X-bit labs

MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Graphics Card Review (page 9)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 07/22/2005 | 12:33 PM ]

Far Cry

The first level of Far Cry isn’t too complex in terms of geometry but is rich in pixel shaders that draw the water. Thus, the frequency of the GPU is most important here, and the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition, the highest-frequency processor present, wins this test. The MSI NX6800GT, on the contrary, has the lowest default GPU frequency (350MHz only) of all the participating cards, but overclocking to 435MHz helps it get closer to the results of the RADEON X850 XT.

In the “eye candy” mode it is more difficult to challenge the RADEON X850 even at overclocking – the NX6800GT is only on the level of the RADEON X800 XL. At its default frequencies the MSI card is the slowest in this test.

The Research map is the opposite of Pier. There are no open vistas here but only caves. The scene is geometrically difficult and is made even more complex through the use of per-pixel lighting. The Shader Model 3.0 mode is at its highest efficiency here, so the GeForce6 cards look more confident than on the Pier map. Particularly, the overclocked MSI NX6800GT is abreast to the high-frequency monster RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition. Well, even working at its default frequencies the MSI card is no more than 8-12% behind the RADEON X850 XT.

Graphics cards from the GeForce6 series don’t give up the fight even after we enable full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. The MSI NX6800GT successfully contends with the RADEON X800 XL despite the lower GPU frequency.