Half-Life 2

The speed of all the graphics cards is limited by the CPU performance in low resolutions, even though our testbed features an Athlon 64 FX-60. But we can see in 1600x1200 that the GeForce 7900 GTX is no better than the GeForce 7800 GTX 512. Each of the two cards delivers an average speed of 90fps, the Radeon X1900 XTX being 12-13% ahead of them both.

The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI configuration behaves somewhat oddly in the SLI AA modes. It should have obtained an advantage over the Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire by having more TMUs, but it has none. On the contrary, there’s a gap between these two solutions up to 50% in the 8x FSAA + 16x AF mode, and there’s a small performance gain over the GeForce 7800 GTX SLI, no bigger than 10%-30%.

As for the 14x/16x FSAA + 16x AF mode, the Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire is beyond competition in it, while the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI allows using resolutions no higher than 1280x1024.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

Unlike the original Half-Life , the Lost Coast demo features complex special effects (like HDR emulation) created by means of pixel shaders. The GeForce 7900 GTX shows all its might here and leaves the GeForce 7800 GTX 512 behind by 10-20%. The SLI configuration with two GeForce 7900 GTX is unrivalled, too, as it delivers over 70fps where the Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire cannot yield a playable frame rate.

The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI platform is also in the lead in the 8x FSAA + 16x AF mode, but 1280x1024 resolution is the only one that seems to be playable. A comfortable frame rate is only achieved in the 14x/16x FSAA mode in 1280x1024 resolution, and the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI is slower than the Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire then.