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Performances Comparisons
With Novalogic's Comanche 4 |
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Combat Helicopter Sim |
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Comanche
4
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We
used Novalogic's combat helicopter simulator Comanche 4
for our next batch of DirectX tests. Comanche 4 uses DX8
class pixel and vertex shaders to produce some of the
realistic visuals used throughout the game. Unlike some
of the previous tests though, this benchmark is heavily
influenced by CPU and system memory performance,
especially at lower resolutions. However, when the
resolution is raised and anti-aliasing and anisotropic
filtering are enabled, the current crop of 3D
accelerators
tend to slow down quite a bit. |
The lead changed hands quite a
few times in the Comanche 4 benchmark. Focusing on the
scores at 1024x768, we see that the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
led the pack in the default test and also in the 4X AA + 8X
anisotropic filtering test, only to fall behind both Radeons
again in the 4X AA and 6X AA tests. The straight 4X AA and
6X AA tests, however, belonged to the Radeons here. If
we shift our focus down to the 1600x1200 graph, we see that
the performance landscape didn't change all that much, but the
GeForce FX did fall just slightly behind the Abit 9800 XT in
the default configuration.
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Benchmarks / Comparison
With
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory |
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Q3
Engine Based Freebie |
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Wolfenstein: ET
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We also ran
through a batch of timedemos with the OpenGL game
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Wolfenstein: ET is a free,
standalone multiplayer game that is based on the
original Return to Castle Wolfenstein, that was
released a few years back. It uses a heavily modified
version of the Quake 3 engine which makes it a very easy
to use benchmarking tool. We created our own custom demo and
used the built-in timedemo feature to check each card's
frame rate. The tests below were run at 1024x768 and
again at 1600x1200, without anti-aliasing, with 4X AA
and again with 4X AA and 8X anisotropic filtering enable
concurrently. |
In some past reviews, we've
pointed out that with the latest versions of their Catalyst
driver suite, ATi has introduced a bug that drastically
affects performance in the Wolfenstein: ET benchmark.
As you can see, the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra simply crushed the
ATi powered cards in this test, regardless of what
resolution or what level of anti-aliasing or anisotropic
filtering were enabled. The driver release notes for
the Catalyst 4.1 drivers report that ATi is aware of this
issue and they say it will be fixed in a future driver
release.
Tomb Raider: AOD, Overclocking & Our Final Analysis
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