Normal Map Compression: 3Dc at Work

Let us now take a look at normal map compression capability of FarCry.

3Dc Impact, Pure Speed

Well, the result is pretty clear: ATI’s 3Dc-supporting hardware actually gained some speed after the normal map compression was enabled. In contrast, performance of NVIDIA’s GeForce products lost a number of points after we activated the normal map compression. Still, performance numbers are very close with and without 3Dc.

The highest speed increase from 3Dc can be obtained on the “Research” level. However, it is pretty strange that on the “Research” as well as in some other cases ATI’s RADEON X800 hardware had lower minimal fps than comparable NVIDIA’s GeForce 6.