Video cards

FarCry Performance

FarCry is a hot first-person shooter that takes in-game graphics to the next level, although in a different direction than DOOM 3. Instead of darkness and confined spaces, FarCry can place you outdoors, on bright sandy beaches, jungles or even on the water itself. This game gives our video cards a different kind of a stress test, and rest assured that FarCry ranks up there with the very toughest 3D game benchmarks. FarCry is an interesting benchmark, as it combines old school performance requirements with hot new features such as support for SM 3.0. For this test, we are using the full retail version updated to version 1.4, along with a new custom demo file.

The updated patches enable SM3.0 support for FarCry, and this makes it another good test of gaming feature sets and performance. We now see the Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB as the prime contender against the PNY GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, but none of these last-generation video cards can touch the GeForce 8800 series. The framerate advantage is not that significant, but these tests are at default 4:3 resolutions and with standard detail settings.

FarCry AA and AF Widescreen Performance

The PNY GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB starts to show off its potential speed once we move to widescreen gaming with 4X AA and 16X AF options enabled. The PNY card pushes well ahead of the competition, although again the Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB provides the closest score in FarCry benchmarking.

Supreme Commander Performance

Supreme Commander is a high-end real-time strategy game, similar to a next-gen Total Annihilation, which combines killer graphics with top-level AI. The in-game visuals are incredible, and when there are multiple armored mechs in the same area, it can take a real toll on even high-end system configurations. This makes it a great benchmark for our high-end graphic cards, and while the in-game benchmarking program offers several different performance ratings (including FPS), we prefer the overall Render score, which is more dependant on the graphics component.

The initial Supreme Commander Render benchmark scores do bear this out, and again the PNY GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB proves itself the top performer in its class. This time it's working hard against the GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB, and even at standard resolutions and details, the PNY GeForce 8800 GTS card has more than enough muscle to rule this area.

Supreme Commander AA and AF Widescreen Performance

Once the anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing settings are brought into play, the PNY GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB maintains and even expands its performance lead. Supreme Commander benchmarking at these extreme levels can really take its toll, as evidenced by the serious drop-off of the GeForce 7600 GT 256MB at 1920x1200.