| 256MB XGI Volari V8 AGP Card - Page 4 of 8 |
Test Setup:
The XGI Volari V8 was tested on the same system used in the V3XT review so that the results could be compared. In addition to the two XGI Volari cards, a 128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600 and a 256MB BFG Technologies GeForce FX 5500 OC were used as a point of reference to common cards that may perform similarly to the XGI Volari V8.
Other hardware and software specifications of the test system...
• Intel Celeron D 2.66 GHz processor
• FoxConn 865M01-G-6LS mATX motherboard
• 512MB (2x256) GeiL PC3200 DDR memory (dual channel)
• 40GB Maxtor ATA-133 hard drive
• ATI HDTV Wonder tuner / capture card
• 17" TFT LCD monitor and 27" television
• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2
• DirectX 9.0c
The drivers used for testing included the following:
• XGI Volari V8 and V3XT - Reactor Driver 1.08.01
• 128 MB Sapphire Radeon 9600 - ATI Catalyst Driver 4.12
• 256 MB BFG Tech GeForce FX 5500 OC - nVidia ForceWare 66.93
Installation and Operation:
The installation and basic operation of the XGI Volari V8 were simple enough. The physical installation of the card, and the subsequent installation of the software were a straight forward affair, with no surprises.
The first thing I noticed upon powering up the system with the V8 installed was a new level of noise. The cooling fan mounted to the v8 is a bit louder than I am used to a graphics card, and may be something owners should consider addressing. If this was to be installed in a standard desktop case, the noise may not be noticed at all, but since it was placed in a fairly silent system for testing, it stood out a bit.
Since I have never seen after market coolers designed specifically for XGI cards (maybe in time we will), I decided to try a few of my coolers from ATI and nVidia cards to see if there was any coincidental compatibility. The two mounting pins on the XGI cards are set much farther apart than on either the FX 5500 OC or Radeon 9600, so stock coolers from either ATI or nVidia seem out of the picture. I also tried a few ATI Silencers I had laying around, and just as with the stock ATI coolers, these were no good on the V8. The one cooler that did fit the V8 was the graphics chip cooler from the Asetek water cooling kit reviewed here. Many water cooling kits have a slotted design like the Asetek, so water cooling could always be an after market solution to cooling these, if nothing else works!
Multimedia and HDTV:
The multimedia features of the V8 are a strong selling point. Just like the V3XT, the V8 supports HDTV output and hardware based MPEG-2 decoding makes it appealing to home theater personal applications, and perhaps to those with light gaming requirements (the benchmarks will tell us more on that).
The XGI Volari V8 supports 480i/480p/1080i/720p output, making it the perfect compliment to the ATI HDTV Wonder mentioned in the list of components found in the test system. The combination of these two cards and an HDTV ready television are all that is needed to start enjoying HDTV without any extra tuners, cable bills, or other hassles.
The TV output connection is capable of composite, s-video, and component RGB output signals. The TV output on the V8 was very impressive, and identical to that of the V3XT, which shouldn't be a surprise since they share the same technology. Where most cards include a cable that allow just s-video or composite output, XGI sets you up for high quality video output by including the RGB component cable. Although I do not have the capabilities to use this connector, I am aware that it will provide the best image quality, and will make HDTV look incredible. The output over s-video and composite were good enough for me, and actually better than most other cards I have used (including the Radeon 9600 which had been in my HTPC), so I'm eager to put the component video output to the test one day.
Overclocking:
As mentioned in the software section, the overclocking can be handled from the "3D Setting" tab. Give the maximum memory speed allowed is 226 MHz (25 MHz over default), and the maximum core clock speed is 325 MHz (25 MHz over default), there really isn't that much extra allowed for serious overclocking. Something like Power Strip may be necessary for higher overclocking, and as a solution to the software's inability to retain overclocking settings after a reboot.
Despite the software limitations, the card was able to run at the maximum speeds with absolutely no problems. This translates to a 12.4% increase in memory speed and an 8.3% increase in core clock speed. Not overly exciting, but not bad, and the potential for more seems to be readily available!
Benchmarking:
The four cards listed in the "Test Setup" section were run through the series of gaming and multimedia benchmarks listed below to show how they compare to each other, as well as to generally accepted performance expectations. In addition to results being recorded for the four cards at default speed, a complete set of benchmarks was recorded with the XGI Volari V8 overclocked to the maximum speeds allowed in the Reactor Drivers. These scores are also detailed with the percent increase in performance over default speed indicated in grey colored text on the individual graphs.
• UT2K3 Demo Benchmark (Bot Match)
• UT2K3 Demo Benchmark (Fly By)
• Aquamark3 (GFX Score)
• 3DMark05
• 3DMark03
• 3DMark 2001SE
• D3D RightMark (Point Sprite, Medium)
• D3D RightMark (Pixel Shading, Psychodelic)
• D3D RightMark (Geometry Processing, Ambient)
• PowerDVD VGA Speed (YUY2, Normal)
• PowerDVD VGA Speed (UYVY, Normal)
All tests were run in their standard modes, with 1024x768 (32 bit) resolution and no anti-aliasing.
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