Doom 3 and Quake 4 Performance

We tested with Doom 3 version 1.3 and Quake 4 version 1.04. Both of these games use the same engine, and the results are largely the same. Quake 4 does have an SMP optimized version available, but since we are testing with single core processors, it didn't help to enable the SMP optimizations. It's interesting to note that Quake 4 doesn't render all of the graphical of text during the timedemo; in particular, the shadows from the moving characters. However, it still gets lower frame rates overall, indicating that it uses an upgraded engine that demand more from the system.

Both of these games show that once again, ultra high performance graphics cards in SLI mode are still CPU limited, even at the highest resolutions. SLI is more beneficial here than in Battlefield 2, but the Revenge system with the FX-57 is still 12% faster than with the slower processor.  Something else to point out is that the 6800 GS SLI cards are basically matching the performance of the single 7800 GTX KO. Considering the cost difference ($350 for two 6800 GS vs. $475 for one GTX KO), some people might still consider going that route. However, keep in mind that you are generating more heat and drawing more power with the two GS cards.

Battlefield 2 1.12 Performance Far Cry 1.33 Performance
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  • JarredWalton - Monday, March 6, 2006 - link

    HDCP support is a graphics/display issue. As has been reported, HDCP is not supported on any current retail graphics cards. It's also not supported under Windows XP. We should start seeing HDCP enabled cards (meaning, with the necessary decryption chip) in the near future. The GPUs are ready, but they still need the appropriate chip soldered onto the boards.

    Personally, I'm really not happy with HDCP at all, so I'm doing my best to avoid it. 1280x720 DivX looks quite nice and runs flawlessly on current hardware. Here's an example from the olympics (18GB compressed to 4.5GB 1280x720):

    http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/multimedia/tvt...">2006 Olympics Men's Hockey Gold Match
  • AGAC - Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - link

    Hey, what's to love about HDCP. That said, it seems that we just will have to swallow that frog... I mean, DivX does look nice indeed. The problem is availability of mainstream content. I think it's going to be a very cold day in hell before you can walk in the regular video rental and get the latest blockbuster title in beautiful DivX 1280x720.

    DHCP will be broken, we all know that. It only harms the legal user because one will have to upgrade video cards, monitors and god knows what more will not be HDCP compliant. Thanks for the your tip and simpathy. Keep up the good work.

    AGAC
  • DigitalFreak - Monday, March 6, 2006 - link

    NT

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