Quake 4

This will be the last time we will be using Quake 4 for a benchmark.  Its in game cap of 60fps gets tapped almost the entire time as it just isn't graphically challenging enough for the latest generation of cards.  With the 60fps lock we need to be looking for dips in the numbers where the VGA card starts panting.

Minimum X1950XT - 37  /  Minimum HD2900XT - 41
Maximum X1950XT - 63  /  Maximum HD2900XT - 62
Average X1950XT - 59  /  Average HD2900XT - 59

Flipping on 4xFSAA, let's take another look.

Minimum X1950XT - 25  /  Minimum HD2900XT - 26
Maximum X1950XT - 62  /  Maximum HD2900XT - 63
Average X1950XT - 54  /  Average HD2900XT - 59

While the graph looks to show a huge performance difference, the final average frames per second shows this to not be as much.  As far as image quality and game play goes, I couldn't tell the end product of one from the other.

STALKER

My new favorite game is STALKER and it is a system buster when in 'full dynamic lighting mode' with 'grass shadows' turned on.  All other settings were maxed out with the exception of FSAA which was turned off in the first run.  Screen resolution as a reminder throughout is 1600x1200.

Minimum X1950XT - 12  /  Minimum HD2900XT - 25
Maximum X1950XT - 40  /  Maximum HD2900XT - 54
Average X1950XT - 23  /  Average HD2900XT - 36

As I said; a system buster.  With the exception of the first few frames, gameplay with the HD2900XT was quite smooth as opposed to the X1950XT with all of the game settings turned on and up just couldn't handle it to make for a pleasurable experience.

Maxing out FSAA with STALKER ended up being quite time consuming.  As you will see from the graph and chart below, we didn't see any difference with the eye candy maxed.  I'm attributing this to an as yet to be discovered oversight on my part.  However, with as much time as I put in here, I would be remiss in picking and choosing what I did and did not put in this review.  With us you get it all... even the stuff we can't understand as embarrassing as that may be.

Minimum X1950XT - 13  /  Minimum HD2900XT - 24
Maximum X1950XT - 40  /  Maximum HD2900XT - 57
Average X1950XT - 24  /  Average HD2900XT - 36
 

BACK                    NEXT

Pg 1 - Introduction
Pg 2 - The Card
Pg 3 - The Card / Test Bed
Pg 4 - NFS: Carbon / NFS: MW
Pg 5 - Quake 4 / STALKER
Pg 6 - Image Quality / Conclusion