XFX 8400 GS 256mb
Game Benchmarks - CoD 2, F.E.A.R. and Oblivion
Published: 7th August 2007 | Source: XFX | Price: |
Call of Duty 2 is a fairly recent game that uses a lot of DirectX 9.0c features, including real time shadows, amazing smoke effects and some nice looking HDR effects. This makes the game very taxing at these high resolutions. I played a fully patched up version of the game. Once again I played through the game with a two minute gaming session including explosions, smoke and also lots of snow.
Note that for this review I played at 1024 x 768 with 2 x AA
The card fares pretty well in CoD 2 at 1024 x 768 although it got a little laboured dropping to 10FPS at points. Of course, dropping AA to 0 would benefit the frame rate, but I feel this degrades the gaming experience and quite frankly looks horrible.
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. is a game based on an engine that uses many features of DirectX 9.0c. It has volumetric lighting, soft shadows, parallax mapping and particle effects, with a slow-motion mode that really taxes today's top of the line GPU's. I played a fully updated game with the latest patches installed. I played three two-minute runs on a taxing part of the game with plenty of action, using slow-motion for the full time whilst firing at enemy soldiers and using grenades that produce a cool "blast" contortion effect when blown up.
The cards were played at 1024 x 768, 2 x AA, no FSAA and soft shadows disabled. All other settings were on maximum.
FEAR was actually pretty smooth to play, the minimum FPS of 12 not affecting gameplay too much. Indeed it was a pleasent experience and looked pretty nice.
Oblivion
Oblivion is an awesome RPG with a simply huge immersive environment, great graphics and incredibly realistic scenery. This game is currently one of the most testing games that you can buy and it is certainly a test of the high-end cards here. I chose to do a run-through of the Arena part of the game. I spoke to a character, did some magic whilst in a fight and fought in the arena that is pretty huge. Also as well as doing this test I took a wander around to make sure that the benchmark resembled the general gameplay with each card. In-game settings used:
Oblivion was played with 1024 x 768 and no AA
With no AA on the scene the card coped much better in Oblivion. Luckily Oblivion looks a lot better without AA on. The gaming was fairly smooth, not dropping too low.
Most Recent Comments
Have tbh Kemp, u`ve been pretty fair with that summation of the card considering that u`ve obviously be cranking out on rigs with 8800+++.
The card and packaging are as I expected. I`ve got 3 cards in this range previously (meaning below the x600), the 7300, 6500, 6200 (one of those may be wrong number) from XFX and they`ve pretty much been packaged as u`ve described. Box about the size of the card, low profile and the only difference being a passive old-skool looking sink. (which they seem to be implying the 8400 will have in the future)
I know this is around £30, but as time goes by it`ll push £20 as close as it can - especially around the dawn of the 98xx arrivals. There after u`ll catch them for less than £20. (I bought some of the above for £15-£18 pfft)
This card is what it is, as were the previous ones, I think we should appreciate that. It`ll work in a working desktop very well, a workhorse server type pc that u just basically want a display, and has the benefits of crossing to u`r htpc with some added kick.
£20-£30 - and knowing what u`r buying it for, they fill the gap for me. I am a little supprized it doesn`t play C&C a bit better, usually tho with this range of card u can get away with shutting everything down to minimum u can get away with it - but u have to appreciate that that is what u are doing.
Fits in the market well for me.
The card and packaging are as I expected. I`ve got 3 cards in this range previously (meaning below the x600), the 7300, 6500, 6200 (one of those may be wrong number) from XFX and they`ve pretty much been packaged as u`ve described. Box about the size of the card, low profile and the only difference being a passive old-skool looking sink. (which they seem to be implying the 8400 will have in the future)
I know this is around £30, but as time goes by it`ll push £20 as close as it can - especially around the dawn of the 98xx arrivals. There after u`ll catch them for less than £20. (I bought some of the above for £15-£18 pfft)
This card is what it is, as were the previous ones, I think we should appreciate that. It`ll work in a working desktop very well, a workhorse server type pc that u just basically want a display, and has the benefits of crossing to u`r htpc with some added kick.
£20-£30 - and knowing what u`r buying it for, they fill the gap for me. I am a little supprized it doesn`t play C&C a bit better, usually tho with this range of card u can get away with shutting everything down to minimum u can get away with it - but u have to appreciate that that is what u are doing.
Fits in the market well for me.
Aye indeed. I think the card fits well in it's niche and really is great vfm
It's hard to look at a card like this when you're playing around with uber high end stuff all day but I think I gave it a fair shout and it performed well for it.
Hope y'all think it's a fair review
It's hard to look at a card like this when you're playing around with uber high end stuff all day but I think I gave it a fair shout and it performed well for it.
Hope y'all think it's a fair review
What more do you need for a non-gaming HTPC?
Good job as ever.
Good job as ever.
Great job as ever Kemp
Our of interest, how many views does the average review get?
Our of interest, how many views does the average review get?
Very nice read Kemp!
Looks like a solid card for the average user.
Looks like a solid card for the average user.
I also enjoyed ur review Kempez..It is especially helpful because there is a large group around me that will never be able to go with the 8800 series.
Its nice to know you dont have to spend a lot to get a GPU.
Its nice to know you dont have to spend a lot to get a GPU.
That's one fantastic value gfx card. I agree about the HSF, my first impression was "why not use a big Alu passive heatsink?".
Hello, i got a guestion about memory clock wich shall be a 800mhz in stock but in the ntune and RivaTuner it shows 400 someone know what might be wrong or i just dont know something 
DDR is double data rate, which means your normal memory clock is doubled. So 400mhz = 800mhz DDR, this is where it gets it from, that applies whether its ddr, ddr2, gddr3, w/e.
Thank you very much mate, now i know hoe it works
thanks very much, just purchased an HP Media Center PC (m9040n) and it comes with an 8400 pre-installed. Altho not exactly the same as the one in your review, it should be similar enough for me to base my choice on whether or not to upgrade or not. I have a very low budget, so upgrade choices may not even be worth the purchase. THank you again
No probs. If you're on a budget the 8400 is a decent enough card to play basic games on
the card should be fine, but do you have any recommendations for cards around 50-$100 that are worth a purchase? I might have found some, but im not sure and im on a really small budget. I know spending 50-100 more than that would get me a much better card, but i dont have that much to spare.
CSS Valid
Take a look at this then