F.E.A.R
(DirectX)
Map: Inception
This
game is not only intense, it's engine demands high end hardware
in order to be playable with any of the pretties enabled, its
a true test for a midrange graphics card.
1280x800
1680x1050
Frames
Per Second, Higher is better
Using
Fraps to measure real world running and gunning, the EAX1650XT
has problems painting the screen at 60FPS, we had to drop down
to 1280x800 to get playable rates. As for the X1600Pro, well,
it is last years midrange...
Call
of Duty 2 (DirectX) - Map – Railroad Station #1 - SP
CoD2
is a stellar engine, with a lot of action happening all around
you. Using Fraps I went through a demanding section of terrain
and enemies (it was difficult staying alive for the full 2 minutes
:P) to showcase what these cards could do.
1280x800
1680x1050
At
1680x1050 both cards had problems making it playable, 4xAA/8xAF
only aggravated that. Dropping the resolution to 1280x800 made
things better on the EAX1650XT, however, the X1600Pro still struggled
to achieve playable status.
Quake
4 (OpenGL) - Map: MP – The Fragging Yard
Based
on the Doom 3 Engine, Quake 4 is also visually stunning and id
/ Raven have updated it to 1.2, resolving a few of the Demo Playback
issues previous versions had. VL built a server, provided 4 g0m0's
for fodder and proceeded to game away while recording a demo.
With TimeDemo enabled again, we are able to produce frame rates
above 60 FPS, that is, if the card can handle it...
1680x1050
Although
using the Doom3 engine, the performance is not as similar as one
would expect. This is, in part, due to Quake4 is much brighter
then Doom3 and there is a lot more for your graphics card to draw.
This is especially apparent when you compare it to the dank dungeons
for the Doom3 demo used. The EAX1650XT did not disappoint here,
with the Doom3 engine getting aged, the midrange cards seem to
have caught up with it. Of course, the X1600Pro performed admirable,
but we are still unable to average above 60 FPS. When enable AA/AF,
the EAX1650XT maintains a greater then 60 FPS average, allowing
you to turn on the pretty in Q4 while at an extremely high resolution.
3dMark
2006
Although
Synthetic, it does allow for comparison in like systems. I decided
to mix things up a little here, so it is, unfortunately, going
to be harder for you to compare. I have included a picture of
the settings used.
(insert
3DMark-settings.jpg
In
my previous review of the X1600Pro, this is where it shined, unfortunately,
that shine has worn off and the EAX1650XT is a true step ahead.
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