Half-Life 2: Episode 1

	Min	Max	Ave
MSI NX7950GX2	33	91	69.08
ASUS X1900XTX	41	119	85.37

In this game, the X1900XTX has a clear advantage in framerates. It did not dip under 40fps and peaked almost 30fps more than the 7950GX2. During the course of another review, I did not see this gap with other X1900 hardware, but the results were reproducible here. While the MSI NX7950GX2 provided a good gaming experience, the game did feel smoother on the ASUS card.

Image Quality

I never really paid much attention to HDR until I started playing Episode 1. It really does a lot to immerse a player into the game, plus it looks fantastic. The ep1_c17_02a map in particular looks really good, especially with the sunlight breaking through the walls and ceiling.

Madden 2006

	Min	Max	Ave
MSI NX7950GX2	29	63	57.29
ASUS X1900XTX	33	63	58.35

Madden 2006 pretty much provides no challenge to the hardware. The dips in framerates occurred during stoppages in play, but the game itself ran very smooth.

Image Quality

The game itself isn't very challenging graphically, so feel free to bump up the image quality. We maxed out every detail for this game and stayed pretty consistent near 60fps.

Quake 4

	Min	Max	Ave
MSI NX7950GX2	44	63	59.63
ASUS X1900XTX	7	63	48.63

In contrast to Half-Life 2, Quake 4 clearly favoured the MSI NX7950GX2. Both cards were used in the Core2 level, and the 7950GX2 hardly suffered any dropped frames. The X1900XTX performed well, but did slow down a little when the boss spawned little helpers to fight the battle.

Image Quality

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