![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , August 25, 2008
- Author:
- Mark Warner
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
ASUS ENGTX280 TOP
Prices continue to drop on GeForce GTX 280 video cards, and the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP is now priced very competitively; but is it a great value? We'll compare it to a stock GeForce GTX 280, a Radeon HD 4870 X2 and a Radeon HD 4870 in real-world gaming scenarios to find out!
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 the Harbor map “Assault_Crysis”. 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 extra power afforded by ASUS’s overclock on the ENGTX280 TOP allowed us to run at 1920x1200 with no AA and 16X AF, and with every in-game advanced graphics option set to High. The standard GeForce GTX 280 did not perform as well, forcing us to lower the Objects Quality setting to Medium in order to maintain a playable experience. The visible difference between High and Medium object quality is slight, to say the least.
The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 matched the performance of the stock NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280, allowing us to play at 1920x1200 with 16X AF, and all but one in-game setting set to High. We did have to set Object Quality to Medium, in order to find a smooth and consistently playable experience. The only issue we had with Crysis on the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 was one of consistency, which is an issue that we have long seen with CrossFire and SLI configurations, though it is a lot better than it use to be. We experienced very high peaks in framerates; higher in fact than any other video card we tested here. But we also experienced the same very low peaks that every other video card gave us. This left us with something of a "roller-coaster" feeling. Most of the game felt quite smooth, but the wild fluctuations between high and low framerates were sometimes jarring.
Using the ATI Radeon HD 4870, we were still able to play Crysis at 1920x1200 with 16X AF, but we had to set some in-game settings to Medium. We were thankfully able to leave the two most important settings (Texture Quality and Shader Quality) at High when playing at 1920x1200, so our gameplay experience did not suffer unduly for the lowered settings.
Image Quality
The following linked images are 1.23 MB and 1.49 MB in size, respectively.
In the above image, it may look at first like MSAA was enabled on the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP when we snapped the screenshot. That is not the case, however. The anti-aliasing effect visible on the top half of the image is the result of a full screen blur shader that Crysis applies when you visit the frozen parts of the jungle, and the power in your nano-suit begins to drain. This effect happens when you are playing the game with the Post-processing Quality setting at High. On the bottom half of the image, rendered with the Post-processing Quality setting at Medium on the ATI Radeon HD 4870, there is no full screen blur effect. In addition, there are small details, especially on the road, that are missing from the bottom half, due to the lower Objects Quality setting.
In this screenshot, you can see the difference between High Object Quality and Medium Object Quality. The difference is not tremendous, but it is there. Comparing the contents of the green rectangle in the top half and the bottom half of the image, there is clearly more foliage being shown when using the High Object Quality setting. A similar example can be found in the red rounded rectangle. Finally, in the yellow circle, there is more rock being rendered on the top half, using the High Object Quality setting, than on the bottom half, using the Medium Object Quality setting.
Of course, if you go around the game looking for things like this, you will find them. The big question is whether or not these subtle changes, when added up, have a noticeable effect on the gameplay experience. Of course the answer to that question will change with each gamer, but our feeling is that very small differences like this do not necessarily contribute, on their own, to a tangible improvement in the gameplay experience. Note: Since we found the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 to have the same highest playable settings in Crysis, you can expect to see the same image quality on both of them. While there can be slight differences produced by texture filtering algorithms, one cannot easily be said to be better than the other.