Entry level graphic cards and integrated chipsets (page 4: Windows Vista)

Windows Vista

The aero interface of Windows vista, is the most advanced version of the new desktop and uses 3D. It requires much more graphic card resources than the other interfaces available with Vista and previous OS. The utilization of 3D helps to support more easily some "2D effects" like transparency, window opening etc. Adding 3D to the interface like the Flip3D function makes it possible to change from one widow to the other with a lot more style and provides much more possibilities to developers.

This new visual rendering requires adapted drivers (WDDM) and a graphic card supporting at least the shaders 2.0 (this has been the case for a long time). 64 MB of memory are required and 128 MB are recommended. There again, this isn't a problem as we have checked with the Intel 945G and G965 and even recent integrated chipsets are capable of doing it. Each open window roughly represents a texture and requires video memory. In other words, the more windows are open and the higher the resolution is, the more memory is required.

The tool WinSAT of Microsoft, which is integrated to Vista, gives indications on the performance level of each element. The smaller index represents the global grade. The graphic sub-grade (Aero in the graph) represents, according to Microsoft, the capacity of the graphic card to support the 3D composition of Aero. This score is comprised between 1.0 and 5.9 and is based on the memory bandwidth with restrictions depending on the graphic cards capacities and drivers. For example, if a graphic card doesn't support the shaders 2.0 it will get 1.0 and if it doesn't have WDDM drivers, the maximum grade will be 1.9. Microsoft indicates that a score inferior to 3.5 can lead to slow down and that the Aero interface is only automatically activated when this grade is reached. It is however possible to activate it manually.

According to Microsoft, the graphic sub-score represents an estimations of the graphic cards capacity to run video games. It is based on several tests which are kept secret. The score is also comprised between 1.0 and 5.9 but Microsoft said that higher scores could be attributed to other graphic cards than the ones currently on the market. We have only reported this figure for your information because it doesn't mean anything at all. A GeForce 8800 GTX obtains the same score, 5.9, than the GeForce 7900 GTX. Higher performances and the support of DirectX 10 do not improve the score…It is unfortunate because this score could have been used by the general public.

Except for the 945G, all solutions tested reach the Aero graphic score of 3.5 and good graphic cards quickly reach the limit of 5.9. The GeForce 7300 GS, which only has 64 bit memory bus and uses the TurboCache technology (which consist in using central memory as video memory to increase, in theory, performances) doesn't get good grades and has a lower score than Intel's most recent integrated solution.

But is this index really representative of the reality? To verify it, we have tested the comportment of the different solutions with very high resolution and 10 windows open, one showing a 3D animation and another one with a full HD video. Except for a few fits and starts for Intel's chipsets, the GeForce 7300 GS and the Radeon X1300, all other solutions are up to the challenge. To complicate the task a little bit, we also used Flip3D with the same windows. This time, the least powerful solutions do not allow the switching between the windows a fluidly. Freezes are much more present. Middle line graphic cards get much better results even if we see that they reach sometime their limits with a couple of freezes. High end solutions avoid most of the time these freezes.

Drivers will of course continue to evolve but with Vista, we will have to accept that without efficient graphic card, the comfort will not always be perfect even if the utilization will remain most of the time in the limits of the acceptable including with integrated solutions. In the future, the applications will more and more benefit from this new interface which will in theory increase the work load of the graphic card. Now the question is: in which proportion?