2D & TV-Out Quality
We all look at a monitor when we use our computers, and as such we also look at the quality of the 2D graphics when we do so. And no matter what we do on our computers we are still looking at a 2D image. So we need good quality 2D so that our eyes do not get sore as easily/quickly. So who provides the best quality 2D out of all the cards we tested. We will look at the following video cards: Matrox Parhelia; Matrox G400 32MB DualHead (reference card); MSI GeForce 4MX 440-VTD8X; MSI GeForce 4 Ti4600-8X; Hercules Radeon 8500LE 64MB; ATi AiW Radeon 9000 Pro. The Parhelia, the GF4MX and the GF4 Ti4600, are all tested with both connections using their clone mode. The monitor used a Dell P1100 21" monitor, was at a resolution of 1600*1200@85Hz, and we tested using both text and graphics. The following is an example of the image we used:
| |
G400 |
Parhelia (H1) |
Parhelia (H2) |
MSI GF4MX (H1) |
MSI GF4MX (H2) |
MSI GF4 (H1) |
MSI GF4 (H2) |
Radeon 8500LE |
AiW 9000 Pro |
| Black Text: |
5 |
7.5 |
7.5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
4.5 |
7 |
| White Text: |
5 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
3.5 |
7.5 |
| Bitmap Test: |
5 |
9 |
9 |
4.5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
| Overall Rating: |
5 |
8.25 |
8.25 |
5.25 |
5.5 |
3.75 |
3 |
4.25 |
7.25 |
The quality of the cards is quite different, with the AiW getting a second place behind the Matrox Parhelia. The quality of the text was purer and clearer than the G400 while the image test was a bit brighter and better saturated than the G400. The Radeon 8500LE however didn't fair as well, as the 2D quality was worse than the G400 specifically in the text area, where there was a noticeable hue around the white text on the black background. As we had mentioned in the previous review I was surprised at the 2D quality difference between the MSI MX 440 and the GF4 Ti4600-8X, especially on the white text on the black background test.
How about the TV out quality, as we've discussed most of the other features of image quality of this card, how does it do in outputting to TV?
Parhelia TV-out
|
G400 TV-out
|
MSI 8888 TV-out
|
MSI GeForce Ti4600 8X
|
Radeon 8500LE TV-Out
|
AiW 9000 TV-Out
|
As we look at the images, we notice that not all look exactly the same. The same settings were used for all the images, and also the same video, but in the case of some of the cards, notibally the ATi based cards, the video does not take up the entire screen as it should. Apart from these problems how is the video out quality? Comparing the cards to our reference image that was shown on the previous page we notice some differences. While the text on the reference image is sharp and aliased, the Parhelia does a good job of antialiasing the text, while not overdoing it. The two ATi based cards do fairly bad with the text, as it is very blurry, with the AiW 9000 having a slightly worse text image here. The image itself is nothing great with the ATi cards as there is the blurring again with the eyebrow, as well as some of the wire fence missing with the images from the AiW 9000 especially, but also with the 8500LE and the Ti4600-8X. Overall with the TV-Out the AiW 9000 isn't that great, and needs a bit of work before it can be as good as some of the other cards.
Next Page - 3D Quality
Previous Page - Video-In Quality
|
ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro: ATi has been making the AiW series for the last several years. Today's review will look at one of ATi's latest but not necessarily fastest All-in-Wonder video card.
