Next, we took on some post-apocalyptic shooters. Metro 2033 is new and tough on even modern systems. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also provides a challenge.
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Metro 2033
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DX11 Gaming Performance
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Metro 2033 is your basic post-apocalyptic first person shooter game with a few rather unconventional twists. Unlike most FPS titles, there is no health meter to measure your level of ailment, but rather you’re left to deal with life, or lack there-of more akin to the real world with blood spatter on your visor and your heart rate and respiration level as indicators. The game is loosely based on a novel by Russian Author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Metro 2003 boasts some of the best 3D visuals on the PC platform currently including a DX11 rendering mode that makes use of advanced depth of field effects and character model tessellation for increased realism.
The Alienware setup right right on the heels of the iBuyPower Revolt, both of which have the same graphics card. It's basically a wash between those two systems, though iBuyPower's faster clocked Ivy Bridge chip gave it a slight advantage in this benchmark, and by slight, we mean only 0.33 fps at 1920x1080, well within the margin of error.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
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DX11 Gaming Performance
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Call of Pripyat is the third game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and throws in DX11 to the mix. This benchmark is based on one of the locations found within the latest game. Testing includes four stages and utilizes various weather conditions, as well as different time of day settings. It offers a number of presets and options, including multiple versions of DirectX, resolutions, antialiasing, etc. SunShafts represents the most graphically challenging stage available. We conducted our testing with DX11 enabled, multiple resolutions, and Ultra settings.
In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the X51 R2 posted high average framerates at every resolution tested. And even though it's not represented on the above graph, it managed a playable 45.8 fps at a 2560x1600 resolution, which means there's enough power here to play some games on a 30-inch panel's native resolution. That's impressive for such a small system.
