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Ken S

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
51
0
There had been some threads about performance differences between the 1600XT 128 Mb VRAM vs. 256 Mb on the iMac.

Would something like OpenMark1.6 be able to measure any difference?

Out of curiosity, I ran it on my 20" iMac CD with 2G RAM, 128 Mb Vram (just some data points since the output is quite long):

hardware detected:
cpu family: 0x69353836
cpu type: 0x69353836
opengl vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
opengl renderer: ATI Radeon X1600 OpenGL Engine
opengl version: 1.5 ATI-1.4.26
test parms:
surface 1680x1050 32bpp
textures: on
lighting: on
keep in sync: off
test started
FPS 788.0 0 triangles
FPS 80.0 1107072 triangles
FPS 35.0 2765952 triangles
FPS 20.0 5018112 triangles
FPS 9.0 10839168 triangles
final score: 11063


What are others getting with either 128Mb or 256Mb?
 

Ken S

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
51
0
Anyone?

Is OpenMark1.6 a good measure of graphics performance?
 

truz

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2006
619
1
Florida
iMac Intel 20", 2.0GHz, 2GB Ram, 256mb vram

hardware detected:
cpu family: 0x69353836
cpu type: 0x69353836
opengl vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
opengl renderer: ATI Radeon X1600 OpenGL Engine
opengl version: 1.5 ATI-1.4.26
test parms:
surface 1680x1050 32bpp
textures: on
lighting: on
keep in sync: off
test started
FPS 787.0 0 triangles
FPS 689.0 1152 triangles
FPS 657.0 4608 triangles
FPS 621.0 10368 triangles
FPS 586.0 18432 triangles
FPS 550.0 28800 triangles
FPS 507.0 41472 triangles
FPS 468.0 56448 triangles
FPS 430.0 73728 triangles
FPS 399.0 93312 triangles
FPS 366.0 115200 triangles
FPS 338.0 139392 triangles
FPS 310.0 165888 triangles
FPS 287.0 194688 triangles
FPS 264.0 225792 triangles
FPS 246.0 259200 triangles
FPS 226.0 294912 triangles
FPS 208.0 332928 triangles
FPS 193.0 373248 triangles
FPS 180.0 415872 triangles
FPS 167.0 460800 triangles
FPS 155.0 508032 triangles
FPS 145.0 557568 triangles
FPS 135.0 609408 triangles
FPS 125.0 663552 triangles
FPS 117.0 720000 triangles
FPS 110.0 778752 triangles
FPS 102.0 839808 triangles
FPS 96.0 903168 triangles
FPS 91.0 968832 triangles
FPS 85.0 1036800 triangles
FPS 80.0 1107072 triangles
FPS 76.0 1179648 triangles
FPS 72.0 1254528 triangles
FPS 68.0 1331712 triangles
FPS 65.0 1411200 triangles
FPS 61.0 1492992 triangles
FPS 59.0 1577088 triangles
FPS 56.0 1663488 triangles
FPS 53.0 1752192 triangles
FPS 51.0 1843200 triangles
FPS 48.0 1936512 triangles
FPS 46.0 2032128 triangles
FPS 44.0 2130048 triangles
FPS 42.0 2230272 triangles
FPS 41.0 2332800 triangles
FPS 39.0 2437632 triangles
FPS 37.0 2544768 triangles
FPS 36.0 2654208 triangles
FPS 35.0 2765952 triangles
FPS 33.0 2880000 triangles
FPS 32.0 2996352 triangles
FPS 31.0 3115008 triangles
FPS 30.0 3235968 triangles
FPS 29.0 3359232 triangles
FPS 28.0 3484800 triangles
FPS 27.0 3612672 triangles
FPS 26.0 3742848 triangles
FPS 25.0 3875328 triangles
FPS 24.0 4010112 triangles
FPS 24.0 4147200 triangles
FPS 23.0 4286592 triangles
FPS 22.0 4428288 triangles
FPS 22.0 4572288 triangles
FPS 21.0 4718592 triangles
FPS 20.0 4867200 triangles
FPS 20.0 5018112 triangles
FPS 19.0 5171328 triangles
FPS 19.0 5326848 triangles
FPS 18.0 5484672 triangles
FPS 18.0 5644800 triangles
FPS 17.0 5807232 triangles
FPS 17.0 5971968 triangles
FPS 16.0 6139008 triangles
FPS 16.0 6308352 triangles
FPS 15.0 6480000 triangles
FPS 15.0 6653952 triangles
FPS 15.0 6830208 triangles
FPS 14.0 7008768 triangles
FPS 14.0 7189632 triangles
FPS 14.0 7372800 triangles
FPS 13.0 7558272 triangles
FPS 13.0 7746048 triangles
FPS 13.0 7936128 triangles
FPS 12.0 8128512 triangles
FPS 12.0 8323200 triangles
FPS 12.0 8520192 triangles
FPS 12.0 8719488 triangles
FPS 11.0 8921088 triangles
FPS 11.0 9124992 triangles
FPS 11.0 9331200 triangles
FPS 11.0 9539712 triangles
FPS 11.0 9750528 triangles
FPS 10.0 9963648 triangles
FPS 10.0 10179072 triangles
FPS 10.0 10396800 triangles
FPS 10.0 10616832 triangles
FPS 10.0 10839168 triangles
FPS 9.0 11063808 triangles
final score: 11290
 

Nar1117

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2006
313
5
11063 for the 128 vs. 11290 for the 256

thats a 2% difference in numbers, with he same amount of RAM.

Now since i dont have a complete list for the 128 from Ken S, my calculation isnt perfect, and i dont know how the numbers weight against themselves, so.. yeah...

Obviously the 256 scored higher, but not by much.
 

truz

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2006
619
1
Florida
I was surfing the web lastnight (google) and I was searching for 128 vs 256 x1600 mac. I seen a few posts on other message boards saying the FPS was better as they went from 10fps to like 30fps from the 17" (1.8ghz, 128mb vram) to 20" (2.0ghz, 256mb vram) I'm sure there is a difference, but I don't see how is could be this big of a difference. I honestly don't see 0.2ghz and an extra 128mb vram helping that much. As long as you have 2GB of memory on your system I think all will run flawless. AGAIN... this was all talk I see on other message boards so nothing is 100%. the x1600 is still the x1600 regardless of 128mb vram or 256mb vram, all this is, is the games memory, if it needs more it will run off your systems memory so make sure you max it out to 2GB.
 

Ken S

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
51
0
Okay, here are the complete results from a 20" iMac CD 2.0Gb RAM, 128Mb VRAM:

hardware detected:
cpu family: 0x69353836
cpu type: 0x69353836
opengl vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
opengl renderer: ATI Radeon X1600 OpenGL Engine
opengl version: 1.5 ATI-1.4.26
test parms:
surface 1680x1050 32bpp
textures: on
lighting: on
keep in sync: off
test started
FPS 786.0 0 triangles
FPS 686.0 1152 triangles
FPS 651.0 4608 triangles
FPS 619.0 10368 triangles
FPS 584.0 18432 triangles
FPS 542.0 28800 triangles
FPS 502.0 41472 triangles
FPS 453.0 56448 triangles
FPS 434.0 73728 triangles
FPS 401.0 93312 triangles
FPS 367.0 115200 triangles
FPS 338.0 139392 triangles
FPS 312.0 165888 triangles
FPS 287.0 194688 triangles
FPS 265.0 225792 triangles
FPS 244.0 259200 triangles
FPS 225.0 294912 triangles
FPS 209.0 332928 triangles
FPS 194.0 373248 triangles
FPS 180.0 415872 triangles
FPS 167.0 460800 triangles
FPS 154.0 508032 triangles
FPS 143.0 557568 triangles
FPS 134.0 609408 triangles
FPS 125.0 663552 triangles
FPS 117.0 720000 triangles
FPS 109.0 778752 triangles
FPS 102.0 839808 triangles
FPS 96.0 903168 triangles
FPS 90.0 968832 triangles
FPS 85.0 1036800 triangles
FPS 80.0 1107072 triangles
FPS 76.0 1179648 triangles
FPS 72.0 1254528 triangles
FPS 68.0 1331712 triangles
FPS 65.0 1411200 triangles
FPS 61.0 1492992 triangles
FPS 58.0 1577088 triangles
FPS 56.0 1663488 triangles
FPS 53.0 1752192 triangles
FPS 51.0 1843200 triangles
FPS 48.0 1936512 triangles
FPS 46.0 2032128 triangles
FPS 44.0 2130048 triangles
FPS 42.0 2230272 triangles
FPS 41.0 2332800 triangles
FPS 39.0 2437632 triangles
FPS 37.0 2544768 triangles
FPS 36.0 2654208 triangles
FPS 35.0 2765952 triangles
FPS 33.0 2880000 triangles
FPS 32.0 2996352 triangles
FPS 31.0 3115008 triangles
FPS 30.0 3235968 triangles
FPS 29.0 3359232 triangles
FPS 28.0 3484800 triangles
FPS 27.0 3612672 triangles
FPS 26.0 3742848 triangles
FPS 25.0 3875328 triangles
FPS 24.0 4010112 triangles
FPS 24.0 4147200 triangles
FPS 23.0 4286592 triangles
FPS 22.0 4428288 triangles
FPS 21.0 4572288 triangles
FPS 21.0 4718592 triangles
FPS 20.0 4867200 triangles
FPS 20.0 5018112 triangles
FPS 19.0 5171328 triangles
FPS 19.0 5326848 triangles
FPS 18.0 5484672 triangles
FPS 18.0 5644800 triangles
FPS 17.0 5807232 triangles
FPS 17.0 5971968 triangles
FPS 16.0 6139008 triangles
FPS 16.0 6308352 triangles
FPS 15.0 6480000 triangles
FPS 15.0 6653952 triangles
FPS 15.0 6830208 triangles
FPS 14.0 7008768 triangles
FPS 14.0 7189632 triangles
FPS 14.0 7372800 triangles
FPS 13.0 7558272 triangles
FPS 13.0 7746048 triangles
FPS 13.0 7936128 triangles
FPS 12.0 8128512 triangles
FPS 12.0 8323200 triangles
FPS 12.0 8520192 triangles
FPS 12.0 8719488 triangles
FPS 11.0 8921088 triangles
FPS 11.0 9124992 triangles
FPS 11.0 9331200 triangles
FPS 11.0 9539712 triangles
FPS 10.0 9750528 triangles
FPS 10.0 9963648 triangles
FPS 10.0 10179072 triangles
FPS 10.0 10396800 triangles
FPS 10.0 10616832 triangles
FPS 9.0 10839168 triangles
final score: 11063
test stopped
 

dmw007

macrumors G4
May 26, 2005
10,635
0
Working for MI-6
Nar1117 said:
11063 for the 128 vs. 11290 for the 256

thats a 2% difference in numbers, with he same amount of RAM.

Now since i dont have a complete list for the 128 from Ken S, my calculation isnt perfect, and i dont know how the numbers weight against themselves, so.. yeah...

Obviously the 256 scored higher, but not by much.

Interesting results. Does not seem like the extra VRAM makes a huge difference ( at least not according to this benchmark utility). I wonder if other methods of benchmarking would show similar or different results.
 

Nar1117

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2006
313
5
This is interesting:

24 FPS is the limit that the average human eye can detect frames passing, anything above that, and its completley smooth.

Both the 128 and 256 mb Vcards could handle the same amount of triangles (according to this test) at 24 FPS. The lower or higher the number of traingles, the more the variance in FPS between the 256 and the 128.

The places where they intersect, if you will, are in the mid ranges, from about 20-50 FPS, eacdh card could handle approx. the same amount of triangles. I guess its better to say that the same number of triangles brought out the same number of FPS, since thats the way the test was conducted, but you get my point.
 

Nar1117

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2006
313
5
That first article is pretty good, it explains a lot.

In each frame of, say, Battlefield 2, during a huge firefight, theres going to be a lot of detail. Obviously, the more detail, the more the GPU has to process. We all know this.

If you have a higher frame rate, there is more detail on the screen per second. Ever seen Gladiator? The Patriot? These movies have some scenes where the director utilized a higher frame rate to show the dirt flying up from under Maximus' feet while fighting the barbarians, or to show the cannon fire behind mel Gibson. If these scenes were shot in the standard frame rate for movies (25-30), the dirt would be a blur, and the movement wouldnt be as 'smooth'.

Its the same with Video games. Mind you, BF2 running at 10-15 FPS is sucky, and a higher frame rate is better for flying.

But yes, i wonder which tests the 256 would really excell at, and the 128 wouldnt do as well... If there arent any, theres no point in getting the 256 unless you really want it, just to say you have it (i.e. me :D ).
 
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