NVIDIA's SLI Pt. 4: CPU selection

Far Cry

Publisher: Ubisoft


Far Cry is the only title in our selection that uses the highly publicised Split Frame Rendering SLI mode. Split Frame Rendering is generally a very video card bound method of rendering the scene in SLI, however, we see a linear pattern in the results. We found that we did not have to lower the detail settings, meaning that it is possible to achieve the same game play experience on both a mainstream and bleeding edge CPU. This proves that Far Cry's in-game graphics settings are not massively determined by CPU power.

However, we did see slightly lower average and minimum frame rates on the mainstream ~3100+, but not to an extent where our game play was affected massively. We still averaged close to 60 frames per second at 1600x1200 2xAA 8xAF with Maximum quality, and our minimum frame rate was still in the mid-high 20's. Obviously, the faster the CPU, the smoother our gaming experience was, but you have to ask whether the extra money is worth it in a title like Far Cry?

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Publisher: VU Games

As we have mentioned twice already in our coverage of NVIDIA's SLI, The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay does not have SLI support at present, meaning that currently, the title does not benefit from adding a second video card in to the fold. Thus, our results for GeForce 6800 GT SLI are actually the same as a single GeForce 6800 GT, as there is no performance loss or gain due to the driver forcing the title to use a single video card.

Much like with Doom 3, we saw no performance deficit from using a slower CPU, and we saw an identical gaming experience on our pseudo Athlon 64 3100+, 3700+ and FX-55 processors. The minimum frame rate did not drop, and we saw a mere 0.2 frames per second drop in our average frame rate, which was quite outstanding to see. A CPU that would cost less than £150 performed as well as AMD's top-of-the-line Athlon 64 FX-55, which costs a massive £560 here in the UK.