Half
Life 2
We
ran Half Life 2 with the games suggested settings of everything
on highest, with the exception of water reflections which were
set to world only.
|
Albatron
6600GT
|
Min
|
Max
|
Avg
|
|
No
AA/AF, 1024x768
|
22
|
94
|
42.13
|
|
4xAA/4xAF,
1024x768
|
17
|
81
|
38.66
|
The
'Follow Freeman' part of the game has you running around a lot
of broken buildings, underground tunnels and of course the striders,
so not only do we have inside areas but also more expansive
outside areas with lots of particle effects, large enemies and
plenty of textures. With the games suggested settings of everything
on high, world reflections only and 4xAA/4xAF the game runs
very acceptably at 1024x768 on the Albatron PC6600GT. Even for
Half Life 2, I was expecting a lot less performance from the
PC6600GT, but it does run remarkably well. The lows rarely drop
under the 35 mark, although as you look at the graph you can
see it isn't all that bad with much of the play favouring the
45+ area. Spikes up to the 80's indicate the more enclosed areas
of the level, such as a tunnel and an underground room at just
over the halfway point on the graph. 1280x1024 can be played
although you will need to drop the graphic enhancements, which
makes me favour 1024x768, 4xAA,4xAF as a better choice for the
PC6600GT and Half Life 2.
Image
Quality
1024x768,
No AA, No AF
6600GT
left, X600XT right
While
it is obvious that for performance in HL2, the PC6600GT wins out,
for image quality it's not so clear cut. Both the Albatron PC6600GT
and the X600XT displays HL2 perfectly fine and with fantastic
image quality. Both provide nice anti-aliasing and anisotropic
filtering, especially evident in the wire fence to the rear of
the shot (compare between No FSAA/AF and 4xAA/4xAF). When it comes
to image quality, I'm very impressed by the Albatron PC6600GT.
1024x768,
4xAA, 4xAF
6600GT
left, X600XT right
Far
Cry
Using
a clean config, we set the game up via the menu's for a 'High'
system.
|
Albatron
6600GT
|
Min
|
Max
|
Avg
|
|
No
AA/AF, 1024x768
|
30
|
82
|
53.42
|
|
2xAA/4xAF,
1024x768
|
26
|
66
|
43.9
|
All
this eye candy requires a bit of horsepower behind it to drive
it if you want to run at high settings, and the nature of the
game's visuals (natural items such as rocks, plants, mud etc.)
benefit greatly from some anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering.
As has been seen with other games, the Albatron PC6600GT performs
better than expected, although it does start to show its 'midrange'
nature when you add in FSAA and AF, visible by the increased
dips in the graph. Without enhancements, we have some very respectable
frame rates with only major drops if a lot is happening right
in front of you. Running that same level again with only 2xAA
and 4xAF, and you find that the while general play isn't too
bad, action sections are borderline; you won't want to increase
the Anti-Alias settings further. However 2x/4x looks pretty
damn good. In comparison with the X600XT ... well, familiar
sight by now, but more noticeable in this test. The X600XT was
pretty much unplayable without dropping either the resolution
or the ingame graphics settings, something that seriously affected
the gorgeous visuals. To get near to the same frame rates as
the PC6600GT with the same ingame settings required running
at 800x600 which makes a huge impact on the image quality in
Far Cry
Image
Quality
1024x768,
No AA, No AF
6600GT
left, X600XT right
A
friend of mine once told me that "the water looks so good
in Far Cry, I just want to pull up a chair and a beer, sit down
and look at the waves", and as you can see from the screenshots,
it does look good enough to do that! On the Albatron PC6600GT,
the image quality in Far Cry benefits greatly from a little anti-aliasing
and anisotropic filtering. With most games likes this you are
moving around a lot, and usually at a great enough speed that
the surroundings having jagged edges isn't a major concern, but
in Far Cry, the slower movement and the fact you often get a chance
to look around you makes anti-aliasing very important.
1024x768,
2xAA, 4xAF
6600GT
left, X600XT right
At
2x anti-aliasing you can still quite clearly see the jagged edges,
especially against the water, however it is enough that while
moving, it is far less noticeable than with out anti-aliasing.
1024x768,
4xAA, 4xAF
6600GT
left, X600XT right
4x
looks much better of course, but it is too much of a hit on performance
without lowering the ingame visual settings. Anisotropic filtering
is just as important in Far Cry due to the 'distance' factor and
multiple angled objects involved in the scenery and again the
image quality improves noticeably, check out the texturing on
the rocks between the images.
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