Crysis

Publisher: Electronic Arts

We tested the game using the 64-bit executable under and DirectX 9 with the 1.21 patch applied. We used a custom timedemo recorded on the Harbor map which is more representative of gameplay than the built-in benchmark that renders things much faster than you're going to experience in game.




The extra MHz on the 790GX or even the sideport memory don't really make a difference here, as both the standard 780G and 790GX perform within 0.2 FPS of each other on average. Compared to the Nvidia 780a solution though, both are several FPS faster in Crysis at low resolution and low detail.

Under Hybrid graphics condition though the Radeon HD 3450 and AMD 790GX pull out a nice, convincing lead of several FPS over the older 780G with HD 3450 and an impressive 43 percent performance increase over the Nvidia 780a and GeForce 8500 GT solution. ATI Hybrid CrossFire basically sees 100 percent scaling in Crysis under appropriate resolution and detail - that's almost unheard of in multi-GPU environments.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Publisher: Activision

Built on an updated version of id Software's Doom 3 engine, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a team-based first person shooter that recently obtained the title of being the first game to use John Carmack's megatexture technology: a single texture that spans the entire map.

ET:QW also makes use of many vehicles and large open areas which means the action in view can get really intensive in this team based shooter. It's also the only game in this suite that utilises OpenGL instead of the pretty much industry-standard DirectX API. We used the full retail version of the game patched to version 1.5.



ET:QW seems to take hold of the 128MB of cache and higher clock on the 790GX and really run with it. The engine is generally not as demanding as the other two games we test at low detail and resolution, and the 790GX seems to run with it, extending a large lead over the AMD 780G and Nvidia nForce 780a.

Likewise the ATI Hybrid Graphics of HD 3450 and 790GX create an impressive lead over the AMD 780G solution or Nvidia Hybrid graphics of 780a and GeForce 8500 GT. For the same cost, ATI is basically 78 percent faster than Nvidia here and scales almost perfectly.

World in Conflict

Publisher: Sierra

For our testing purposes, we used a full retail copy of the game and patched it to version 1.007, which includes a few fixes and some improved performance under DirectX 9.



Again like Crysis, there's very little difference with World in Conflict between the 790GX and 780G, despite the clock hike and 128MB sideport memory. Both again perform better than the nForce 780a on average, but all are matched in minimum frame rates.

However, like before it's when we get into hybrid graphics that things really come alive for the AMD 790GX and Radeon HD 3450 as it again pulls out a substantial lead average frame rate and several FPS increase in minimum FPS over the AMD 780G and same HD 3450. Again, both pretty much obliterate the Nvidia hybrid graphics solution - we're talking about the difference between quite stuttery and smooth with ample playable overhead between Nvidia and ATI for the same cost.