![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , September 08, 2008
- Author:
- Mark Warner
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
XFX GeForce GTX 280 and 260 XXX Edition
The highest clocked GTX 280 and GTX 260 cards from XFX are evaluated. We’ll find out the highest playable gameplay settings in Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Age of Conan, and Race Driver: Grid. We highlight real-world gameplay differences between the XFX GTX 260 XXX and GTX 280 XXX Editions and find which is the best value.
Crysis
(DirectX 10)
We are using the full version of Crysis. 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 patch version 1.2 and 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.
Using the XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX, we were able to play Crysis at 1920x1200 with 16X AF and every in-game option set to High, but we had to leave AA disabled. For the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, we found similar settings to be playable. We had to set the Objects Quality setting down to Medium to get playable frame rates, but the resulting drop in detail was minimal and can be difficult to spot in motion.
The XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX outpaced the ATI Radeon HD 4870, allowing us to use slightly higher settings, and giving us higher frame rates as well. For the GTX 260 XXX, we had to set Objects, Volumetric and Game Effects, Post-processing Quality, and Particles Quality down to "Medium" in order to play at 1920x1200, but every other setting was playable on High, and we were able to keep 16X AF. With the Radeon HD 4870, we lowered the Shadow Quality and Motion Blur Quality down to medium to make Crysis playable.
Image Quality
The following images are in PNG format to prevent JPEG compression errors. The linked images are 1.29 MB, 1.38 MB, and 1.61 MB in size, respectively.
In the screenshot above, we can see the difference between High Objects Quality and Medium Objects Quality. As you can see, on the top half of the comparison (using the High option) there are quite a few more trees rendered on the center hill than on the bottom half of the comparison (using the Medium option). It's easy to find these things when you try, but during the course of playing the game, unless you are intimately familiar with any given area, you would be hard-pressed to notice that there are any missing trees.
This comparison shows a similar effect. On the top half, using the XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX with the Objects Quality option at High, there is a visible increase in the foliage shown on each tree. Additionally, on the bottom half, on the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 with the Objects Quality setting at Medium, there are some palm trees missing in the distance, just beyond the camp.
This last Crysis image quality comparison illustrates the difference between High Shadow Quality on the XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX and Medium Shadow Quality on the ATI Radeon HD 4870. Looking at the light that has penetrated the canopy and is shining on the corrugated steel, we can see that the edges of the shadows are sharper and clearer on the GeForce GTX 280 XXX than on the Radeon HD 4870. In addition, it appears as though the large boulder is not occluding the sun properly in the bottom half, since there is sun shining on the steel where it should be blocked.