X-bit labs

The Second Encounter: DirectX 10 Games vs. Contemporary Graphics Accelerators (page 8)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko, Anton Shilov

[ 10/26/2007 | 02:20 PM ]

Call of Juarez DX10 demo

There are changes since we last tested DirectX 10 games: the GeForce 8800 GTX used to be just a little faster than the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT with the older driver, but now the ATI card has become slower, not challenging Nvidia’s first place.

The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB has become slower, too, while the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, which used to pass the test even though with a low result, refused to do that with the new ForceWare. This must have something to do with changes in the graphics memory manager.

The overall picture has remained the same, though. Like in the previous review, none of modern graphics cards, including the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX, can achieve an average frame rate of 30fps even. It’s worse about the minimum speed: the best result is only 15fps. This is not enough for comfortable play at the highest graphics quality settings.

The numbers are even lower when we enable full-screen antialiasing. The average speed is 23fps at best.

The results being so low, it is hard give any recommendation on purchasing a particular graphics card. The gamer still has to choose between high-quality visuals at a low speed or a lower level of detail and smooth gameplay.