Page 2: Testing
<B>Testing</B>:
I'm not stressing this section (benchmarks) too much in this review. The card is simply not aimed for the type of market that warrants benchmarking. Regardless, I did test it on a couple of my favorite games. UT2K4 and Far Cry, I even threw in some 3D Mark 2K1. I tested this card against a close competitor...well, what SHOULD have been a close competitor...the 9500 Pro. If we go by the marketing hype alone, the 9550 should beat it, correct?
Test setup:
Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Pro2 (Latest Intel INFs)
512MB Corsair PC3700
Intel 2.4 GHz C
120GB Maxtor HDD
Cat 4.7
Win2k SP4 with all hotfixes
UT2K4:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200</td><td>67.67
44.11
44.11</td><td>93.66
75.17
74.87</td></tr></table>
Far Cry:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200</td><td>19.53
13.13
13.27</td><td>30.01
21.65
21.97</td></tr></table>
3D Mark 2K1:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768</td><td>7612</td><td>10989</td></tr></table>
As shown by these few scores, benchmarking is not what this card was designed for. In other testing, 2D quality was simply amazing, pretty much every ATI card I've owned has the best 2D video quality hands down. This card is no different. On both a Digital LCD and an Analog LCD, the image quality is great. I also stated before that the VIVO function of the card is good. Remember the card is designed to be an all around video card, not a fast gamer card. For the purpose of the card, it works great.
I'm not stressing this section (benchmarks) too much in this review. The card is simply not aimed for the type of market that warrants benchmarking. Regardless, I did test it on a couple of my favorite games. UT2K4 and Far Cry, I even threw in some 3D Mark 2K1. I tested this card against a close competitor...well, what SHOULD have been a close competitor...the 9500 Pro. If we go by the marketing hype alone, the 9550 should beat it, correct?
Test setup:
Gigabyte 8IPE1000 Pro2 (Latest Intel INFs)
512MB Corsair PC3700
Intel 2.4 GHz C
120GB Maxtor HDD
Cat 4.7
Win2k SP4 with all hotfixes
UT2K4:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200</td><td>67.67
44.11
44.11</td><td>93.66
75.17
74.87</td></tr></table>
Far Cry:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200</td><td>19.53
13.13
13.27</td><td>30.01
21.65
21.97</td></tr></table>
3D Mark 2K1:
<table width="100%"><tr><td>Resolution</td><td>HIS 9550 VIVO</td><td>Radeon 9500 Pro</td></tr>
<tr><td>1024x768</td><td>7612</td><td>10989</td></tr></table>
As shown by these few scores, benchmarking is not what this card was designed for. In other testing, 2D quality was simply amazing, pretty much every ATI card I've owned has the best 2D video quality hands down. This card is no different. On both a Digital LCD and an Analog LCD, the image quality is great. I also stated before that the VIVO function of the card is good. Remember the card is designed to be an all around video card, not a fast gamer card. For the purpose of the card, it works great.