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NV40, in comparison, sports no less than 222 million transistors on IBM's 130nm process. The graphics processor wields 16 pixel-pipelines and a 256-bit memory bus populated by GDDR-3 memory modules.
80% Rating: 
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Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra |
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Benchmarks: Comanche 4, X2: The Threat
The
Comanche 4 benchmark demo is a unique benchmark as it represents a real-world
gaming experience. It contains the single player "Eagle's Talon" mission from
the game as well as a detailed cinematic. This DirectX 8.1 benchmark demo will
measure your system's performance in the standard frames per second format. The
benchmark was run with audio disabled.
The
second flight simulator in our test suite, Comanche 4, shows how well the
GeForce 6800 Ultra handles the graphics load, all the way up to 1600x1200.
Unlike IL2, though, Comanche 4 is very clearly limited by the performance of our
Athlon 64 3400+ processor, which is why you see very linear benchmark results,
despite the resolution increase.
Even with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering
enabled the GeForce 6800 Ultra barely breaks a sweat. The Radeon X800 XT tells a
similar tale, even passing the GeForce 6800 at 1600x1200 by about 2 FPS. The
nVidia's GeForce FX 5950 Ultra does pretty well until 1280x1024, where it starts
to lose some steam. The older Radeon 9800 XT is really showing its age at
1600x1200.
A
completely rewritten 3D engine based on DirectX8 encompasses many visual effects
such as volumetric Nebulae (gas clouds) that have a real impact in the game (you
can hide in them), many new engine, shield, weapon and explosion effects.
Objects cast real dynamic 3D shadows! Dynamic DP3 bump mapping allows a
previously unseen level of detail. Bump mapping and shadows enabled for the
tests.
X2: The
Threat is a follow up to Enlight's X Beyond the Frontier that doesn't use any
shading technologies, yet still features an impressive graphics engine. Though
technology demos themselves are a bit self-serving, the X2 demo is based on an
actual game that is currently shipping, and therefore should be representative
of an in-game experience.
Despite
its best efforts, the GeForce 6800 Ultra isn't able to catch up to ATI's RADEON
X800 XT, though it manages to keep the difference within 2-3 FPS. The aging
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra has no problem trouncing the RADEON 9800 XT.
In a quick role reversal, nVidia's flagship GeForce 6800
Ultra videocard takes the lead when 4xAA and 8xAF are turned on, followed
closely by ATI's most recent release. The nVidia Geforce 5950 Ultra maintains
the lead it established previously, unaffected by the addition of anti-aliasing
and anisotropic filtering. The Radeon 9800XT really shows its age, coming in at
the very bottom with just 24.8 FPS at 1600x1200.
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Comanche 4 Demo
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