Part 2: 2D, Acceleration, And Windows: Aren't All Graphics Cards Equal?

[sabot00]

ATI 4670, E4500.
BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 24777 chars/sec
Line: 30457 lines/sec
Polygon: 12288 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 1693 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 11939 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 3352 operations/sec
Stretching: 418 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 20868 splines/sec
Score: 1206

 

[Guest]

Is this why Win7 gives my single 4770 a 7.4 and 7.4 rating, yet my dual 5770's get 6.0 and 6.0 ratings? Way to go ATI!

 

[Bolbi]

Mobility Radeon HD 4200 IGP, w/128 MB DDR2 sideport RAM and 256 MB DDR2 shared system RAM, using Win7 64-bit w/Aero enabled and the leaked 8.700 drivers with Catalyst 10.2 RC2. 1280x1024 screen resolution (though I think the benchmark is windowed such that it doesn't matter), 32-bit color depth, 75 Hz. Results:

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 23742 chars/sec
Line: 25849 lines/sec
Polygon: 2716 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 2442 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 6036 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 3947 operations/sec
Stretching: 283 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 16650 splines/sec
Score: 885

 

[Bolbi]

Now for my desktop. Radeon HD 4200 IGP, w/512 MB DDR3 shared system RAM, using Win7 64-bit w/Aero enabled and the leaked 8.700 drivers with Catalyst 10.2 RC2. 1680x1050 screen resolution (though I think the benchmark is windowed such that it doesn't matter), 32-bit color depth, 60 Hz. Results:

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 26483 chars/sec
Line: 23285 lines/sec
Polygon: 3449 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 1665 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 6296 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 5096 operations/sec
Stretching: 428 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 17756 splines/sec
Score: 941

 

[barneybadass]

Hmmmm.... my dad is running Windows 7 pro 64 using a 5870 w/1Gb memory and CS4 sees it just fine....

 

[Guest]

So, who makes the best 2D graphics card these days? Matrox? They used to be king of the mountain way back when.

 

[Firehead2k]

Windows 7 Pro x64
Radeon 4870 512MB Catalyst 9.12 / Screen res: 1280x1024 + 1920x1200 @60Hz
Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 @2.4Ghz

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 26055 chars/sec
Line: 30048 lines/sec
Polygon: 2761 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 4482 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 6908 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 5545 operations/sec
Stretching: 719 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 23392 splines/sec
Score: 1133

 

[waffle911]

From the page on Rectangles:

It’s also noteworthy that all of our graphics cards, regardless of vendor, slow down drastically in buffered mode.

True for MOST, with one very striking exception.
If you went through and isolated the results for each specific card and compared buffered/non-buffered, you would find that the 7050 (610i) in both Aero and Basic resulted in identical scores of 2.8k rectangles per second. What's happening here, I wonder?

 

[waffle911]

Just noticed something else after that last post.

From the page on Stretching:

Whereas the Radeon HD 5870 running XP for buffered output makes it to the middle of the pack, the GeForce GTX 285 is a total disappointment when it comes to blitting in that same operating system.

In XP? Both are at the bottom of the charts, neither makes it anywhere close to the middle of the pack. The Radeon makes it to the middle of the pack in Aero, and is among the best in Basic.

You need to learn how to read your own charts!

 

[Obie327]

Zotac Ion, single core atom processor(2ghz). 4 gigs ddr2 Windows xp 32bit.
direct draw 2010, D/B buffering 799

 

[Obie327]

Zotac ion, single core atom n230 overclocked 2 ghz, Windows XP 32bit. 9300 or 9400 Nvidia grafix. 4 gigs of ram. Direct draw was 2010, D/B buffering was 799

 

[mooka]

we are still waiting for that crappy fix of grey lines, god damn it

 

[Guest]

"... such as the well-known phobia for Windows XP shown by 780G and 785G on-board graphics chips."

Oh! I was just about to buy a Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H mobo, and intend to stick with XP Pro (which suits me fine). I would of course be relying primarily on a discrete graphics card (?ATI 5770), if the onboard 4200 won't work with XP, I might rethink.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Guest]

IBM Thinkpad x60 (1,8Ghz, 3GB) Win7 with Aero on external screen

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 10417 chars/sec
Line: 11716 lines/sec
Polygon: 3489 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 474 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 3661 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 1276 operations/sec
Stretching: 164 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 7362 splines/sec
Score: 428

 

[Guest]

Aero turned off on my Laptop ist MUCH slower!

IBM Thinkpad x60 (1,8Ghz, 3GB) Win7 WITHOUT Aero on external screen

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 10428 chars/sec
Line: 6427 lines/sec
Polygon: 1695 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 483 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 2319 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 1218 operations/sec
Stretching: 172 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 3273 splines/sec
Score: 309

 

[tehwootzu]

win7 x64, amd 5600+ G2, His 4670 512/128, asus m2n-e, catalyst 10.1

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 41667 chars/sec
Line: 18999 lines/sec
Polygon: 3409 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 5752 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 7670 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 6645 operations/sec
Stretching: 286 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 17461 splines/sec
Score: 1239

 

[tehwootzu]

win7 x64, amd 5600+ G2, His 4670 512/128, asus m2n-e, catalyst 10.1

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 41667 chars/sec
Line: 18999 lines/sec
Polygon: 3409 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 5752 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 7670 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 6645 operations/sec
Stretching: 286 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 17461 splines/sec
Score: 1239

 

[helle040]

Ok, new scores,i disabled IES (Energy saver) and video settings all on default:
1280x1024, 32 bit: 1397
1280x1024, 16 bit: 1003
1024x768 , 32 bit: 1402
1024x768 , 16 bit: 1000

winxppro, Radeon 4670 512mb, Amd 7750be(2.7mhz), 2024mb memory

 

[kleinmeister]

AMD Opteron 165 dual-core @ 2.4 GHz
2 GB DDR RAM @ 442 MHz
ATI Radeon X1600XT w/256 MB using Catalyst 8.56.1.15 (WDDM)
Win 7 w/Aero

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 24237 chars/sec
Line: 34286 lines/sec
Polygon: 9079 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 1201 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 9330 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 2462 operations/sec
Stretching: 374 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 19512 splines/sec
Score: 1081

BENCHMARK: DIB-BUFFER AND BLIT

Text: 19747 chars/sec
Line: 51617 lines/sec
Polygon: 7710 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 746 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 10666 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 3134 operations/sec
Stretching: 397 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 24155 splines/sec
Score: 1163

 

[duanes1967]

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 9004 chars/sec
Line: 8151 lines/sec
Polygon: 1899 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 225 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 2573 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 703 operations/sec
Stretching: 135 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 6498 splines/sec
Score: 412

AMD 2400+ (Thoroughbred)
2GB Ram
Nvidia FX5200 (Using Generic Win7 Driver)
Win 7

 

[Guest]

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 35236 chars/sec
Line: 36284 lines/sec
Polygon: 11146 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 2874 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 8709 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 6116 operations/sec
Stretching: 396 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 25947 splines/sec
Score: 1394

Core i3 530
4GB Ram
Windows 7 x64
Aero
Intel i3 HD GMA

 

[bit_user]

Points, lines, bezier curves, arcs (and circles, a subset of arc), ellipses, unfilled polys/rectangles ... all those aren't easily/efficiently implemented with the core 3D primitive: filled polygons. Perhaps some of it can be efficiently implemented with shaders, but that's uncharted territory for me

WHAT? Most of those were hardware accelerated on PC graphics cards since before the PCI bus even existed! At a low level, what is computing the edges of a polygon but rasterizing a line? Try cracking a text book on computer graphics from the 80's or 90's and you'll probably find a couple chapters on raster graphics and acceleration techniques using simple hardware building blocks.

 

[snemarch]

bit_user: I meant on today's hardware, which focuses on 3D. If the card doesn't explicitly provide accelerated bezier/arc etc., those aren't easily implemented using filled polygons. Yes, lines and triangle edge-scanning are obviously similar, but if the card doesn't expose a DrawLine primitive, how does the similarity help you?

Another thing to consider is that drawing individual primitives leads to pretty darn bad performance, you need to batch your commands. GDI isn't super well suited for this - it might be possible to batch operations happening between BeginPaint/EndPaint calls, but GDI doesn't require you to use those.

 

[antlee]

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 11721 chars/sec
Line: 36928 lines/sec
Polygon: 18732 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 14545 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 2548 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 31056 operations/sec
Stretching: 209 operations/sec
Splines/Bezier: 19693 splines/sec
Score: 1576

AMD x2 3800+, 4G DDR2, WinXP, 9600GSO-96sp(Driver: 195.62)

 

[tsk_cable]

OS: WINDOWS XP CPU: CORE 2 DUO E7400 GPU: NVIDIA GEFORCE 8500 GT

BENCHMARK: DIRECT DRAWING TO VISIBLE DEVICE

Text: 122850 chars/sec
Line: 54545 lines/sec
Polygon: 6713 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 5517 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 1598 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 13503 operations/sec
Stretching: 333 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 6124 splines/sec
Score: 2319


BENCHMARK: DIB-BUFFER AND BLIT

Text: 38580 chars/sec
Line: 78658 lines/sec
Polygon: 12674 polygons/sec
Rectangle: 1475 rects/sec
Arc/Ellipse: 16667 ellipses/sec
Blitting: 1854 operations/sec
Stretching: 256 operations/sec
Splines/Bézier: 30048 splines/sec
Score: 1773