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We changed our test platform for video cards to more accurately represent game play in real situations in the last review. Some have noticed that there was a little discrepancy in performance with the 8800GTX XXX Edition. FRAP testing is notoriously inaccurate, with variations in framerate of 5-10% possible on the exact same run of a walkthrough. Since the benchmarks we use are of entire levels of a game, variations are not only possible, but likely due to factors like slightly different starting points, enemy encounters etc.. In any event, FRAPs testing is more indicative of real-world gameplay than a standard timedemo, as the timedemos can and have been optimized for by the various IHVs. Once we move to Vista on our video card test platform, we will likely change our platform to the best AMD CPU available.
Test System
- AMD Athlon FX-62 CPU
- 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 667 MHz memory
- 2 74GB Western Digital Raptor SATA HDDs 10000 RPM
- XFX GF 8800GTX 630M 768M Dual DVI TV XXX Edition running 97.44 Forceware
- ASUS 16X DVD-ROM
- Ultra X-Finity 600W PSU
- Windows XP with SP2
- DirectX 9.0c
Tests
- 3dmark06 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 2048x1536 default run
- 3dmark05 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 2048x1536 default run
- FEAR 1280x960, 1600x1200, 2048x1536 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF Performance Demo max settings except no Soft Shadows
- Oblivion 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 2048x1536 no AA no AF, HDR enabled. Custom walkthrough of Anvil
- COD2 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 2048x1536, no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF Custom timedemo
- Quake4 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 2048x1536, no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF, Custom Timedemo of first level, HQ settings
- Dark Messiah Might and Magic 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 2048x1536 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF Custom walkthrough of Prologue using FRAPs, max settings
- Need For Speed Carbon 1280x1024, 1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF, Custom Quick Race using FRAPs, maximum settings
- Battlefield 2142, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 2048x1536, no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF, Custom Timedemo using FRAPs, max settings
- Tomb Raider Legend 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 2048x1536, no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF, Custom walkthrough of first level up to the Temple using FRAPs, max settings
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