{"id":24236,"date":"2011-02-27T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2011-02-27T08:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=24236"},"modified":"2011-02-28T19:50:31","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T19:50:31","slug":"sli-vs-crossfire-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/sli-vs-crossfire-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"SLI vs. CrossFire, Part 1 &#8211; mid-range multi-GPU scaling &#038; value"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><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><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The review that we are presenting here today compares the performance of the very fastest AMD and Nvidia video cards to mid- and upper-midrange cards in SLI or CrossFire.  This is Part One of a brand-new series that continues where our<em> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=22167\">Core i7 vs. Phenom II X2 vs. X4 scaling performance analysis<\/a>&#8220;<\/em> left off.  In fact, that article is a continuation of an older  series where we benchmarked the Core i7-920 versus the Q9550s and Phenom II CPUs in \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=14309\">Core i7 vs. Penryn vs. Phenom II with HD 4870-X2 &amp; TriFire<\/a>\u201d  which we published in January, 2010.  This first part of our evaluation only deals with CrossFire scaling versus SLI scaling on Core i7-920 as later parts of this series will expand to cover many more multi-GPU configurations and more CPU platforms, including dual- versus quad-core.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SLIvCF.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24243\" title=\"SLIvCF\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SLIvCF.jpg?resize=300%2C224\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SLIvCF.jpg?resize=300%2C224 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SLIvCF-1024x767.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We are actually expanding on our old <em>&#8220;Performance Meets Value&#8221;<\/em> series with far more games to benchmark and with more powerful graphics than HD 5870 CrossFire which we are again benching for you as a baseline.   And this time, we are now benchmarking with the three fastest single-GPU graphics cards from each vendor &#8211; GTX 580\/570\/480 and HD 6890\/6950\/5870 versus the more mid-range GTX 560\/460 &amp; GTX 450 SLI, and HD 6870 and HD 5870 CrossFire.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>After nearly a month of solid benchmarking \u2013 literally hundreds of individual benchmark runs which we have gathered, analyzed and charted for you \u2013 we now have some more solid evidence about multi-GPU scaling and how pairing mid-priced middle-performing solutions compare to the expensive fastest individual cards.  We are again looking at <em>Performance Meets Value. <\/em>Keep these prices in mind as you look over our results to determine value for yourself.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24260\" title=\"Pricing\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing5.jpg?resize=434%2C323\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing5.jpg?resize=434%2C323 543w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing5-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>From the above chart, you can compare value by looking at the rough e-tail and street pricing of our  cards.  Cards denoted with an asterisk(*) are generally more discounted  and pricing is approximate and what we found as street pricing;  especially the HD 5870 and GTX 480 are both EoL&#8217;d and pricing can vary  greatly.  We looked primarily at USA pricing and at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/', 'NewEgg.com']);\" >NewEgg.com<\/a> in particular<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We are continuing to test at two of the most popular demanding wide-screen resolutions, 1680&#215;1050 and 1920&#215;1200, plus at 2560&#215;1600.  We use 4xAA or 8xAA plus 16xAF and with maximum DX11\/10.1\/10\/9c details whenever it is available.<\/span><\/span> For all of our testing in this review, we are benching with Catalyst 11.1a and GeForce 266.58 drivers (266.66 for the GTX 560 Ti); each one a very solid and stable driver set.<\/p>\n<p>When we say \u201cperformance meets value\u201d, we mean that a pair of HD 5870s &#8211; now discontinued &#8211; can be got for $400 while a GTX 580 costs $500. So, we naturally ask, \u201cis it worth it\u201d to buy the single GPU video card and can even the budget GTS 450 in SLI fit into a relatively high-end PC gaming?  What about &#8220;micro-stutter&#8221; and how well do games generally scale by adding a second videocard?<\/p>\n<p>Please note that this review was cut short as Part One when our Gigabyte EX58-UD3R motherboard malfunctioned.  Although ABT does not receive products for evaluation from Gigabyte, this editor likes their great bang-for-buck products and we went for a regular RMA.  We got our RMA number within a business day of our request and the motherboard was returned to us after just a couple of days at their repair center in the City of Industry, California &#8211; just one week from failure to back up and running again!  Many thanks to their superb service and to their repair department.  We shall continue to recommend Gigabyte hardware with increased confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Please continue on to the next page for the complete hardware and software setup of our testing platform. We shall see what happens when high performance single-GPU video cards finally meets multi-GPU value in PC gaming at the beginning of 2011.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--> <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 3.8 GHz; 21x multiplier for 3.97 GHz, Turbo is on. <\/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 PC1800 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at PC1600 speeds; 2&#215;2 GB supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Galaxy GTX 560, 1 GB custom cooler and clocks, Galaxy Clocks 835\/2004 MHz and stock-clocked to 822\/2004 MHz, supplied by Galaxy under NDA. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GeForce GTX 560, 1 GB reference design and clocks (822\/2004 MHz) supplied by Nvidia under NDA. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GeForce GTX 580, 1.5 GB reference design and clocks (772\/2004 MHz), supplied by Nvidia<\/span><\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 480, 1.5 GB reference design and clocks (700\/1401 MHz), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 570, 1.2 GB reference design and clocks (732\/1900 MHz), supplied by Nvidia and further overclocked to 815\/2000 MHz.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">EVGA <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GTX 460<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> FTW; 1 GB, overclocked version (at reference clocks 675\/1800 MHz) supplied by Nvidia\/EVGA<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Galaxy GTX 460 SOC; 1GB overclocked version at reference clocks (675\/1800 MHz), supplied by Galaxy <\/span><\/li>\n<li>Galaxy GTS 450 SOC; 1GB overclocked version at reference clocks (783\/1804 MHz), supplied by Galaxy<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTS 450, 1 GB reference design and clocks (783\/1804 MHz), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>ATI Radeon HD 6970 (2GB, reference clocks, 880\/1370 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<li>ATI Radeon HD 6950 (2GB, reference clocks, 800\/1250 MHz; also flashed to stock HD 6970) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1GB 850\/1200 MHz) by Diamond<\/span><\/li>\n<li>ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1GB 850\/1200 MHz) supplied by AMD\/Powercolor<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">ATi Radeon HD 6870 (1GB, reference clocks, 900\/1050 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/span><\/li>\n<li>ATi Radeon HD 6870 (1GB, reference clocks, 900\/1050 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 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 NH-U12P SE2 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 <\/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 11.1a performance (beta) driver for all Radeons; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver; surface performance optimizations are off;  &#8220;use applications settings&#8221; are checked <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">NVIDIA GeForce release candidate 266.66 for GTX 560 Ti; WHQL 266.58 used for GTX 580, GTX 570\/GTX 480\/GTX 560. 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\/November 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 forced off in the control panel.<\/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><em> <\/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 DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 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>3DMark11<\/li>\n<li><em> F.E.A.R.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> X3:Terran Conflict<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Enemy Territory: Quake Wars<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Call of Duty 4<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Unreal Tournament 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Grand Theft Auto IV<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Wolfenstein<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Left 4 Dead<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Grand Theft Auto IV<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Borderlands <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Mafia II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Call of Juarez<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Warhead <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Lost Planet<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>World in Conflict <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Just Cause 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> H.A.W.X.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Alien vs. Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Battleforge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Dirt 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2010 <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> H.A.W.X. 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li> Heaven 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We have got an interesting project going.  Let&#8217;s check our results.<\/p>\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 DX10 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=\"display: inline; border-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><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-bt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24021\" title=\"Vantage-bt\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-bt.jpg?resize=482%2C804\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-bt.jpg?resize=482%2C804 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-bt-179x300.jpg 179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We note the rankings.  Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented this way.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-mg6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24130\" title=\"Vantage-mg\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-mg6.jpg?resize=482%2C804\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-mg6.jpg?resize=482%2C804 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Vantage-mg6-179x300.jpg 179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For our purposes here, Vantage is a meaningless test although they do attempt to compare one video card&#8217;s performance to another by using two short timedemos.   Let&#8217;s move on to the latest Futuremark benchmark, 3DMark11 which is DX11 only.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Vantage--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">3DMark11<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">3DMark11 is Futuremark&#8217;s brand new DX11-only benchmark.  We are keeping track of the overall (for these tests, meaningless) scores and the framerates of the 4 graphics tests (which are more meaningful).  First the basic tests results.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-BT.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24105\" title=\"3DMark11-BT\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-BT.jpg?resize=482%2C620\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-BT.jpg?resize=482%2C620 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-BT-233x300.jpg 233w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We note the rankings.  Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented in this way.  However, the next set of tests actually measures framerates of four short timedemos that focus on DX11 graphics performance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-mg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24131\" title=\"3DMark11-mg\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/3DMark11-mg.jpg?resize=482%2C1198\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We see an interesting lineup. Unfortunately for our purposes, 3DMark11 scores are just as meaningless as Vantage in an attempt to  compare one video card&#8217;s performance to another &#8211; even in the same  system.  Let&#8217;s move on to PC games and to real world situations and we  will create our &#8220;snapshot&#8221; of current performance of our single-GPU  video cards to see how they scale in CrossFire or SLI and we will compare them to the single-GPU fastest video cards to attempt to determine price to performance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: 3DMark11--><!--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=\"display: inline; border: 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><em> <\/em> <em> <\/em> <em> <\/em><\/p>\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.<\/p>\n<p>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. We test this game with the most demanding settings. We use fully maxed details with 4xAA\/16xAF; soft shadows \u2018off\u2019, as they do not play well with AA.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start first at 2560&#215;1600:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24062\" title=\"fear-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-25.jpg?resize=482%2C801\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-25.jpg?resize=482%2C801 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-25-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see an interesting situation. Here the GTS 450 as a single GPU simply chokes at our highest settings.  Adding a second GTS 450 in SLI allows it to easily play this game.  We also see the minimums nearly triple when a second card is added for CrossFire.  However, generally we see scaling of the average framerates is not great with SLI nor CrossFire in F.E.A.R.  Let&#8217;s look at 1920&#215;100:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24063\" title=\"fear-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-19.jpg?resize=482%2C801\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-19.jpg?resize=482%2C801 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/fear-19-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 is the strongest video card in this DX9 game yet it is easily matched by GTX 460 SLI and beaten by GTX 460 SLI.  We also see CrossFired HD 6870 and HD 5870 scale a little better than their GeForce counterparts.  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 sufficiently high.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: F.E.A.R.--><!--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=\"display: inline; border-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><em> <\/em> <em> <\/em> <em> <\/em><\/p>\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>. 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 2560\u00d71600 with completely maxed out settings plus 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24036\" title=\"X3TC-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-25-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1920&#215;1200:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24039\" title=\"X3TC-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/X3TC-191-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This time all of our video cards run close to each other in a fairly tight grouping except for the more budget cards. However, all of our video cards perform well and all of them experience similar minimum framerates and a similar playing experience.  We also note no change in the minimums by adding a second card yet all of our cards in multi-GPU blow past the fastest video cards except for the very budget GTS 450 SLI setup.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: X3 - Terran Conflict--><!--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=\"display: inline; border: 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><\/p>\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. <em> <\/em> <em> <\/em> <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.<\/p>\n<p>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 or 8xAA plus 16xAF in game. First we test at 2560&#215;1600 resolution with all settings fully maxed in-game plus 4xAA\/16xAF:<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-25.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-252.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24068\" title=\"etqw-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-252.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-252.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-252-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s crank up the anti-aliasing from 4x to 8x while we test at 1920&#215;1200 resolution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24066\" title=\"etqw-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/etqw-191-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here we see the GTS 450 is unable to play this game even in SLI as the  minimums do not gain much and it is still a chugging slideshow at our chosen resolutions with highest details.  On the  other hand, although neither the GTX 460 nor GTX 560 gain much in the  minimums, they are able to benefit in the averages to give a more fluid  experience since they are already strong enough performers as single  cards.  SLI simply does not scale well in this game while CrossFire scales fairly well.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: ET:QW--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Wolfenstein<\/h2>\n<p><em>Wolfenstein<\/em> is a science fiction first-person shooter video game mostly co-developed by Raven and id Software and published by Activision. It is the sequel to <em>Return to Castle Wolfenstein<\/em>, and uses the id Tech 4 engine. The game was released in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24248\" title=\"Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Our timedemo benchmark was created by ABT\u2019s own Senior Editor and lead  reviewer, BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable.  First we test at 2560&#215;1600 with completely maxed out in-game settings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24084\" title=\"wolf-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-25-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1920&#215;1200 with maxed out settings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24085\" title=\"wolf-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-19.jpg?resize=482%2C605\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-19.jpg?resize=482%2C605 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wolf-19-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It looks like driver issues are to blame for Nvidia&#8217;s poor relative performance in this OpenGL game compared to the competing Radeons.  It needs to be optimized to run well on GeForce hardware although it surprisingly does scale with SLI.  Our GTS 450 cannot manage this game and although scaling is nearly perfect; SLI&#8217;d GTS 450 still falls short.  We also see GTX 460 SLI surpass our GTX 580 performance in this game.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Wolfenstein--><!--nextpage--> <strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare<\/span><\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong> <a rel=\"attachment wp-att-4367\" href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?attachment_id=4367\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-4367 aligncenter\" 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><em> <\/em><\/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. <em>CoD Modern Warfare <strong>2<\/strong><\/em> was also released with updated visuals but it is also not very demanding on graphics cards. 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.<\/p>\n<p>Our timedemo benchmark was created by ABT\u2019s own Senior Editor and lead reviewer, BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here is <em>CoD4,<\/em> first at 2560&#215;1600 resolution with all in-game settings completely maxed out plus 4xAA:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-251.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24140\" title=\"Cod4-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-251.jpg?resize=482%2C1000\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-251.jpg?resize=482%2C1000 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-251-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span>We see some pretty good scaling that approaches 100% in some cases.  Scaling greater than 100% can be attributed to benchmark &#8220;noise&#8221;, the way averages are rounded off. or the nature of Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) and we will expand on this in our conclusion.  Here we see the HD 5870 &#8211; although not the strongest single-GPU performer &#8211; leads when it is in CrossFire.   However, even GTX 460 SLI is enough to beat the GTX 580.  Let&#8217;s next test at 1920&#215;1200.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24138\" title=\"Cod4-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1004\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1004 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Cod4-191-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see that a popular multiplayer game is very playable even on midrange graphics cards and it plays very smoothly with this generation&#8217;s top video cards. We also see GTS 450 SLI even hang with the GTX 480 and the GTX 570.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: CoD4--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3)<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ut3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"UT3\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ut3.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"UT3\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <\/em><\/p>\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. UT3 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>. 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.<\/p>\n<p>Our tests were run at resolutions of 2560 x 1600 and 1920 x 1200 with UT3\u2019s in-game graphics options set to their maximum values.  One drawback of the way the UT3 engine is designed is that there is no support for anti-aliasing built in. We forced 4xAA for 2560&#215;1600 and 8xAA for 1920&#215;1200 in each vendor\u2019s control panel; 8xQ for Nvidia to match AMD Graphics&#8217; 8xMSAA settings. 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.  Here is Containment Demo, first at 2560&#215;1600 with 4xAA forced in each vendor&#8217;s control panel:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/UT3-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24027\" title=\"UT3-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/UT3-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1006\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now at 1920 x 1200 and with 8xAA (8xQ in Nvidia&#8217;s Control Panel) forced<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/UT3-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24141\" title=\"UT3-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/UT3-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1006\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>There is absolutely no problem playing this game fully maxed-out with any of our graphics configurations except for the GTS 450 at the highest resolution and even then, adding a second one in SLI makes it playable. The HD 5870 catches and passes even the GTX 480 at 1920&#215;1200 although the GTX 580 puts in the best showing at 2560&#215;1600 and the GTX 570 and the GTX 480 trade blows with each other in a pretty even match up.  The GTX 560 Ti has no trouble handling the HD 6870 and all SLI and CrossFired configurations give decent scaling beating the flagship video cards.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: UnrealTournament3--><em><!--nextpage--><\/em> <strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Batman: Arkham Asylum (Game of the Year Edition)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><em><strong><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><\/strong><\/em> <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> is an action-adventure\/stealth video game based on DC Comics&#8217; Batman.    Arkham Asylum 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.<\/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.  <em> <\/em><\/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 <em>exactly<\/em> against the Radeon with PhysX on; so all of our testing is with it off.  We are using the <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20560\">Game of the Year Edition <\/a>of <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> which supports in-game AA settings for both Radeon and GeForce cards.<\/p>\n<p>We begin testing at  2560&#215;1600 with details maxed and with 8xAA applied in the game&#8217;s setting control panel (8xQ for Nvidia).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24069\" title=\"batman-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1003\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1003 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-25-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">In each case, except for our GTS 450, the rest are able to offer reasonable playing experiences as the minimums are sufficiently high even at 2560&#215;1600 with details maxed and with 8xAA applied.  And adding a second GTS 450 allows this game to be playable.  1920&#215;1200 can only be faster.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24071\" title=\"batman-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/batman-19.jpg?resize=482%2C999\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Now all of our cards can play Batman at 1920&#215;1200 with 8xAA.  The GTX 580 is fastest video card although it is soundly whipped by GTX 460 and our CrossFired cards are the fastest playing this game<\/span><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Batman GotY--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Left 4 Dead<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><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<em> <\/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 with humans.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24244\" title=\"left4dead\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There is no built-in benchmark, so we created our own custom time demo which is very repeatable. The game is updated regularly by Steam and we chose the highest detail settings and 8xAA. We will save our comments until after we present both charts. First we test at 2560&#215;1600 resolution:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24090\" title=\"l4d-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-25.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-25.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-25-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On to our next chart at 1920\u00d71200:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24091\" title=\"l4d-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/l4d-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">All of our video cards can play this game fully maxed out plus 8xAA, except for the GTS 450 at 2560&#215;1600 which then benefits sufficiently to be playable after being SLI&#8217;d.  The GTX 580 stands out although the HD 6870 comes pretty close at 2560&#215;1600 and yet they are still beaten by every flavor of each tested SLI and CrossFire combination except for GTS 450 SLI.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Left 4 Dead--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Grand Theft Auto IV<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em> <\/em> <em>Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV)<\/em> is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game released by Rockstar in late 2008. It is the sixth game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Two episodic expansion packs have since been released since then as late as April of this year. The game is set in a redesigned rendition of Liberty City, a fictional city based heavily on modern day New York City. It follows Niko Bellic, a war veteran from Eastern Europe. He comes to the United States in search of the American Dream and enters a world of organized crime, gangs and corruption.  <em>GTA IV<\/em> is mostly composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters which features free-roaming gameplay. It features an online multiplayer mode, the first of the GTA series to do so.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/GTAIV2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24247\" title=\"GTAIV\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/GTAIV2.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/GTAIV2.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/GTAIV2-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here are the settings that we used. The 1.5GB GTX 480\/570\/580 and 2GB HD 69&#215;0 Radeons, by virtue of having more than 1GB vRAM, can use even higher settings than the 1GB video cards (which are pictured below running nearly out of resources).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/GTAIV-2Settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21704\" title=\"GTAIV-2Settings\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/GTAIV-2Settings.jpg?resize=560%2C350\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/GTAIV-2Settings.jpg?resize=560%2C350 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/GTAIV-2Settings-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p>First we test at 2560&#215;1600 resolution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24082\" title=\"gta4-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-25.jpg?resize=482%2C604\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-25.jpg?resize=482%2C604 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-25-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1920&#215;1200.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24083\" title=\"gta4-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/gta4-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This benchmark appears to be at the very least, highly CPU-limited at 1920&#215;1200 except for our weakest cards which benefits from multi-GPU.   At 2560&#215;1600 we start to see some differences with some limited multi-GPU scaling.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Grand Theft Auto IV--><!--nextpage--> <strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Serious Sam Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/span><\/span><\/strong> <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> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span> Serious Sam  is the title of a series of first-person shooters created by the Croatian development team Croteam. 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. Its gameplay is a throwback to early first-person shooters like Quake and Doom with the twist of being set in wide-open environments with large groups of enemies attacking at any time, and there are many hidden areas and treasures to find and puzzles to solve.  Serious Sam features cooperative gameplay and allows for split screen action supporting up to 4 players. <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter<\/em> was remade as &#8220;HD&#8221; using Serious Engine 3. It was released on April, 2010 for PC. Besides updated visuals, new game modes including &#8220;Co-op Tournament&#8221; and &#8220;Survival&#8221; for single player, were introduced in this remake. Serious Sam 3 is currently in development by Croteam and is expected to debut at E3, 2011.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><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 is possible further fine-tuning which will make the game even more demanding, but we chose the &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets with only one higher GPU setting, to allow for testing beyond 1920&#215;1080. We test first at 2560&#215;1600<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24158\" title=\"SsSE-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-25-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">And finally at 1920&#215;120<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">0 with the same ultra presets:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24160\" title=\"SsSE-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1002\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-191.jpg?resize=482%2C1002 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/SsSE-191-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD<\/em> <span style=\"font-size: small;\">on the Serious 3 engine is quite demanding and yet all of our top configurations play it satisfactorily using the game&#8217;s built-in &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets. <\/span>Although the GTX 560 Ti trades blows with the HD 6870, the HD 6950 is a bit faster and the stock GTX 580 simply blasts past t<span style=\"font-size: small;\">hem all. However, GTS 450 SLI is not even sufficiently powerful enough to play this game at our chosen resolutions and level of detail although GTX 460 SLI is able to manage even 2560&#215;1600 even though the single GTX 460 chokes there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The Radeons are similarly benefited by running them in CrossFire and although they do not scale particularly well; the HD 6870s in CrossFire can run at 2560&#215;1600 while a single card cannot.  GTX 560 Ti SLI edges a single GTX 580 at 2560&#215;1600 and is much faster at 1920&#215;1200.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--pagetitle: Serious Sam (2010)--><!--nextpage--><\/ul>\n<h2>Borderlands<\/h2>\n<p><em>Borderlands<\/em> is a science fiction first-person shooter with RPG elements that was developed by Gearbox Software for Windows in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Borderlands.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24250\" title=\"Borderlands\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Borderlands.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Borderlands.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Borderlands-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Borderlands.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><em>Borderlands<\/em> is a brand new benchmark for us and it proves to be quite demanding at fully maxed out in-game settings even without AA.  We use the benchmark that is built into the game and note that it is a very demanding map.  First we test at 2560&#215;1600 with fully maxed-out in-game settings.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24086\" title=\"border-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-25-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/ul>\n<p>Now we test at 1920&#215;1200.<\/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\/2011\/02\/border-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24087\" title=\"border-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1003\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1003 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/border-19-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GTX 580 is the fastest and we see the GTX 560 Ti take a strong lead even over the HD 6970.  This time, however, neither Crossfire nor SLI scale particularly well and the GTX 580 trades blows with the GTX 460 SLI, losing to the GTX 560 Ti but not by such an overwhelming margin.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Borderlands--><!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Mafia II<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><strong> <\/strong> <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><\/strong><\/ul>\n<p><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 year. Mafia II 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.  <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 becomes a \u2018made\u2019 man. There are 15 chapters in the game and over two hours of game engine generated cutscenes.  <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><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 and preferably with a second video card dedicated to it.  For this article, we used the full retail game with <em>Mafia II&#8217;s<\/em> built-in benchmark with the highest settings for 2560&#215;1600 and 1920&#215;1200 &#8211; without PhysX &#8211; and this time we will reserve comment until after both charts. First we test at 2560&#215;1600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24097\" title=\"mafia-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-25-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Now at 1920&#215;1200:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24098\" title=\"mafia-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-19.jpg?resize=482%2C597\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-19.jpg?resize=482%2C597 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/mafia-19-242x300.jpg 242w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The GTX 580 is the fastest followed by the HD 6970.  However, the GTX 560 Ti falls slightly behind the HD 6870.  SLI&#8217;ing GTS 450 doesn&#8217;t save it at our resolutions although the GTX 460 gets a nice performance boost in SLI going from unplayable as a single video card to matching GTX 580 with nearly 100% scaling at 2560&#215;1600.  Our Radeons also benefit from CrossFiring them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span>This covers our DX9 games and we note some variability with SLI and CrossFire Scaling.  Let&#8217;s move on to DX10 and DX11 games to see if anything changes.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Mafia II--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Call of Juarez<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/coj_dx10-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-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> <em> <\/em><\/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. <em>Call of Juarez<\/em> features its Chrome Engine using Shader Model 4 with DirectX 10. Our benchmark is built into <em>Call of Juarez<\/em>.  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.  Here are <em>Call of Juarez<\/em> DX10 benchmark results, first at 1920\u00d71200 as there is no 2560&#215;1600 option available in the benchmark:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24025\" title=\"CoJ-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-19-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24026\" title=\"CoJ-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1001\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1001 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoJ-16-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 takes the lead over the GTX 570 which edges the GTX 480. The overclocked GTX 460 matches the HD 5870.  The GTX 560 Ti nearly catches the HD 6970 while convincingly beating the HD 6870 and the HD 6950.  Although CrossFire scaling is nearly 100% for both Radeons, GTX 560 Ti SLI is still the fastest at this benchmark and it solidly beats the GTX 580.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Call of Juarez--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Lost Planet<\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/lostplanet-jpg.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 0pt none; display: inline;\" title=\"LostPlanet\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/lostplanet_thumb-jpg.jpg?w=720\" border=\"0\" alt=\"LostPlanet\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\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.<\/p>\n<p>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.  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.<\/p>\n<p>Here are our benchmark results with the more demanding benchmark, Snow. All settings are fully maxed out in-game including 2x or 4xAA\/16xAF. Let&#8217;s start with 1920&#215;1200 resolution with 2xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24029\" title=\"LP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1008\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1008 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-19-143x300.jpg 143w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now at 1680&#215;1050 and with 4xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24030\" title=\"LP-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1007\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1007 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP-16-143x300.jpg 143w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The HD 5870 is edged by the GTX 480 which in turn is beaten by the GTX 570 while the GTX 580 convincingly takes the single card crown. However, the HD 6870 is faster than our GTX 560 Ti and CrossFired HD 5870s and 6870s also beat GTX 560 Ti SLI.  However, we note another oddity in otherwise near-perfect CrossFire scaling where in one case, the scaling is slightly greater than 100%.  It is a tiny amount of around 101% and could easily be attributed to many.  We will attempt to cover this in our conclusion.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Lost Planet--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">CRYSIS<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/crysis64_1-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-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>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.<\/p>\n<p><em>Crysis<\/em> uses DirectX10 for graphics rendering.  A standalone but related game, <em>Crysis Warhea<\/em>d was released the following 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>Far Cry<\/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.  All of our settings are set to the in-game maximum&#8217;s &#8220;very high&#8221; including 2xAA for 1920&#215;1200 and for 1680&#215;1050 and we force 16xAF in the control panels.<\/p>\n<p>Here is <em>Crysis\u2019<\/em> Island Demo benchmark, first at 1920&#215;1200 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24114\" title=\"Crysis-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-19.jpg?resize=482%2C995\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-19.jpg?resize=482%2C995 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-19-145x300.jpg 145w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although the HD 5870 passes the GTX 480, the GTX 580 moves right past it.  The GTX 570 is a bit faster than our GTX 480 and the GTX 560 is just edged by the HD 6870. All of our cards scale well in CrossFire or SLI beating the single flagship cards except for our GTX 450 which, although it scales OK, is just too weak to play.    Next we test at 1680&#215;1050.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24115\" title=\"Crysis-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Crysis-16.jpg?resize=482%2C998\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 480 is edged out by the GTX 570 although the HD 5870 is faster. However the GTX 580 is even faster still and the GTX 560 Ti is a bit faster than the HD 6870.  The GTS 450 simply cannot manage <em>Crysis <\/em>at these settings and adding a second one for SLI is barely sufficient for smooth game play.  On the other hand, GTX 460 is too weak to play <em>Crysis<\/em> until we add a second one for SLI.  The CrossFired HD 5870s run close in performance to the pair of HD 6870s but the GTX 560 Ti pair is the fastest, easily topping the GTX 580&#8217;s performance.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Crysis--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Crysis Warhead<\/h2>\n<p><em>Crysis Warhead<\/em> is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by the Hungarian studio Crytek and published by Electronic Arts. <em>Crysis Warhead<\/em> is a stand-alone expansion to <em>Crysis<\/em> that was released in 2008.  It is optimized better than the original <em>Crysis<\/em> to look as good with less hardware resources required to render it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CrysisWarhead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24249\" title=\"CrysisWarhead\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CrysisWarhead.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CrysisWarhead.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CrysisWarhead-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CrysisWarhead.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We test first at 1920&#215;1200 with 2xAA\/16xAF with maxed-out in-game &#8220;Enthusiast&#8221; (very high) settings:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24094\" title=\"war-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1003\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1003 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-19-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And now the same settings at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24095\" title=\"war-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/war-16.jpg?resize=482%2C999\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 560 is slightly faster than the HD 6870 and as in <em>Crysis<\/em>, we see all of our cards scaling well.  The GTS 450 gets a nice performance boost but is still too weak to manage <em>Warhead <\/em>in SLI.  However, even GTX 460 SLI manages to beat GTX 580 and GTX 560 Ti SLI is much faster still although it is surpassed by HD 5870 CrossFire.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Crysis Warhead--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>FarCry 2<\/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=\"display: inline; border-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> <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Far 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. 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.  First we  test <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> benchmark at 2560&#215;1600 with AI enabled and we use the Ranch Long benchmark with ultra settings plus 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24023\" title=\"FC2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C1006\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> Let&#8217;s move on down to 1920&#215;1200 resolution while increasing our AA from 4x to 8x.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24024\" title=\"FC2-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1007\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1007 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FC2-16-143x300.jpg 143w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 and the GTX 480 run away from the Radeons and the GTX 580 is clearly the fastest of the single cards.   Here we see a clean sweep by the GTX 580 in <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> while the GTX 570 trades performance blows with the GTX 480.  The GTX 560 Ti even beats the fastest Radeon, HD 6970 in this game.  However, we see CrossFired HD 5870s and HD 6870s score nearly perfect scaling although they are both beaten by GTX 560 Ti SLI.  GTX 460 SLI also beats the fastest single flagship video cards while GTS 450 SLI allows this game to be playable whereas a single GTS 450 cannot cope.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Far Cry 2--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>World in Conflict Soviet Assault<\/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=\"display: inline; border-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><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><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 and released in 2007.  The expansion, <em>Soviet Assault<\/em>, was released in 2009.  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 style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is yet another amazing and very customizable and detailed DX10 benchmark that is available in-game or as a stand-alone. We use the full retail game&#8217;s in-game benchmark as it offers more settings than the demo and is updated by patches.  The particle effects and explosions in <em>World in Conflict Soviet Assault<\/em> are truly spectacular! Every setting is fully maxed out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We start our benching at 2560&#215;1600:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24162\" title=\"wic-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-25.jpg?resize=482%2C598\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-25.jpg?resize=482%2C598 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-25-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1920&#215;1200<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24163\" title=\"wic-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-19.jpg?resize=482%2C601\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-19.jpg?resize=482%2C601 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/wic-19-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 560 Ti has no trouble passing the HD 6950 at 1920&#215;1200, nevermind the HD 6870; at 2560&#215;1600, the HD 6950 edges the GTX 560 Ti.  Here we see just some fair scaling by our CrossFired and SLI&#8217;d video cards, yet it is sufficient to blast them past the single flagship cards, except for the GTS 450 SLI.  The GTS 450 benefits by SLI &#8211; enough to make the game playable at 1920&#215;1200, something it could not manage by itself.  The GTX 560 Ti SLI is fastest overall, followed by GTX 460 SLI in-between HD 6870 and HD 5870 CrossFired performance.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: World in Conflict--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Just Cause 2<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17937\" title=\"JustCause2_25x16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"JustCause2_25x16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> is a 2010 sandbox-style action video game by Swedish developer Avalanche Studios and Eidos Interactive and is the sequel to the 2006 video game, J<em>ust Cause. Just Cause 2<\/em> employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0 which an updated version of the engine used in the original and there are impressive visuals as it is made just for DX10. It is set on the fictional tropical island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist who aims to overthrow the evil dictator &#8220;Baby&#8221; Panay and also to confront his former boss, rogue agent Tom Sheldon.<\/p>\n<p>The game play is similar to that of its predecessor in that the player is free to roam the huge open world without a need to focus on the storyline. The <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> AI has been rewritten to use a planning system which enables the in-game enemies to do more and there is also more vertical game play as well as a manual aiming system that allows the player to target enemy NPC&#8217;s specific limbs. <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> also includes an adaptive difficulty system which scales as the player progresses. There are also new weapons in <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> which include launching laser-controlled rockets as well as several new vehicles including a Boeing 737.  Just Cause 2 even includes dual-grappling hooks which give players the ability to tether unlimited objects to each other including the tethering of enemies to vehicles and to each other which works very well as one of your goals is to cause maximum chaos.  It is a lot of fun!<\/p>\n<p>Here are the maximum settings available to a GeForce card; the bottom two, the Bokeh Filter and GPU water simulation, are unavailable to Radeons and they are left off on all runs to give solid apples-to-apples comparisons for all of our tested video cards and we used the Dark Tower benchmark built into the retail game.  <a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17926\" title=\"JustCause2_GeForce\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg?resize=330%2C346\" alt=\"JustCause2_GeForce\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg?resize=330%2C346 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2-285x300.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 330px) 100vw, 330px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>First the benches at 2560&#215;1600 with 2xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24074\" title=\"JC2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C610\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C610 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-25-237x300.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The HD 5870 beats the GTX 480 which in turn edges out the GTX 570 but the GTX 580 is solidly faster than any of them.  Here the HD 6870 beats the GTX 560 Ti just as HD 6870 Crossfire beats the SLI&#8217;s 560s.  Although GTS 450 SLI is too weak to play, GTX 460 SLI is faster than the GTX 580.<\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s look at the performance at 1920&#215;1200 but now with 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-193.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24078\" title=\"JC2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-193.jpg?resize=482%2C608\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-193.jpg?resize=482%2C608 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/JC2-193-237x300.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 scores an impressive win over the reference GTX 480 with the GTX 570 close behind and the GTX 560 Ti sits in between the HD 6950 and HD 6970.  This time CrossFired HD 5870s score nearly perfect scaling to pass HD  6870 CrossFire which in turn is faster than GTX 560 Ti SLI.  Both GTX  460 and GTX 560 TI also score some good scaling in SLI and each setup  has no trouble surpassing the fastest single video cards.  GTS 450 SLI  scales well to make this game almost playable; something this budget  card cannot dream of by itself at our chosen settings.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Just Cause 2--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Tom Clancy&#8217;s H.A.W.X.<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/hawx_dx10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"HAWX_dx10\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/hawx_dx10.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"HAWX_dx10\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tom Clancy&#8217;s H.A.W.X.<\/em> is an air combat video game developed published by Ubisoft.  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.<\/p>\n<p>The game story takes place during the time of <em>Tom Clancy&#8217;s 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.<\/p>\n<p><em>H.A.W.X.<\/em> runs on DX10.1 faster and with more detail than on the DX10 pathway. All of our video cards can take advantage of DX10.1.  Let&#8217;s check out <em>H.A.W.X.<\/em> with our top cards at 2560&#215;1600 with fully maxed out in-game settings and 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-252.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24043\" title=\"HAWX-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-252.jpg?resize=482%2C601\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-252.jpg?resize=482%2C601 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-252-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 jets away from the Radeons and cleanly beats the GTX 570 and the GTX 480.  The GTX 560 Ti edges the HD 6870 and is beaten by the HD 6950. SLI allows GTS 450 to play with the faster cards and GTX 460 SLI beats the single fastest cards while GTX 560 Ti is faster and sits in between the CrossFired HD 6870 and HD 5870s.  Here are our results at 1920\u00d71200 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24044\" title=\"HAWX-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-191.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-191.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX-191-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although all of our four top cards give a similar playing experience in this game with maxed out settings and 8xAA, the new GTX 580 is clearly the top gun followed by the GTX 570 and the GTX 480 while the GTX 560 Ti beats the HD 6950.  We see much the same thing with our multi-GPU set up, however, this time the GTX 560 Ti SLI is top gun, with HD 5870 CF, HD 6870 CF and GTX 460 SLI having no difficult beating the single flagship video cards.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: H.A.W.X.--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Resident Evil 5<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/re5dx10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"RE5DX10\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/re5dx10.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"RE5DX10\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em> <\/em><\/p>\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. Resident Evil 5 revolves around two investigators pulled into a bio-terrorist threat in a fictional town in Africa.  <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.<\/p>\n<p>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. Re5&#8217;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 best suited for testing video cards. Here it is at 2560&#215;1600 resolution with maxed out in-game setting plus 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24048\" title=\"re5-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-25.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-25-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here are the results at 1920\u00d71200 resolution:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24049\" title=\"re5-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-19.jpg?resize=482%2C602\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-19.jpg?resize=482%2C602 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/re5-19-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although the HD 5870 comes close to the stock GTX 480 at the highest resolution, the GTX 580 simply powers past all of its competition. However, all of our video cards turn in respectable performances and their overall playability is similar at 1920&#215;1200.  The GTX 480 is a bit faster than the GTX 570 at our highest resolution and then the situation reverses at 1920&#215;1200.  The GTX 560 Ti is edged out by the HD 6870 at 2560&#215;1600 but rebounds strongly to beat the HD 6950 at 1920&#215;1200.  The GTX 560 Ti is challenged by the highest resolutions and is clearly intended for 1920&#215;1200.<\/p>\n<p>This time our GTS 450 which struggles with this game becomes playable in SLI.  CrossFired HD 5870s take the performance crown over the CrossFired pair of HD 6870s which in turn beat our GTX 5600 Ti SLI pair; and our GTX 460 SLI&#8217;s pair trade blows with GTX 580.  Scaling is overall good but somewhat mixed.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Resident Evil 5--><!--nextpage--> <a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" 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> <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> is the third game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. All of these games have non-linear storylines which feature role-playing game elements. In both 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> S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> features \u201ca living breathing world\u201d with highly developed NPC creature AI.<\/p>\n<p><em>Call of Pripyat <\/em>is compatible with DirectX 8, 9, 10 and 10.1. It uses the X-ray 1.6 Engine<strong> <\/strong>with dX 11, 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. As with other engines using deferred shading, the original DX9c X-ray Engine does not support anti-aliasing with dynamic lighting enabled, although the DX10 and DX 11 versions do.<\/p>\n<p>We are using the stand-alone \u201cofficial\u201d benchmark by <em>Clear Sky\u2019<\/em>s creators.  We picked the most stressful test out of the four, \u201cSun shafts\u201d. It brings the heaviest penalty due to its extreme use of shaders to create DX10\/DX10.1 and DX11 effects. We ran this benchmark fully maxed out in DX11.0 with \u201cultra\u201d settings plus 4xAA, including applying edge-detect MSAA which chokes performance even further.  Here we present our maxed out DX11 settings for <em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> DX11 benchmark with 2xAA at 1920&#215;1200:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24046\" title=\"CoP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-19.jpg?resize=482%2C1005\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we move on to 1680&#215;1050 with 2xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24047\" title=\"CoP-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1004\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-16.jpg?resize=482%2C1004 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/CoP-16-144x300.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 makes a clean sweep of these single card benches although we would still lower settings at 1920&#215;1200 to have a completely smooth playing experience.   We see the GTX 560 Ti&#8217;s performance sit between the HD 6870 and the HD 6950.  Our GTS 450 SLI scales well enough to make this playable over a single GTX 450 although GTX 560 Ti doesn&#8217;t scale well enough which allows it to get beat by both CrossFired pairs of video cards.  GTX 460 SLI is next performance-wise and it trades blows with the GTX 580 depending on the resolution.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Call of Pripyat--><!--nextpage--> <strong>BattleForge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/battleforge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"battleforge\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/battleforge.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"battleforge\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>BattleForge<\/em> is an online PC game developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts. The full game was released in March 2009. <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.<\/p>\n<p><em>BattleForge<\/em> supports Directx 11 with full support for hardware tesselation. It is very impressive visually and quite demanding on any system.  First we test with our cards at 1920&#215;1200 using the <em>BattleForge<\/em> built-in benchmark with all of its settings completely maxed out and with 4xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24099\" title=\"bf-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-19.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we test at 1680&#215;1050 and with 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24101\" title=\"bf-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-16.jpg?resize=482%2C598\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-16.jpg?resize=482%2C598 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/bf-16-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 is again the fastest video card in <em>BattleForge <\/em>followed by the GTX 570 and then by the GTX 480; and then more distantly by the HD 5870.  The GTX 560 Ti is faster than AMD&#8217;s HD 6970 in this benchmark at our tested resolutions.  The Radeons both crashed in CrossFire attempting to play this game although it is a better situation than with the previous 10.12 Catalyst drivers when even our HD 5870 refused to start this game.  Again we see the GTS 450, unplayable as a single video card, take on this game in SLI.  Our GTX 460 SLI sits just below a single GTX 580 in performance while GTX 560 Ti SLI is the fastest configuration that we tested here.<!--pagetitle: BattleForge--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Aliens vs Predator<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span> <strong> <\/strong> <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><em>Aliens vs. Predator<\/em>, known to fans as Aliens versus Predator 3 or AVP3 is 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 they differ in objectives depending on your choice of campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Alien vs Predators DX11 benchmark is a stand alone bench that as the name says is only for DX11 cards.  It is more demanding than actually playing the game generally.  First we bench at 1920&#215;1200 with maxed out settings plus 2xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24072\" title=\"avp-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-19.jpg?resize=482%2C606\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-19.jpg?resize=482%2C606 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-19-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>The GTX 580 is the fastest card leaving the GTX 480 to trade blows with the GTX 570 wile the GTX 560 Ti sits in between the HD 6950 and the HD 6970.   Now we test at 1680&#215;1050 and 2xAA.  Our GTX 560 Ti SLI sits in between HD 6870 and HD 5870 CrossFire while GTX 450 SLI still is not sufficient.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24073\" title=\"avp-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-16.jpg?resize=482%2C606\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-16.jpg?resize=482%2C606 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/avp-16-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see the GTX 580 take a solid performance lead followed closely by the GTX 570 and the GTX 480. The GTX 560 Ti sits almost exactly in between the HD 6870 and the HD 6950 in terms of performance in this game benchmark.<\/span> This time, good scaling saves the GTX 450 SLI but GTX 560 Ti SLI is still in-between HD 6870 and HD 5870 CrossFired performance.  Again, the SLI&#8217;d GTX 460s beat our single fastest video cards. <br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: AvP--><strong><!--nextpage--><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><strong>DiRT 2<\/strong> <strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/dirt2SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20892\" title=\"dirt2SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/dirt2SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"dirt2SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/dirt2SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/dirt2SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <\/strong><em>Colin McRae: 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> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dirt 2<\/em> is powered by an updated version of the EGO engine which was featured in <em>Race Driver: Grid<\/em>. This updated EGO engine also features an updated physics engine.  We are using the <em>Dirt 2<\/em> full retail game built-in benchmark at the highest &#8220;ultra&#8221; DX11 setting with 8xAA applied.  First we test at 2560&#215;1600:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24050\" title=\"dirt2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C699\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C699 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-25-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 pulls ahead and passes the second place GTX 570 and third place GTX 480 in a not so tight race. The GTX 560 Ti is just edged by the HD 6950.  We see HD 6870 CrossFire scale a bit better than HD 5870 CrossFire but not enough to catch it in ultimate performance although they both beat GTX 460 SLI which moves past the GTX 580.  What about 1920&#215;1200?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24051\" title=\"dirt2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C699\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C699 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/dirt2-19-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 gets the <em>DiRT 2<\/em> checkered flag on the DX11 pathway as the GTXes pull further away from the Radeons at 1920&#215;1200.  However, even the lowest priced HD 6870 can play this game satisfactorily at the highest resolutions and we see the GTX 570 pull ahead of the GTX 480.  The GTX 560 Ti again sits in between the performance level of the HD 6970 and the HD 6950 in this game.  GTS 450 SLI makes this game playable for our lowest performing pair of cards and our GTX 460 SLI scales very well but not enough to catch the GTX 580 this time although GTX 560 Ti is much faster.<\/p>\n<p><strong><!--pagetitle: Dirt 2--><!--nextpage--><\/strong> <strong> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Metro 2033<\/span><\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong> <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> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em>Metro 2033<\/em> is the &#8220;Crysis&#8221; of 2010. 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 &#8220;Metro 2033&#8221; by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010. 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 <em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>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 to search for valuables. <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.  <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">THQ has released an official benchmark for <\/span><em>Metro 2033<\/em> which 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;\"> Our presets are set to maximum (very high) with 1xAA and no PhysX nor DOF enabled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here is our first chart at 1920&#215;1200 as 2560&#215;1600 proves too demanding without turning off most of the visuals that make this game really impressive.  However, actually playing the game, one can tolerate minimums into the 20s without noticing severe lag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24080\" title=\"metro-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-19.jpg?resize=482%2C598\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-19.jpg?resize=482%2C598 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> We test at very High settings with AA and DOF off except as noted.<\/span> Now at 1680&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24081\" title=\"metro-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-16.jpg?resize=482%2C594\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-16.jpg?resize=482%2C594 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/metro-16-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All of our single cards struggle with <em>Metro 2033<\/em> with the aggressive settings that we used except for the GTX 580.  Our GTX 570 is faster than the GTX 480 and they both lead the HD 5870. GTX 560 Ti sits between the HD 6950 and the HD 6870 while the HD 6850 and stock GTX 460s are far ahead of the GTS 450 which only matches a single HD 6870 in performance when it is paired with another in SLI. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Our HD 5870s in CrossFire trades blows with the GTX 560 Ti SLI performance; the CrossFired HD 6870 pair is not far behind, well ahead of GTX 460 SLI which trades blows with a single GTX 580.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><!--pagetitle: Metro 2033--><!--nextpage--><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong>F1 2010<\/strong> <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em>F1 2010<\/em> is a racing game<\/span> based on the 2010 season of the Formula One world championship and the sequel to the 2009 video game in the same series.  It was released in September 2010  by Codemasters. The EGO 1.5 engine powers it.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> The weather system is one of the best seen in a racing game and requires the player to adjust to changing track conditions.  Watch out for bad <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AI <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">drivers!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24251\" title=\"F1_2010\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">First we test at 2560&#215;1600 using ultra settings with the built-in benchmark.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-251.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24136\" title=\"f12010-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-251.jpg?resize=482%2C801\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-251.jpg?resize=482%2C801 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-251-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here we have our first excellent example of &#8220;negative scaling&#8221; &#8211; where CrossFired cards are actually much slower in the minimums than their single card counterparts.\u00a0 In this case, you would disable CrossFire (or SLI) in the respective control panels or you will have unacceptable dips in the minimums.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Now we test at 1920&#215;1200.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24093\" title=\"f12010-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-19.jpg?resize=482%2C802\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-19.jpg?resize=482%2C802 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/f12010-19-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here the Radeons have the advantage.  The GTX 580 trades blows with the HD 6970 while the rest of the Radeons dominate in their price range and take the checkered flag. Unfortunately, CrossFire has real issues with this set of drivers.\u00a0 We also see SLI&#8217;d GTX 460s only matching the performance of a single HD 6870.  GTS 450 is a non-starter at our resolutions and SLI makes it playable at the lower resolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: F1 2010--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Lost Planet 2<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21705\" title=\"LP2DX11\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong> <em>Lost Planet 2 <\/em>is the sequel to <em>Lost Planet: Extreme Condition<\/em> and is also made by Capcom.  The events take place ten years after the first game and on the same, now thawed, EDN III. The PC version was released on October 12, 2010 and it runs on the MT-Framework 2.0 engine; an updated version of the engine used in several Capcom games. Campaign mode can have up to 4 players working together over the Internet.  <em>Lost Planet 2<\/em> allows players to create and customize their own characters which will allow them to unlock more things after leveling up and downloading content.<\/p>\n<p>We are using the retail game&#8217;s built-in benchmark in DX11 with maximum settings.  As the game is quite demanding, we first test at 2560&#215;1600 resolution with no AA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24031\" title=\"LP2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C605\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C605 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-25-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just as in the original game, none of our cards can play easily play <em>Lost  Planet 2<\/em> at 2560&#215;1600 at the highest settings although the GTX 580 comes closest.  However, we do see the  GTX 570 again passing the GTX 480 while the GTX 560 Ti gets very close to the HD 6970&#8217;s performance.  Our GTX 560 Ti SLI setup gets the highest frame rates followed by the HD 6970 then HD 6870 in CrossFire and finally by the GTX 460 SLI which sits in-between the GTX 480 and the GTX 570 in performance.  Our GTS 450 SLI is lost at this resolution, never mind the single video card which struggles to even maintain a slideshow.  Let&#8217;s lower the resolution to  1920&#215;1200, add 4xAA, and test again with all of our DX11 cards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24032\" title=\"LP2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C598\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C598 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/LP2-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this more tessellation-heavy DX11 game, the HD 6870 catches the HD 5870 as a single video card although it is slightly edged by HD 5870 CrossFire.   The GTX 580 is impressive and the GTX 570 again beats the GTX 480 and at 1920&#215;1200, the GTX 560 Ti beats the HD 6970.  SLI cannot save the GTS 450 although the SLI&#8217;d GTX 460 is a much better solution and GTX 560 Ti SLI is the fastest of them all.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Lost Planet 2--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Tom Clancy&#8217;s H.A.W.X. 2<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-22559\" title=\"HAWX2_DX11\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tom Clancy&#8217;s <em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> is an air combat video game developed  by  Ubisoft for PC.  We are using the built-in benchmark from the full retail game.  The way tessellation is implemented shows AMD graphics cards are perhaps unnaturally slow compared with other DX11 titles although their newer drivers have made significant performance gains over earlier drivers in <em>H.A.W.X. 2. <\/em>without sacrificing any noticeable image quality.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> runs  on DX11 faster and with more detail than on the DX10 pathway. Here the emphasis is on terrain tessellation which looks outstanding in DX11 and &#8220;flat&#8221; in DX10. Let&#8217;s check out <em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> with our video cards at 2560&#215;1600 and with fully maxed out in-game settings and with 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24103\" title=\"HAWX2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-25-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And now we test at 1920&#215;1200 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24104\" title=\"HAWX2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HAWX2-19-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see the GTX 580 flying away from all the competition with the GTX 480 ahead of the GTX 570.  However, the single Radeons can also play this game maxed out at 1920&#215;1200.  We also see that the HD 6870, although generally slower than the HD 5870, is much faster in this tessellation-heavy game.  The GTX 560 Ti rules the skies in its price range and above as it outflys the HD 6970 by a significant margin.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the HD 6870 CrossFire outperforms HD 5870 CrossFire.  Our GTS 450 SLI can match a single GTX 460 and GTX 460 SLI trades blows with a single GTX 580 and HD 6870 CrossFire.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: H.A.W.X. 2--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Heaven 2.0 Unigine<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/unigine-1-0.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"unigine-1.0\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/unigine-1-0.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"unigine-1.0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Finally we come to our last benchmark, Heaven 2.1, on the Unigine engine.   It uses DX11 and heavy tessellation which will strain any graphics card. At least two DX11 games based on Unigine are expected to be released next year.  We use the setting for &#8220;extreme tessellation&#8221; and high shaders and we also set AF to 16x.  We will tell you right now that this test chokes the GTX 580 at the highest settings and resolution so we do not run it at 2560&#215;1600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24109\" title=\"heaven-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-19.jpg?resize=482%2C602\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-19.jpg?resize=482%2C602 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-19-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here is Heaven 2.1 benchmark with maxed settings, extreme tessellation and 2xAA at 1920&#215;1200:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24110\" title=\"heaven-16\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-16.jpg?resize=482%2C603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-16.jpg?resize=482%2C603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/heaven-16-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this case, we see that the Cypress architecture is bottlenecked by its tessellator as the lower-performing HD 6870 with a tweaked tessellator is faster than the generally faster HD 5870.  In a similar manner, the HD 6870 CrossFire is also faster than HD 5870 CrossFire.  The GTX 580 is clearly the fastest single video card at the extreme tessellation setting of this benchmark and the GTX 570 is a bit faster than the GTX 480.  The GTX 560 Ti is faster than the HD 6950 and slower than the HD 6970.<\/p>\n<p>All of our multi-GPU configurations scale well and GTX 460 SLI is only a little slower than the GTX 580 which in turn is solidly beaten by GTX 560 Ti SLI.  However, this is a synthetic benchmark and we will withhold judgment until we play PC games using the Unigine engine.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Heaven 2.0--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Conclusion-->This has been quite an enjoyable one month hand&#8217;s on experience with these video cards evaluating these SLI and CrossFire video card combinations.   It did get cut short because of our motherboard malfunction but there is plenty of information regarding multi-GPU scaling in this introduction to our <em>CrossFire versus SLI<\/em> series.  There are going to be at least two or three more parts to this particular series.  Eventually we want to set up testing of &#8220;micro stutter&#8221; as observed in multi-GPU setups which is easy to see for yourself but very difficult to demonstrate in an evaluation.<\/p>\n<h3>Micro Stutter and Greater than 100% Scaling<\/h3>\n<p>Micro stutter bothers some gamers so much so that they cannot ignore it and they return to using a single powerful card while others never notice it at all and will swear that it does not exist. Micro stutter does exist as it is inherent to Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR), but drivers minimize its effects so that <em>generally<\/em> the performance gained by the second card outweighs any disadvantages.  If you would like to weigh on our future testing methods or to specifically discuss micro stutter testing methods, feel free to comment below, ask questions, make requests or have a detailed discussion in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/\">ABT forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We have also noted CrossFire and SLI scaling greater than 100% occasionally.  Often this can be attributed to &#8220;benchmark noise&#8221;, the  way averages are rounded off, or the nature of Alternate Frame  Rendering (AFR) where multi-GPU scaling may be slightly better than 100% due to the frames  that are read ahead by the CPU.<\/p>\n<p>If frames for a multi-GPU system are only pre-rendered as for a single card there would be less than optimal scaling.  The AFR dual-GPU system likely has to render ahead further than a single-GPU system does because there are now two GPUs to feed.  In this scenario, the framerate may possibly have higher than 100% scaling during some GPU-bound situations.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, a GPU can render only one frame at a time.  If there were no pre-rendering at all, the CPU has to wait before constructing a new frame, while pre-rendering allows the CPU to keep on preparing frames while the GPU is busy.  Since the prepared frames are stored in an offline buffer, the GPU ideally never has to wait for the CPU to construct them.  Now since the pre-render value is likely higher for a multi-GPU system than it is for a single GPU system, it is possible to achieve greater than 100% scaling.  The multi-GPU system&#8217;s higher pre-render values makes it probable that the CPU can continue working on frames instead of stopping for a single video card with a lower pre-render value.  Of course, this would cause more input lag but that is beyond the scope of this discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Other factors can also contribute to greater than 100% scaling which include &#8220;benchmarking noise&#8221; &#8211; the margin of error built into benching is generally accepted as 1-3% &#8211; and also driver bugs that might hold back a single GPU but which don\u2019t show up in multi-GPU situations.  Usually you will not encounter this; ideally scaling approaches 100% if your SLI or CrossFire drivers are working perfectly.<\/p>\n<h2>VALUE<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s again compare value by looking at e-tail and street pricing of our cards.  Cards denoted with an asterisk(*) are generally more discounted and pricing is approximate and what we found as street pricing; especially the HD 5870 and GTX 480 are both EoL&#8217;d and pricing can vary greatly.  The GTX 480 is not particularly appealing unless it is severely discounted as the GTX 570 is a better all-around value.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24257\" title=\"Pricing\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing4.jpg?resize=434%2C323\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing4.jpg?resize=434%2C323 543w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pricing4-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, this fact is to be noted, if you are looking for bang for buck now with a single video card, the flagship video cards are generally quite expensive with a diminishing set of performance value for price, and as we have seen, often a flagship card is not the fastest solution when compared to our relatively low-budget cards in SLI or CrossFire.<\/p>\n<p>The GTS 450 is a budget mainstream gaming card but it doesn&#8217;t translate to a great performance gaming value when SLI&#8217;d if it is compared to single more powerful cards like the HD 6950 or the GTX 560 Ti which can be purchased for about the same price.   The only reason a person might choose this route is because they <em>already <\/em> have a GTS 450 and desire better performance.  On the other hand, the GTX 460 is much faster than the GTS 450 as a single card for gaming, and when it is paired up with a second GTX 460 in SLI, it becomes a performance monster &#8211; often it trades blows with the GTX 580.<\/p>\n<p>For $500, if the performance choice comes down to a GTX 580 or a pair of GTX 560 Ti&#8217;s in SLI, the 560s take it overwhelmingly in most cases.  There will be some games that do not scale at all in which case, you are playing with a single GTX 560 Ti.  Generally SLI and CrossFire scale well in most newer games and you will usually find issues in the oldest and the very newest games.  The new and popular games generally get multi-GPU issues solved very quickly, but not always.  And of course, unless your motherboard is set up for a third video card, most of us will be stopped in our upgrade path with two cards; you will not be able to add a third GTX 560 Ti or HD 5870, but you can always add a second flagship card later on.  And of course, as we have seen, pricing does not always drop on discontinued cards like the GTX 480 which still commands a high price considering the GTX 570 is generally faster in the new games.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, the benefits and disadvantages of CrossFire or SLI will become even clearer as we continue on in our investigation of SLI versus CrossFire.  They both scale very well in newer games and in most of our 29 games that we use as our regular benchmark suite.  We see some great values in our line-up from both AMD and Nvidia &#8211; it is a great time to upgrade!<\/p>\n<p>We will not give any final judgments now but will withhold them until after we are done with this series.  We know that we have a new powerful flagship video card coming from AMD shortly and we hope to give you a hands on full evaluation as soon as it is available.  Of course, it will fit in very well with this series.  We are in the middle of one of the most interesting times in the recent history of video cards as AMD and Nvidia are locked into a battle to win your hearts and money.  So far, the consumer is winning!<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT including a Diamond USB 2.0 7.1 sound card evaluation, and a Diamond Multimedia 1080p USB to HDMI (PC to TV audio and video) converter review this week &#8211; and of course, the next part in our ongoing series &#8211; CrossFire vs. SLI.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Mark Poppin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/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=24236\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Article-Image5.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,7],"tags":[4513,4512,72,1575,4507,3930,3059,4506,4259,4505,2079,4233,4337,4253,4511,121,4514,4503,488,4502],"class_list":["post-24236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-technology","tag-afr","tag-alternate-frame-rendering","tag-amd","tag-crossfire","tag-gts450","tag-gtx-460","tag-gtx-470","tag-gtx-560-ti","tag-gtx-580","tag-gtx570","tag-hd-5870","tag-hd-6870","tag-hd-6950","tag-hd-6970","tag-micro-stutter","tag-nvidia","tag-pre-render","tag-scaling","tag-sli","tag-sli-vs-crossfire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24236","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=24236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}