Benchmarks: Splinter Cell & 720p HDTV tests
Final benchmark page, then, with SC:CT results followed by 720p numbers for all games.
GeCube X1300
We've got the added excitement of HDR and non-HDR benchmarks for Splinter Cell, let's start without...
The X1300 Pro clearly has a massive performance advantage over the plain X1300, the 7300 GS also proving to be much more capable.
The gap closes slightly at a higher resolution, but the GeCube X1300 remains the slowest.
Now let's light the fire and turn on HDR.
Whoops, the low-end cards didn't like that too much. The same performance distribution can be seen, just with lower average FPS figures from all cards.
...Ouch!
GeCube X1600
No surprise here to see the order of results. Looking at it practically, all the cards are struggling with this game at these settings. The HIS X1600 Pro might manage, but it's subjective; some users might find it too choppy.
The performance change for the second test run is similar in nature to what we saw with Quake 4. Point of View's 7600 GS takes the lead now, however.
HDR doesn't impact the cards that much at this resolution, in fact the 7600 GS seems quite content. That said, framerates weren't too great to start with, so they remain as such.
Finally, the 1600x1200 with HDR there are two tiebreakers taking place, PoV 7600 GS and HIS X1600 Turbo at the top, Sapphire and GeCube X1600s at the bottom
720p tests
As stated on the very first page of this review, given the connectivity of the cards on test today, we thought it prudent to get an idea of how they perform at HDTV resolutions. So, if you fancy a bit of gaming on that new LCD in the living room, what kind of FPS will these cards give you?
Remember that the performance difference between the cards isn't solely down to them, because the test systems are different. Still, we can see the X1300 doesn't get above the playable performance threshold of 25-30fps in Far Cry or SC:CT. The X1600 makes a better effort, but there's not a lot of headroom... next generation games surely won't play smoothly at this resolution. Also note the X1600 will provide better IQ at the recorded avg. FPS by virtue of AA and AF being enabled.
