Direct3D Game Tests
DirectX has become a more popular
method for game programmers for the past while. One of the
older DirectX based games is UT2004, based on the venerable Unreal
engine which has been massively upgraded over the past few years.
This has produced very good looking graphics and a graphically
demanding game, or at least it has been. Lets see what the
X700 can do in this test.
In this test all but one card
pass the 60fps average frame rate and that one is the Intel IGP.
The X700 becomes pretty CPU bound here as there is only 1fps difference
between overclocked and not overclocking. Overall this test
is easy for the current generation of mid-range and higher cards.
So lets increase the settings.
Here the current generation of
cards show the differences between old and new. Where the
FX5750 was remotely close previously here the X700 beats it quite
handily. The nice thing is the difference between the two
cards is the difference between playability and the game not being
playable for most gamers. Overclocking the card nets you
a small increase in frame rate as even here the card is CPU limited.
The ATi based card still shows
that even at 1600*1200 it can easily reach above the 60fps mark.
Overclocking the card nets a larger increase of performance, 14%,
much like that of the Doom 3 1024 AA test. This means that
this test isn't CPU limited at least not very much. What
happens when we add AA and ansiotropic filtering, can the X700
stay above 60fps on average?
It comes very close, only 4fps
on average below the 60fps mark. However this does not mean
that this card isn't playable at this resolution in this game.
Rather when overclocked it should satisfy all but the very demanding
gamers who play this game. Overclocking gives you a 12%
increase of frame rate, much like the other video card limited
tests. Lets move to newer, DirectX 9 based games, first
in Far Cry.
Far Cry is a game that really
caught quite a few people by surprise, as it came when many where
waiting for Doom 3 and Half Life II. But the graphics really
are quite stunning, as it is set on a tropical island for the
most part, which gives quite a different back drop from what we
are used to. Lets see what this graphically demanding game
can do to this card.
We see that in this test
the X700 is definitely CPU limited as the two clock speeds score
basically identically, so since this isn't VPU or video memory
bound, it is CPU limited. This however makes the game very
playable, as I played it at these settings on a card that only
gave about 30ish average fps throughout the game. What if
we bump up the quality settings?
Here the X700 should still be
playable as it keeps above the 30fps mark on average, and for
the most part stays above 30fps throughout the demo run.
Overclocking does provide a large boost, about 13%, which shows
that just by enabling AA and ansiotropic filtering we turned this
CPU limited game into a GPU limited one. What will we see
at 1600*1200?
Just like a 1024 with AA, this
resolution gives almost identical results to that previous test.
Overclocking gives an even better improvement of 17% which is
above that seen with the other tests so far. Again for the
most part these settings should provide a playable game experience
for the most part.
Here is where this card falters.
When we reach the highest settings we test with we see that this
card can't quite make it to a playable frame rate on average.
Overclocking does yield a good 15% increase to take the average
frame rate to over 20fps, but that isn't enough for most gamers
to consider playable. So we've seen two progressively more
demanding DirectX games, lets look at the newest one, Half Life
II.
NEXT
