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BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OCX

BFGTech's best single-GPU video card is with us today, ready to be put through its real world gaming paces. We compare it to the stock-clocked GTX 280 as well as ATI's best offering. We had some results that we did not expect and ones that might surprise you as well!

Crysis

(DirectX 10)

We are using the full version of Crysis. Crysis is a first person shooter that is set in 2019. What makes Crysis unique is the amazing destructible environment and the on the fly customizability of your character and your weapons. Then there is always the graphics quality that will bring even the top end video cards to their knees. We will be playing Crysis in the default APIs for our system, which launches automatically in DX10 mode with the 64-bit executable. We have applied the latest hotfix patch version 1.2.1 for Crysis.

As you progress through Crysis the game becomes more graphically demanding; first the scenic vistas, then the weather effects, and finally the final boss all lead your optimized playable settings of the first few levels to become unplayable. Our run-through in the graphs below involves 10 minutes of gameplay in “Assault_Crysis” the Harbor map. This map includes the transition from night to day, tons of explosions, particles, physics, AI interaction and water.

Note that in the graphs, we have lowered our redline to 25 FPS for Crysis. This game is demanding, and low framerates are impossible to avoid, gameplay is also different in this game to where 25 FPS and up feels very playable; very likely due to the efficient use of motion blur. Note that the down-spikes to 0 FPS in the graphs are due to the saved game points.

In Crysis, the overclock present on the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OCX proved a benefit over the reference clock speeds on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280. The extra horsepower allowed us to increase the Objects Quality setting from "Medium" to "High" while maintaining virtually identical framerates. However, it is difficult to say that the change made a difference in our gameplay experience. The difference between "Medium" and "High" Object Quality is mostly a difference in the geometric complexity of the meshes used by the game, and a change in the amount of distant foliage shown. In the end, the difference is minimal or trivial, depending on how hard you look. But in any case, running at 1920x1200 with 16X AF and with all in-game settings on "High" is a respectable achievement for a single-GPU setup.

Meanwhile, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 put in an impressive showing, considering its price range. At 1920x1200, we were able to run with 16X AF and "High" texture, shaders, physics, and water quality settings, and the rest of the in-game settings at Medium.

Image Quality

The following linked images are 956 KB and 628 KB in size, respectively.

The thing to notice in the above image is somewhat of a curiosity. The image is almost identical from top to bottom, except for a discrepancy around the electrical junction box in the adjoining room. On the bottom half, rendered by the ATI Radeon HD 4870 you can see electrical wires running into the box from the floor and the wall, similar to the wires on the wall on the right hand side of the image. But on the top half, rendered with higher settings on the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OCX, the wires running to the junction box are missing. We tested this scenario multiple times, and the behavior persisted on both the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OCX and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280.

The above comparison shows the difference between "Medium" and "High" volumetric effects. On the left side, shown by the BFGTech GeForce GTX 280 OCX with the Volumetric Effects option at "High", you can clearly see waves in the water. But on the right side, with the Volumetric Effects option at "Medium" on the Radeon HD 4870, the waves are missing. In a still shot it is noticeable, and it is a very nice effect to see in motion. Regardless of its subjective merits as a piece of entertainment, the attention to detail in Crysis is second to none.