With the synthetic benchmarks completed, we dove into some real-world in-game testing. We started with Far Cry 2, which won’t strain a modern system, but will give us a look at the rig’s DX10 capabilities. Then we took a look at Lost Planet 2, which boasts DX11 support, tessellation, and some stunning water effects.
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Far Cry 2 |
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DX10 Gaming Performance |
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Far Cry 2 |
When it comes to lush vegetation in a steaming, sinister jungle, no one
pulls it off quite like Ubisoft does in its Far Cry series. Far Cry 2
uses high quality textures, complex shaders, and dynamic lighting to
create a realistic environment. The benchmark demo runs you through
multiple areas of the map and from several different angles, while
explosions and other events take place.
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You’re not too likely to fire up a DX10 relic on your $6,000, state-of-the-art gaming PC, but we always like to see how systems handle this classic. The Maingear EPIC RUSH started off with strong frames per second in Far Cry 2, particularly at higher resolutions.
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Lost Planet 2 |
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DX11 Gaming Performance |
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Lost Planet 2 |
We used Lost Planet 2 to test the system’s DX11 performance. This game’s
benchmark features soldiers attempting to take down a massive beast
that seems to shrug off their firepower. There is a ton of action in the
five or so minutes that the benchmark runs, and we’ve seen the test
stutter when being run by lesser systems. We used Test B and set all
graphics settings to High Quality. We also boosted the Anti-Aliasing
setting to 4x before we ran the benchmark.
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The Maingear EPIC RUSH again offered solid – but not stunning – scores in Lost Planet 2. In fact, it came in slightly behind the Maingear SHIFT, but as it turned out, the EPIC RUSH was just about to break free and blow past the competition. Let’s take a look at how it handled Metro 2033.
