Gaming Benchmarks

As we saw the synthetic benchmark results, the next logical step is to dive into the real gaming performance of the Gainward BLISS 8800 GT Golden Sample edition video card. As reference we will use a default GeForce 8800 Ultra setup to check the performance differences. Each setup is going to run each game at different resolution settings using a variety of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering 3D effects. And both are featuring the NVIDIA unified shader technology, but somehow on a different optimization approach and technology. So in effect we are stuffing both cards in the same system, using the same settings and spending some time playing games and performing tests on the following game titles, let's check what we got...

UbiSoft Far Cry

Who doesn't know the game Far Cry? You should at least have heard about it... It's the game that came out right before Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and so on and set some new standards in gaming experience. Without a doubt, Far Cry was the most advanced graphics seen in any PC game. Everything in this game looks amazing, and the level of verisimilitude is unprecedented. Far Cry isn't just a stunning technical accomplishment. It's quite possibly the best single-player first-person shooter experience for the PC since Half-Life. Since Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 came out Far Cry had to share the welt on de gaming market.

Gaming Results - 1280x1024 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	130.72 fps	130.36 fps
2x AA/4x AF	129.74 fps	129.17 fps
4x AA/8x AF	129.52 fps	128.41 fps
SM3.0/HDR	119.08 fps	118.42 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Gaming Results - 1600x1200 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	130.39 fps	129.60 fps
2x AA/4x AF	129.43 fps	127.08 fps
4x AA/8x AF	128.94 fps	118.39 fps
SM3.0/HDR	117.54 fps	106.26 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Well yeah we still like the hang of it with Far Cry, it just keeps amazing us this game with very nice visual graphics and stunning game play. Besides that it is an excellent game to checkout the performance of a graphics card. Both cards perform somehow on par, although when anti-aliasing comes into the picture the Ultra version featuring the G80 GPU has the advantage by a greater margin and dropping only slightly in produced frame rates. Far Cry is also a game where you can enable HDR. This comes in handy as it adds more complexity and processing towards the video accelerator. Upon enabling HDR with Far Cry the BISS 8800 GT Golden Sample edition can keep up but falls a bit behind when the resolution is tuned up. However this isn't really a surprise as the G92 core comes with only a 256-bit memory interface.

Gaming Results - 2560x1600 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	130.63 fps	116.36 fps
2x AA/4x AF	106.21 fps	79.02 fps
4x AA/8x AF	91.11 fps	68.22 fps
SM3.0/HDR	68.22 fps	56.97 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

The game is on and high definition is the new hype these days around the gaming community. That means we couldn't stay behind neither. And indeed NVIDIA has done quite some marketing around the HD gaming experience and in particularly linked with the GeForce 8800 series. Make no mistake the GeForce 8800 GT does have all it takes for the enjoying the HD gaming experience but does come a bit short against the GeForce 8800 Ultra configuration. So the BLISS 8800 GT Golden Sample with its 1GB frame buffer does well, but the Ultra edition is no match looking at the raw game rendering power. Nonetheless we were quite impressed by the stunning image clarity provided and the fluent game play during the different benchmark runs.

Electronic Arts Crysis

And yes of course we couldn't miss out on Crysis, which is the successor of Far Cry using the Crytek CryEngine 2 real-time gaming engine. Crysis is an alien invasion game set in the year 2020. An archeological team on a remote Pacific island is captured by an invasion force of North Koreans, and your US special forces team is dispatched to investigate and rescue the scientists. Clad in high-tech nanosuits capable of boosting your strength, speed, and armor, as well as cloaking you temporarily to the enemy, you're parachuted into a tropical paradise that's crawling with intelligent enemies and something else that's tearing both the North Koreans and US forces to shreds.

Gaming Results - 1280x1024 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	54.24 fps	51.72 fps
2x AA/4x AF	51.51 fps	46.55 fps
4x AA/8x AF	48.73 fps	43.43 fps
8x AA/16x AF	42.65 fps	35.08 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.
Gaming Results - 1600x1200 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	45.24 fps	40.63 fps
2x AA/4x AF	39.37 fps	33.56 fps
4x AA/8x AF	36.25 fps	30.27 fps
8x AA/16x AF	27.81 fps	22.35 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Of course, we couldn't deny it any longer but the game we have really been waiting for since a long time is the successor of Far Cry, or better known as Crysis. And with Crysis comes as well the new 3D engine of Crytek which will certainly be the engine used for many games to come. This game is really putting the graphics card to work and can also be seen from the frame rates during game play. With the GeForce 8800 Ultra taking the lead, which is somehow natural as having a bit more shader processors and a faster memory interface. Though looking at the results delivered by the Gainward BLISS 8800 GT Golden Sample with its 1GB memory it's quite a close battle. Well you can't really call it a battle but still it does show that the G92 graphics core is a logic choice.

Gaming Results - 2560x1600 - E6700 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM
	GeForce 8800 Ultra	BLISS 8800 GT Golden
No AA/No AF	34.25 fps	30.64 fps
2x AA/4x AF	28.96 fps	24.23 fps
4x AA/8x AF	25.82 fps	20.91 fps
8x AA/16x AF	19.09 fps	14.57 fps
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

Moving on to the higher resolutions, we find ourselves again with the widescreen high definition which is considered as the current ultimate gaming experience. That certainly means that the graphics accelerator has to be able to render these bigger sceneries without becoming unplayable due to the drop in frame rates. Well we must say with Crysis this is not as simple as that, because even the GeForce 8800 Ultra is slowing a decrease in frame rates. The Gainward version does come very close and somehow the 1GB memory can be considered a benefit with Crysis as the rendering of the sceneries and frames does require quite some memory and the more the better in this case. Both cards perform very well, though the Golden Sample edition is not up to performance as the Ultra version.