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Mash-up graphics

Posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 16:02 by Brett Haggard and filed under Reviews.

Aside from CPU performance and the volume of RAM your box has at its disposal, graphics grunt is the largest contributor to a computer’s proficiency in the gaming world.

With AMD/ATI making quite a bit of noise about its superior integrated graphics solutions and more importantly, claiming that its embedded graphics chipsets can be bound together with a low-cost discrete graphics card to provide ‘gaming’ capable graphics performance, we smelt a rat.

So we thought we’d take a closer look and while we were at it, put its discrete solutions through their paces – more to get an indication of where what solution sits (and what you can expect to pay) in the greater scheme of things.
But before we get into the benchmarking, let’s look at a little background shall we?

Integrated, discrete and somewhere in-between
We all know that integrated graphics generally means sub-standard graphics performance and the inability to upgrade, unless you’re comfortable with switching the embedded graphics in your box off completely and going with a much more powerful (and expensive) discrete card.

One of the most valuable things to come out of the recent union of ATI and AMD however changes all that – or rather, promises to substantially change that once it matures.

That something is ‘hybrid-crossfire’ – for all intents and purposes, the bastard-child that results from leaving an embedded and discrete graphics solution in a single box overnight with a case of beer.

As the name suggests, ‘hybrid crossfire’ gives users the ability to bind an embedded graphics solution and a discrete graphics solution together and create a more powerful overall solution than what the discrete would be able to offer on its own.

The performance gain isn’t substantial – but when it comes to games, every little bit counts. Just like the ‘crossfire’ technology the companies designed so that four midrange graphics cards could be bound together to create on really big and powerful one, ‘hybrid-crossfire’ doesn’t deliver a world where 1+1=2.

If crossfiring two of the same discrete boards together, delivers a world where 1+1=1.5; it’s safe to assume that the result from a ‘hybrid crossfire’ setup will be 1+1=1.25 (if that much).

But like I said, every little ounce of graphics performance counts – it’s the difference between fragging someone or having them frag you.

The candidates
As a basis for the testing, we chose AMD’s RS780G platform (an ASUS M3A-H/HDMI), since it supports both the fastest quad-core processors AMD currently produces and its processors from a couple of years ago. It’s also got a ton of ports, slots and connectivity options, has an HDMI, DVI and VGA interface built in – and uses an embedded Radeon 3200.

Update: Since the writing of this, the 780TG has been replaced with the RS790G, which now uses an embedded Radeon 3300.

While the 780G and its 3200 might seem like a relatively underpowered mix – we wanted to see how well the embedded graphics (albeit mediocre) contributed to the system’s overall 3D performance when used in addition to a discrete card.

So, when we threw the couple of discrete cards into the mix, we tested discrete graphics alone, versus discrete graphics and the Radeon 3200 in ‘hybrid-crossfire’. The results were interesting to say the least.

We configured the system with 2GB of DDR2 and a Dual-Core Opteron running at 2500MHz – from a software perspective, Vista 32-bit and the latest build of Futuremark’s 3DMark Vantage was used.

Bare bones results
We wouldn’t call the results we got from the 3200 on its own anything close to ‘gaming-worthy’. For starters, 3DMark Vantage point-blank refused to run on anything but the ‘entry’ setting. Then it didn’t perform all that well.

Out of three passes, we got an average result of 1279 graphics score from the 3200; and a score of E1528 3DMarks for the overall system.

The 3450 discrete card which we tested next, didn’t do much better. Out of three passes, it yielded an average graphics result of 1677; and an overall system score of E1938 3DMarks.

When we dusted off the Radeon 3650 however, things looked a little more reasonable. Out of three passes, it yielded an average graphics result of 4862; and an overall system score of E4494 3DMarks.

Hybrid-crossfire
After these scores, we went back and bound the embedded 3200 to the 3450 using hybrid-crossfire – that’s a process as simple as ticking a check box in the driver.

While the results weren’t mind-blowing, they were better than what the 3450 yeilded on its own.

Out of three passes, the combo gave us an average graphics result of 2269; and an overall system score of E2497 3DMarks.

Performance gains
With the 3200 chipset as our baseline, we saw the 3450 on its own, delivering a score that was between 26% and 32% better, depending on the individual test run. The combined 3200 and 3450 ‘hybrid-crossfire’ team gave us a score that was anywhere between 28% and 35% better than the 3450 on its own.

In real terms, that’s nothing amazing. But, at risk of laboring the point, every little bit counts.

And let’s face it – it is a little amount. The 3650 delivered anywhere between 80% and 115% more grunt than the ‘hybrid-crossfire’ combination of the 3200 and 3450.

Price/Performance
Here’s where the clincher comes in – if the cost benefit of using two entry-level chipsets hybrid-crossfired together isn’t substantial, it’s quite simply not worth it.

And right now, it’s not worth it.

Considering that at least R200 of the roughly R1200 you’ll be likely to pay for an RS780G board can be attributed to the integrated 3200 chip; and that a 3450 will set you back about R500 – R700 is what it will cost you for a graphics result of 2269.

Compare that to the roughly R850 you’ll spend on a 3650 card and the fact that the extra R150 you spend buys you a graphics result of 4862 – 114% more grunt, your decision should be a no-brainer.

That extra R150 also buys you a card capable of E4494 3D Marks versus the E2497 3D Marks delivered by the hybrid-crossfire combo – 80% more grunt.

Bottom line
You might be wondering why we didn’t try the 3650 out in hybrid with the 3200 – and the answer is simple. It’s not supported.

In AMD’s own words, the benefit is negligible. So that explains why you might want to go for a stronger, discrete solution if you’re remotely serious about gaming.

While we wouldn’t recommend that anyone remotely serious about gaming chooses a hybrid-crossfire solution, it does allow users to grow their graphics performance as needs (and budget) dictate.
The bottom line? If you have the extra cash to spend, go discrete. If you don’t but want to build towards it, hybrid-crossfire is a cool option.

We’re less intrigued by the actual performance than what we are by the concept and where it’s going – with AMD already delivering this in mobile platforms and as an added bonus, giving users the ability to switch the discrete graphics off when it’s not needed, thereby save battery power, this crossfire/hybrid-crossfire concepts have good legs and good potential to change things.

We’ll keep a close eye.

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