Unreal Tournament 2004 is the current version of the Unreal engine out, and provides some very nice looking graphics for a first person shooter. Lets see how this game, though slightly longer in the tooth, is handled by the x800XL card.
At this resolution all three cards are more CPU limited that anything, with the x800XL 'pulling' ahead by 3fps at most. All three cards are very playable, with the x700 being the only one to make it under the 60fps mark at any time, and then only for a second. Lets see if cranking up the quality will separate the cards.
Here we begin to see a slight difference between the two card classes, with a 10fps average distance between them. Overclocking again doesn't really make a difference here as both clock speeds are CPU limited. The x800XL only drops below 60fps for one second and stays above that mark for the duration of the test. The x700 while still playable, and very much so, dips below the 60fps mark on two occasions here, though both cards can play at 1024*768 4X AA and 16X Ansio without a problem. Lets see if raising the resolution makes a difference.
There is a little bit more of a split between the two cards, as the x700 is slowing down, comparatively. The x800XL keeps the average frame rate that it had at 1024*768 with maximum settings, while again only dropping below 60fps on the same occasion. The x700 dips below 60fps for about five seconds, and even goes as low as 40fps at one point. Otherwise still a completely playable resolution.
The gap finally widens significantly, as the x700 falls below the magic 60fps mark. The x800XL doesn't really gain anything from overclocking in this situation, but still manages to have an average frame rate of 80fps, while only dipping below 60fps for two seconds. The x700 averages 50fps and stays fairly close to that area, as it only goes above 70fps once, and barely below the 40fps mark. We've seen that the x800 has mastered our first two DirectX tests, but can it handle the newer games, such as Far Cry?
Far Cry is simply the best outdoor game I've seen so far. The setting of a tropical island, with plenty of green shrubbery, and beautiful water (only matched by Half Life 2) makes this game a joy to walk around in. It also makes this game very demanding on video cards, so lets see what this card can do. Unfortunetely, my x700 died before this test (the only one that it didn't do), so we only have the x800XL results here.
The results here are basically identical, with only the points that a specific frame rate occurs being different. Overclocking thus really doesn't seem to provide any increase in this test, as perhaps the test is CPU limited, which could explain why the graph is fairly flat. Lets see if the two clock speeds split as we add AA and ansio.
There is a slight improvement to be gained from overclocking at this stage. The increase is only 2.5% and doesn't make any difference in the playability of this game, as both will play it well. Perhaps raising the resolution will widen the gap.
Just like the previous test, there is a small difference between stock speeds and overclocked speeds. In this case its just about a 3% increase, or 2fps on average. As the graph shows there is no major difference between them, though both are still in the 50fps range and are still playable. Maybe the highest settings will create a gap?
Well the gap does indeed widen in this case, though not in the difference between them in fps. The percentage increase is 6.5% or about 3fps. This is the first time this card moves in average frame rate in this game, but it is still playable, as it doesn't really drop below 35fps at all. Lets take a look at our last game test, that of Half Life 2.
One of the two most anticipated games in the last year, Half Life 2 provides some of the best graphics, along with Far Cry. As such it is graphically demanding, but even lower end cards can still enjoy the game as it automatically changes the render path depending on your card. Since both cards are DirectX 9 cards lets see what they can do at the best quality.
The average frame rate results here are pretty much the same for all three test conditions. The two x800XL results are just above the 70fps mark, on average. The x700 is slightly below that, at just over 68fps on average. Either of these cards will play at this resolution quite well, so lets add a bit to the quality settings.
We see similar results to those we saw with the same settings in UT2004. The x800XL is 10fps faster, on average, than the x700. While both cards still are above the 60fps mark that many want, the x700 does dip into the 30fps area more often than the x800XL's do. Overclocking doesn't lead to any performance improvement here, so lets see if cranking up the resolution changes that.
The x800XL's results don't change from what its had from the beginning of the Half Life 2 tests. At stock or overclocked speeds the card stays near the 70fps mark, while only going below 40fps for a couple of seconds. The x700 doesn't fair as well, as its average drops to 50fps, and while this is still very playable (I finished the game averaging about 30fps) it can't quite keep up with the x800XL's here. Lets see if the gap widens in our final test setting.
Finally we see the x800XL results change from the 70fps mark it had been. The results are just above the 50fps average mark, with about 5 seconds of below 30fps gameplay (water area). Overclocking nets a 4% increase in frame rate or about 2fps. The x700 is at the low limit of what I would call playable, but you can get through most of the game without a problem. Overall the x800XL seems to provide a very nice DirectX gaming experience.
Conclusion
Asus has supplied us with a ATi based card of the lower high end of the ATi series. What can we conclude about this card, considering all we've looked at?
First is the package, as this is the first thing you will see. Simply put the box is massive, easily four times the size of the video card. The size is probably the first thing that will catch your attention though the design on the box isn't far behind. The internal packaging is very neat, but there seems to be a significant amount of empty space in the package that could have been put to better use. The included extras, from the software that filled most of the uses one could think of for this card, to the CD case and video in/out block were nice to see.
The card itself is another matter. It only takes up one slot, and doesn't sound too loud either, being close to the standard fans most cards have. The fan does glow blue when its on, and it along with the heatsink is connected via thermal paste, which is a very nice thing to see in a video card. The card itself has two DVI ports, which is still fairly rare on video cards today, but is a very nice addition to this card. Overclocking wasn't the greatest, with a 5-9% increase in core/memory speed, but is better than nothing.
Quality results are a slightly mixed bag. 2D quality was very nice, almost as good as the Parhelia we used as a reference point. Video capture was also fairly good, with the picture being slightly washed out in comparison to reference image. TV-Out is something that ATi and its partners might want to take a closer look at, as with SVHS connections it doesn't look very good at all, with blurry text and images. 3D quality is very nice with a maximum of 6X temporal AA and 16X ansiotropic filtering.
Performance in our tests was pretty good. In all the game tests, except Doom 3, the x800XL did very nicely providing playable frame rates in basically all situations. Doom 3 is playable at 1024*768 with 4X AA and 16X ansiotropic filtering, but going higher isn't too recommended. In the newer games such as Far Cry and Half Life 2 playing at 1600*1200 with 4X AA and 16X ansiotropic filtering shouldn't be a problem as it provides decently playable frame rates here.
Lastly we will look at the cost of this card. At the time of this writing this card is a more than some of its competitors, especially the MSI version of this card. There is not much of a difference between the two cards except for the Smart Doctor, included with the Asus card.
Good Points
Bad Points
Final Words
This was a very nice card to play with, and shows that the x800XL cards are the sweet spot for ATi cards right now. Asus has done well, but there is nothing included that justifies the price difference between it and similarly equipped cards.
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