PCSTATS     
[X]   Directory of
Guides & Reviews

Beginners Guides
Motherboards by Brand
Weekly Newsletter
Archived Newsletters

MSI Titanium Videocard Lineup Review
MSI Titanium Videocard Lineup Review - PCSTATS
In this GeForce Titanium lineup review, we're going to look at three new models from MSI.
 94% Rating:   
Filed under: Video Cards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: MSI Jan 07 2002   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Video Cards > MSI Titanium

Game Benchmarks: DroneZ, RTCW

DroneZ Source: Zetha Gamez

The game DroneZ was developed to leverage features unique to the GeForce3 nfiniteFX engine and is primarily an OpenGL benchmark. In this rolling demo 423 unique vertex shaders can be are used to create inspiring graphics from a host of gameplay scenes and provide a realtime test of the DroneZ engine and graphics. All of the test cards were run at GeForce2 normal mode. Sure everything looked bland, but it works!

Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

DroneZ (1024x768) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 165.7
2. GeForce3 191.2
3. Radeon 8500 189.2
4. GeForce2 Ti 167.4
5. GeForce3 Ti200 188.7
6. GeForce3 Ti500 195.6
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 175.4
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 194.3
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 212.3

DroneZ is one of the newer games out on the market, and one that has been built to take advantage of the nFiniteFX engine. It works as a pretty good benchmark at how future games will run on current cards. I would have liked to have done the benchmarks at higher resolutions but my 19" monitor decided to die on me.

The GeForce 3 based cards and the Radeon 8500 are all fairly evenly matched, with not much variance between them. Overclocking yeilds very good gains on the MSI Ti500 model, but the GeForce 2 Ti200 still falls short of the basic GeForce 3 marks when overclocked.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Source: ID Software

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a relatively new game benchmark. However, RTCW takes up where Quake III left off and continues to form the basis of the first person shooter system stressing that QIII has become a halmark for. Based upon the Quake III engine, RTCS is obviously going to be quite taxing on even a top end system.

Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

RTCW (640x480 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 62.5
2. GeForce3 62.9
3. Radeon 8500 60.7
4. GeForce2 Ti 62.1
5. GeForce3 Ti200 59.7
6. GeForce3 Ti500 62.8
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 63.8
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 61.8
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 63.5

RTCW (640x480 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 171.2
2. GeForce3 172.5
3. Radeon 8500 163.3
4. GeForce2 Ti 170.5
5. GeForce3 Ti200 168.9
6. GeForce3 Ti500 173.8
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 173.5
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 171.6
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 175.9

It's so obvious here by the extremely close results that we're CPU limited. Each of the videocards are within a few percent of one another. Let's try turning up the resolution and see what happens to these results.

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 57.6
2. GeForce3 59.8
3. Radeon 8500 58.7
4. GeForce2 Ti 57.6
5. GeForce3 Ti200 57.9
6. GeForce3 Ti500 60.3
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 59.8
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 60.7
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 62.0

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 138.4
2. GeForce3 165.8
3. Radeon 8500 161.2
4. GeForce2 Ti 140.7
5. GeForce3 Ti200 147.9
6. GeForce3 Ti500 169.2
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 142.6
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 153.5
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 176.9

Well there are a few differences starting to show between the various cards. Between the results on the atDemo6 is not that much variation at all, but on the atDemo8 we can see the rifts beginning to form that separate the good cards from the average. The MSI Titanium cards are good over the standard versions, but the one to really watch is the MSI Ti500. Compared to the Radeon 8500, the Ti500 comes out on top, at default speeds and even more so when overclocked.

RTCW (1600x1200 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 32.1
2. GeForce3 45.7
3. Radeon 8500 45.1
4. GeForce2 Ti 32.1
5. GeForce3 Ti200 42.8
6. GeForce3 Ti500 47.5
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 33.8
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 46.0
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 51.3

RTCW (1600x1200 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Video Card (FPS) Ranking
1. GeForce2 Pro 62.7
2. GeForce3 95.6
3. Radeon 8500 87.9
4. GeForce2 Ti 63.1
5. GeForce3 Ti200 85.1
6. GeForce3 Ti500 100.2
Overclocking Benchmark Results
4a. GeForce2 Ti (285/485) 66.7
5a. GeForce3 Ti200 (195/530) 96.2
6a. GeForce3 Ti500 (270/610) 107.6


Now we're beginning to seem some differences in the reference cards. The GeForce 2 Pro and MSI GeForce 2 Ti are pretty evenly matched as the resolution shoots up to 1600x1200 pixels - attesting to the limitations of that GPU, even at higher Titanium speeds. As the resolution goes higher more stress is placed on the GPU and the more "efficient" cards start to take a larger lead. Both GeForce2 based cards are left in the dust.

The MSI Ti500 can break 100 fps in atdemo8 at a resolution of 1600x1200, while the very capable Radeon 8500 is able to reach just 87.9fps. The MSI Starforce 822, the pure GeForce 3 card in this set of reference video cards is quite powerful, and performs at near GF3Ti500 frame rates - damn, that's mighty impressive!

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: MSI Titanium
 Pg 1.  MSI Titanium Videocard Lineup Review
 Pg 2.  The Mac Daddy of them all...
 Pg 3.  Test System Specs, Benchmarks
 Pg 4.  — Game Benchmarks: DroneZ, RTCW
 Pg 5.  Anti-Aliasing with RTCW
 Pg 6.  Final Words on MSI's Titanium Lineup

 
Hardware Sections 


 
PCSTATS Network Features Information About Us Contact
FrostyTech
PCSTATS Newsletter
Tech Glossary
Technology WebSite Listings
News Archives
(Review RSS Feed)
Site Map
PCstats Wallpaper
About Us
Privacy Policy
Advertise on PCSTATS

How's Our Driving?
© Copyright 1999-2023 www.pcstats.com All rights reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use.