HIS vs EVGA Midrange Gaming Face Off Review
FarCry 2
Published: 29th October 2010 | Source: OC3D | Price: |
Far Cry 2
The follow up to the very popular Far Cry was a bit of a Marmite game. For everyone who hated the driving and endless re-spawning checkpoints, there was someone who loved the the free-roaming nature and the fact that, contrary to its predecessor, the developers didn't get lazy and turn it into a generic mutant/alien blast fest. We definitely were on the adoring side with Far Cry 2 and anyone who has laid on the cliffs above the rail-yard sniping people with the dart gun is sure to agree.
Single GPU - Stock Speeds
The one thing we all agree on though is that this is sumptuous. With DirectX 10 and all the bells and whistles on it still stands up well today. The only one of our four cards that stands out is the 768MB GTX460 being 10fps behind its bigger brother. Considering we're up at 16xAA and this monster resolution it's fair to say it is probably just running out of GDDR5 to handle everything. This is especially noticeable with the minimum frame rate a long way behind the others. Otherwise it's all much of a muchness with no card able to quite hit the 60FPS mark we yearn for.
Single GPU - Overclocked
As we saw with Crysis Warhead though, a boost to the GPU Core on the GTX460 768MB really gives a good reward. Here it's an extra 5 frames per second. The 1GB GTX460 benefits most, being able to maintain a 63 FPS average at these settings in very impressive. The Radeons again prove to be a bit disappointing in how well they respond to having their pants set on fire. Hopefully putting two together should help.
Dual GPU - Stock
Help it most certainly does. Theoretically with 100% efficiency the HD6870 should average 116FPS in Crossfire and the HD6850 should see 108FPS. Having 112FPS and 95FPS respectively really demonstrates, especially with the HD6870, how little performance is lost in modern twin-card setups. That isn't to suggest the GTX460s fair badly at all being only 10 and 8 frames behind what we'd see if there really was zero performance loss in an SLI setup.
Dual GPU - Overclocked
Such are the vagaries of testing that not everything follows the pattern you'd expect, or even gives a result you can explain. The HD6850 which, until now, has been as stubborn as a mule in concrete in showing any improvement when overclocked suddenly finds 7 extra frames per second to play with. Whilst the GTX460 1GB, until now an overclocking triumph, decided it just was bored and wouldn't even perform as well as it did at stock. All still comprehensively batter Far Cry 2 into submission, but it's a perfect demonstration of why we run the tests rather than just tell you what should happen.
Most Recent Comments
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Originally Posted by Todd
I'm wondering when Quad Xfire would start to make sense. |
Maybe a few. But I don't know any one with four GPUs apart from Diablo and AMD are not going to waste loads of money in resources to cater to one in fifty (at the most) people.
The problem is it's out of AMD/Nvidia's hands any way. It all falls back to game coders and none of them will bother. Why would you? That's like having a thousand English people in a hotel and because there's one German there you make Bratwurst and Sauercraut for all of them. It's just a waste of time and money for pretty much every one involved. Game makers, GPU manufacturers and so on. Take into account that Obsidian just released Fallout : New Vegas with all of the bugs problems and issues from the initial release of Fallout 3. If they were to get it perfect and get quadfire in there it would have taken ten years, not two. Take into account how long Valve have their games in development trying to get them perfect..
Going back to the review.. Crikey. I can not even begin to imagine the ammount of work that went into testing so many different configurations. Hats off guys, this is some of your best work yet. Also -
[editors note: like Hanibal & Murdock]
Who is the crazy one?
hehe that bit made me laugh. I can just see one of you dancing around the test bed.Also -
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...uron/cards.jpg
Interracial GPU gangbang ahoy !
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Originally Posted by murphy7801
Tom your getting better at crysis |
i want to have sex with that picture...
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
HAHAHAHA! It was one of the forum members Mr Strawberry playing |
lol must admit all them pictures of the GPUs do look awesome
Reminds me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZVbVvZqBJM
Anyone who understands this is a true nerd.
am bit of noob so don't bash me
Cédric
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Originally Posted by Cedric
I've got a question about the dual card winner . The 6850 gets better results in higher end games ( i think ) in crossfire then 460 and the price is almost the same , so why don't you recommend the 6850 in crossfire ? am bit of noob so don't bash me Cédric |
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
Because the 460 1GB's win out overall dude in the dual card segment. |
thanks in advance
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Originally Posted by Cedric
Sorry for asking this . So you would recommend the 460 1gb sli for general gaming and for high en the 6850 ? or only the 460 ? i just wannna get the best out of my money . thanks in advance |
dual of either would be epic tbh.
Id buy AMD cards for the cooler and quiet approach though tbh (personal preference)
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
what do you mean dude 6850 single or dual? dual of either would be epic tbh. Id buy AMD cards for the cooler and quiet approach though tbh (personal preference) |
Anyway i think its better to wait a couple of weeks because of the new series but for now am thinking about the 6850 cf cause thy cheaper and has little more fps( ~2 )then the 460 sli.
Crysis Warhead page - Single CPU: Stock 6870 performs far more better than overclocked 6870.
Explanation?
PSU problem...?:-)
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Originally Posted by phnikola
I am little bit unsure on reliability of results in this review. Crysis Warhead page - Single CPU: Stock 6870 performs far more better than overclocked 6870. Explanation? PSU problem...?:-) |
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
PSU problem, ha friad not dude. Some times overclocking can end up giving you lower results, the card just didnt like it tbh. |
Hmmm, perhaps downclocking would give even better results....
CSS Valid
Time for the Middleweight Championship of the world. In the red corner the HD6850 and HD6870. In the Green corner the GTX460 768MB and 1GB.
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