SPECviewperf 10 – Multisample Testing
SPECviewperf 10

SPECviewperf tests FSAA performance by running its standard test suite several times, setting the FSAA feature of the graphics card being tested to all possible FSAA sample values. If a graphics card supports up to 16 samples – supporting 16, 8, 4, and 2 samples – the test would run five times, running tests for 16, 8, 4, 2, and no samples.

The test is run with no FSAA enabled so that a baseline test result can be produced. The goal of the test is to determine what performance penalty, if any, enabling FSAA with a given sample rate incurs. During the individual tests, screen shots are captured. This allows the tester to review the effects that FSAA is having on the rendered image. It is important to note that as FSAA is altering the image, there is no way to automatically validate pixel accuracy of the images rendered. It is up to the tester to evaluate the individual image captures to determine if the FSAA-produced images for a given sample size are visually pleasing to the user. As mentioned earlier, a subjective evaluation is necessary as individual preference for the FSAA results plays a part with respect to the aesthetic quality of the images produced.

If the FSAA test produces a score that is within 10 percent of the non-FSAA score, under SPECviewperf 10 rules that score will be considered valid for the specific sample rate. If a SPECviewperf test score for a particular test is 20.0, for example, and the same test score with FSAA enabled with a sample of 8 produces 19.5, the official results will be listed as 20.0 with FSAA up to a sample of 8 enabled. Sample rates may affect individual tests differently with respect to performance, so each test will include the best FSAA sample rate score within the 10-percent threshold. If no sample rate falls within the 10-percent threshold, the test score will indicate that no FSAA sample rate achieved the performance threshold for this test.


AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 52

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 53

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 54

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 55

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 56

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 57

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 58

AMD FirePro V8800 Review - Evergreen and Cypress Go Pro - Graphics Cards 59

Probably just as important as the base results in our SPECviewperf 10 testing, we can evaluate here how the four professional level graphics cards scale with increased anti-aliasing on the various test scenarios.  The AMD FirePro cards supported up to 8xAA in our testing while the NVIDIA Quadro cards went all the way up to 32xAA – already a plus for NVIDIA right off the bat.

In our UGNX, TCVIS, Maya and Ensight tests the performance of both cards scaled as expected with additional MSAA steppings and the AMD cards continued to really put the Quadro offering to shame in them.  There are a couple of interesting cases for AMD with the new V8800 though: look at the 8xMSAA results on 3D Studio Max for example – while the Quadro performance drops noticeable from the 4xMSAA results AMD’s FirePro V8800 remains pretty constant.  The same is seen in the Catia results though in this case we see the AMD offering close NVIDIA’s lead at the lower settings once we reach 8xMSAA.  Proe and SW mimic this as well.

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