Gaming Benchmarks (Cont.)

Let's continue with the next games we have selected, being Quake 4 and X³: Reunion. Both games are very popular amongst gamers and that will give a good idea on the performance delivered by the PowerColor Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card. Again we have one game using the DirectX and the other using the OpenGL technology. This will have some impact on the performance and gaming experience in these games. The goal of each technology is to provide stunning gaming experience with awesome looking visual graphics and physics. And to that extend both technologies do have their benefits and drawbacks, which give the gaming industry a choice to develop their 3D engines. So, load em up, and start your 3D engines...

Raven Software Quake 4

As we want to have a good mix of games, we just had to give Quake 4 a spot in the gaming analysis. Quake 4 is based upon id Software's revolutionary Doom 3 technology. Furthermore, Quake 4 wasn't actually developed by id Software internally; it instead outsourced game development to the capable minds at Raven Software, who have turned it into a fantastic looking game with a great single-player campaign. The multiplayer function, however, is underwhelming. Quake was among the first PC shooters to let you take your multiplayer matches onto the Internet, and over the years, the series has become synonymous with great technology and exciting multiplayer.

Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
No AA/-- AF	108.2 fps	95.9 fps
2x AA/-- AF	85.4 fps	71.4 fps
4x AA/-- AF	66.8 fps	58.4 fps
8x AA/-- AF	44.1 fps	40.0 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

When looking at the Quake 4 gaming results we can see that these follow the same logic as we have encountered with Doom 3. Since both games are using the same 3D engine developed by id Software it doesn't come as a surprise. The Radeon HD 2600 XT is delivering some good results considering the processing capabilities of the RV630 chip powering this graphics card. On the other hand it can't really keep up with the GeForce 8600 GTS, and falls behind a bit faster while we enable some extra graphical settings and enhancements. No real surprise as we have some idea on how the performance would stack up against the competition. Once again both cards deliver excellent visuals, with great image quality and clarity, which makes it though to select the winner. In our opinion both have improved their image processing being almost identical.

Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
4x AA/-- AF	49.0 fps	42.8 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
4x AA/-- AF	22.1 fps	21.7 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Looking upon the figures with the widescreen HD resolution, we can draw a similar conclusion. Going for the higher resolutions does impact the overall gaming performance. It does show that the maximum HD gaming resolution might just be asking a bit too much from the Radeon HD 2600 XT accelerator. But it is nice to see that a mid-range graphics card is able to support these widescreen resolutions. The main drawback of the mid-range series is all about the memory interface which is kept at only 128-bit, where we would have liked to see a 256-bit interface for smoother game scene rendering. Both cards are heavily scrutinized by selecting a big widescreen resolution, but the G84 chip seems to have a small edge over the competitor though being clocked much lower. This does leave the Radeon HD 2600 XT in a less good spot, but at least it is a cheaper alternative.

EgoSoft X³: Reunion

Following up on our gaming overview, we use one of the newer games which goes by the name, X³: Reunion. This is a sequel to the award winning X²: The Threat game. Quite some extensive development has gone into the X³ engine, making use of DirectX 9.0 technology, to create dramatic visual effects and stunningly realistic starships. Coupled with the massively enhanced artificial life system, X³: Reunion will present players with an ever changing, evolving universe; where a player's action really can shape the future of the universe. Newcomers will enjoy the additions to the already graphically impressive, almost living X³ Universe, while veterans can expect new construction options and an improved physics model.

Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
No AA/No AF	60.021 fps	63.214 fps
2x AA/4x AF	50.414 fps	37.597 fps
4x AA/8x AF	45.587 fps	32.871 fps
8x AA/16x AF	39.181 fps	27.167 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

No difference really with X³: Reunion, a DirectX based game which does favor the ATI technology. This doesn't come as a surprise as it is known from our previous benchmarks runs to perform better with ATI hardware than toward the NVIDIA technology. In fact it is the first time it could beat the GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card, as soon as we start enabling anti-aliasing though the Radeon HD 2600 XT starts falling being rapidly and the GeForce 8600 GTS take over once again. However, when putting things in perspective the Radeon HD 2600 XT is able to handle the game quite well and showing similar graphical image quality. So it surely shows the potential of the RV630 chip, the main potential lies with the support for DirectX 10 games. It remains to be seen which of these unified shader implementations will come on top once the DirectX 10 games do hit the market.

Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
4x AA/8x AF	34.327 fps	24.328 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8600 GTS	Radeon HD 2600 XT
4x AA/8x AF	16.153 fps	11.553 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

And to end our gaming overview we included as well some higher resolutions to show the impact on the performance and frame rates delivered by the Radeon HD 2600 XT accelerator from PowerColor. When analyzing these results against the architecture of the RV630 core used on the Radeon HD 2600 series, we can see that HD gaming is certainly possible but not at the full extend. When you want to fully enjoy the Extreme HD gaming and actually bought a 30" LCD display, then we do recommend stepping up the ladder and go for the Radeon HD 2900 series. Of course if you are interesting in the base widescreen gaming, then by all means the Radeon HD 2600 series are the way to go, at least if you are an ATI fan. Cause no matter what you do, the GeForce 8600 GTS is showing better performance though comes at a higher price tag...