{"id":20306,"date":"2010-09-12T20:42:22","date_gmt":"2010-09-12T19:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20306"},"modified":"2010-09-20T02:28:31","modified_gmt":"2010-09-20T01:28:31","slug":"introducing-galaxys-gts-450-superoverclock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/introducing-galaxys-gts-450-superoverclock\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Galaxy&#8217;s GTS 450 SuperOverclock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n  google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We would like to introduce Nvidia&#8217;s &#8220;Sniper&#8221;.\u00a0 It is their midrange GTS 450 video card released today to directly compete with AMD&#8217;s HD 5750 at the $129 price point.  NVIDIA has finally released its long awaited GeForce GTS based on its new Fermi DX11 GF106 architecture, a reworking of the original Fermi GF100 which we covered in our reviews of the GTX 480, published <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=16475\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here,<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=16997\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=17869\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 Senior Editor BFG10K reviewed GTX 470 <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=17550\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=18180\">here <\/a>and Senior editor MrK covered GTX 465 <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=18715\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We are going to examine the performance of Galaxy&#8217;s GTS 450 SuperOverclock (SOC), one of two versions they are releasing today for gamers.\u00a0 We are going to benchmark 21 modern PC games to test the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC which is available from etailers for the suggested price of $149.00 as well as to evaluate the reference GTS 450 and SLI dual-video card performance versus HD 5750, HD 5870, GTX 480 and 8800 GTX.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GTS450-SOC.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20325\" title=\"GTS450-SOC\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GTS450-SOC.jpg?resize=480%2C335\" alt=\"GTS450-SOC\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GTS450-SOC.jpg?resize=480%2C335 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GTS450-SOC-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We also received the reference version of GTS 450 from Nvidia and we have been putting it through its paces for just over a week under NDA.\u00a0 These two cards both contain the same GPU, but Galaxy promises that they did not just slap a sticker over the reference version.\u00a0 Here they are side-by-side:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SidebySide-21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20470\" title=\"SidebySide-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SidebySide-21.jpg?resize=300%2C176\" alt=\"SidebySide-2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SidebySide-21.jpg?resize=300%2C176 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SidebySide-21.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There is quite a bit of difference between the reference version, the Galaxy GTS 450 SC, and the one that we are reviewing, the Galaxy GTS 450 SuperOverclock (SOC) version.\u00a0 In fact, the Galaxy SOC version sports .4ns memory \u2013 the fastest on the market &#8211; a 3+1 PWM digital power supply, a MOSFET heatsink and solid components from the company that designs and tests its own products. Take a look at the comparison chart:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/chart.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20397\" title=\"chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/chart.jpg?resize=350%2C348\" alt=\"chart\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/chart.jpg?resize=350%2C348 350w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/chart-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/chart-300x298.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Nvidia are months later than their rival AMD Graphics in bringing out the complete lineup of their DX11 video cards. Nvidia&#8217;s original intention was to launch GTX 480 with Windows 7. It was a very difficult  GPU to manufacture with over 3 billion transistors and 7.2 billion vias on a new 40 nm process at TSMC that had its own issues. To improve the yields, Nvidia cut down the GTX 480&#8217;s number of shaders from 512 to 480 so as to guarantee that there would be enough chips to supply a big demand when it finally launched as GTX 480 and GTX 470 to compete with HD 5870 and HD 5850 respectively.\u00a0 They call their top GTXes their &#8220;Tanks&#8221; referencing RTS\/RPG games and like a tank it uses quite a bit of power in contrast to the nearly silent GTS 450 &#8220;Sniper&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Introducing Nvidia&#8217;s <em>Sniper<\/em>, the GTS 450<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">After the GTX 470\/480, the third launch from Nvidia was GTX 465 to compete with HD 5830 and HD 5770 which we covered.\u00a0 Nvidia called it their &#8220;Hunter&#8221; class which later included the GTX 460.\u00a0 The top three cards each use quite a bit of power and it lead to Nvidia&#8217;s reworking of their GF100 GPU into GF104 and their most successful release to date with a trimmed down GTX 460 GPU that became quite power-efficient and very overclockable to go up against HD 5830.\u00a0 Here is how Nvidia lines up their competition:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Lineup.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20324\" title=\"Lineup\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Lineup.jpg?resize=400%2C197\" alt=\"Lineup\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Lineup.jpg?resize=400%2C197 400w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Lineup-300x147.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Well now it is time for Nvidia&#8217;s &#8220;sniper&#8221;, the GTS 450.\u00a0 Their &#8220;Tanks&#8221;, GTX 480\/470 are targeted at playing games at the highest resolutions and with maxed out details.\u00a0 On the other hand, both the Hunter and Sniper classes are targeted at 1920&#215;1080 and below resolutions, with high to maxed details.\u00a0 In all cases, multi-GPU scaling is supposed to be excellent and we will explore GTS 450 SLI in this review as well as looking at the performance impact of increasing anti-aliasing and\/or using PhyX.\u00a0 Here is the block diagram for GF106&#8217;s GTS 450 GPU:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GF106-Diagram.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20398\" title=\"GF106-Diagram\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GF106-Diagram.jpg?resize=450%2C325\" alt=\"GF106-Diagram\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GF106-Diagram.jpg?resize=450%2C325 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GF106-Diagram-300x216.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>To compare the GTS 450&#8217;s capabilities, we need to remember that the GTX 460 uses the GF104 GPU, which utilizes eight Streaming Multiprocessors (384 CUDA Cores and 64 Texture Units). The GTS 450 is based on GF106 which is basically a bit more than one-half of the GF104, with four SMUs (192 CUDA cores and 32 Texture Units with 384KB of L2 cache).\u00a0 Looking very closely we see a 192 CUDA core GPU with 3 sets of memory controllers (1 disabled) and ROPs, for a combined total of a 192-bit memory bus and 24 ROPs. However, this probably means that GTS 450 is more than half as fast as the GTX 460 as it is clocked at 783MHz, with its shaders operating at 1566 MHz. It uses 1GB of 128-bit GDDR5 at 902MHz and it is also an overclocking monster as the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC will demonstrate.<\/p>\n<h3>SLI and the midrange?<\/h3>\n<p>Normally, we would not expect a person buying a midrange card to consider SLI.\u00a0 Often a gamer will buy one card and perhaps later on, add a second one.\u00a0 However, there are recently more compelling reasons besides increased performance to consider GTS 450 SLI which includes being able to experience Nvidia&#8217;s multi-display 2D Surround.\u00a0 A pair of GTS 450s will only set you back about $260 and we want to see what kind of performance you will get by comparing them to our GTX 480 and the HD 5870 which are comparatively expensive cards and far outside the $260 price range.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SLI1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20468\" title=\"SLI\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SLI1.jpg?resize=300%2C167\" alt=\"SLI\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SLI1.jpg?resize=300%2C167 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SLI1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To properly bring you this review, we used our two GTS 450s and put them through their paces this week with the very latest performance drivers &#8211; GeForce 260.52.\u00a0 These drivers also promise quite a few innovations from Nvidia which feature using asynchronous SLI and a choice of custom or express installation of GeForce drivers.\u00a0 You will see us pit our reference design GTS 450 against the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC in 21 modern games and 2 synthetic benchmarks at 1440&#215;900, 1680&#215;1050 and 1920&#215;1080 resolutions. These are the resolutions that most gamers buying GTS 450 are likely to be using.\u00a0 Many gamers are discovering that their HDTVs at 1080 work very well for PC gaming.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We are also using GTS 450&#8217;s direct competitor, HD 5750, to compare performance.\u00a0 Since many gamers upgrade once every three years, many are still using their 9800 GTs, 8800 GTS and GTXes.\u00a0 We naturally want to see how a top card from that DX10 generation will fare, and we also included testing our 8800 GTX which did very well against midrange cards of the last generation.\u00a0 To round out our mix, we are going to compare the top cards of the current generation &#8211; GTX 480 ($499) and HD 5870 ($399) &#8211; against GTS 450 SLI ($260).\u00a0 For AMD Graphics cards we use the latest released WHQL Catalyst 10-8 (including Hotfix 10-8b specifically for <em>H.A.W.X.<\/em>).<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Is GTS 450 better than its rival, AMD&#8217;s HD 5750, at the $130 price point?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20469\" title=\"TheComp_5750XFX\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX2.jpg?resize=300%2C239\" alt=\"TheComp_5750XFX\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX2.jpg?resize=300%2C239 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This review will analyze and compare GTS 450 and HD 5750 performance and hopefully we can announce a performance winner. Keep in mind that AMD&#8217;s higher performing video card than our HD 5750 &#8211; the HD 5770, which is about 20 percent faster &#8211; can now be found for $139.\u00a0 We will also look at the details to see what this new Nvidia GTS brings to the table over its AMD counterpart and perhaps we can compare competing multi-display solutions, Eyefinity to Surround. We also believe that we have a good handle on how AMD is going to respond to Nvidia&#8217;s GTS 450 launch and we will share our analysis and insights with you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Widespread etail availability of the GeForce GTS 450 is happening this week.\u00a0 Our testing will also help to answer if it is practical to upgrade from 8800 GTX (9800GT, 9800GTX, 8800 GTS) to experience DX11 and tessellation.\u00a0 Since we do not want to worry about our CPU &#8220;bottlenecking&#8221; our graphics, we our testing all of our graphics cards with our Intel Core i7 920 at 3.20 GHz, 6 GB Kingston DDR3 and a Gigabyte X58 full 16x + 16x PCIe CrossFire\/SLI motherboard.  We believe that our platform will be representative of most modern CPUs (including Penryn or Phenom II) at 3.0 and above GHz.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Next page...\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>This Galaxy GTS 450 SOC has one of the most unique fan designs &#8211; a &#8220;flip-fan&#8221; that swings out or can be completely removed for cleaning.\u00a0 It is a great way to keep your overclock cool and it reminds us that Galaxy is constantly innovating ways to improve their design for us.\u00a0 We love it!\u00a0 Their PCIe connector is also in a sensible place &#8211; where you fingers are not forced to work in the most cramped part of the case as with the reference design.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20472\" title=\"FlipFan-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-2.jpg?resize=300%2C229\" alt=\"FlipFan-2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-2.jpg?resize=300%2C229 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Next page...\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>Before we do performance testing, let&#8217;s take a look at the company that makes the GTS 450 SOC:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/logo.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto\" title=\"logo\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/logo_thumb.jpg?resize=194%2C44\" border=\"0\" alt=\"logo\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">About Galaxy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Galaxy, established in 1994, is a Nvidia Add-in-Board (AIB) partner which manufactures products from the low-end GeForce 7200 series to the high-end GTX400 series. They manufacture products based on Nvidia\u2019s reference design as well as using their own in-house production facilities to manufacture graphic cards based on their own designs using high-end coolers from Arctic Cooling and others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Galaxy has shipped to the US for a long time as they built video cards for many of the tier 1 brands in the market today. They realized they could create a brand for themselves and save the end customer the middleman fees.  Two years ago they launched Galaxy in the US and their products are now available at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bestbuy.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.bestbuy.com', 'Best Buy']);\" >Best Buy<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microcenter.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.microcenter.com', 'Microcenter']);\" >Microcenter<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frys.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.frys.com', 'Fry\u2019s']);\" >Fry\u2019s<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dell.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.dell.com', 'Dell.com']);\" >Dell.com<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com', 'Newegg']);\" >Newegg<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tigerdirect.com\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.tigerdirect.com', 'TigerDirect']);\" >TigerDirect<\/a> and many other sites.  They have excellent quality and toll-free tech support with a 2 year transferable no-registration warranty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"font-size: large\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Hardware <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Intel Core i7 920 reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 3.2 GHz); Turbo is off. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Gigabyte <\/span>EX58-UD3R <span style=\"font-size: small\">(Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 18000 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at PC 1600 speeds; 2&#215;2 GB supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">GeForce GTS 450, 1 GB reference design (supplied by Nvidia under NDA)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Galaxy GTS 450 SOC, 1 GB overclocked\/flip-fan design (supplied by Galaxy under NDA)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GeForce GTX 480 (1.5 GB, reference version, supplied by Nvidia) <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">NVIDIA\u00a0 8800 GTX, reference design <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATI Radeon HD 5750 (1GB, reference clocks) by XFX<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Radeon HD 5870 (1GB, reference clocks) by Diamond<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Two identical 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Noctua UD CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Philips DVD SATA writer<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">HP LP3065 2560&#215;1600 thirty inch LCD\/SOYO 1920&#215;1200 twenty-four inch LCD\n<p><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">ATi Catalyst 10-8 (10.8b hotfix used for <em>H.A.W.X<\/em>); highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver, Catalyst AI set to \u201cStandard\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">NVIDIA GeForce 258.96 WHQL for 8800 GTX and 206.52 beta release drivers for GTS 450; High Quality<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">DirectX July 2010<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">vsync is off in the control panel and is never set in-game.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Varying AA enabled as noted in games and &#8220;forced&#8221; in Catalyst Control Center for<em> UT3<\/em> and <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em>; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX 11 render paths.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium\"> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vantage<\/li>\n<li><em>Call of Juarez<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>World in Conflict<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>X3:Terran Conflict<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Dirt 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Left4Dead<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Lost Planet<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>H.A.W.X.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Battleforge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Enemy Territory: Quake Wars<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F.E.A.R.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Call of Duty 4<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alien versus Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Serious Sam HD<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><strong>Vantage<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">Vantage is Futuremark\u2019s latest test. It is really useful for tracking changes in a<em> single <\/em>system \u2013 especially driver changes. There are two mini-game tests, <em>Jane Nash<\/em> and <em>Calico<\/em> and also two CPU tests, but we are still focusing on the graphics performance. Here is a scene from Vantage\u2019s second mini-game.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/3dmarkvantage-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"3DMarkVantage\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/3dmarkvantage_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"3DMarkVantage\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let\u2019s go right to the graphs and first check the basic tests with the default benchmark scores:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20326\" title=\"Vantage\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage.jpg?resize=450%2C467\" alt=\"Vantage\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage.jpg?resize=450%2C467 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage-289x300.jpg 289w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">We see an interesting lineup with the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC version gaining an lot of points from its overclock over the reference version. However, it is a meaningless test with meaningless numbers to compare one video card&#8217;s performance to another. However, the mini-games might show a bit more as they are actually benching framerates.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage-MG.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20327\" title=\"Vantage-MG\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage-MG.jpg?resize=482%2C500\" alt=\"Vantage-MG\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage-MG.jpg?resize=482%2C500 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Vantage-MG-289x300.jpg 289w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Let&#8217;s move on to PC games and to real world situations!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Vantage--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em><strong>Call of Juarez<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/coj_dx10-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"CoJ_DX10\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/coj_dx10_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"CoJ_DX10\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Call of Juarez<\/em> is one of the very earliest DX10 games. It is loosely based on Spaghetti Westerns that became popular in the early 1970s. Call of Juarez features its Chrome Engine using Shader Model 4 with DirectX 10. Our benchmark isn\u2019t built into Call of Juarez, but is an official stand-alone that is identical to the one that is built-into the game. It runs a simple flyby of a level that is created to showcase its DX10 effects. It offers good repeatability and it is a good stress test for DX10 features in graphics cards, although it is not quite the same as actual gameplay because the game logic and AI are stripped out of this demo.<\/p>\n<p>Performing <em>Call of Juarez<\/em> benchmark is easy. You are presented with a simple menu to choose resolution, anti-aliasing, and two choices of shadow quality options. We set the shadow quality on \u201chigh\u201d and the shadow map resolution to the maximum, 2048\u00d72048. At the end of the run, the demo presents you with the minimum, maximum, and average frame rate, along with the option to quit or run the benchmark again. We always ran the benchmark at least a second time and recorded that generally higher score.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em> <\/em>Here are <em>Call of Juarez<\/em> DX10 benchmark results beginning at 1440\u00d7900.\u00a0 Our method is different from our usual benching as we will start with the least demanding resolution and details and work up to more challenging work for our graphics cards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-142.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20399\" title=\"CoJ-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-142.jpg?resize=450%2C534\" alt=\"CoJ-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-142.jpg?resize=450%2C534 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-142-252x300.jpg 252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">This time the stock GTS 450 takes the lead over the HD 5750 and we notice a larger performance gap with the GTS 450 SOC. 2xAA takes a reasonable performance hit over not using it and the old 8800 GTX is clearly left in the dust by the newer video\u00a0 cards.\u00a0 Now on to 1650&#215;1080 resolution:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-161.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20347\" title=\"CoJ-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-161.jpg?resize=450%2C561\" alt=\"CoJ-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-161.jpg?resize=450%2C561 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-161-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">We see the same thing as with 1440&#215;900 except this time GTS 450 SLI stands out and gains some hefty performance in this older DX10 game.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s see how it does at a higher resolution plus 2xAA and compared with two powerful and expensive single-GPU cards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20343\" title=\"CoJ-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-19.jpg?resize=450%2C465\" alt=\"CoJ-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-19.jpg?resize=450%2C465 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoJ-19-290x300.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">At any rate, the GTX 480 is the clear winner over HD 5870, yet we see GTX 450 SLI provide a very similar gaming experience.\u00a0 Overclocking both of the GTSes in SLI would surely catch the HD 5870.<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Call of Juarez--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>CRYSIS<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/crysis64_1-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"crysis64_1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/crysis64_1_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"crysis64_1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">Next we move on to <em>Crysis,<\/em> a science fiction first person shooter by Crytek. It remains one of the most demanding games for any PC and it is also still one of the most beautiful games released to date. <em>Crysis <\/em>is based in a fictional near-future where an alien spacecraft is discovered buried on an island near the coast of Korea. The single-player campaign has you assume the role of USA Delta Force, \u2018Nomad\u2019 who is armed with futuristic weapons and equipment. <em>Crysis<\/em> uses DirectX10 for graphics rendering. A standalone but related game, <em>Crysis Warhead<\/em> was released last year. CryEngine2 is the game engine used to power <em>Crysis<\/em> and <em>Warhead <\/em>and it is an extended version of the CryEngine that also powers <em>FarCry<\/em>. As well as supporting Shader Model 2.0, 3.0, and DirectX10\u2019s 4.0, CryEngine2 is also multi-threaded to take advantage of dual core SMP-aware systems and Crytek has developed their own proprietary physics system, called CryPhysics. However, it is noted that actually playing this game is a bit slower than the demo implies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em><strong>G<\/strong><strong>PU Demo, Island<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">All of our settings for the midrange video\u00a0 cards are set to &#8220;high&#8221; without AA and we force 16xAF in the control panels. Here is<em> Crysis\u2019 Island Demo <\/em>benchmark, first at 1440&#215;900 resolution:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20355\" title=\"Crysis-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-14.jpg?resize=450%2C508\" alt=\"Crysis-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-14.jpg?resize=450%2C508 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-14-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The HD 5750 sits in between the stock and the overclocked GTS 450s.\u00a0 Enabling 2xAA on the stock GTS 450 takes about a ten percent performance hit and the 8800 GTX again shows its age. Let&#8217;s move on to 1680&#215;1050 and check out GTX 450 SLI:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20356\" title=\"Crysis-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-16.jpg?resize=450%2C562\" alt=\"Crysis-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-16.jpg?resize=450%2C562 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-16-240x299.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">This time, at the higher resolution even the stock GTS 450 takes the lead over the HD 5750. GTS 450 SLI scales very nicely from 32 to 62 FPS.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s see how our budget videocards in SLI do against GTX 480 and HD 5870 at the highest details, &#8220;Very High&#8221;, with 2xAA enabled and at 1920&#215;1080.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20357\" title=\"Crysis-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-19.jpg?resize=450%2C471\" alt=\"Crysis-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-19.jpg?resize=450%2C471 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Crysis-19-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Radeon HD 5870 just edges out the GTX 480 by less than a single frame in <em>Crysis<\/em> average benchmark and GTS 450 SLI cannot quite compete with these cards.\u00a0 <!--pagetitle: Crysis--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<h2><em><strong>FarCry 2<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/farcry2-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"farcry2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/farcry2_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"farcry2\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p><em>F<\/em><em>ar Cry 2 <\/em>uses the name of the original <em>Far Cry <\/em>but it is not connected to the first game as it brings you a new setting and a new story. Ubisoft created it based on their Dunia Engine. The game setting takes place in an unnamed African country, during an uprising between two rival warring factions<em>.<\/em> Your mission is to kill \u201cThe Jackal\u201d; the Nietzsche-quoting mercenary that arms both sides of the conflict that you are dropped into.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Far Cry 2 <\/em>game world is loaded in the background and on the fly to create a completely seamless open world. The Dunia game engine provides good visuals that scale well. The<em> Far Cry 2<\/em> design team actually went to Africa to give added realism to this game. One thing to especially note is <em>Far Cry 2\u2019s <\/em>very realistic fire propagation by their engine that is a far cry from the scripted fire and explosions that we are used to seeing.<\/p>\n<p>First we test at 1440&#215;900 with Ultra settings plus 2xAA using the Ranch Long benchmark which is run at least three times and the results averaged; AI is enabled.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20328\" title=\"FC2-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-14.jpg?resize=450%2C562\" alt=\"FC2-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-14.jpg?resize=450%2C562 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-14-240x299.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The GTS 480 convincingly beats the HD 5750 and the 8800 GTX.\u00a0 Next we test <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> benchmark at 1680\u00d71050 \u2013 all of the resolutions we tested at are with AI enabled. The GTX 450 runs away from the Radeon and the old GTX at the higher resolutions.\u00a0 Minimums are satisfactory for the GTS 450 although the performance hit is fairly high going from 2x to 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20329\" title=\"FC2-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-16.jpg?resize=450%2C561\" alt=\"FC2-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-16.jpg?resize=450%2C561 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-16-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>And again at 1680&#215;1050 resolution:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20330\" title=\"FC2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-19.jpg?resize=450%2C471\" alt=\"FC2-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-19.jpg?resize=450%2C471 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FC2-19-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here we see the GTS 450 play <em>Far Cry 2 <\/em>very nicely at 1920&#215;1080 and with 4xAA with occasional slowdowns in the minimums that should be greatly improved by using the Galaxy SOC version.\u00a0 And this time, using the far cheaper GTS 450 SLI will give you a better playing experience than with the HD 5870.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Far Cry 2--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>World in Conflict<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/wic-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"wic\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/wic_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"wic\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p><em>World In Conflict<\/em> is set in an alternate history Earth where the Cold War did not end and Russia invaded the USA in 1989 and the remaining Americans decided to strike back. <em>World in Conflict (WiC)<\/em> is a real-time tactical\/strategy video game developed by Massive Entertainment. Although it is generally considered a real-time strategy (RTS) game, <em>World in Conflict <\/em>includes gameplay typical of real-time tactical (RTT) games. <em>WiC<\/em> is filled with real vehicles from both the Russian and the American military. There are also tactical aids, including calling in massive bombing raids, access to chemical warfare, nuclear weapons, and far more.<\/p>\n<p>Here is yet another amazing and very customizable and detailed DX10 benchmark that is available in-game or as a stand-alone. The particle effects and explosions in <em>World in Conflict<\/em> are truly spectacular! Every setting is fully maxed out.<\/p>\n<p>We start our benching at 1440&#215;900 with every detail setting maxed out but without AA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20334\" title=\"WiC-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-14.jpg?resize=450%2C508\" alt=\"WiC-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-14.jpg?resize=450%2C508 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-14-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The maximums and minimums in this benchmark are &#8220;worst case&#8221; extremes.\u00a0 All of the video cards provide a similar experience to each other in this game, with the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC standing out from the pack.\u00a0 The old 8800 GTX can still occasionally hang with the best of today&#8217;s midrange cards.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s raise the resolution and also check out SLI scaling.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20335\" title=\"WiC-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-16.jpg?resize=450%2C563\" alt=\"WiC-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-16.jpg?resize=450%2C563 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-16-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Again, the cards are tightly grouped except for the SOC and the SLI&#8217;d pair of GTS 450s really stand out.\u00a0 Now let&#8217;s test at 1920&#215;1080 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20336\" title=\"WiC-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385\" alt=\"WiC-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/WiC-19-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The $500 GeForce GTX 480 delivers great performance but the biggest surprise is that the $260 SLI&#8217;d GTS 450s come in second, ahead of HD 5870 in <em>World-in-Conflict<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: World in Conflict--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>X3: Terran Conflict<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/x3tc-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"X3TC\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/x3tc_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"X3TC\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p><em>X3:Terran Conflict<\/em><em> (X3:TC) <\/em>is another beautiful stand-alone benchmark that runs multiple tests and will really strain a lot of video cards. <em>X3:TC <\/em>is a space trading and combat simulator from Egosoft and is the most recent of their X-series of computer games. <em>X3:TC<\/em> is a standalone expansion of <em>X3: Reunion<\/em>, 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 <em>X3: Reunion<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to<em> Reunion, Terran Conflict<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n<p>First we note the results at 1920\u00d71200:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20383\" title=\"X3TC-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-14.jpg?resize=450%2C615\" alt=\"X3TC-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-14.jpg?resize=450%2C615 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-14-219x300.jpg 219w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see a really tight grouping at lower resolution indicating the game is rather CPU-bound yet the GTS 450 is well ahead of the HD 5750 and the 8800 GTX.\u00a0 Now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20384\" title=\"X3TC-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-16.jpg?resize=450%2C644\" alt=\"X3TC-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-16.jpg?resize=450%2C644 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-16-209x300.jpg 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see the GTS again beating the HD 5750 but this time SLI scaling is not so good, only gaining 13 FPS over a single GPU.\u00a0 How will GTS 450 SLI do when we max out the AA and crank up the resolution even more?<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20385\" title=\"X3TC-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-19.jpg?resize=450%2C457\" alt=\"X3TC-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-19.jpg?resize=450%2C457 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/X3TC-19-295x300.jpg 295w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GTX 480 runs this benchmark the fastest with the HD 5870 close behind.\u00a0 However, SLI&#8217;d GTS 450s perform well and all\u00a0 of our three configurations experience similar playable averages and low minimum framerates.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: X3 - Terran Conflict--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em><strong>DiRT 2<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong> <\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p>Colin McRae: <em>DiRT 2<\/em> is a racing game that was released in September 2009, and is the sequel to <em>Colin McRae: Dirt<\/em>. It includes many new race-events, including stadium events as your RV travels from one event to another in many real-world environments across four continents. <em>DiRT 2<\/em> includes five different event types even allowing you to compete at new locations. It also includes a new multiplayer mode. <em>DiRT 2<\/em> is powered by an updated version of the EGO engine which was featured in <em>Race Driver: GRID<\/em>.\u00a0 The updated EGO engine also features an updated physics engine.<\/p>\n<p>First we test our cards at 1440&#215;900 with 2xAA and completely maxed out settings.\u00a0 The 8800 GTX is running on DX9 pathway while the other newer cards provide better visuals on the DX11 pathway &#8211; they cannot be compared to each other although they are included on the same chart for completeness:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20338\" title=\"DiRT-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-14.jpg?resize=450%2C497\" alt=\"DiRT-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-14.jpg?resize=450%2C497 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-14-271x300.jpg 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTX 450 SOC pulls ahead in a not so tight race with the HD 5750 eating dust although the playability remains similar. AA extracts a pretty hefty penalty in this game from the GTS although the game is perfectly playable with 4xAA and maxed-out details.\u00a0 What about 1680&#215;1050?<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20340\" title=\"DiRT-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-16.jpg?resize=450%2C469\" alt=\"DiRT-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-16.jpg?resize=450%2C469 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-16-287x300.jpg 287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC gets the checkered flag and the stock GTS 450 beats HD 5750.\u00a0 Ignore the 8800 GTX results as they are not DX11 and it is left looking flat regarding tessellation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20339\" title=\"DiRT-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385\" alt=\"DiRT-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/DiRT-19-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTX 480 wins. However, GTS 450s in SLI are solidly faster than a single HD 5870 again.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: Dirt 2--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em><strong>Left 4 Dead<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p><em>Left 4 Dead<\/em> <em>(L4D) <\/em>is a 2008 co-op first-person shooter that was developed by Turtle Rock Studios and purchased by Valve Corporation during its development. <em>Left 4 Dead<\/em> uses Valve&#8217;s proprietary Source engine and it replaces our older Souce benchmark which used<em> Half Life 2&#8217;s Lost Cost demo<\/em>. <em>L4D<\/em> is set in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic which pits its four protagonists against hordes of the infected zombies. There are four game modes: a single-player mode in which your allies are controlled by AI; a four-player, co-op campaign mode; an eight-player online versus mode; and a four-player survival mode. In all modes, an artificial intelligence (AI), dubbed the &#8220;Director&#8221;, controls pacing and spawns, to create a more dynamic experience with increased replay value. It is best as a multiplayer game played against humans.<\/p>\n<p>There is no built in benchmark for <em>Left 4 Dead<\/em>, so we used ABT Senior Editor BFG10K&#8217;s custom time demo which is very repeatable. Unfortunately, the game is updated regularly by Steam and we were caught by a platform update and had no time to get or create another time demo.\u00a0 So we used a stock GTS 450 to note the comparison with 8800 GTX and also to see the performance penalty from increasing the anti-aliasing from 4x to 8x.\u00a0 Since the Source engine is not so demanding, we chose the highest detail settings available.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-141.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20433\" title=\"L4D-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-141.jpg?resize=482%2C290\" alt=\"L4D-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-141.jpg?resize=482%2C290 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-141-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On to our next chart at 1920\u00d71200:<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20345\" title=\"L4D-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-16.jpg?resize=450%2C271\" alt=\"L4D-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-16.jpg?resize=450%2C271 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/L4D-16-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Unfortunately we were caught by the Steam platform update and were only able to partially compare two video cards.\u00a0 We do see that a single GTS 450 is fine for <em>Left4Dead <\/em>at maxed settings to perhaps 1920&#215;1080 resolution with 4xAA.\u00a0 Upping the resolution to 8xAA does take a significant performance penalty but it is still very impressive for a stock-clocked $130 midrange card!<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: Left 4 Dead--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>Lost Planet<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/lostplanet-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px\" title=\"LostPlanet\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/lostplanet_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"LostPlanet\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Lost Planet: Extreme Condition<\/em> is a Capcom port of an Xbox 360 game. It takes place on the icy planet of E.D.N. III which is filled with monsters, pirates, big guns, and huge bosses. This frozen world highlights high dynamic range lighting (HDR) as the snow-white environment reflects blinding sunlight as DX10 particle systems toss snow and ice all around. The game looks great in both DirectX 9 and 10 and there isn\u2019t really much of a difference between the two versions except perhaps shadows. Unfortunately, the DX10 version doesn\u2019t look that much better when you\u2019re actually playing the game and it still runs slower than the DX9 version.<\/p>\n<p>We use the in-game performance test from the retail copy of <em>Lost Planet<\/em> and updated through Steam to the latest version for our runs. This run isn\u2019t completely scripted as the creatures act a little differently each time you run it, requiring multiple runs. <em>Lost Planet\u2019s<\/em> Snow and Cave demos are run continuously by the performance test and blend into each other.Here are our benchmark results with the more demanding benchmark, Snow. All settings are fully maxed out in-game including 16xAF, but AA is left off.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with 1440&#215;900<em>:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20361\" title=\"LP-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-14.jpg?resize=450%2C526\" alt=\"LP-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-14.jpg?resize=450%2C526 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-14-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This time the old 8800 GTX leads followed closely by HD 5750 (the next two chart each have a typo; it is not 57<em>7<\/em>0).\u00a0 Now we test at 1680\u00d71050 resolution:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20362\" title=\"LP-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-16.jpg?resize=450%2C619\" alt=\"LP-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-16.jpg?resize=450%2C619 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-16-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We see SLI scaling at over 90%.\u00a0 The old 8800 GTX and the HD 5750 tie followed by the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC.\u00a0 AA takes much less of a performance penalty and the overclocked version gains solidly over the stock GTS.\u00a0 Finally we test at 1920&#215;1080 and this time we use 4xAA settings:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20363\" title=\"LP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-19.jpg?resize=450%2C417\" alt=\"LP-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-19.jpg?resize=450%2C417 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/LP-19-300x278.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the averages, the GTX 480 edges the HD 5870 and the GTS 450 SLI is a distant third.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: Lost Planet--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3>Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3)<\/h3>\n<p><em>Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3)<\/em> is the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series. <em>UT3<\/em> is a first-person shooter and online multiplayer video game by Epic Games. <em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em> provides a good balance between image quality and performance, rendering complex scenes well even on lower-end PCs. Of course, on high-end graphics cards you can really turn up the detail. <em>UT3<\/em> is primarily an online multiplayer title offering several game modes and it also includes an offline single-player game with a campaign.For our tests, we used the very latest game patch for <em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em>, released after its \u2018Titan\u2019 pack.<\/p>\n<p>The game doesn\u2019t have a built-in benchmarking tool, so we used FRAPS and did a fly-by of a chosen level. Here we note that performance numbers reported are a bit higher than compared to in-game. The map we use is called \u201cContainment\u201d and it is one of the most demanding of the fly-bys. Our tests were run at resolutions of 1440x 900 and 1680 x 1050 with UT3\u2019s in-game graphics options set to their maximum values.\u00a0 One drawback of the way the <em>UT3<\/em> engine is designed is that there is no support for anti-aliasing built in so we forced 4xAA in each vendor\u2019s control panel for our 1920&#215;1080 resolution runs. We record a demo in the game and a set number of frames are saved in a file for playback. When playing back the demo, the game engine then renders the frames as quickly as possible, which is why you will often see it playing it back more quickly than you would actually play the game.<\/p>\n<p>Here is Containment Demo, first at 1440&#215;900 with fully maxed settings and without AA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20331\" title=\"UT3-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-14.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"UT3-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-14.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-14-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>There are no issues playing this game with any of our cards although the GTS 450 SOC is the fastest.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-161.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20400\" title=\"UT3-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-161.jpg?resize=450%2C561\" alt=\"UT3-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-161.jpg?resize=450%2C561 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-161-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">One definitely needs to force AA in the vendor&#8217;s control panels to give any of our video cards a challenge.\u00a0 In the following chart at 1920\u00d71080, we do see a solid performance hit going from 1xAA to 4xAA on GTS 450 although the minimums are never in danger.\u00a0 We also see that SLI scaling is not as good as in some of the newer games that we have evaluated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20333\" title=\"UT3-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-19.jpg?resize=450%2C384\" alt=\"UT3-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-19.jpg?resize=450%2C384 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/UT3-19-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>There is absolutely no problem playing this game fully maxed out with our three top graphics configurations at 1920&#215;1080. However, the GTX 480 dominates, followed by the HD 5870 and then followed up by our pair of GTS 450s in SLI.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: UnrealTournament3--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><em>Resident Evil 5 <\/em>is a survival horror third-person shooter developed and published by Capcom that has become the best selling single title in the series. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil series and it was released for Windows in September 2009. Res<em>ident Evil 5<\/em> revolves around two investigators pulled into a bio-terrorist threat in a fictional town in Africa.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em> features online co-op play over the internet and also takes advantage of Nvidia\u2019s new GeForce 3D Vision technology. The PC version comes with exclusive content the consoles do not have. The developer&#8217;s emphasis is in optimizing high frame rates but they have implemented HDR, tone mapping, depth of field and motion blur into the game. <em>Re5<\/em>&#8216;s custom game engine, \u2018MT Framework&#8217;, already supports DX10 to benefit from less memory usage and faster loading. <em>Resident Evil 5<\/em> gives you choice as to DX10 or Dx 9 and we naturally ran the DX10 pathway.<\/p>\n<p>There are two benchmarks built-into <em>Resident Evil 5. <\/em>We chose the variable benchmark as it is better suited for testing video cards.\u00a0 Here are the results at 1440\u00d7900 resolution with fully maxed out in-game settings plus 4xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20352\" title=\"RE5-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-14.jpg?resize=450%2C385\" alt=\"RE5-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-14.jpg?resize=450%2C385 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-14-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The HD 5750 beats the stock GTS 450 but is in turn even more solidly whipped by the Galaxy SOC version.\u00a0 Going from 4x to 8xAA takes a performance hit on the GTS 450 but it is still faster than the 8800 GTX 480 at 4xAA.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s check out 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20353\" title=\"RE5-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-16.jpg?resize=450%2C385\" alt=\"RE5-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-16.jpg?resize=450%2C385 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-16-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see much the same as we saw at the lower resolution.\u00a0 This time, we again see superb SLI scaling.\u00a0 Is it enough to catch HD 5870 or GTX 480 at maxed out settings at 1920&#215;1080 and 8xAA?<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20354\" title=\"RE5-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-19.jpg?resize=450%2C281\" alt=\"RE5-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-19.jpg?resize=450%2C281 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/RE5-19-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GTX 480 leads the HD 5870 by about the same margin the Radeon leads the SLI&#8217;d budget cards.\u00a0 None of these three configurations would have any issues playing this game fully maxed out at 1920&#215;1080.<!--pagetitle: Resident Evil 5--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs-jpg.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-width: 0px; display: inline;\" title=\"STALKER_CS\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"STALKER_CS\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> is the third game in the <em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.<\/em> series. All of these games have non-linear storylines which feature role-playing game elements. In<em> <\/em>these games, the player assumes the identity of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; an illegal artifact scavenger in \u201cThe Zone\u201d which encompasses about 30 square kilometers. It is the location of an alternate reality story surrounding the Chernobyl Power Plant after another (fictitious) explosion. <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.<\/em>, <em>Call of Pripyat<\/em> features \u201ca living breathing world\u201d with highly developed NPC creature AI.<em> Call of Pripyat utilizes <\/em>the XRAY 1.6 Engine, allowing advanced modern graphical features through the use of DirectX 11 to be fully intregrated.<em> Call of Pripyat <\/em>is also compatible with <em>DirectX 8, 9, 10 and 10.1. <\/em>It<em> <\/em>uses the X-ray 1.6 Engine<strong> <\/strong>one outstanding feature being the inclusion of real-time GPU tesselation\u2013 a Shader model 3.0 &amp; 4.0 graphics engine featuring HDR, parallax and normal mapping, soft shadows, motion blur, weather effects and day-to-night cycles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here are the settings we used for our DX11 cards for 1440&#215;900 and 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP_Settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20438\" title=\"CoP_Settings\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP_Settings.jpg?resize=450%2C229\" alt=\"CoP_Settings\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP_Settings.jpg?resize=450%2C229 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP_Settings-300x152.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now on to the benchmarks at 1440&#215;900 and note that 8800 GTX is on the DX10 pathway which is a far less demanding pathway and less visually rich than the DX11 that the newer video cards use:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20392\" title=\"CoP-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-14.jpg?resize=450%2C497\" alt=\"CoP-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-14.jpg?resize=450%2C497 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-14-271x300.jpg 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Next we test at 1920\u00d71200 and remember that our DX11 cards not only work harder, they produce better visuals than the 8800 GTX DX10 card and also beat it performance wise.\u00a0 Here not only the stock GTS 450 solidly beats the HD 5750, but you can enable 2xAA and still be faster than the Radeon without AA.\u00a0 The Galaxy SOC version is solidly faster than the reference version which translates to a better minimum framerate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20349\" title=\"CoP-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-16.jpg?resize=450%2C564\" alt=\"CoP-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-16.jpg?resize=450%2C564 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-16-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We note the same thing as before including great SLI scaling. Let&#8217;s check out 1920&#215;1080 and add 2xAA:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20350\" title=\"CoP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385\" alt=\"CoP-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-19.jpg?resize=450%2C385 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoP-19-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no surprise that the GTX 480 makes a clean sweep of these benches.\u00a0 What is surprising is that the SLI&#8217;d GTS 450s again beat HD 5870.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><!--pagetitle: Call of Pripyat--><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em>Tom Clancy&#8217;s H.A.W.X.<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Tom Clancy&#8217;s<em> H.A.W.X.<\/em> is an air combat video game developed by Ubisoft Romania and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was released in United States on March 6, 2009. You have the opportunity to fly 54 aircraft over real world locations and cities in somewhat realistic environments that are created with satellite data. This game is a more of a take on flying than a real simulation and it has received mixed reviews.\u00a0 The game story takes place during the time of Tom Clancy&#8217;s <em>Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. H.A.W.X.<\/em> is set in the year 2014 where private military companies have replaced government-run military in many countries. The player is placed into the cockpit as an elite ex-military pilot who is recruited by one of these corporations to work for them as a mercenary. You later return to the US Air Force with a team as you try to prevent a full scale terrorist attack on the United States which was started by your former employer.<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>H.A.W.X.<\/em> runs on DX10.1 faster and with more detail than on the DX10 pathway that is used by 8800 GTX. Let&#8217;s check out <em>H.A.W.X.<\/em> at 1440&#215;900 with 2xAA and otherwise completely maxed out in-game details.\u00a0 We also tested our HD 5750 with Catalyst 10b which is supposed to hotfix this game.\u00a0 We did not not notice any significant performance difference in the benchmark using 10-8b over 10-8.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20364\" title=\"Hawx-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-14.jpg?resize=450%2C374\" alt=\"Hawx-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-14.jpg?resize=450%2C374 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-14-300x249.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Again, even the GTS 450 with 2xAA edges the HD 5750\u00a0 with no AA and it speeds by the 8800 GTX which is restricted to the DX10 pathway. Let&#8217;s see what testing at 1680&#215;1050 shows.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20365\" title=\"Hawx-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-16.jpg?resize=450%2C374\" alt=\"Hawx-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-16.jpg?resize=450%2C374 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-16-300x249.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>H.A.W.X.<\/em> is clearly faster on the GTS 450 and especially scales well with SLI.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s move on to 1920&#215;1080 and we will increase the AA setting to 4x.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20366\" title=\"Hawx-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-19.jpg?resize=450%2C281\" alt=\"Hawx-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-19.jpg?resize=450%2C281 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Hawx-19-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GTX 480 is the fastest followed by GTS 450 SLI which in turn edges out HD 5870.\u00a0 So far, we see great bang for buck performance with the GTS 450.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em><!--pagetitle: H.A.W.X.--><!--nextpage--><\/em><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><strong><em>BattleForge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><em>BattleForge<\/em> is an online PC game developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts. The full game and a demo was released in March 2009.\u00a0 <em>BattleForge<\/em> is a card based RTS that revolves around acquiring and winning by means of micro-transactions for buying new cards. By May, 2009, BattleForge became a Play 4 Free game with fewer cards than the retail version. <em>BattleForge<\/em> supports Directx 11 with full support for hardware tesselation. It is very impressive visually and quite demanding on any system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">First we test with our three top cards at 1440&#215;900 using the <em>BattleForge<\/em> built-in benchmark with its settings as follows and no AA.\u00a0 Of course, the 8800 GTX is again restricted to the DX10 pathway with far less impressive visuals.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shadows &#8211; medium<\/li>\n<li>Texture &#8211; high<\/li>\n<li>Shaders &#8211; high<\/li>\n<li>SSAO &#8211; Off<\/li>\n<li>FX quality &#8211; very high<\/li>\n<li>MT &#8211; auto<\/li>\n<li>Cloud shadows &#8211; on<\/li>\n<li>Glow &#8211; on<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20367\" title=\"BF-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-14.jpg?resize=450%2C303\" alt=\"BF-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-14.jpg?resize=450%2C303 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-14-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTS 450 SOC and the HD 5750 are neck and neck.\u00a0 The 8800 GTX cannot run on the DX11 pathway and there is no tessellation, yet it brings up the read.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s up the resolution and also try GTS 450 SLI.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20368\" title=\"BF-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-16.jpg?resize=450%2C373\" alt=\"BF-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-16.jpg?resize=450%2C373 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-16-300x248.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">Again, the GTS 450 SLI clearly leads the pack with superb scaling over a single GPU.\u00a0 The HD 5750 edges the overclocked GTS 450 and 8800GTX is a distant last on the DX10 pathway. Now on to 1920&#215;1000 resolution:<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20369\" title=\"BF-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-19.jpg?resize=450%2C271\" alt=\"BF-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-19.jpg?resize=450%2C271 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/BF-19-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">The GTX 480 is fastest in <em>BattleForge<\/em> followed by the HD 5870 and not too far behind the Radeon is our budget pair of GTS 450s.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: BattleForge--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><em><strong>Enemy Territory: <strong>Quake Wars <\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/etqw_image-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"etqw_image\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/etqw_image_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" border=\"0\" alt=\"etqw_image\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p><em>Enemy Territory: Quake Wars <\/em>is an objective-driven, class-based first person shooter set in the Quake universe. It was developed by id Software and Splash Damage and published by Activision. <em>Quake Wars<\/em> pits the combined human armies of the Global Defense Force against the technologically superior Strogg, an alien race who has come to earth to use humans for spare parts and food. It allows you to play a part, probably best as an online multi-player experience, in the battles waged around the world in mankind\u2019s desperate war to survive.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Quake Wars<\/em> is an OpenGL game based on id\u2019s Doom3 game engine with the addition of their MegaTexture technology. It also supports some of the latest 3D effects seen in today\u2019s games, including soft particles, although it is somewhat dated and less demanding on video cards than many DX10 games. id\u2019s MegaTexture technology is designed to provide very large maps without having to reuse the same textures over and over again. For our benchmark we chose the flyby, <em>Salvage Demo<\/em>. It is one of the most graphically demanding of all the flybys and it is very repeatable and reliable in its results. It is fairly close to what you will experience in-game. All of our settings are set to \u2018maximum\u2019 and we also apply 4xAA\/16xAF in game.<\/p>\n<p>First we test at 1440\u00d7900 resolution with all settings fully maxed in-game plus 4xAA:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20401\" title=\"ETQW-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-14.jpg?resize=450%2C505\" alt=\"ETQW-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-14.jpg?resize=450%2C505 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-14-267x300.jpg 267w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The HD 5750 is slightly faster than the stock GTS 450 but well behind the SOC version.\u00a0 Our 8800 GTX runs this game well for its age.\u00a0 Next we test at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20402\" title=\"ETQW-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-16.jpg?resize=450%2C471\" alt=\"ETQW-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-16.jpg?resize=450%2C471 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-16-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Again the Radeon sits between the stock and overclocked GTS 450 in performance.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s up the resolution and test our top three graphics configurations.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20403\" title=\"ETQW-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-19.jpg?resize=482%2C462\" alt=\"ETQW-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-19.jpg?resize=482%2C462 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ETQW-19-300x287.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p>At any rate, all of our video cards have no trouble handling this game fully maxed out. The issues appears to be the lack of SLI scaling with this game although GTS 450 SLI can satisfactorily play 1920&#215;1080 completely maxed out plus 4xAA.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: ET:QW--><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><em><strong>F.E.A.R.<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/fear-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title=\"FEAR\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/fear_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C184\" border=\"0\" alt=\"FEAR\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p><em>F.E.A.R. \u2013 First Encounter Armed Assault<\/em> \u2013 is a DX9c game by Monolith Productions that was originally released in October 2005 by Vivendi Universal Production. Later, there were two expansions with the latest, <em>Perseus Mandate<\/em>, released in 2007. Although the game engine is aging, it still has some of the most spectacular effects of any game. <em>F.E.A.R.<\/em> showcases a powerful particle system, complete with sparks and smoke for collisions as well as featuring bullet marks and other effects including \u201csoft shadows\u201d. This is highlighted by the built-in performance test, although it was never updated. This performance test will tell you how<em> F.E.A.R.<\/em> will run, but both of its expansions are progressively more demanding on your PC graphics and will run slower than the demo. We always run at least two sets of tests with all in-game features at \u2018maximum\u2019. <em>F.E.A.R.<\/em> uses the Jupiter Extended Technology engine from Touchdown Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>We test this game with the most demanding settings. Fully maxed details with 4xAA\/16xAF; soft shadows \u2018off\u2019, as they do not play well with AA. Let\u2019s start first at 1440\u00d7900:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-141.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20404\" title=\"Fear-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-141.jpg?resize=450%2C470\" alt=\"Fear-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-141.jpg?resize=450%2C470 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-141-287x300.jpg 287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The 8800 GTX is strongest in this old game followed by the HD 5750 and the Galaxy SOC.\u00a0 Now we test at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-161.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20405\" title=\"Fear-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-161.jpg?resize=450%2C524\" alt=\"Fear-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-161.jpg?resize=450%2C524 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-161-257x300.jpg 257w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>There is not much change in ranking from the lower resolution.\u00a0 However, this time, we do not see such good SLI scaling and it does not bode well for its showdown with the top cards.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20406\" title=\"Fear-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-191.jpg?resize=450%2C412\" alt=\"Fear-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-191.jpg?resize=450%2C412 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fear-191-300x274.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this case, our GTX 480 has the best frame rates followed by the HD 5870.   Even so, there  is not much difference in practically playing <em>F.E.A.R.<\/em> between the fastest and the slowest video cards as the minimums are already quite high.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: F.E.A.R.--><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"font-size: large\">Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17938\" title=\"batmanAA_25x16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"batmanAA_25x16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> is an action-adventure\/stealth video game based on DC Comics&#8217; Batman.\u00a0 Arkham Asylum as written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini is based directly on the long-running comic book&#8217;s Dark Knight character. The Joker devised an elaborate plot from inside Arkham Asylum that Batman is personally forced to put a stop to. The game&#8217;s primary characters are superbly voiced by the actors Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin who reprise their roles as Batman, the Joker and Harley Quinn.<\/p>\n<p>The game is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with a primary focus on Batman&#8217;s combat abilities, stealth, detective skills and complete with an arsenal of gadgets that can be used in both combat and as exploring in &#8220;detective mode&#8221;.The game uses a &#8220;Freeflow&#8221; combat system as well as the ability to use Batarangs and the Bat-Claw. The player also has access to progressively stronger counter attacks as well as a special attack that can quickly take down a single foe. Stealth tactics includes silent takedowns by sneaking up on foes including dropping and\/or gliding from overhead perches.<\/p>\n<p><em>Batman: Arkham Asylum <\/em>uses a highly modified version of the Unreal Engine 3.  It does not support AA natively but must be added in and supported by the game&#8217;s developer. Unfortunately we cannot compare <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> using our GeForce exactly against the our Radeon with AA enabled on both cards.  Nor can we compare these two video cards with PhysX on.  Because of these unequal settings, we will not compare them exactly against the other; and for the GTS 450, we will also show performance with PhysX on &#8216;high&#8217; vs &#8216;off&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Here we see the settings are different. Using a Radeon, you will get a warning if you try to set Hardware Accelerated Physics to anything other than &#8216;off&#8217;. Ignoring the warning and setting our HD 5870 to the in-between &#8220;normal&#8221; physics setting, the frame rates are cut by almost 90% at 1680&#215;1050 resolution &#8211; literally down from an average of 200 frames per second to about twenty!!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanhd5870_set.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17933\" title=\"batmanHD5870_Set\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanhd5870_set.jpg?resize=300%2C222\" alt=\"batmanHD5870_Set\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanhd5870_set.jpg?resize=300%2C222 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanhd5870_set.jpg 550w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We also see that we need to set anti-aliasing in the ATI control panel to use it at all with our HD 5750 or HD 5870 (above).  Of course, if we do that, we will get a higher performance penalty with this &#8220;brute force&#8221; AA enhancement than we will with the GTS 450 as it is optimized to run with AA in-game by the developer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The GeForce is optimized to run with PhysX and it takes a relatively small performance hit, remaining playable at the highest resolution and with 8xAA plus with every detail fully maxed out.  The Radeon cannot run with any physics without killing performance and there is a much higher performance hit by forcing AA in the control panel.  If you are going to play this game and you want the ultimate experience, you will need a GTX 4X0-based video card.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">However, we will attempt as close a comparison as possible.\u00a0 For all of our benches, the settings are the highest including with 4xAA for all cards, beginning with 1440&#215;900:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-141.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20414\" title=\"Batman-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-141.jpg?resize=482%2C541\" alt=\"Batman-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-141.jpg?resize=482%2C541 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-141-267x300.jpg 267w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The HD 5750 falls behind as AA is enabled.\u00a0 GTS 450 is quite satisfactory until PhysX &#8220;high&#8221; is enabled and then the play becomes a bit more marginal with a few slowdowns.\u00a0 And now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-161.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20415\" title=\"Batman-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-161.jpg?resize=450%2C497\" alt=\"Batman-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-161.jpg?resize=450%2C497 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-161-271x300.jpg 271w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> You would not want to use PhysX on high with a single GTS 450 at 1680&#215;1050.\u00a0 In every other respect, gameplay is fine at that resolution with either the HD 5750 or any GTS 450 with maxed settings plus 4xAA:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20416\" title=\"Batman-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-191.jpg?resize=450%2C471\" alt=\"Batman-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-191.jpg?resize=450%2C471 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Batman-191-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">There is absolutely no problem playing this game fully maxed out with any of our top videocard configurations.\u00a0\u00a0 The GTS 450 SLI comes close to HD 5870 performance and the performance hit from enabling PhysX comes close to what the GTX 480 experiences.<\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Batman: AA--><\/p>\n<p><strong><!--nextpage--><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare<\/span><\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-4367\" href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?attachment_id=4367\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-4367\" title=\"iw3mpcod4\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/iw3mpcod4.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"iw3mpcod4\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4)<\/em> is a first person shooter running on a custom engine. It has nice graphics but the engine is somewhat dated compared to others and it runs well on modern PCs. It is the first <em>CoD<\/em> installment to take place in a modern setting instead of in World War II. It differs from the previous <em>Call of Duty<\/em> games by having a more film-like plot that uses intermixed story lines from two perspectives; that of a USMC sergeant and a British SAS sergeant. There is also a variety of short missions where players control other characters in flashback sequences to advance the story. <em>Call of Duty 4\u2019s<\/em> move to modern warfare introduced a variety of modern conventional weapons and technologies including plastic explosives.<\/p>\n<p>There are currently about 20 multiplayer maps in <em>CoD4<\/em>. It is very popular and there is a new expansion for it.\u00a0 <em>CoD Modern Warfare <strong>2<\/strong><\/em> was also released with updated visuals but it is also not very demanding on graphics cards.\u00a0 For multiplayer, <em>CoD4<\/em> includes five preset classes and introduces the Perks system. Perks are special abilities which allow users to further customize their character to suit their personal style. Our timedemo benchmark was created by ABT\u2019s own Senior Editor and lead reviewer, BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">There are currently 20 multiplayer maps in <em>CoD4<\/em>. It is very popular and there is a new expansion for it. For multiplayer, it includes five preset classes and introduces the Perks system. Perks are special abilities which allow users to further customize their character to suit their personal style. Our timedemo benchmark was created by ABT&#8217;s own Senior Editor and lead reviewer, BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here is <em>CoD4<\/em> first at 1440&#215;900 resolution with all in-game settings completely maxed out plus 4xAA:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-142.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20411\" title=\"CoD4-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-142.jpg?resize=450%2C476\" alt=\"CoD4-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-142.jpg?resize=450%2C476 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-142-283x300.jpg 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>All\u00a0 of our configurations breeze through this benchmark at 1440&#215;900, so let&#8217;s up the resolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-162.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20412\" title=\"CoD4-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-162.jpg?resize=450%2C508\" alt=\"CoD4-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-162.jpg?resize=450%2C508 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-162-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see great SLI scaling and the HD 5750 sits between the reference version and the SOC version in terms of performance.\u00a0 All of them play <em>CoD4<\/em> great.\u00a0 And now finally we test at 1920&#215;1080<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-192.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20413\" title=\"CoD4-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-192.jpg?resize=450%2C432\" alt=\"CoD4-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-192.jpg?resize=450%2C432 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/CoD4-192-300x288.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see results similar to <em>Unreal Tournament 3<\/em>.  A popular multiplayer game is very playable even on midrange graphics cards from the last generation and it plays very smoothly with this generation&#8217;s video cards. The HD 5870 is the fastest in this benchmark at our maxed out 1920&#215;1080 and surprisingly, the GTS 480 SLI is basically in a dead heat with a single GTX 480 that costs nearly twice more!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><!--pagetitle: CoD4--><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Aliens vs Predator<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20450\" title=\"AvP_SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"AvP_SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Aliens vs. Predator<\/em>, known to fans as Aliens versus Predator 3 or AVP3 was a video game developed by Rebellion Developments, and published by Sega in February 2010. It is the sixth game of the Aliens versus Predator game series. There are three campaigns in the game, one for each race or faction (the Predators, the Aliens and the Colonial Marines), that form one main storyline although differ in objectives depending on your choice of campain.<\/p>\n<p>Alien v Predators DX11 benchmark is a stand alone bench that as the name says is only for DX11 cards, so our older 8800 GTX simply won&#8217;t run it.\u00a0 Here are the settings that we used for the first two resolutions:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_Settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20449\" title=\"AvP_Settings\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_Settings.jpg?resize=300%2C188\" alt=\"AvP_Settings\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_Settings.jpg?resize=300%2C188 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_Settings.jpg 949w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First we bench at 1440&#215;900 with no AA.<br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-142.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20417\" title=\"AvP-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-142.jpg?resize=450%2C288\" alt=\"AvP-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-142.jpg?resize=450%2C288 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-142-300x192.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Without AA, the HD 5750 performance fits between the stock GTS 450 and the Galaxy SoC. And now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-162.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20418\" title=\"AvP-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-162.jpg?resize=450%2C308\" alt=\"AvP-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-162.jpg?resize=450%2C308 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-162-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see a serious performance hit on GTS 450 when 2xAA is enabled.\u00a0 On the other hand, SLI scales wonderfully and you will be able to play this game smoothly as the benchmark is more demanding than the game is.\u00a0 And finally we test at 1920&#215;1080.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-192.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20419\" title=\"AvP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-192.jpg?resize=450%2C271\" alt=\"AvP-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-192.jpg?resize=450%2C271 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP-192-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">At the test highest resolution, with 2xAA and now with all settings maxed, we see the GTX 480 take a commanding performance lead.\u00a0 However, we see our pair of GTS 450s edging out the more expensive HD 5870.<\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><!--pagetitle: AvP--><\/p>\n<p><strong><!--nextpage--><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Serious Sam Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20448\" title=\"SamHD_SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"SamHD_SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><em>Serious Sam <\/em> is the title of a series of first-person shooters created by the Croatian development team Croteam.\u00a0 It follows the adventures of its hero Sam &#8220;Serious&#8221; Stone and his fight against the forces of the extraterrestrial overlord Mental who seeks to destroy humanity.\u00a0 It&#8217;s gameplay is a throwback to earlier first-person shooters like Quake and Doom with the twist of being set in wide-open environments with larges groups of enemies attacking at any time, and there are many hidden areas and treasures to find and puzzles to solve.<em> Serious Sam<\/em> features cooperative gameplay and allows for split screen action supporting up to 4 players.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>S<\/em><em>erious Sam: The Second Encounter <\/em>was remade as &#8220;HD&#8221; using Serious Engine 3. It was released in April, 2010 for PC.\u00a0 Besides greatly updated visuals, new game modes including &#8220;Co-op Tournament&#8221; and &#8220;Survival&#8221; for single player, were introduced in this remake.\u00a0 <em>Serious Sam 3<\/em> is currently in development by Croteam is expected to debut at E3, 2011.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We use the basic 3 &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets for benching <\/span><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD.<\/em><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> There are possible further fine-tuning which will make the game more demanding, but we chose the &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets which include 4xAA.\u00a0 We test first at 1440&#215;900 resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20420\" title=\"SS-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-14.jpg?resize=482%2C490\" alt=\"SS-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-14.jpg?resize=482%2C490 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-14-295x300.jpg 295w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s all pretty close.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s check 1680&#215;1050 resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20421\" title=\"SS-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-16.jpg?resize=450%2C486\" alt=\"SS-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-16.jpg?resize=450%2C486 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-16-277x300.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And finally at 1920&#215;10<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">80 with the same ultra presets:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20422\" title=\"SS-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-19.jpg?resize=450%2C383\" alt=\"SS-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-19.jpg?resize=450%2C383 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SS-19-300x255.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD <\/em><span style=\"font-size: small;\">on the Serious 3 engine is quite demanding and yet all three of our top configurations play it satisfactorily using the game&#8217;s built-in &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets.\u00a0 The GTX 480 is fastest but the HD 5870 puts in a good showing solidly beating the GTS 450 SLI.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Serious Sam SE--><\/p>\n<p><strong><!--nextpage--><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Mafia II<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20445\" title=\"mafiaScreenCS\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"mafiaScreenCS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mafia II<\/em> is a third-person action-adventure video game which is the sequel to<em> Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven<\/em>. It is developed by 2K Czech and is published by 2K Games and was released last month.   <em>Mafia II<\/em> is set from 1943 to 1951 in Empire Bay which is a fictional city based mostly on San Francisco and New York City along with some influences from Chicago and also Detroit.<br \/>\n<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mafia II<\/em> is a gritty drama which chronicles the rise of World War II veteran Vito Scaletta who joins the Falcone Crime Family and become a \u2018made\u2019 man. There are 15 chapters in the game and over two hours of game engine generated cutscenes.<br \/>\n<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mafia II<\/em> makes extensive use of Nvidia\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/physx_new.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/physx_new.html', 'PhysX']);\" >PhysX<\/a> whose full effects are seen smoothly only by playing on a PhysX-enabled GeForce.  ABT has just got a copy of <em>Mafia II<\/em> and you can expect a review of this game by at least two Senior Editors, including a performance review.\u00a0 For this article, we used the <em>Mafia II<\/em> demo&#8217;s built-in benchmark with the following settings for 1440&#215;900 and 1680&#215;1050 and this time we will reserve comment until after all three charts.<br \/>\nWe begin at 1440&#215;900 resolution.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20423\" title=\"Mafia-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-14.jpg?resize=450%2C534\" alt=\"Mafia-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-14.jpg?resize=450%2C534 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-14-252x300.jpg 252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20424\" title=\"Mafia-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-16.jpg?resize=450%2C534\" alt=\"Mafia-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-16.jpg?resize=450%2C534 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-16-252x300.jpg 252w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And finally at 1920&#215;1080:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20425\" title=\"Mafia-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-19.jpg?resize=450%2C541\" alt=\"Mafia-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-19.jpg?resize=450%2C541 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Mafia-19-249x300.jpg 249w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">At the lower resolutions and with no AA, all of our video cards will give a satisfactory playing experience despite the demo benchmark&#8217;s suggestion that the framerates drop too low.\u00a0 However, enabling AA and PhysX together will bring a GTX 480 to its knees.\u00a0 If you want to run <em>Mafia II<\/em> with AA and even medium PhysX settings at 1920&#215;1080, consider getting a dedicated PhysX card.<\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Mafia II--><\/p>\n<p><strong><!--nextpage--><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Metro 2033<\/span><\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20446\" title=\"metro2033-SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"metro2033-SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> Metro 2033 is the &#8220;Crysis&#8221; of 2010.\u00a0 It is a very demanding game on any PC with the very latest DX11 visuals. <\/span><em>Metro 2033<\/em> is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror, and first-person shooter elements. The game is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010.\u00a0 The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine and there is some doubt if the games engine is related to the original XRay engine used in S.T.A.L.K.E.R..<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The <em>Metro 2033<\/em> story takes place mostly in post-apocalyptic Moscow&#8217;s metro system but occasionally the player has to go above ground on some missions and search for valuables.\u00a0 <em>Metro 2033<\/em>&#8216;s locations reflect the dark atmosphere of real metro tunnels but in a much more dangerous and lethal manner. Strange phenomena and noises are frequent, and mostly the player has to rely only on their flashlight to find their way around in otherwise total darkness. Even more deadly is the surface, as it is severely irradiated and a gas mask must be worn at all times due to the toxic air.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Just the week of this review, THQ released an official benchmark for <\/span><em>Metro 2033. <\/em><span style=\"font-size: small;\">It is available when Steam updates the game and it <\/span>includes a quality benchmark that provides minimum\/maximum\/average framerates, and you can adjust many graphics settings including PhysX, AA, DOF and tessellation, and the number of runs.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> Here presets are set to medium with no AA and no PhysX (except as indicated on the charts):<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2933Settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20453\" title=\"metro2933Settings\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2933Settings.jpg?resize=507%2C310\" alt=\"metro2933Settings\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2933Settings.jpg?resize=507%2C310 1057w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2933Settings-300x183.jpg 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2933Settings-1024x624.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Let&#8217;s bench first at 1440&#215;900 with no AA, medium presets as above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-141.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20426\" title=\"Metro-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-141.jpg?resize=450%2C351\" alt=\"Metro-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-141.jpg?resize=450%2C351 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-141-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-161.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20427\" title=\"Metro-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-161.jpg?resize=450%2C388\" alt=\"Metro-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-161.jpg?resize=450%2C388 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-161-300x258.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And now at 1920&#215;10<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">80 with 4xAA and GTS 450 SLI vs. HD 5870:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20428\" title=\"Metro-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-191.jpg?resize=450%2C271\" alt=\"Metro-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-191.jpg?resize=450%2C271 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Metro-191-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All of the single cards struggle with Metro <em>2033<\/em> with the aggressive settings that we used.\u00a0 We even see GTS 450 SLI beating the HD 5870 at the setting that we used but we would lower settings further if we played at 1920&#215;1080.\u00a0 <em>Metro 2033<\/em> is tessellation-heavy and it appears to take advantage of GF106&#8217;s tessellators better than the Radeon&#8217;s single one.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Metro 2033--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Heaven 2<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Heaven 2 is a synthetic benchmark of the Unigine engine that will show up in at least two games this year.\u00a0 It features &#8220;extreme&#8221; tessellation which is a feature of DX11 that adds a lot of realism to the game.\u00a0 It also requires a next generation videocard to be able to run it well and even GTX 480 struggles at times.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a brand new version of this benchmark, 2.1, but we chose to run version 2.0 beginning at 1440&#215;900.\u00a0 We left off AA and set the tessellation to &#8220;normal&#8221;, not &#8220;extreme&#8221; as shown below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/HEAVEN_Settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20442\" title=\"HEAVEN_Settings\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/HEAVEN_Settings.jpg?resize=450%2C319\" alt=\"HEAVEN_Settings\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/HEAVEN_Settings.jpg?resize=450%2C319 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/HEAVEN_Settings-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> The 8800 GTX will run this bench on DX10 and it looks very &#8220;flat&#8221; without tessellation, by contrast.\u00a0 Here is a DX11 screenshot:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/unigine-dragonSS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20447\" title=\"unigine-dragonSS\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/unigine-dragonSS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"unigine-dragonSS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/unigine-dragonSS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/unigine-dragonSS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/unigine-dragonSS.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here is 1440&#215;900 resolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20393\" title=\"Heaven-14\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-14.jpg?resize=450%2C432\" alt=\"Heaven-14\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-14.jpg?resize=450%2C432 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-14-300x288.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>For the rest of the test, we ran our GTS 450 against the HD 5750 in DX11 and the 8800 GTX older card on the DX10 pathway. Do not compare DX10 to DX11 results! The DX10 pathway is far less stressful than the heavy tessellation used on the DX11 pathway. Also, the visuals are far more impressive with DX11 over DX10 primarily because of tessellation.\u00a0 Now we test at 1680&#215;1050 and also with 4xAA.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20394\" title=\"Heaven-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-16.jpg?resize=450%2C467\" alt=\"Heaven-16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-16.jpg?resize=450%2C467 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-16-289x300.jpg 289w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And now at 1920&#215;1080; again the newer cards are on the far more demanding DX11 pathway:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20395\" title=\"Heaven-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-19.jpg?resize=450%2C374\" alt=\"Heaven-19\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-19.jpg?resize=450%2C374 450w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Heaven-19-300x249.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Clearly the GTX 480 is the fastest and even GTX 450 SLI is much faster at this tessellation-heavy benchmark.\u00a0 There will be at least two DX11 games based on Unigine that are scheduled to be released this year.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: left\"><!--pagetitle: Heaven 2.0--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Performance Summary Chart<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The following charts summarize the average FPS of the reference (stock-clocked) GTS 450 vs. the stock-clocked HD 5750 and also stocked-clocked GTS 450 SLI versus a single HD 5870 which is at its stock clocks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As an added bonus, benchmarks of <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> are included which did not make the main review.\u00a0 Completely maxed out in-game detail settings plus 4xAA were used for benching our HD 5870 vs. our GTS 450 SLI in <em>Just Cause 2 <\/em>at 1920&#215;1080 resolution.\u00a0 For benching our reference GTS 450 against the HD 5750, we used the following settings at 1440&#215;900 and 1650&#215;1080 for <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> (only; please see each game for detail settings that this chart summarizes):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\">Texture detail\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0\u00a0 <em>high<\/em><br \/>\nShadows\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0quality \u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 <em>low<\/em><br \/>\n1xAA\/16xAF<br \/>\nWater &amp; objects detail\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 <em>high<\/em><br \/>\nDecals\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0\u00a0<em> on<\/em><br \/>\nSoft particles &amp; high res. shadows\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0<em> off<\/em><br \/>\nSSAO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0\u00a0 <em>low<\/em><br \/>\nPoint light specular, Bokeh filter &amp; GPU water\u00a0 \u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0 <em>off<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20683\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=400%2C474\" alt=\"Untitled-1\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=400%2C474 400w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-14-253x300.jpg 253w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-24.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20684\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-24.jpg?resize=400%2C492\" alt=\"Untitled-2\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-24.jpg?resize=400%2C492 400w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-24-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20685\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg?resize=400%2C406\" alt=\"Untitled-3\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg?resize=400%2C406 400w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-34-295x300.jpg 295w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-44.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20686\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-44.jpg?resize=400%2C468\" alt=\"Untitled-4\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-44.jpg?resize=400%2C468 400w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Untitled-44-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s check out the power usage of the GTS 450 next.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Performance Summary--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">The GeForce GTS 450<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8211; Power Usage<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This is important for many people as a very hot running GPU is not only not &#8220;green&#8221;, it throws warm air into your room that your air conditioner must work extra hard to compensate for. Of course, for those of us like this editor who lives where it is cooler than warmer, a small space-heater in ones PC is a plus. We have seen the GTS 450&#8217;s TDP specification, that it is a modest 106W and the GTS 450 only requires one 6-pin PCIe connector as shown below as does its chief rival the HD 5750 sitting next to it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20473\" title=\"TheComp_5750XFX\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX3.jpg?resize=300%2C239\" alt=\"TheComp_5750XFX\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX3.jpg?resize=300%2C239 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/TheComp_5750XFX3.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTS 450&#8217;s performance does come at a very low power cost; compare the system total power draw at the wall with the PC at bootup and idling in 2D.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/166WStartup2d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20454\" title=\"166WStartup2d\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/166WStartup2d.jpg?resize=300%2C262\" alt=\"166WStartup2d\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/166WStartup2d.jpg?resize=300%2C262 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/166WStartup2d.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Now the total system power draw from the wall with the same PC at the start of FurMark.\u00a0 Bear in mind that FurMark is absolute worst case power draw on a video card and it will exceed anything that you will find in a game.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/200WStartup2d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20455\" title=\"200WStartup2d\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/200WStartup2d.jpg?resize=300%2C257\" alt=\"200WStartup2d\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/200WStartup2d.jpg?resize=300%2C257 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/200WStartup2d.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Now we are going to torture our GTS 450 GF104 GPU with FurMark.\u00a0 A couple of minutes is enough to find near the peak power draw:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FURMARK.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20456\" title=\"FURMARK\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FURMARK.jpg?resize=300%2C197\" alt=\"FURMARK\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FURMARK.jpg?resize=300%2C197 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FURMARK.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is the peak power we observed during the FurMark run:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/291WFurGTS450.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20457\" title=\"291WFurGTS450\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/291WFurGTS450.jpg?resize=300%2C261\" alt=\"291WFurGTS450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/291WFurGTS450.jpg?resize=300%2C261 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/291WFurGTS450.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Considering that we started the test at around 200W and mostly stressed our GPU, we can safely say we are using about 100W and perhaps spiking to 130W; well within Nvidia&#8217;s real-world TDP measurements which are an average.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Amazingly, even during Furmark, temperatures run in the cool 70s C as &#8220;worst case&#8221; as even the reference cooling solution appears up to the task.\u00a0 On the other hand, the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC runs even cooler and quieter while at a higher core and memory clock!\u00a0 Both videocards are totally silent even at full normal spinup inside my case.\u00a0 Only when they are in SLI does one of the cards run very hot as they are pressed so close to each other and still you can barely hear it.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Power consumption--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Overclocking<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It is expected that the GTS 450 relatively tame thermals and TDP would allow for extreme overclocking. The maximum temperatures achieved with &#8220;worst case&#8221; FurMark barely got SLI&#8217;d GPUs out of the 70s C. Clearly this GPU was built for overclocking. We used Galaxy&#8217;s own overclocking tool, Xtreme Tuner to overclock our GTS 450 reference version to synchronize both GPUs to Galaxy&#8217;s SOC speeds.\u00a0 Nvidia&#8217;s 260 drivers also allow asynchronous overclocking where each GPU can retain its own speed.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/XTuner_GPU-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20458\" title=\"XTuner_GPU-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/XTuner_GPU-1.jpg?resize=300%2C205\" alt=\"XTuner_GPU-1\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/XTuner_GPU-1.jpg?resize=300%2C205 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/XTuner_GPU-1.jpg 657w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">At idle, the temperatures are cool and the fan is completely inaudible at 20-30%.\u00a0 It is fixed to not go higher than 70% as it never appears to need to go higher.\u00a0 Our reference GTS 450 easily matched the speeds of the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC although its fan got a bit louder.\u00a0 We did not have a lot of time to spend with our pair of GTS 450s and we shall follow-up with trying to find their maximum overclock.\u00a0 One thing that we love about the Galaxy&#8217;s cooling fan design is that it is designed to flip out and even be completely removed from the videocard for a thorough cleaning.\u00a0 That way you can be certain that your cooling remains up to the task without clogging with otherwise hard to remove dust.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20474\" title=\"FlipFan-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-11.jpg?resize=295%2C300\" alt=\"FlipFan-1\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-11.jpg?resize=295%2C300 295w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/FlipFan-11.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s head for our conclusions about the GTS 450 and especially regarding the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Overclocking--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Price to Performance<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It is pretty clear from our 21 games and two synthetic tests that the GTS 450 has given Nvidia and their partners a potent GPU to put against AMD&#8217;s HD 5750\/5770. However, the GTS 450 does not have the clear distinction of being the fastest video card in its class.\u00a0 So much of its success will depend on market pricing and AMD has already lowered their HD 5770 in a preemptive strike against the GTS 450.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As we can see, these cards do finally compete directly with each other in both price and in performance. Unlike with Nvidia&#8217;s earlier offerings of their GF100 where the videocards were not directly competing, this launch is far more aggressive so as to make inroads into AMD&#8217;s market share in the midrange &#8211; HD 5750 and HD 5770 territory.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Clearly AMD is confident in its own mature product and they are apparently going to counter Nvidia with discounted pricing and it is also clear that they are leaving their partners to use their judgment. Will this strategy work? How will Nvidia respond?\u00a0 There are rumors of AMD&#8217;s new HD 6000 series that may well be introduced this year.\u00a0 Until then and right now, it is an excellent time to upgrade as there is price competition again, something we have not seen for a long time until recently.<br \/>\n<!--pagetitle: Conclusion--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This has been quite an enjoyable &#8211; if physically exhausting &#8211; one-week, hand&#8217;s on experience for us in comparing our two GTS 450s versus HD 5750 and with the 8800 GTX of the earlier DX10 generation of video cards, as well as comparing GTS 450 SLI against GTX 480 and HD 5870. We wish that we had more than the week we were allowed to benchmark GTS 450 under NDA to give you our first impressions. During that same week, we also had to set up and benchmark HD 5750. However, it was certainly worth it and we feel priviliged to bring you our very first benchmarks and performance testing of Galaxy&#8217;s GTS 450 SOC.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We like the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC a lot and we plan to follow up with this editor&#8217;s special areas of interest &#8211; multi-GPU scaling and multi-display&#8217;s Eyefinity versus (2D) Surround.\u00a0 We were amazed by the supeb scaling of SLI in newer games.\u00a0 So, expect an ongoing series.\u00a0 We also expect GF108 from Nvidia soon to take on HD 5500\/5400 series.<br \/>\nIn the meantime, feel free to comment below, ask questions or have a detailed discussion in our ABT forum. If you have any requests on what you would like us to focus on for further testing or for any other information, please join our ABT forum or leave a comment.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Galaxy GTS 450 SOC<\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Pros and Cons:<\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pros:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Reference GTS 450 is faster than its competition, HD 5750 and probably very close to HD 5770 performance (also now down to $139).<\/li>\n<li> There is further room for overclocking and the Galaxy GTS 450 SOC is solidly faster than the reference GTS 450.<\/li>\n<li> New architecture brings support for GPU computing and a level of performance way beyond the last generation.<\/li>\n<li> DX11 and great support for tessellation, PhysX and CUDA, 3D gaming, and 2D\/3D Surround (with SLI) bring realism to gaming<\/li>\n<li> Galaxy&#8217;s flip-fan is great for keeping your OC.<\/li>\n<li> Galaxy&#8217;s GTS 450 SOC sports 4ns memory \u2013 the fastest on the market &#8211; a 3+1 PWM digital power supply, a MOSFET heatsink and solid components<\/li>\n<li> Two year warranty<\/li>\n<li> If you are considering SLI (for performance or Suround), 2 x GTX 450 is a very potent and inexpensive performance solution that sometimes rivals a single HD 5870.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Cons:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Price &#8211; the HD 5770 is the same price as the GTS 450 reference version and offers similar performance.\u00a0 And this is not really a con as formerly more expensive competing cards have already dropped their pricing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That&#8217;s it.\u00a0 For about the same price as an HD 5770 you get all the features that Nvidia video cards have to offer with very similar performance.\u00a0 Of course, a good factory overclock like the Galaxy&#8217;s GTS 450 will elevate it way beyond reference GTS 450 performance and you get all the benefits of a premium card such as a two year warranty, the Galaxy&#8217;s amazing flip-fan and solid components.\u00a0 We feel that Galaxy has a real winner in their GTS 450 SOC to offer us and we are pleased to award them our ABT Editor&#8217;s Choice and Kick-Ass awards!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/kick-ass.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/kick-ass.png?resize=150%2C251\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/edchoice_awd-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/edchoice_awd-jpg.jpg?resize=150%2C251\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This editor believes that Nvidia, although late, does bring a very remarkable full-featured DX11 GPU lineup to the market that will find good acceptance among customers and their fans alike. Fermi architecture is impressive and flexible and it does translate to performance in gaming &#8211; although with a bit of a price premium. We have also seen Nvidia&#8217;s drivers improve and their multi-GPU SLI scaling for newer games is very impressive.\u00a0 We also like the direction they are heading in with their simplified installations of their GeForce 260 drivers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you currently game on a 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS, or 9800 GT class of card, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a GTS 450 will give you better visuals on the DX11 pathway and you are no doubt thinking of GTS 450 SLI if you want to get even higher performance on a budget or want to use Suround&#8217;s 2D three-panel display (which we are going to explore in a future article versus Eyefinity).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If the many exclusive features of the new GTS 450 appeal to you and you are gaming at 1680&#215;1050, you cannot go wrong with a GTS 450 and especially the Galaxy SOC if you are considering overclocking as an alternative to buying a more expensive card.\u00a0 The competition is hot as the prices on HD 5750\/5770 have softened and they offer their own set of features including a cheaper way to experience 3-panel multi-display with Eyefinity.\u00a0 Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20306\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/GTS-450-SuperOverclock-2.PNG\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,6,2535],"tags":[72,1850,248,2354,680,4060,4064,4049,4062,4061,3058,2395,2079,121,539,87,4063],"class_list":["post-20306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-news","category-web-news","tag-amd","tag-benchmarks","tag-cuda","tag-fermi","tag-galaxy","tag-galaxy-gts-450-superoverclock","tag-gf104","tag-gts-450","tag-gts-450-sli","tag-gts-450-soc","tag-gtx-480","tag-hd-5750","tag-hd-5870","tag-nvidia","tag-physx","tag-review","tag-suround"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}