Far Cry 2 Dissected: Massive Amounts of Performance Data
by Derek Wilson on November 21, 2008 5:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Testing with RanchSmall
Our first test is with the built in RanchSmall demo. We did not run this as a timedemo. Again, this means that the camera follows a fixed path for a fixed amount of time and the game renders frames as fast as it can simulating game play. As for settings, we ran in DX10 mode with Ultra High quality and no antialiasing. AI was disabled, and we ran each test 3 times (the default). All driver options were left on their default settings except that we use centered timing for the display so that we can tell by looking at it what resolution is running.
The built in RanchSmall test is the one NVIDIA recommended we test with (AMD didn't recommend a particular test to us). We chose this test because it's the shortest built in demo and we wanted to acquire lots of data.
Generally, the GeForce GTX 280 leads the way followed by the Radeon HD 4870 1GB which performs essentially on par with the two GTX 260 parts. The 512MB variant of the 4870 suffers heavily from its limited framebuffer falling behind the two NVIDIA GTX 260 cards. The 4850 leads the 9800 GTX where it counts, and sometimes the 4830 is good competition for it as well. The 9800 GT comes in ahead of the 4670, which essentially performs on par with the 9600 GT.
With these settings running this test, everything from the Radeon HD 4670 / GeForce 9600 GT and up is playable at 1280x1024. The lower end hardware we tested doesn't post playable scores even at 1024x768, so less than Ultra High quality would be recommended for those parts. Dropping into DX9 mode would definitely make playability possible, while dropping back to Very High Quality DX10 might not provide enough of a boost.
SLI with the GT200 based parts shows very good scaling with at least a 75% improvement in framerate. We can't compare this to CrossFire at this point because of driver level consistency and performance issues. Without AA, GT200 SLI isn't taxed at all.
The cheapest playable card at 1024x768 with these settings is the Radeon HD 4670.
The cheapest playable card at 1280x1024 with these settings is the Radeon HD 4670.
The cheapest playable card at 1680x1050 with these settings is the GeForce 9800 GT.
The cheapest playable card at 1920x1200 with these settings is the Radeon HD 4830.
The cheapest playable card at 2560x1600 with these settings is the GeForce GTX 260.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
78 Comments
View All Comments
toyota - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
I have a GTX260 with 180.48 drivers and it stutters in the benchmark and in the game. theres a little hitch even while walking around like in STALKER but not as severe. my 4670 stuttered much less in the benchmark and basically zero in the game so this is NOT an ATI only issue.Goty - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
You really can't blame AMD for having issues with the 8.10 drivers, they probably weren't given access to the game until very shortly before it was released (if at all) as a result of it being a part of the TWIMTBP program. If you consider the fact that work on the 8.11s probably began sometime a month or so before, too, there's even reason for issues there. Watch the 8.12s come out and AMD jump ahead significantly in performance (not that anyone will care by then, though).Genx87 - Monday, November 24, 2008 - link
The beta testers for the game manufacturer have access to the cards and drivers. ATI knew about this well before the release of the game.ashegam - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
why is there so little difference between the 192 260 and the 216 260?I swear I've seen reviews that put that card a good 10-20% above it's older counterpart.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, November 22, 2008 - link
A good 10-20%? I very much doubt that, given that stock original GTX260's and the Core 216 later versions differ only in having 9 instead of 8 shader banks, and the equivalent increase in texture units.Under ideal conditions, that would result in a 12.5% performance increase, but in practice is likely to be little more than 5% or so as many other factors affect performance. Anything above 12.5% improvement with a Core 216 would only be possible with a driver tweak which favoured it, or unless the Core 216 was overclocked. An improvement of 5% or so over the original GTX260 is what you should expect.
CEO Ballmer - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
It does not work on Macs!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
CrystalBay - Sunday, November 23, 2008 - link
Yeah, I Hate It, Ubisoft should be banned to making chess games for Macs.Anyhow Firing Squad backs up Dereks benches , pretty much ...
chizow - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
Seems to be missing, platform used, drivers used etc. I'm guessing the 180.48s weren't used, as those results seem to be off for NV parts. If they weren't, that distinction should probably be made.phatmhatg - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
nice article. very well supported.im still going with the 260 192 though.
its just about as good as the 4870 1gb. what, im losing fewer than 10fps at 19x12?
its about 60-75 cheaper. i got my 260 for 214 after rebate. free shipping.
and heres the funny part - it came with far cry 2. so i save about 50 going with the 260 over the 4870 1gb AND i save another 50 by getting the game with it. thats 100 in savings. again - for about max 10fps less?
lastly - driver issues. i dont JUST play farcry2. i play other games. just seems - and maybe im wrong and maybe things will change - that nvidia either avoids problems with games and/or fixes them better/more quickly than amd does. i dont want to have to wait or mess with things to get my game working. i want it working when i install it.
so there are 4 good reasons to go with the 260 - cheaper, get game with card, not much slower at all, and better drivers in other games.
kr7400 - Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - link
Can you please fucking die? Preferably by getting crushed to death in a garbage compactor, by getting your face cut to ribbons with a pocketknife, your head cracked open with a baseball bat, your stomach sliced open and your entrails spilled out, and your eyeballs ripped out of their sockets. *beep* bitch
Shut the *beep* up f aggot, before you get your face bashed in and cut to ribbons, and your throat slit.