Counter Strike: Source

It is the first time we use the full version of the recently released Counter-Strike: Source (see our article called Half the Way to the Half-Life 2: Counter Strike: Source Benchmarked). This online first-person shooter shares the same engine with Half-Life 2, and thus features beautiful hi-resolution textures as well as numerous pixel shaders. CS:Source is truly a next-generation game. To check its speed we used the same testbed, but replaced the old processor with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+. We’re going to test all graphics cards with the AGP interface with this CPU in the future.

The GeForce 6800 Ultra wins the first two resolutions of the Chateau level of CS:Source, but the ASUS AX800 XT catches up with it in 1600x1200. This level seems to be less saturated with pixel shaders, although there’re enough water surfaces here. Overclocking brings a small performance gain.

The ASUS card loses the lowest resolution to the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the eye candy mode, then overtakes it in 1280x1024 and increases the gap in 1600x1200. Overclocking the AX800 XT brings more dividends in this mode than in the pure speed one – we enjoyed a 10% speed boost in the highest resolution!

It’s different on the Italy level. The GeForce 6800 Ultra remains the leader in all the three resolutions, although the overclocked ASUS AX800 XT is getting close to it.

It’s similar to what we saw on the Chateau level at the eye candy settings: the ASUS AX800 XT loses the lowest resolution but then overtakes the GeForce 6800 Ultra. Overclocking helps in the chase, but not too much.