Page 3 - Test System, Benchmark: Half Life 2: Lost Coast
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 @ 2.80GHz (400MHz*7)
CPU Cooling: Scythe Infinity
Motherboard: Asus P5W64-WS Professional
RAM: OCZ Flex XLC 2x1GB @ 4-4-4-10, 1:1 with CPU
Case: Thermaltake Aguila (1x120mm LED, 1x120mm)
Power: Seasonic M12 500W
Sound: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Optical Drive: NEC AD-7170A 18X DVD+/-RW
Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.10 320GB 16MB SATA2
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
Comparison Graphics
- PowerColor X1550 256MB/64Bit
- BFG GeForce 7600GT OC 256MB
All tests were ran at 1680x1050 with all settings turned to the maximum unless otherwise stated, with the only manipulated variables in the tests being AA and AF settings. The video card used for comparison is a BFG 7600GT OC that I've purchased a few months back; and at the time of publication the PowerColor X1550 is approximately $65 at major online retailers, while the BFG 7600GT OC goes for around $90 after rebate. Catalyst 7.2 was used for the PowerColor X1550, and NVIDIA ForceWare 93.71 was used for our 7600GT.
With no antialiasing and Bilinear anisotropic filtering, the 7600GT outperformed the PowerColor X1550 by quite a significant margin -- twice, to be exact.
Once AA and AF has been implemented, a significant frame rate drop can be observed. The PowerColor X1550 pulled out a frame rate of 6 per second, which makes games unplayable at this point.
At maximum settings with Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, the PowerColor X1550 rendered the graphics at 4 frames per second. I don't know what happened here, but it seems to us that the 7600GT's frame rate actually rose -- the test has been rerun over 10 consecutive times with reboots in between with identical results.
On a side note, the PowerColor X1550 cannot render the HDR effects properly at these settings.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Specifications, Bundle
2. A Closer Look
3. Test System, Benchmark: Half Life 2: Lost Coast
4. Benchmark: FEAR
5. Benchmark: Prey
6. Benchmark: Quake 4
7. Benchmark: CS:S cs_militia
8. Benchmark: 3DMark06
9. Power Usage, Overclocking
10. Noise Factor and Conclusion
