Test Setup and Methods
We've concentrated on video decoding performance and HD 2600 XT's gaming performance versus some competition, squeezing as much testing as we could in to the couple of days we've had with the hardware. The test system is a little out of the ordinary in places for the hardware being tested, but it's the willing host for our ongoing R600 and G80 high-performance testing under Vista x64 that we have at the moment, so it did duty for us here as well.
Hardware
- Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 2.93GHz
- NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI
- 8GiB DDR2-800 (4 x 2GiB)
- Dell 3007 30" LCD (2560x1600)
- Seagate 500GB 7200.10 SATA2
- Microsoft Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive
- ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT
- ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
- ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT
- GeForce 8600 GTS
- GeForce 8800 GTX
So 8GiB of memory and a Core 2 Extreme, but it'll still let us try and make the video point with the boards, and it'll certainly do its best to take any CPU limitation out of the equation. Overclocked Core 2s at 3GHz aren't uncommon, anyway, in the land of potential HD 2600 XT users. All the graphics boards were run at reference frequencies for the stated SKUs.
Software
- Vista Business x64
- Vista Business x86
- Forceware 158.24 WHQL
- ATI sample_vista_8.38.9.1-rc2_48912 non-WHQL ('performance' driver)
- PowerDVD Ultra b2911 R6
- Babel on HD-DVD, H.264 AVC encoding
- Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire on HD-DVD, VC-1 encoding
- Supreme Commander
- Company of Heroes
Notes
Note that the first published revision of this article contained video decoding results that were the result of driver and software problems, mostly under Vista x64. After some investigation by Beyond3D and AMD we got to the bottom of what was causing the issue and we ended up retesting under Vista x86 for all products. We took the opportunity to drop the emulated 8600 GT from the pack, but added in a VC-1 movie to the mix, to pair with Babel, a title which uses H.264 AVC.
Game and theoretical testing was done under Vista x64 in all cases.
