NVIDIA 780a: Integrated Graphics and SLI in One
by Gary Key on May 6, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Integrated Graphics Performance & GeForce Boost
As expected, AMD's 780G manages to outperform NVIDIA's integrated graphics steadily across the board:
| AMD 780G | NVIDIA 780a/GeForce 8200 | % Performance Advantage (AMD) | |
| Half Life 2 Episode Two (10x7) | 43.1 | 30.2 | 42.7% |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator X (10x7) | 24.6 | 21.4 | 15.0% |
| Company of Heroes (10x7) | 29.4 | 19.4 | 51.5% |
| Unreal Tournament 3 (10x7) | 22.9 | 16.8 | 36.3% |
| Crysis (10x7 LowQ) | 20.3 | 16.9 | 20.1% |
Once again, although this comparison matters more for the nForce 730a and GeForce 8200 motherboards, NVIDIA's mGPU just doesn't compare to AMD's.
The performance advantage ranges from 15% to just over 50%, and the only surprising part here is that AMD doesn't do better given the theoretical advantage it holds over NVIDIA. As we mentioned before, it's doubtful that many will buy a nForce 780a board and use its integrated graphics to play games but the AMD performance advantage holds true for 750a and GeForce 8200 platforms as well. For a company that has been criticising Intel's integrated graphics performance as of late, we would expect nothing short of the best scores here.
If the mGPU performance of the nForce 780a (or any of the other new NVIDIA chipsets) isn't enough, you can simply toss in a low end discrete GPU (dGPU) and NVIDIA's latest drivers will enable GeForce Boost. GeForce Boost is nothing more than SLI but between a mGPU and dGPU. Given how slow the mGPU is, GeForce Boost will only actually improve performance with a low-end dGPU and thus NVIDIA only supports GeForce Boost with either a GeForce 8400GS or GeForce 8500 GT.
With GeForce Boost enabled, the display driver also comes up with a new name for the mGPU + dGPU combo. If you combine a nForce 780a with a GeForce 8400GS you get a GeForce 8500 and if you pair the 780a with an 8500 GT the driver will report the mix as a GeForce 8600.
| NVIDIA 780a + GeForce 8400 GS | Half Life 2 Episode Two | MS Flight Simulator X | Company of Heroes | Crysis | Unreal Tournament 3 |
| mGPU alone | 30.2 | 21.4 | 19.4 | 16.9 | 16.8 |
| dGPU alone | 41.2 | 39.6 | 38.7 | 20.3 | 21.4 |
| mGPU + dGPU (GeForce Boost) | 50.3 | 39.6 | 45.5 | 30.1 | 22.2 |
| % Increase due to GF Boost | 22.0% | 0.0% | 17.6% | 48.3% | 3.7% |
With a GeForce 8400 GS we actually see decent scaling from a dGPU to the GeForce Boost mode. The added performance is large percentage-wise but in raw numbers it's nothing huge. You're basically getting a smoother gaming experience with GeForce Boost enabled, at least in those games where bridgeless SLI is supported.
| NVIDIA 780a + GeForce 8500 GT | Half Life 2 Episode Two | MS Flight Simulator X | Company of Heroes | Crysis | Unreal Tournament 3 |
| mGPU alone | 30.2 | 21.4 | 19.4 | 16.9 | 16.8 |
| dGPU alone | 47.5 | 35.3 | 48.6 | 24.8 | 33.1 |
| mGPU + dGPU (GeForce Boost) | 47.7 | 37.8 | 49.3 | 26.3 | 27.3 |
| % Increase due to GF Boost | 0.0% | 7.0% | 1.4% | 6.0% | -17.5% |
GeForce Boost does next to nothing with an 8500 GT and in the case of Unreal Tournament 3, performance actually decreases. Of course it's a safe bet that future driver updates will improve scaling and performance from GeForce Boost.
AMD supports a similar technology with its 780G:
| AMD 780G + Radeon 3450 | Half Life 2 Episode Two | MS Flight Simulator X | Company of Heroes | Crysis | Unreal Tournament 3 |
| mGPU alone | 43.1 | 24.6 | 29.4 | 20.3 | 22.9 |
| dGPU alone | 51.6 | 30.2 | 36.8 | 23.3 | 28.5 |
| mGPU + dGPU (Hybrid CrossFire) | 61.4 | 37.3 | 54.3 | 31.4 | 32.7 |
| % Increase due to Hybrid CF | 19.0% | 23.5% | 47.6% | 34.8% | 14.7% |
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wjl - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - link
I tried a Wolfdale 2,6GHz (E8200) with Intel's G35, and it's an improvement already - tho for "serious" HTPC usage, I would probably wait for the G45, which should be out this summer.Sure, Intel chip sets are not flawless, like their drivers also. But Intel and AMD are moving into the right direction, and I wish this would be honoured more when comparison tests like the one here are performed.
The world isn't only Windows, and only gamers - wake up guys. Take the Phoronix test suite if you have to compare and show numbers. I think even this test suite is GPL'ed, so...
Anyway: the ATI/AMD 690G (RS690) will work now with 3D, using only open source drivers - and it's news like these which are really important for the rest of us - not which newest chip set has a few frames per second more or less, which is really ONLY interesting for first person shooters.
Natfly - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
How important is HT3 for the IGP? Is 1080P content watchable without it?
Also, is there an equivalent to AMD's sideport memory that may show up in some 780a/8200 boards?
derek85 - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
HT3 is most important when you watch interlaced contents (1080i) because of the extra HDHQV features require alot more bandwidth than normal 1080p. Theoratically 1080p should be watchable without HT3, but this largely depends on the K8 model you get.I'm not sure about sideport equivalence from NVIDIA, I haven't heard anything related to it and I highly doubt they will be able to come up with one, because that requires modification of their existing blocks which they probably won't bother to spend the time on. If you really want that, just get an AMD board ;)
Natfly - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
Well I was planning on getting a 4850e and have been recently trying to decide between the 780G and 8200. I'd like to get the best IGP performance and also have RAID5 w/out using any extra cards, but that seems impossible at this point. Maybe a manufacturer will pair up 780G with SB750 when it gets released.derek85 - Thursday, May 8, 2008 - link
If you want to max out 3D performance, HT3 is the way to go. HT1 can provide maximum 8GB of bandwidth, HT3 with 1800MHz can provide 14.4GB of bandwidth (2 channel DDR2-800 is 12.8GB). The actual improvement of this reflected in benchmarks such as 3DMarko6 is quite significant (>20%), but nonetheless it is still IGP, so whether you would like to invest more into it is totally up to you.Von Matrices - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
Is my PC at fault or does anyone else notice the horrible compression of the charts on page 6?JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
Fixed... Gary changed the chart sizes but didn't update the HTML (where a smaller width and height was hard-coded). Shame on him. I have had him flogged with a Cat-o-nine-SATA-cords.Mgz - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
in page 4 you have a little typo "we can't really be sure until NVIDI confirms the details"homerdog - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
I appreciate the effort by Nvidia to reduce idle power consumption, but I would much rather see a discrete GPU that doesn't draw so much power when idling in first place. ATI has been making significant strides in this department lately with PowerPlay, and EVERY motherboard/configuration benefits. Having two GPUs with redundant framebuffers is going around your elbow to get to your ******* if you ask me.ChrisRay - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - link
HomerDog. Not sure I entirely understand your problem with Hybrid Power. Its basically a technology that lets you shut of your discreet GPUS completely. No amount of power saving tech is going to have that measure of impact. ((Or system noise impact)).Your right that every motherboard benefits from power saving tech on discreet GPUs. But the difference in power saving by using a feature like Hybrid power is huge compared to any idle technology existing on GPUS. Browsing from my desktop with Hybrid Power enabled and Quad SLI 9800GX2. My AVG room temp went down 4-5C after 2 hours of web activity from having hybrid power enabled. Thats significant.
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