X-bit labs

A Lil’ Bit: A Little Faster ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 – MSI R3870X2-T2D1G OC Review (page 12)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko

[ 04/30/2008 | 11:04 PM ]

Performance in RPG

Hellgate: London

CrossFire activation problems do not let MSI solution reveal its full potential in this test. Despite numerous shaders in Hellgate: London game, driver related issues do not allow MSI R3870X2-T2D1G OC to show decent performance.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The game loses much of its visual appeal without HDR. Although some gamers argue that point, we think TES IV looks best with enabled FP HDR and test it in this mode.

The game reacted positively to the additional megahertz of GPU frequency on the MSI card. Its advantage is especially conspicuous at 1920x1200. The MSI has a lower minimum of speed than Nvidia’s solutions, but this is not a problem since the frame rate is never lower than 44fps.

The overall picture doesn’t change much in the more demanding open scenes of the game. Although CrossFire doesn’t show its maximum efficiency here, the MSI card delivers comfortable performance. The pre-overclocked frequencies don’t provide a noticeable effect here.