HEXUS.bang4buck
| Graphics cards | GeCube HD 2600XT X2 1024MiB DDR2 | Sapphire HD 2600XT X2 1024MiB GDDR3 | GeCube Radeon RV630XT X-Turbo2 256MiB GDDR4 | XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX 256MiB GDDR3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual aggregate marks at 1280x1024 4xAA 8xAF | 164.48 | 220.59 | 119.27 | 169.26 |
| Aggregate marks, normalised*, at 1280x1024 | 143.83 | 195.15 | 88.91 | 157.51 |
| Current price | £125 | £130 | £80 | £80 |
| HEXUS.bang4buck score | 1.15 | 1.5 | 1.11 | 1.97 |
| Acceptable frame rate (av. 60fps) at 1280 x 1024 4x AA 8x AF | No | No | No | No |
* The normalisation refers to taking playable frame rate into account. Should a card benchmark at over 60 frames per second in any one game, the extra fps count as half. Similarly, should a card benchmark lower, say at 40fps, we deduct half the difference from its average frame rate and the desired 60fps, giving it a bang4buck score of 30 marks. The minimum frame rate, then, can be 20fps, as that will score 0.
As an example, should a card score 120fps we treat it as 90fps (120 - (120-60)/2) as only half the frame rate above 60fps is counted for the bang4buck. Similarly, should it score 30fps, we count it as only 15fps (30 + (30-60)/2).
The reasoning behind such calculation lies with playable frame rates.
Should card A score 110fps in a benchmark and card B 160, then card B would normally receive an extra 50 marks in our bang4buck assessment, even though both cards produce perfectly playable frame rates and anything above 60fps is a bonus and not a necessity for most.
However, the bang4buck total would be identical if in another benchmark card A scored a smooth 70fps and card B an unplayable 20fps, as both aggregate to 180 marks, yet the games-playing experience would be vastly different.
But you would, on balance, say that card A was better because it ran smoothly in both games - and in our revised aggregation, card A would receive 150 marks (85 + 65) and card B 100 (100 + 0).
In effect, we're including a desired average frame rate, in this case 60, and penalising lower performance while giving frame rates higher than 60fps only half as much credit as those up to 60fps. If this doesn't make sense or you have issue with it, please hit the HEXUS community.
The HEXUS.bang4buck simply divides normalised marks by price, giving you a rough-and-ready metric with value factored in. 2D benefits aren't covered, naturally.
The ATI-based cards are hamstrung by their relatively poor performance in Far Cry, leading to lower-than-expected scores.
