C&C Generals: Zero Hour Performance no AA/AF

The recently released expansion to the very popular Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game Command & Conquer Generals seems to do a good job of living up to the standards set by its prestigious ancestry. RTS games usually get overlooked in GPU roundups and comparisons as they aren't considered graphically intense. However, smoothness is very important to gameplay; goodness knows I've blamed plenty of lost armies on ill timed drops in framerate. For this benchmark, we created a multiplayer game consisting of 6 hard armies on one team with us, and one easy army. We then used the replay feature in conjunction with FRAPS to measure performance. This was done with and without 4X AA/8X AF

At 10x7, with no AA/AF, C&C is CPU limited, and the performance of the ATI cards is all but identical. The NVIDIA cards trail the ATI cards by about 20%, and they seem CPU bound as well.

C&C Generals: Zero Hour Performance 4X AA/8X AF

We can see some separation in the ranks when we turn on up the juice. Basically, we see the RV3x0 based cards fall off in performance to where the NVIDIA cards were without AA/AF.

The NVIDIA cards drop off in performance as well, but the 5600 Ultra is able to maintain its speed a little better than the Ti 4200.

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  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    Before anyone else beats me to it,

    NVIDIA HAS FAILED

    sorry, just had to say it.
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    #8 = Troll
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW THEY GOT SUCH LOW SCORES ON THE GEFROCE FX 5600 ULTRA

    I BUILT COMPUTERS FOR A LIVING AND OFTEN BENCHMARK THESE SYSTEMS FOR MYSELF

    TAKE GUNMETAL FOR EXAMPLE
    THE 5600 ULTRA SCORED 14.5FPS

    ON A ATHLON XP 2600 KT400 DDR333 GEFORCE FX 5600 NON-ULTRA I GET 25FPS

    NOT TO MENTION I GET 47FPS ON A 5900

    HOW IS IT THAT WITH SUPERIOR HARDWARE THEY SCORED %40 LOWER?

    WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS...
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    #4

    If we are talking about <$2.00 burritos, how about including some tacos? Does it make sense? Tacos are cheeper because of the hard, quite unedible shell. However, because a burrito can be warmed, the shell is of soft phsophate.
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    How do you get an FPS rating from WarCraft 3?
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    Enough of the speculation of when NVIDA products will come out. May I point you to a quote from the Radeon 9700 Pro review:
    "NV30 will be out around December"

    The product didn't actually make its way out until March, and even in limited volumes then.

    Telling people to wait on the 5700 Ultra doesn’t make much sense.
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    If we are talking about <$200 cards, how about include the 9800se. It can be had for $170 and it seems like it would be a decent performer, especially if overclocked. Can we also include the 9800se (non-pro) in future reviews?
    thanks
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    As an owner of a Geforce 4 ti4200, I apreciate having it included in the lineup, as it shows me that unless I have the cash to dish out for a 9700+, it's not realy worth it :) Great review!
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    A 100Mhz increase in core clock frequency! The benifit of buying this card becomes apparent in future titles, not current ones. My guess is the gap between 9600XT and 9700 pro will close significantly in Half-Life2 or Doom3 =).

    I also truely hope the GeforceFX 5700 will beable to dish out more damage then the 5600. No fun buying from just one company.

    As for me, I doubt ill find a reason to upgrade my 9500pro for quite some time. Anyone who bought a card with the R3XX on it should not upgrade until DX10 comes out.
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link

    bad link:

    page:
    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1904...
    says:
    Halo Performance but goes to Homeworld 2.

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