ATI Radeon X800 XL Review
Splinter Cell
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 Splinter Cell |
Splinter Cell's version 1.2 patch includes three pre-recorded demos and incorporates a previously unavailable benchmarking tool. The demos included with the patch are somewhat limited by CPU performance, however, so we opted to use the custom "Oil Rig" demo created by the folks at Beyond 3D to test performance with this game. Beyond 3D's demo is targeted squarely at Pixel Shader performance. Shaders are used to render realistic-looking ocean water surrounding an oil rig in the demo and are also used to simulate a night vision effect for a brief period of time. Take note that antialiasing doesn't work with Splinter Cell in its current state. Due to this fact, we do not have any AA scores listed in the graphs below. |
The Radeon X800 XL performed fairly well in the Splinter Cell benchmark. At 1024x768, it was technically the lowest performing card, but it only lagged its main competitor, the GeForce 6800 GT, by about 4 frames per second, or approximately 5%. Once we raised the resolution to 1600x1200 though, the Radeon X800 XL turned the tables somewhat. At the higher resolution, the X800 XL nudged passed the GT by a fraction of frame per second. The fractional performance difference falls well within the margin of error in this benchmark though.
