the driver ( which they had to because so many of their customers have Nvidia ) they could have gotten HL2 out on its proposed date. *crosses fingers*

not to mention that the new 50.x series driver that Nvidia is coming out with supposedly does not render fog correctly in HL2, which is another gesture toward them cheating to get playable frame rates. which, if i was a dev, would piss me off as well.

50 series does alot more than that. Or maybe alot less
Check out the thread in the hardware forum on the 51.75 drivers... Its a disaster for Nvidia to say the least. The loss in IQ is huge, for a measly few fps. This should be below them, but obviously it isnt.
This is a big reason Valve didnt want to use those drivers I would think. Its the same thing they did with the 3DMark "optimisation" = Cut quality across the board to increase speed.

 

[Dougy]

well looks like im ditching my FX 5200 £60 for a brand new Radeon 9600 pro £100

(i get stuff at Trade prices cos im a computer engineer)

wootage ive got £150 on me right now

:cheers:

 

[Cyber$nake]

I wander hop even older graphics cards will do.... I have a Gforce 4 ti 4200. Is there any chance that it might not even work????

 

[festivalman]

The card will go flying out of your computer with a huge explosion.

 

[Droogie]

Originally posted by Cyber$nake
I wander hop even older graphics cards will do.... I have a Gforce 4 ti 4200. Is there any chance that it might not even work????

Yes it will work.. You will have around 60FPS with lower details. So it will work but you wont have thoose nice effects