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CodeCreatures:::...
Built
around the DirectX 8.1 API, CodeCreatures remains a genuinely
taxing benchmark that makes use of both vertex and pixel
shaders. This isn't a new benchmark but it remains a burden
to even modern hardware and is less likely to have been
given any particular driver attention.
You
may recall my celebrations at finally having a graphics
card capable of at least 30fps in all resolutions when I
tested the GeForce 6800XT a short time ago. Well, the great
news is that the X800 Pro manages the same thing, and while
its frame rates are a touch lower they're still impressive.
Compare them to last year's top dog, the 5900XT and then
remind yourself we're looking at a single-slot. single-power-fed,
12-pipe R300 derrivative and it's almost impossible not
to be impressed.
Tomb
Raider Angel of Darkness:::...
Tomb
Raider Angel of darkness was, in my view, a lousy game but
a great benchmark As one of the first DirectX9.0 games available
it gave us a chance to see how hardware was coping with
the demands of the next generation of gaming.
We
use two different timedemos created in-house so these results
aren't comparable with results you may see on other sites.
I created these timedemos, based on the Prague and Paris
levels, for TrustedReviews and you can read more about them
in the short article I wrote HERE.
Again,
I can supply these timedemos if you want them. They're not
master classes in gaming but they weren't meant to be. There
are lots of pauses to give us opportunites for screenshots
along with unusual jumps and aimless wandering all performed
with a purpose so that certain elements of the background
quality can be examined. They may seem random but there
was a purpose and they are perfectly good for framerate
benchmarking.
No,
I didn't get the results the wrong way around. We can see
that the X800 suffers slightly running the fillrate intensive
Prague timedemo and excels in the less demanding Paris timedemo,
no doubt a reflection of its pipeline handicap.
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