EVGA’s GTX 550 Ti “free performance” evaluation
X3: Terran Conflict
X3:Terran Conflict (X3:TC) is another beautiful stand-alone benchmark that runs multiple tests and will really strain a lot of older video cards. X3:TC is a space trading and combat simulator from Egosoft and is the most recent of their X-series of computer games.
X3:TC is a standalone expansion of X3: Reunion, based in the same universe and on the same engine. It complements the story of previous games in the X-Universe and especially continues the events after the end of X3: Reunion. Compared to Reunion, Terran Conflict features a larger universe, more ships, and of course, new missions. The X-Universe is huge. The Terran faction was added with their own set of technology including powerful ships and stations. Many new weapons systems were developed for the expansion and it has generally received good reviews. It has a rather steep learning curve.
First we note the results at 2560×1600 with completely maxed out settings plus 8xAA:
The minimums are the same but the GTX 550 Ti beats the HD 5770 which in turn is solidly faster than the GTX 450. d
All of our video cards run close to each other in a fairly tight grouping. The GTX 550 Ti does its job and beats its rival the HD 5770 and cleans up over its replacement, the GTS 450. However, all of our video cards perform well and all of them experience similar minimum framerates and a similar playing experience. We also note no change in the minimums by overclocking although the GTX 550 Ti scales in the averages as expected.
I am just getting around to it but i must say very nice review apoppins! As always your vast selection of games and benchmarks is top notch. Its so complete. I know you used it a lot, but I wouldve liked to have seen 1680 x 1050 results for every game. You may have only skipped it when the 550ti was doing very well at 1920×1200 and thats fine. But i feel like 1680×1050 is intended for this card and although at times it can obviously do well at higher resolutions, the 1680×1050 should be the starting point in all the test.
Dont get me wrong, your review was great. I just think cards intended for a certain resolution often get reviewed in much higher resolutions which doesnt do them much justice. Your review does do the 550ti justice though, its very full and useful.
Thank-you!
Again, the reason for leaving 1680×1050 out came down to time. Or a lack of it.
I did try to compensate by finding settings that approached playability and I hope we can revisit the GTX 550 Ti in another article. I did some further testing of the GTX 550 Ti in the HD 6670/6570 launch article, in fact.
Galaxy is sponsoring our May contest – the prizes will include a GTX 550 Ti and a GTX 560 Ti.