So we are at the start of another holiday season. Sites around the web are soon to release their shopping guides of what the average geek hopes to receive this year. And what a choice we will have this season. The i7 has hit, X58 is out and on the table, both nVidia and ATi have great GPU offerings, and to top it all off there are a ton of new game releases. We thought we would take a look at Six of these new game titles and see what kind of performance you can expect from both ATi and Nvidia on the new i7 – X58 platform. We will try to find the sweet spot in terms of performance that won’t drain your wallet dry.
Product: Holiday Game Release GPU Price/Performance
Author: Sean Kalinich
Reviewed on: November 16th 2008
Product cost: See Below
Manufacturer: XFX, ATi, eVGA
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64 Staff
{mospagebreak title=The Contestants}
The contestants:
Budget Enthusiast Gamer Category:
The two entrants here can be found around the web for around $300. While $300 is not normally what would be considered “budget” they are well under the price level of the next rung of performance ($400-500 for the 4850 X2 and GTX 280 class). Our two competitors are:
XFX Black Edition GTX 260 (216 Cores) 896MB DDR3 (666MHz Core 2300MHz Memory 15% OC)
Average Price: $329.99 for the Overclocked XFX edition, $229.99 for Stock.
ATi HD4870 1GB (Reference Card – Overclocked to 868 Core 1035 Memory)
Average Price: $289.99
Mainstream Gamer:
This category is for the average gamer not looking to break the bank but wanting good performance at a great price.
EVGA 9800GTX + 512MB
Average Cost: $129.99
GIGABYTE GV-R485-512H-B ATi 4850 512MB
Average Cost: $149.99
Our contest here is more of a stock Vs stock contest as neither card is overclocked in any way.
Now I know that someone will say I am running an overclocked nVidia card against a reference HD 4870, but at the time of writing it was what I had on hand. I although I could not match the 15% OC (stock clock is 750MHz and max is 790MHz on the sample I have)I did bump the stock speed up to 780MHz OC on the Core and the 1095MHz OC on memory. This is not, strictly speaking, an apples to apples comparison at this point. But does serve as a reference on how each card at the same overclock performs running the same tests.
{mospagebreak title=The XFX Black Edition GTX 260}
XFX Black Edition GTX 260:
XFX Black Edition GTX 260 (216 Cores) 896MB DDR3 (666MHz Core/ 2300MHz Memory – 15% OC)
A word on this card, XFX’s Black Edition GTX 260 is a nice little piece of hardware. From the factory Overclocked GPU Core and Memory to the accessories they put in the box.
The box that XFX put around the Black Edition GTX 260 is an eye catcher.
Inside the box are a few goodies and even a special offer:
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The Website for the Dark Side special offer was not working at the time of writing but XFX has assured me it will be up very soon
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The card itself follows the same pattern as the rest of the GTX line with the stepped hard plastic cooler and cover for the back side of the PCB.
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{mospagebreak title=Performance Part I}
The Games:
Call of Duty World at War:
The fifth installment in the Call of Duty series takes you back to World War II and puts you in some of the most intense and extreme battles of the war. This game has great graphics and intense combat. As with all of the Call of Duty games features the massive “Bar-Fight” AI we have come to love. The Solo game is a little too short but Co-Op and online play are great fun. For testing I ran through the first full battle with Private Miller on Makin Atoll. Game settings and image quality links are below.
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For your Call of Duty World At War gaming it looks like the overclocked HD 4870 1GB is the clear winner. In the Budget Enthusiast gamer category while the 9800GTX+ passes evens the GTX 260 for 2nd place.
Dead Space:
Dead Space is a horror themed game that is more on the gory side of horror than the thriller side. Set in a dead mining ship, you take the role of an engineer sent to fix a communications problem. It becomes very apparent that there is more wrong with the ship than just communications as you fight for your life against grotesque and viscous monsters. Dead Space scores some good points with its highly detailed graphics and great HDR and Bloom effects, however there are problems with mouse movement that require you to set mouse sensitivity to max. The Third Person view also tends to detract from the game as there are many times (in small confined spaces) that your visibility is too limited. For testing I ran through the “New Arrivals” Level. Game settings and image quality links are below.
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Here we have a different turn of events as the GTX 260 out runs all of the other by over 38 FPS.
The HD8450 trails in last place here.
FarCry 2:
Nothing beats a good sequel in the gaming world, you get the players of the first game and have the chance for new players of the sequel to go back and buy the first. FarCry2 is that type of game. It has an immersive world that Crytek claims is all one single massive level. That makes the game playable on a new scale. Graphics are well done with a hint over cartoonish characters (their movements are awkward and appear rubbery), combat is not the best as the game lacks a positional damage system; also the enemy AI is not very good. Often the bad guys will just rush you or stand there while you shoot them. For testing I ran the first handful of errands you are sent on (there are no real levels). Game settings and image quality links are below.
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FarCry2 – Bench |
FarCry2 – In Game |
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The GTX 260 is the winner here again while the HD4850 is once again in last place.
{mospagebreak title=Performance Part II}
FallOut 3:
FallOut 3 is not my type of game. Although it looks interesting I found it to be cumbersome, long winded and boring even in heavy combat. It reminds me of Oblivion. Graphically it is only so-so, back ground textures are very good but the third person modeling is not impressive. The models are very small in most settings (reminding me of real time strategy games and not a shooter) making aiming a pain. For testing I ran through DuPont Circle until I reached the tower. Game settings and image quality links are below.
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Here we see both nVidia cards out pacing the ATi GPUs.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky:
The Stalker series is a very popular series (although I am not sure why). Graphically is looks overexposed and grainy. The game play is dull with a lot of walking punctuated by very short combat sequences. Enemy AI is good (I actually had them sneaking up on me and circling around behind) so this does make the brief combat enjoyable and challenging. Game settings and image quality links are below.
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Stalker is a tight run race with the winners in each category leading by less than 1 FPS.
Left 4 Dead:
Nothing whiles away the mindless hours like killing a horde of mindless Zombies. Well if that is true for you then Left 4 Dead is right up your alley. You are one member in a group of survivors (of a zombie creating infection) that have banded together to … well to survive and kill zombies. Graphically the game is good and gives an overall feel of a horror movie (there is even a film grain adjustment). There are times when you are in pitch darkness and have to rely on your flashlight to see anything at all, this adds to the suspense of the game. Enemy AI is, yep you guessed it, zombie like. There are a few notable exceptions. The hunters are cunning and very fast; their AI takes full advantage of this as they jump around looking to hit you from behind. I ran through opening “level” of the game until you exit the subway. Game settings and image quality links are below.
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Here the GTX 260 takes the prize while the 9800GTX+ trails in last place.
{mospagebreak title=Value}
Value:
I am not sure how to rate the value here, considering only the mainstream gamer cards were stock (and therefore able to be priced properly) it is difficult to call a clear price/performance winner. The OC’d XFX GTX 260 is clearly the top dog; winning 4 out of the 6 games. However with a price tag over $300 that takes some wind out if its victory. Granted you do get quite a lot with this card and if you are looking for overclockability and some great extras this is the way to go. In the mainstream category the clear winner is the 9800GTX+.
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
This holiday season is going to have some interesting games out. They will need some decent power to keep the frames going, nVidia does have that power and the XFX Black Edition GTX 260 more than covers the bill. With the release of the 180.48 drivers we see even more performance pulled out of the 260 and its 216 cores. Both of the nVidian offerings in my testing were the performance leaders in the majority of the games I used. In the end you really won’t go wrong grabbing a GTX 260 (and the XFX Black Edition in particular) as the performance will cover the price.