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More DirectX with NovaLogic's Comanche4 Demo |
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When
sending in the troops just isn't enough |
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One last look at DirectX
benchmarking was with NovaLogic's Comanche 4 Demo. As with
Max Payne, one of the benefits of benchmarking using this
demo is that we get a real-world result. We can see
with our own eyes how the gameplay will be, and the actual
average framerate is shown at the end of the
demonstration.
At 1024x768, all of the
cards fell within a frame and a half of each other,
leading to the conclusion that the CPU and not the video
card was the real limiter to the output. We did
manage to get more of a breakdown at higher resolutions,
but without any startling results. The V9280S kept
just over a frame per second lead over the V8420 until we
raised the clock speed to match. At equal speeds,
the V8420 produced minor increases in each of the
benchmarks. In similar fashion, when we overclocked
the V9280S, we saw that it usually overtook the Chaintech
card.
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Unreal 2003 Tournament Demo |
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Finally, something new to try! |
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Ah, at last! A new DirectX benchmark to add to the
mix. Unless you have been under a rock or (god
forbid) away from your PC for the last year or so, you
have probably heard of this game in one form or another.
Using the demo and a custom INI file to keep the plating
field level, wee obtained scores from three different
flybys of the demo, labeled Antalus, Asbestos, and
Citadel. Rather than choose one, we included all
three scores in our review.
Whew! That's a lot
of scores to throw into one section. Luckily for my
typing fingers, they breakdown rather easily. It is
a clear progression from the V8420, whose speeds are at
260/550, to the V9280S at 275/600. At 1024x768, the
difference in the flybys varies from 4-6 frames, although
this gap narrows to only 2-3 frames at 1600x1200.
The percentage of the difference remains the same at 6-7%
for all resolutions, however. While this is a far
cry from the "20% increase", we should mention that even
the V8420 cannot be consided a generic Ti4200, since it
too is clocked a bit higher than spec. Even with the
higher clock speeds, the V9280S is still a good measure
behind the Chaintech GF4 Ti4600 card.
On to
OpenGL with Quake 3
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