Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Performance
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is a real time strategy (RTS) game similar to Warcraft and Command and Conquer. Our test for Rise of Legends is similar to our tests for other RTS games as well. We are able to save replays of entire games and play them back. We use FRAPS to benchmark the game, though we benchmark the game while playing it back at 4x normal speed. This is simply to save time benchmarking, and the results still allow us to report on in game experience.
The benchmark is a 2v2 internet battle. The battle is just over 20 minutes long, and we start our FRAPS benchmark at 8 minutes in when the action starts and stop the benchmark just before the end of the game. Rise of Legends is sensitive to CPU speed, so gamers with less powerful platforms shouldn't rely only on this data to determine final performance with Rise of Legends.
Frame rates of about 20 fps are acceptable as we don't need the consistency and smoothness of a higher framerate to enable effective gameplay. Framerate drops and slow downs are not as noticeable in games like this where quick movements aren't what it's all about.
The only reason the 6600 GT remains playable at this resolution is because the game prohibits the selection of the highest quality options due to the lack of 256MB of RAM. The X800 GTO and X1600 XT fall just under playable range, but some people may be able to live with a little bit of jerkiness here and there with their RTS games.
*This card features only 128mb RAM, limiting it to medium quality settings
The 7900 GT scales better than the X1900 GT and so closes the gap towards the higher resolutions, but still can't make the pass. Even with equal performance, the X1900 GT would still lead in terms of value. Our 7600 GT remains playable at 1920x1440, but once again just a little higher budget will get a great benefit with the X1900 GT with about 33% higher performance and the ability to enable AA and remain playable if necessary.
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coldpower27 - Friday, August 11, 2006 - link
Well it wasn't too long ago that X1900 XT still had pricing over 400US.
It wasn't until ATI started doing some price slashes in preparation for the X1950 that the prices have fallen alot, fairly recently.
JarredWalton - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
It's more based on price than performance, and obviously at $330 we're very close to the high end.Powermoloch - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
Why was it not listed? These days they can be found almost under $150.00kalrith - Friday, August 11, 2006 - link
Actually, it's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">$126 shipped from Newegg right now, and that's BEFORE a $30 MIR. It should keep up (or beat) the 7600GT, so I think it deserves to be on there as well.Jedi2155 - Sunday, August 13, 2006 - link
Although it is plenty fast, I think the DX 9.0C has shown enough benefits over 9.0b to seriously consider the 7600 GT over the X850 XTZebo - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
Nice review but there should only be two choices in the sub $300 field:7900GT, not only can it be had for $224, not $275 as the review implies, it can be overclocked to 7900GTX virtually guarnteed, meaning it trades punches with a $359 1900XT.
The card missing from this review is the $220 1900 All-in-Wonder, not only is it faster than 7900GT stock and has way more features, it can also be overclocked to 1900XT levels.
Zebo - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Pr...">http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Pr...looks like they raised price since last week... it really was 224:)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
AmbroseAthan - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
Was kind of surprised to see it not in this mix being you can get one for ~$200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82...">Sapphire x1800xt - OEM (Retail is 250ish)I assume it runs faster then the 1800GTO, but how does it rank with the 7800GT and 7900GT?
mpc7488 - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
The 7900GT is consistently around $240 after rebates. There are 3 cards at that price from 3 different manufacturers at Newegg right now (eVGA, XFX, and MSI). In fact, the overclocked version (520 core/1540 memory) is $244.
Maybe rebates aren't really looked at in the price engine, but the fact remains that you can easily find a 7900GT for under $250.
DerekWilson - Thursday, August 10, 2006 - link
Good point. We didn't include rebates as they can change without warning, not everyone follows through on them, and they take some time to recieve.But, obviously, they can make a difference. I'll add a bit to the conclusion about it.
Thanks.