X-bit labs

Roundup of 7 Contemporary Integrated Graphics Chipsets for Socket 478 and Socket A Platforms (page 9)

Category: Chipsets

by Tim Tscheblockov

[ 07/05/2004 | 11:09 AM ]

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

The chipsets remained on their respective positions, but this time the single-channel chipset from ATI, the RADEON 9000 PRO IGP, also provides playability in the 800x600 resolution, like the RADEON 9100 IGP and NVIDIA nForce2 IGP do.

The max speed settings in Max Payne 2 use 32-bit rather than 16-bit color – the game engine just doesn’t offer 16-bit-color modes. Anyway, the i865G joined the group of playable chipsets from ATI and NVIDIA at the speedy settings in 800x600– it added in performance considerably, unlike the products from VIA and SiS.

C&C Generals: Zero Hour

The game engine of C&C Generals: Zero Hour seems to be rendering the landscape by mapping more than two textures and this is a killer case for integrated solutions that can only render two textures per pass at best. The attempt to render additional textures necessitates rendering of the frame in several passes, resulting in a very low performance due to the memory bus bandwidth restrictions.

The ATI RADEON 9100 IGP supports rendering of up to 6 textures per pass and wins the test at the medium quality settings.

The numbers don’t grow much when we switch to the “speedy” settings because C&C Generals: Zero Hour, like Max Payne 2, doesn’t offer 32-bit-color modes. So, making allowances for the fact that C&C Generals: Zero Hour is a strategy game, rather than a shooter, I think the RADEON 9100 IGP and 9000 PRO IGP, the i865G and the nForce2 IGP all provide playability, but the RADEON 9000 IGP and the Intel 865G do so only at the minimum graphics quality settings.