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Performance

Graphical settings for these games are set to their highest possible values. Notable differences are F.E.A.R where we disable "Soft Shadows", Quake 4 where we use High Quality - not Ultra Quality - but anisotropic filtering was set to "1" for default tests and "16" for AA / AF tests. We used Serious Sam II built in "Maximum" quality preset then change resolution and AA / AF settings accordingly. However, for this article and future articles, we decided to enable HDR (high dynamic range rendering). This also applies to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblvion.We basically use the 'Ultra High Quality' settings, disable V-Sync and set everything to their highest possible values. However, 'Self Shadows' and 'Shadows on grass" are disabled. For Oblivion, AA and AF are forced from the driver panel. Clear weather was used for our run of Monza GP tests. For Need for Speed: Carbon, we used the game's "Maximum" video quality preset, but change the filtering to "Trilinear" for default tests - AA AF tests are run with "4x" and "Anistropic". NFS: Carbon test were done with the Sprint Race on Lincoln Boulevard. 

Our test setup
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 socket LGA-775 (running at 7 x 400 MHz)
4 x 512 MB A-DATA Vitesta 5-5-5-18 PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM
Gigabyte Radeon X1950 Pro 256 MB graphics card
Gigabyte P965-DS3P Intel P965 motherboard
Hitachi Deskstar 250 GB Serial ATA 16 MB buffer 7200 rpm hard drives
LiteOn 1673S DVD-RW
Tagan TG530-U15 530 watts ATX/BTX power supply

Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 installed
Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit with all the latest updates.
ATI Catalyst 7.7 reference driver
NVIDIA Forceware 162.18 reference driver for Windows XP
NVIDIA Forceware 162.22 reference driver for Windows Vista
Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 8.3.0.1011
Realtek Semiconductor High Definition Audio System Software Ver:R1.72
DirectX 9.0c
all respected games used for benchmarks have been updated to their latest, final builds.

We'd like to thank ASUS for providing the EN8600GTS Silent and Gigabyte for providing the Gigabyte P965-DS3P motherboard and Gigabyte Radeon X1950 Pro graphics card for this test. We'd also like to thank Tagan for the Tagan TG530-U15 power supply.

The results:

Now honestly, the results above doesn't tell the whole story. There is a definite improvement with Vista compared to XP. Though the results don't show it, frame rates are generally much smoother in Vista than it is in XP. Smooth frame rates equals less stutters which is always good. You'll notice that minimum frame rates at 1024 x 768, without and with AA and AF are higher in Vista than XP with the Radeon X1950 Pro. The GeForce 8600GTS minimum frame rates do get lower without AA and AF, but average frame rates saw an increase of about 2 fps. Granted, that's not much and still within normal variations between runs, but the smooth frame rates makes it a clincher for us.

With increased resolutions, the additional burden begins to bog down the graphics cards. Curiously, we're still seeing that 2 fps difference. Strangely enough, the Radeon X1950 Pro  lost 2 fps while the GeForce 8600GTS actually gains. Comparing Vista to XP drivers, we can see minimum frame rates are still up with both cards in Vista. So, Microsoft's claims of less overhead with Vista seem to have merit - even DirectX 9 applications will profit from the new driver model. However, do keep in mind that improvements will likely only be noticeable in situations where we are nowhere near the graphical processing limits of the graphics card.

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