From WSGFWiki

Introduction

I wanted to share some data to update my original Widescreen and Surround Benchmarking Suite, and the Core i7 and 9800GX2 Benchmarks I just posted.

You can hit the original article to see my original system specs, but it was a Core2Duo E6700, GeForce 9800 GX2 and 4GB of RAM. One unique thing to note is that my old E6700 and i7 920 both ran at 2.67GHz. I've just completed my GFX upgrade, and my rig now stands at a Core i7 920 and a GTX 295.

My new rig currently stands at:

• BFG GTX 295
• EVGA X58 Tri-SLI Motherboard
• Intel i7 920 at 4x2.67GHz
• 6GB G.Skill DDR3 RAM
• 2x Samsung 320GB T-Series HDD (one for the OS and games; one for swap file and FRAPS)
• LG Super Multi Blu (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Player)
• Onboard audio
• Corsair HX1000
• Antec Skeleton
• Dell 3007WFP
• Matrox Digital TripleHead2Go
• 3x Dell SP2008WFP
• Logitch G15 Keyboard & G5 Mouse

The Benchmarks

Round One

I cut back on the games to bench. More than ever, time is of the essence in my life. So, I cut out a few of the games, as follows:

• Company of Heroes - Built in benchmarking tool is crap. It is an anamorphic 16:10 rendered movie, with a 60fps cap
• Bioshock - In the end I felt my original run wasn't accurate for all the time in the bathysphere (with its narrow FOV). It was also a manual run that took a fair amount of time. I could have cut it down to the "active" running part through the water and first lighthouse. But, that would have meant I couldn't compare the scores
• Oblivion - Overall disappointment the first time around. The run was super long (6 minutes). The game is pretty, but I still hate the wolves. It has a 60fps cap, and even on the lowest setting still hiccups in the same places.

Benchmark of the Graphics Stress Test in Half Life 2: Lost Coast

Benchmark of the Graphics Stress Test in World in Conflict

Benchmark of a set path by the Hunting Lodge near Argent

Benchmark of a set path outside the Melody Hills

Round Two

Starting with the Core i7 benchmarks, I also added a few games into the mix. Some of my old benchmarks were getting long in the tooth (Half Life 2 Lost Coast), and I was tired of having to actually make the run (LOTRO and Overlord. I would rather have benchmarks I can set up and let them go. Thanks to Hardware OC, I picked up benchmarking tools for Half Life 2 Episode 2, Crysis Warhear and Far Cry 2.

Benchmark of HOC Benchmark #2 in Half Life 2 Episode 2

Benchmark of the Ranch Medium demo from Far Cry 2

Benchmark of HOC "Frost" Demo in Warhead Crysis: High Settings

Benchmark of HOC "Frost" Demo in Warhead Crysis: Med Settings w/ 4xAA/16xAF

The Effect of Aspect Ratio on FPS

In many cases, wider FOV still played a larger role that raw pixels. TH2Go resolutions had a lower performance than widescreen resolutions with similar total pixel counts. And, like before 1920x480, 2400x600 and 3072x768 had similar performance; and 3840x1024 was often in line as well. The good news is that 4320x900 (3x1440x900) often had similar performance to 3840x1024 or 2560x1600, or both. But, 5040x1050 (3x1680x1050) had serious impacts on performance. But with 5.3M pixels, it well should.

Here is a table that outlines the Aspect Ratios covered in my testing:

Trend line of total pixels in a given resolution.

Conclusions

Summary of the total average pixels rendered

Comparison of the total average pixels rendered

Quick conclusion - the GTX 295 does wonders for a number of titles, as well it should. The 9800GX2 (or most any GTX 200 series) should be good enough to play whatever you want in TripleHead and Wide TripleHead. I'd like to get a pair of GTX 285s to test, before I make a final recommendation. But you don't need to mortgage the farm to game at 5040x1050. You just may not be able to do it at max settings.

Honestly, I don't get the need to run Crysis at high settings. I guess it's bragging rights. I certainly don't understand the need to drop hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on GFX cards (and probably a new power supply) when Medium with 4x/16x looks and plays great.

• HL2: Lost Coast is averaging 200fps across the board, even pulling 180+ at 5040x1050. Time to retire this one.
• World in Conflict now hits the 50s (and the magical 60 at all but 5040x01050). The GTX 295 didn't do much for anything under 1920x1200.
• LOTRO: In looking at my settings, I'm not sure I ran the i7-9800GX2 benchmarks with 4xAA, so take that line with a grain of salt. But, the GTX 295 benchmark line is solid. Bottom line is that you don't need a top-end system to play this gorgeous game - even at 5.3MP.
• Overlord does not like the GTX 295. Not sure why, but scores fell.
• Crysis Warhead is unplayable on High with a 9800GX2. I couldn't get the game to load the test level on the 9800GX2 with any AA, so I left it turned off for consistency. It does hit 30fps on Medium with 4xAA/16xAF - and still looks damn good. The GTX 295 brings the High scores up to 30fps at full Wide Surround. Medium is 60fps or greater at all but 5040x1050 (where it is still almost 50fps).
• Far Cry 2: The "Optimal" settings that the game chose under the 9800GX2 were right between "Very High" and "Ultra." Funny that when I made the same selection under the GTX, it put everything as low. I guess it doesn't recognize the GTX 295. The game runs fine at these settings under both the 9800 GX2 and the GTX 295. Drop it down to "Very High" and the game screams. If Far Cry 2 is your game, you can play it at 5040x1050 without breaking the bank.

What's Next?

Forum members interested in TH and WTH are always asking what hardware they need to game effectively. Hopefully this will start to answer that question. I would like to get a pair of GTX 285s to try them solo an SLI. You might get damn good results for $100 less than the GTX, and the extra memory and bandwidth will certainly help at the top resolutions. I will now be writing up my full review of the new Widemodes on the TripleHead2Go, and capturing comparison videos from the benchmarking.

I'd still like to find a good racing or flight sim game as well. So, if anyone has any suggestions let me know. Finally, I'd like to run new games through this round of testing when they launch.

Racer_S has gotten Mirror's Edge to run in TH and WTH. I'll be picking that up to see how it runs, and how it handles the GTX 295 with and without PhysX.