Black and White 2 v.1.2 Performance Update
by Josh Venning on April 5, 2006 3:01 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Test Setup
We wanted to get a sense of how well the latest high-end hardware could run this game, but we also wanted to have older budget and midrange cards included in our performance tests for comparison. We included as many cards from both ATI and NVIDIA as we could in order to understand the game's overall playability, particularly after the 1.2 update.
We broke down the performance tests into 3 groups. For the high-end card tests, we enabled "High Antialiasing" (basically 4xAA with some tweaks and optimizations) and used the four resolutions tested on the last page (2048x1536, 1920x1440, 1600x1200, 1280x1024). The following cards make up the high-end group:
In the midrange group we tested the game at 1600x1200, 1280x1024, and 1024x768 without AA enabled. Here are the cards we in this group:
Note that the 7800 GT and X1800 XL are borderline high-end/midrange, so we tested these two cards in both categories. If you're wondering how some of the other "high-end" cards fare without AA, you can use them as a guide. We also included X1800 GTO numbers, and we are starting to see a few of these parts available for purchase.
For the low-end tests, we tested at 1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600, and 640x480 without AA. These are the cards for this group:
Our test system was equipped as follows:
Note that sound was disabled for all tests.
We wanted to get a sense of how well the latest high-end hardware could run this game, but we also wanted to have older budget and midrange cards included in our performance tests for comparison. We included as many cards from both ATI and NVIDIA as we could in order to understand the game's overall playability, particularly after the 1.2 update.
We broke down the performance tests into 3 groups. For the high-end card tests, we enabled "High Antialiasing" (basically 4xAA with some tweaks and optimizations) and used the four resolutions tested on the last page (2048x1536, 1920x1440, 1600x1200, 1280x1024). The following cards make up the high-end group:
NVIDIA 7900 GTX
NVIDIA 7900 GT
NVIDIA 7800 GTX (512)
NVIDIA 7800 GT
ATI X1900 XT-X
ATI X1900 XT
ATI X1800 XL
In the midrange group we tested the game at 1600x1200, 1280x1024, and 1024x768 without AA enabled. Here are the cards we in this group:
NVIDIA 7800 GT
NVIDIA 7600 GT
NVIDIA 6800 GS
NVIDIA 6600 GT
ATI X1800 XL
ATI X1800 GTO
ATI X1600 XT
Note that the 7800 GT and X1800 XL are borderline high-end/midrange, so we tested these two cards in both categories. If you're wondering how some of the other "high-end" cards fare without AA, you can use them as a guide. We also included X1800 GTO numbers, and we are starting to see a few of these parts available for purchase.
For the low-end tests, we tested at 1280x1024, 1024x768, 800x600, and 640x480 without AA. These are the cards for this group:
NVIDIA 7300 GS
NVIDIA 6200 TC (TurboCache)
ATI X1300
Our test system was equipped as follows:
ATI Radeon Express 200 based system
NVIDIA nForce 4 based system
AMD Athlon 64 FX-57
2x 1GB DDR400 2:3:2:8
120 GB Seagate 7200.7 HD
600 W OCZ PowerStream PSU
Note that sound was disabled for all tests.
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Lifted - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
This appears to be more of an ad for B&W 2 than a serious review of the video cards. Since when does AT publish articles that test the latest video cards on a single 6 month old game that nobody really cares about anyway. The first one was enough, ughh.Cybercat - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
well uh....why the hell not? Not like everyone feels the same way you do about this game. Some people kinda actually....you know....play it.Calin - Thursday, April 6, 2006 - link
I don't know how many people play B&W, but I would be willing to give it a try... I have a try to The Sims, and it was nice... too bad I wasn't able to advance too much in it :(Lonyo - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
Oblivion testing would be much better than bloody B&W2 updates.microAmp - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
Another vote for TES: Oblivion testing.Goi - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
It's a pity no X800 series cards were included in the midrange category. Many AGP systems are still based on these cards as well as the 6800GT/Ultra cards(which were represented by the 6800GS).Brian23 - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
I concur. It was only a few months ago I put together an awesome AMD X2 system with one of those ATI x800 gto^2 cards that overclocks like crazy. I'd like to see how it compares to the most recent stuff.whitelight - Thursday, April 6, 2006 - link
another vote to include an x800/x850 card that has 16 pipes and is clocked around 550/550.Howard - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
I can't access the 2nd page.JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - link
I've tested with both Firefox 1.07 and IE6, and everything seems fine. Are you still having problems?