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 Sapphire 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...

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
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
No AA/2x AF	64.152 fps	73.204 fps
2x AA/4x AF	38.578 fps	40.895 fps
4x AA/8x AF	33.781 fps	36.672 fps
8x AA/16x AF	28.074 fps	29.249 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

No difference really with X³: Reunion, a DirectX based game which does favor the ATI technology since ages. 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. The Radeon HD 2600 XT shows to be in second position and marks lower frame rate scores consistently. When we go enabling the anti-aliasing functionality, the scores are dropping for both graphics cards, with the GDDR4 version from Sapphire dropping less fast and remaining the faster part. The Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 edition accelerator shows its real potential by showing stunning game play results and performance figures. It is quite normal that the GDDR4 version takes the lead as it features a higher memory clock frequency.

Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
4x AA/8x AF	25.218 fps	27.445 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
4x AA/8x AF	12.435 fps	13.560 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Also when looking at the HD gaming score, a similar conclusion can be drawn. The Radeon HD 2600 XT doesn't do badly at all, but when it is put against the Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 edition system it can't keep up. Of course when you would start comparing all the aspects it all comes down to just one difference which are the type of memory chips used. And at this point the GDDR4 power comes out on top as it features faster operating speed to get the job done. Of course this has its effect on the performance, and that was exactly what ATI had in mind when releasing the GDDR4 version. The Radeon HD 2600 XT delivers great frame rates as a single mid-range GPU solution and having great visual image quality.

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
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
No AA/-- AF	96.8 fps	104.2 fps
2x AA/-- AF	72.3 fps	74.7 fps
4x AA/-- AF	59.3 fps	63.6 fps
8x AA/-- AF	40.9 fps	42.3 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. Both games use the OpenGL technology to bring the action alive. The frame rates are showing the same trend between both cards, but clearly showing the Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 accelerator as being superior. This should be a huge surprise as the GDDR4 memory is clocked much higher than the standard GDDR3 memory chips. Once we up the stakes by enabling the anti-aliasing feature, the Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 comes even more forward as the winner and able to deliver smoother game play and sharper visual sceneries.

Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
4x AA/-- AF	43.7 fps	46.6 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
	Radeon HD 2600 XT	Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4
4x AA/-- AF	22.6 fps	24.3 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Looking upon the figures with the widescreen HD resolution, we can draw the same conclusion. Again the stunning game play keeps amazing us, and with that said Quake 4 looks impressive with the Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 accelerator provided by Sapphire. The standard Radeon HD 2600 XT doesn't do bad at all, but is just behind in terms of frame rates reported. 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. This does leave the Radeon HD 2600 XT in a less good spot, but at least it is a cheaper alternative.