Level Analysis: regulator
This level starts inside and moves outside at night through some grass and trees around a compound.
ATI regulator screenshot.
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NV SM2.0 regulator screenshot.
Click to enlarge.
NV SM3.0 regulator screenshot.
Click to enlarge.
Here is the first indication we have had that the SM3.0 path renders things ever so slightly differently than the SM2.0 path. Looking closely (swapping quickly back and forth between the images), it is apparent that the glow of the light above the door is a little dimmer when the new rendering techniques are applied (really, we promise its different). This small a difference doesn't really add up to anything in terms of game play, but it does let us know that the new lighting model isn't a mathematically identical solution. Which one is nearer the developers vision, only CryTek can tell us (and hopefully they will).
Again, we see a small performance improvement that pushes the 6800 GT above the x800 XT PE, but this performance improvement is very small.
Continuing the trend, performance improvement due to SM3.0 is slightly higher with 4xAA/8xAF than without. Here, we even see that NVIDIA can lead in an AA/AF enabed benchmark without the help of the new rendering path.
NVIDIA supplied this demo, and its modest improvement shows that not all performance gains are monumental.
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misnad - Monday, December 20, 2004 - link
Hey guys, when playing an adrenaline pumping game like far cry or doom 3, how on earth does one take the time to notice the minute details??? True enough you need decent quality, but what's required the most is a decent framerate!!! Or else, we'll end up with a slideshow of hi-res pictures! My 2 cents.misnad - Monday, December 20, 2004 - link
KJ1a - Thursday, July 8, 2004 - link
I noticed a difference in the comparison pictures.I lloks like Nvidia is rendering less and in lot of the areas the quality is lower and bumpmapping is a little less pronounced as well.
I have owned ATI and Nvidia cards and I can honestly say my games allways look better on the ATI cards.
Look at the detials in the pictures.
Thats my 2 cents.
bangbilo - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
I once was a really happy ATI customer, until i bought my 9600 ( this was before the XT ) and i liked the card at the time it was kicking the crap out of any game out there. Then one day i decided to have some fun with a thing called Linux. I started out with the Suse 9.0 distro and i quickly noticed i did not have 3D support. After a week of my life slaved over forums and people saying that this works and ATI's drivers not i decided my next card was going to be a NVidia. Ati has always had crappy support issues with there drivers in my opinion and if they would just get that fixed i would be buying me a X800 XT not a 6800 Ultra (Ordered that baby today) I love ati they have allowed me to be a somewhat descent gamer for 4 years not its time to try out the other guy. If i'm not satisfied with them and ati figures out a few things that the customers have been wanting for years. Then i might be buying me an XI800 XT ULTRA PLATNUM EDITION with CHROME HUBCAPS.... yes i said it HUBCAPS... :) thats my 2 cents-Bangbilo
"pain is weakness leaving the body"
Bangbilo@dynxweb.com
www.dynxweb.com/sort
Staples - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
In some of those first few screens, you may want to fix the gamma in an image editor. They are dark in the game but not that dark, at least they shouldn't be unless you are playing at default settings.DerekWilson - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
I could use those burgers ...Thanks again, Pete :-)
Pete - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
Craziness! Nice to see that you're on top of things, Derek. Now that you've averted an aliased crisis, head out to the grill and set some burgers to medium. :)Dasterdly - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
Then you gotta get the Ultra Hyper (Kung Fu) Fighting Edition.Or dont forget the Ultra Extreme XT Platinum Edition or the GT2 Pro Turbo Extra-Special Edition.
.
bearxor - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Wow, that little change with the AA really changed the look of those benchmarks.The ATi X800 XT PE Alpha 3 Pro Turbo doesn't look so bad now.
nordlaw - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
9800 Pro's referred to as 'Older' video cards - Moore's Law is being smashed open, lately by GPUs.CPUs, not so, of course.
I need a slightly better CPU so I can keep up with GPUs. ;)