NVIDIA and ATI HDCP Compatible Graphics Cards Roundup
by Josh Venning on November 16, 2006 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Battlefield 2 Performance
Battlefield 2 is a standard performance test we use here at AnandTech, and the game is still a very popular one, in spite of the recent release of the newest installment of the Battlefield series: Battlefield 2142. We like the graphics and physics engine of Battlefield 2, and we also find the game play highly addictive, even if load times can get somewhat lengthy when trying to enter a game.
The benchmark we have consists of a recorded demo of a third-person view of a character in a battle; running, shooting, and riding various vehicles including a jet. The benchmark captures a wide range of gaming and graphics styles from BF2, including effects such as explosions and flying debris. This provides us with frame rates which resemble actual game play as closely as possible.
The first thing we notice is that the BFG and EVGA 7950 GX2 are the overall performance leaders out of all of the cards. Without AA enabled Battlefield 2 is very cpu limited, which is why we see slightly lower performance with the 8800s than the 7950 GX2 at 1280x1024 resolution. At 1600x1200 the results look more like you would expect, with the 8800 GTX higher than the 7950 GX2 by about 10 fps. As you increase resolution, detail and AA settings, the 8800 will separate itself from the pack as we saw in our launch review.
In general, the next highest performer after the 7950 GX2 is the ATI Sapphire X1950 XTX, and Battlefield 2 gets very high frame rates in both resolutions with this card. A couple of other noteworthy performers are the Sparkle Calibre 7950 GT and the Leadtek WinFast (X7900 GS TDH Extreme. Both of these cards have decent factory overclocks, which give a boost in performance over the others in their class. The two lowest performers of the group are the Gigabyte 7600 GS HDMI and the Powercolor X1600 PRO, with the Powercolor card being the lowest performer of the group. All of these cards get playable frame rates in this game at 1280x1024, but the Powercolor X1600 PRO is the only card here that might be a little choppy at 1600x1200.
Battlefield 2 is a standard performance test we use here at AnandTech, and the game is still a very popular one, in spite of the recent release of the newest installment of the Battlefield series: Battlefield 2142. We like the graphics and physics engine of Battlefield 2, and we also find the game play highly addictive, even if load times can get somewhat lengthy when trying to enter a game.
The benchmark we have consists of a recorded demo of a third-person view of a character in a battle; running, shooting, and riding various vehicles including a jet. The benchmark captures a wide range of gaming and graphics styles from BF2, including effects such as explosions and flying debris. This provides us with frame rates which resemble actual game play as closely as possible.
The first thing we notice is that the BFG and EVGA 7950 GX2 are the overall performance leaders out of all of the cards. Without AA enabled Battlefield 2 is very cpu limited, which is why we see slightly lower performance with the 8800s than the 7950 GX2 at 1280x1024 resolution. At 1600x1200 the results look more like you would expect, with the 8800 GTX higher than the 7950 GX2 by about 10 fps. As you increase resolution, detail and AA settings, the 8800 will separate itself from the pack as we saw in our launch review.
In general, the next highest performer after the 7950 GX2 is the ATI Sapphire X1950 XTX, and Battlefield 2 gets very high frame rates in both resolutions with this card. A couple of other noteworthy performers are the Sparkle Calibre 7950 GT and the Leadtek WinFast (X7900 GS TDH Extreme. Both of these cards have decent factory overclocks, which give a boost in performance over the others in their class. The two lowest performers of the group are the Gigabyte 7600 GS HDMI and the Powercolor X1600 PRO, with the Powercolor card being the lowest performer of the group. All of these cards get playable frame rates in this game at 1280x1024, but the Powercolor X1600 PRO is the only card here that might be a little choppy at 1600x1200.
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DerekWilson - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
To be honest, this article was a very long time in production ... we got a hold of the drive almost two months ago iirc. It just took a whole lot of time and energy to get the tests done and the article written. We did go back and add the 8800 and 256mb 1900xt, but the x1950pro seemed to slip through the cracks.Sorry about that. We didn't exclude it on purpose, and we will try to include it in any future articles we write on HDCP protected content and high definition movies.
photoguy99 - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
If the article was done a while ago, does that mean it's now possible to playback h.264/vc1 Blu-Ray on a PC?It would be good to know what the missing link is to make sure we get it if we want to get playback on our own systems.
DerekWilson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
All BD movies are currently MPEG-2 -- and probably will be for a while.HD-DVD movies use VC1.
peternelson - Friday, November 17, 2006 - link
Wrong, the initial BR moves were mpeg-2 encoded content.
There now exist BR discs with content in the other two main formats.
Also discs with dual layers while original releases were single layer.
The wikipedia page for bluray contains titles, launch dates of the non-mpeg-2 discs.
DerekWilson - Saturday, November 18, 2006 - link
I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.balazs203 - Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - link
Thanks for the great review.At this link in the review of the new Panasonic BR player they mention a few non-MPEG2 BD titles they like quality wise:
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/1106pan...">http://www.ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/1106pan...
I would be very much interested in an extension of your review with non-MPEG2 titles as obviously I would like to buy a computer which can play back all these titles and MPEG2 is the easisest type. Info about the other types is much more important for me when I consider what parts I want to buy.
JarredWalton - Thursday, November 16, 2006 - link
The article wasn't *done* a while ago - it was *started* two months ago. It took that long to get to this point, which says something about the state of the technology.lujack26 - Monday, October 31, 2011 - link
I was looking around the web for HDMI video cards after I read this article and came across this website E-bargainz.com. They seem to have great prices, a large selection, and reasonable shipping. Here is the direct link to their selection of HDMI video cards http://www.e-bargainz.com/index.php/cPath/143. I also found a coupon code "Thank You" for $5 off your first purchase. I'm going to try them out. Anything to keep from putting another dollar in Jeff Bezos pockets.