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Need for Speed: Underground
NFS: Underground provides a lot of night time scenery with particle effects from DX9, and makes a nice change from the usual shoot em ups we test with. All settings were set to highest although "light trails"were left off.
1024x768
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
36.92
|
23.60
|
12.55
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
47.74
|
45.84
|
37.15
|
1200x1024
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
27.93
|
15.55
|
8.5
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
46.11
|
41.60
|
35.50
|
NFS Underground is very playable on the 9550, although you will likely want to tweak the game settings from highest to around the mid range area. Doing this should net you enough performance to apply 2xFSAA, at 1024x768 and still have acceptable frame rates.
Call of Duty
The latest WWII shooter uses a heavily modified Quake 3 engine. We ran the benchmark using our own custom timedemo of myself, Brook and a few others trying to kill each other.
1024x768
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
69.6
|
29.4
|
25.7
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
75.0
|
58.5
|
55.5
|
1200x1024
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
50.0
|
20.1
|
17.6
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
62.7
|
37.8
|
36.7
|
Without graphic enhancements, Call of Duty runs fine although the single player map of Berlin will no doubt bring the frames down. Since the 9550 isn't designed to be a hardcore gamers card, the results produced thus far have been pretty good, but let's look at a few games that won't tax a graphics card as much.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Based on the Quake 3 engine (although modified) this might seem to be a strange test of a graphics card in this day and age, but considering the 9550's lower performance capabilities I thought it might be nice to include some easier going games.
1024x768
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
132.8
|
128.3
|
119.2
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
140.7
|
136.8
|
128.7
|
1200x1024
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
94.4
|
58.9
|
46.9
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
126.4
|
123.0
|
104.2
|
If RtCW is your staple gaming diet and you are looking for a cheap upgrade then the 9550 is a good buy and should be on your list. 3 figure numbers that are not that far behind the 5950 Ultra can be had easily enough at 1024x768 and even the 1200x1024 numbers are very good.
Serious Sam Second Edition
Another game that won't overly tax a card is Serious Sam Second Edition, tested here in the OpenGL flavour.
1024x768
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
65.6
|
55.3
|
47.6
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
124.1
|
120.2
|
115.7
|
1200x1024
|
|
No AA/AF
|
2xAA/8xAF
|
4xAA/8xAF
|
|
HIS 9550 ViVo
|
44.9
|
37.4
|
31.8
|
|
MSI 5950 Ultra
|
119.1
|
100.0
|
90.8
|
Serious Sam SE is probably just about on the cusp of acceptable FPS across the board, but again we have used high quality settings throughout, and a lot can be tweaked in game. The demo used is also pretty intense so you'll find that the 9550 runs Serious Sam SE perfectly well for the majority of the game.
NEXT
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