Performance
AA and AF settings are applied in game, whenever possible. In Quake 4, we enable both AA and AF from the console, with the command 'r_multisample' set to 4 and ;'image_anisotropy' set to 16. For gameplay testing, we removed the frame rate cap by entering the command 'com_fixedtic 1'. V sync was disabled both from inside the game and on the driver panel. AA and AF is enabled from the settings menu for F.E.A.R and Serious Sam IIF.E.A.R settings are set to our usual test settings (all settings set to maximum / on except for soft shadows) and volumetric lights was turned on. Quake 4 was set to 'High Quality' while Serious Sam II was tested with our usual standard settings (maximum settings but with custom resolution, anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering settings).
The graphs are pretty self explanatory, but in case you can't see the text, they're arranged in groups of three colors: green for minimum fps, blue for average fps and red for maximum fps. The first group represent test results under default settings, and the second represent results with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled. These results are in frame rates per second.
F.E.A.R, 1024 x 768
Afterimage 1
Afterimage 2
FEAR Performance Test
F.E.A.R, 1280 x 960
Afterimage 1
Afterimage 2
FEAR Performance Test
F.E.A.R, 1600 x 1200
Afterimage 1
Afterimage 2
FEAR Performance Test
|
|
1024 x 768 | 1280 x 960 | 1600 x 1200 |
|
Performance Hit 1280 | Performance Hit 1600 |
| Afterimage | 103.9 | 87.13 | 63.57 |
|
16.14% | 38.82% |
| FEAR Performance Test | 106.72 | 85.5 | 64.26 |
|
19.88% | 39.78% |
| Average (entire game) | 120.45 | 98.91 | 73.75 |
|
17.76% | 38.69% |
| Average (top 5 graphical levels) | 128.72 | 102.5 | 76.3 |
|
20.34% | 40.69% |
|
|
1024 x 768 ;AA AF | 1280 x 960 ;AA AF | 1600 x 1200 ;AA AF |
|
|
|
| Afterimage | 73.23 | 52.61 | 36.67 |
|
28.16% | 49.93% |
| FEAR Performance Test | 72.41 | 53.35 | 37.22 |
|
26.32% | 48.60% |
all numbers are in frame rates (except for percentages)
By not including checkpoint saves in our gameplay testing runs, we were able to get a pretty repeatable minimum frame rate for the Afterimage level. Although the F.E.A.R Performance Test was pretty much on the mark with average fps, it's a slightly hit and miss affair on the minimum fps. Take a close look at 1024 x 768, AA / AF results. On the second part of Alterimage, the second firefight was graphically intensive enough to reach a minimum fps of 30 fps. while the F.E.A.R Performance Test 'only' dropped to 38 fps. That's quite a huge difference - 25 percent. We also saw a similar difference at 1600 x 1200 without AA and AF. To be fair, the F.E.A.R Performance Test was pretty close at 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 960 without AA and AF, so it's obviously good enough for quick benchmarks, but not for more detailed information.
On the subject of representing the entire game, F.E.A.R Performance Test does a pretty good job in showing a worst case scenario. Yes, frame rates are lower than what you will be seeing throughout the entire game, but the performance penalty is similar. We didn't run the entire game without AA and AF, but we think that the difference between gameplay testing sessions for the entire game and F.E.A.R Performance Test should be minimal. There will be levels that have lower frame rates than Afterimage and F.E.A.R performance test, so we think it would be wise to keep minimum frame rate close to 40 fps, if possible. Looking back to our various reviews, we recommend a slightly higher clocked GeForce 7900GT / 7800GTX or Radeon X1900XTX / X1900XT and equivalent to play at our test settings at 1024 x 768, 4x AA and 16x AF. Higher resolutions is only recommended with faster graphics card(s).
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