X-bit labs

Winter-Spring 2004: Graphics Cards on Top Graphics Processors and Their Low-Cost Versions – Overclocker’s Best Choice (page 11)

Category: Video

by Tim Tscheblockov

[ 03/16/2004 | 05:22 PM ]

Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness uses pixel shaders version 1.1, 1.4 and 2.0 and vertex shaders 1.1 and 2.0. During the tests I sued one of the “heaviest” scenes – paris5_4. The graphics quality settings in the game were adjusted according to the defaults for PS 2.0 mode, Vsync and Pixel Shader 2.0 Shadows were disabled. Because of the incorrect work of FSAA, we didn’t force anisotropic filtering and full-screen anti-aliasing.

The results obtained in this gaming application are almost fully determined by the pixel shader efficiency and the graphics processor clock frequency. However, this is not always like that. For example, the modified ATI RADEON 9800 SE with 128bit memory bus failed to outperform the modified RADEON 9800 SE with 256bit memory bus, even despite the higher working frequencies of the VPU and memory of the former.

All in all, ATI based graphics cards are ahead in paris5_4 scene due to their more efficient pixel shaders. In this scene pixel shaders are very actively used, for example for such effects as washed out objects out of the camera focus or light refraction when it goes through the stream of heated air.

The overclocked ATI RADEON 9800 PRO outperforms RADEON 9800 XT. Overclocked NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 outpaces GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, and the modified RADEON 9800 SE and GeForce FX 5900 XT are just a little bit behind the leaders.

The mainstream RADEON 9600 XT runs almost neck and neck with GeForce FX 5900 XT and proves faster than RADEON 9800 SE and GeForce FX 5700 Ultra working at their nominal frequencies.