X-bit labs

GeForce 8 Streams to the Mainstream: Asus GeForce 8600 GTS Review (page 17)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko, Anton Shilov

[ 04/18/2007 | 06:08 AM ]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Without the HDR the game becomes considerably less attractive, and although there are different opinions about it, we still performed our TES IV testing with enabled FP HDR.

In case of not very massive indoor scenes GeForce 8600 GTS runs neck and neck with Radeon X1950 Pro and yields to GeForce 7950 GT as well as to Radeon X1900 XT. The results are quite OK for the price range of the new Nvidia solution, however, the use of high resolutions in this game is out of the question.

Despite our expectations, GeForce 8600 GTS performed excellent in 1280x1024 in scenes with wide open spaces. It defeated even Radeon X1900 XT and won even the minimal performance test. Unified architecture worked exactly as it was supposed to, however, in 1600x1200 the newcomer lost its advantage because of high workload put on its TMUs, although even in this case it was still faster than all other testing participants except Radeon X1900 XT. Only in 1920x1200 the average performance of GeForce 8600 GTS dropped down to the level of GeForce 7950 GT, however this resolution is anyway the privilege of higher-end graphics cards.

All in all, GeForce 8600 GTS will suit perfectly fine for playing Oblivion in 1280x1024 with the maximum level of detail.