ATI RADEON X800 Versus FireGL V7100 For FS2004

[CHANGE USERNAME TO westes]

I'm looking at my next workstation upgrade, and I'm thinking of going for a
board that uses the new PCI Express I/O interface, which gives twice the
throughput for I/O cards as AGP 8x. The ATI FireGL V7100 card supports
PCI Express. For use with a game like Microsoft FS2004, is there any
reason to prefer the ATI RADEON X800 running on the AGP 8x video bus over
ATI FireGL V7100?

Two other things I really like about V7100: 1) I can attach two digital
monitors (on RADEON, the second monitor requires an analog to digital
conversion, lowering picture quality some), and 2) the data sheet for V7100
implies you can use a dual link feature to get 3840x2400 resolution. That
implies quad monitor support doesn't it? For FS2004 that would be a
*huge* win since you could position monitors for surround view in the
cockpit of any airplane.

 

[Ben Pope]

I'm looking at my next workstation upgrade, and I'm thinking of going for
a board that uses the new PCI Express I/O interface, which gives twice the
throughput for I/O cards as AGP 8x.

Cards aren't really limited by 8x AGP though...

The ATI FireGL V7100 card supports
PCI Express. For use with a game like Microsoft FS2004, is there any
reason to prefer the ATI RADEON X800 running on the AGP 8x video bus over
ATI FireGL V7100?

The X800 is a gaming card. The FireGL is a workstation card. On the 9800
Pro vs the equivalent FireGL (same hardware) the 9800 Pro would win hands
down on the workstation card as the firmware was geared that way. I suspect
it's a similar story for the new ones. I don't know if the FireGL V7100 is
the same core as the X800.

Two other things I really like about V7100: 1) I can attach two digital
monitors (on RADEON, the second monitor requires an analog to digital
conversion, lowering picture quality some),

Some? Is that noticeable?

and 2) the data sheet for
V7100 implies you can use a dual link feature to get 3840x2400
resolution. That implies quad monitor support doesn't it? For FS2004
that would be a *huge* win since you could position monitors for surround
view in the cockpit of any airplane.

Not sure there... Not really into Flight Sims or the FireGL Card. Will be
interesting to find out the outcome, but I think you might be disappointed.

Ben

 

[CHANGE USERNAME TO westes]

The X800 is a gaming card. The FireGL is a workstation card. On the 9800
Pro vs the equivalent FireGL (same hardware) the 9800 Pro would win hands
down on the workstation card as the firmware was geared that way. I suspect
it's a similar story for the new ones. I don't know if the FireGL V7100 is
the same core as the X800.

The specs for FireGL V7100 claim:

Memory Bandwidth: 28.8 GB/sec
Geometry Engines: 6
Pixel Pipelines: 16
Memory: 256 MB
Memory Interface: 256-bit

I don't use 3D features, so I won't publish those specs.

What are the equivalent numbers for X800? I couldn't find them.

 

[Ben Pope]

I don't use 3D features, so I won't publish those specs.

Well thats confused me.

I thought you wanted to play FS2004, and that FS2004 was a 3D game.

Ben

 

[CHANGE USERNAME TO westes]

FS2004 has a virtual cockpit feature, but it doesn't require you to enable
true 3D mode on the video card. It's a 3D perspective imposed on a 2D
video card.

 

[Ben Pope]

FS2004 has a virtual cockpit feature, but it doesn't require you to enable
true 3D mode on the video card. It's a 3D perspective imposed on a 2D
video card.

Thats interesting.

I would think that you may have a workable 4 screens in FS2004 then, as long
as the game is capable.

Ben

 

[John Ward]

Hi GHANGE USERNANE TO westes,

I would think the drivers would be a very important issue, too, but I
have no idea how often/well the FireGL drivers would be updated....

As I understand things, driver maturity will be one of the important
factors that drives the PCI Express implementation.

Regards,
John Ward