ASUS W90Vp: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870... with CrossFire
by Jarred Walton on May 29, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Test Setup
We've removed many of the previously tested notebooks, in particular many of the lower end notebooks that aren't designed to compete with a high-end gaming system. We did keep a few midrange systems and some of the charts as a reference point, but even then we have to caution that driver updates may have changed performance. You want to focus more on the Clevo D901C results if you're interested in seeing a comparable notebook.
| ASUS W90Vp-A1 Test System | |
| Processor | Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2.00GHz 1066FSB 2x3MB L2) Overclocking to 2.29GHz (1221FSB) |
| Memory | 3x2048MB Transcend PC2-6400 @ DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 (Hyundai Electronics HYMP125S64CP8-S6) |
| Graphics | 2 x ATI Mobility Radeon 4870 (CrossFire) 512MB GPU/RAM Clocks: 550/1700 MHz (256-bit), 350/400 MHz Low Power Driver version 8.055.1.2 Beta ATI Drivers 8.612 |
| Display | 18.4" Glossy Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) Samsung 184HT01-A01 |
| Hard Drive | 2 x Seagate Momentus 7200.3 320GB 7200RPM 16MB (ST9320421AS) |
| Optical Drive | 8x SATA DVDR/BDROM (Optiarc BC-5500S) |
| Battery | 12-Cell 97.7Whr |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit |
| Price | Starting at ~$2500 online |
As mentioned earlier, we received a beta driver from ATI that affected the results in numerous titles. We will include results from both drivers so that you can see what you're missing if you have to wait for new drivers. Even if ASUS/ATI updates the drivers on their website to offer this beta driver, that's only a short-term solution. What happens in six months when there are many more new titles launching? We shall see shortly that CrossFire support is still MIA in a few titles, and that will be the case with every new release between now and the next driver update.
Since we only have one competitive gaming laptop available for testing right now, we also wanted to look at how performance compares to a desktop 4870X2. There are a few noteworthy differences between the desktop and notebook systems, starting with the CPU. This is my own personal gaming machine, with an overclocked 3.30GHz Q6600 (yup, it's still chugging along nicely). The desktop HD 4870X2 runs at higher clock speeds than the Mobility Radeon HD 4870, and it comes with 2GB of RAM (1GB per GPU). Furthermore, the desktop parts utilize GDDR5, which is quad-pumped so the 900MHz memory results in an effective clock speed of 3600MHz. Here's a quick rundown of the desktop system specifications.
| Desktop Test System | |
| Processor | Core 2 Quad Q6600 Overclocked (3.30GHz 1468FSB 2x4MB L2) |
| Memory | 2x2048MB OCZ PC2-6400 @ DDR2-734 4-4-4-12 |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon 4870X2 2GB GPU/RAM Clocks: 750/3600 MHz (256-bit) 9.5 Catalyst Drivers |
| Hard Drive | Samsung F1 750GB 7200RPM 32MB |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit |
Having a faster CPU means that there's less potential for a CPU bottleneck, so CPU limited benchmarks will be up to 43% faster than the overclocked W90Vp. Some benchmarks will also be limited by GPU memory bandwidth, where the HD 4870X2 is potentially 112% faster than the Mobility 4870 -- please note that very few titles are actually memory bandwidth constrained. Finally, the clock speed of the desktop card is 36% higher than the mobile part. In short, whether we are CPU or GPU limited, we expect the desktop system to be up to 40% faster than the W90Vp, unless there's some other problem (i.e. drivers). In order to help remove the CPU bottleneck as much as possible, we will focus on performance at 1080p and maximum quality settings for comparing the two systems.
Notebook configurations for the other laptops are at the following pages:
Acer 6920G
Alienware m15x
ASUS G50V
ASUS U6V
AVADirect FL-92
Clevo D901C (Note: upgraded to 2x2GB DDR2-667)
Dell Studio XPS 16
Gateway P-7808u FX
Gateway P-7811 FX
HP dv5t
MSI GT627
Toshiba X305-Q725
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
25 Comments
View All Comments
tynopik - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
the charts are a COMPLETE DISASTERthe first few, I'm still not sure what they're trying to say
the FRAPS charts are better, but:
1: thousandth's of a frame per second? talk about unnecessary precision
2. NO CONSISTENCY. different tests were run for each game, it's bizarre
we have:
- W90Vp OCed / W90Vp 1080p OCed / W90Vp (new drivers? who knows?)
- OCed New Driver / OCed Init Driver / Initial Driver
- OCed New w/o CCC / OCed New Driver / OCed Init Driver / Initial Driver
3. The HD (1920x1080) benchmarks suddenly switch over to 1680x1050 with Mass Effect
- even though you have 2 charts for 1680x1050 results (one on the 1080p page and one on Standard gaming page), the results don't match (for instance on the 1080p page it says the Q6600 had 51.674 fps in Mass Effect while on the standard page it says 53.375)
I can tell it took a lot of time to run all these benchmarks on all these different platforms, but you have to FINISH!
JarredWalton - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
The 1080p Mass Effect listed as 1680x1050 is merely a typo. I'll correct the labeling of the initial charts - I didn't subtract the 100%, but it makes for an easier chart since there aren't negative values. The earlier poster is correct that it's a ratio, so 100% means equal performance.JarredWalton - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
FWIW, I initially "finished" at 5:30AM. I have now edited the graphs, added a bit more commentary, and inserted a page analyzing the overclocking results of the W90Vp. Enjoy!strikeback03 - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link
One more - last page first paragraph under the photo, I'm guessing you said "ear splitting" but Dragon has 'your spreading" there for the description of the volume levels.Jackattak - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
LOL poor Jarred... ;) Get some rest, mate!Thanks for the article. Was nice to see benches on a system like this. Why anyone would lug around a 17er I have no clue, though. I think the 15.4" form factor is the perfect balance of size/weight/performance.
I just wish more manufacturers offered higher-end GPUs or at least gave more options for end user installable discrete GPUs (would love to slap a 8800M GT 512 in my XPS1530).
The0ne - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
I have a loaded vostro 17" with wuxga and it's very nice. However, lugging it around with me on oversea business trips can become tiresome. This thing is almost 12lbs O.o I can't imagine having this at all even if I wanted the specs.Most people don't realize those extra small lbs will drag you down sooner than you ever can realize :)
The0ne - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Oh, and this comming from a guy that's actually in shape and built lolGolgatha - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
"ATI's Mobile Driver Program -- or Lack Thereof"Seriously, if they want to sell a multi-thousand dollar laptop, they better have drivers available the same day as the desktop GPUs. I can't imagine anyone buying a gaming laptop with anything but nVidia GPUs inside it.
BTW, I have 4870 1GB cards in Crossfire on my desktop, so this isn't a post to just bash ATI. However, they do need to get with their industry partners and correct this issue fast.
Zoomer - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link
Don't know what the fuss is about, I recall installing up to date ATi drivers on my 9600 mobility and possibly even the Rage 3D (can't really that well, unfortunately).*Requires mobility modder or inf editing.
JarredWalton - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - link
The ATI Catalyst drivers on their website "install" without apparent issue, but they don't actually update the drivers - just the CCC. In the past, ATI may have provided drivers that would work with all of their chipsets, but that's not the case with modern GPUs as far as I can tell. Certainly, it's a problem with HD 4870 CrossFire.