FarCry is a hot new first-person shooter that takes in-game graphics to the next level, although in a different direction than DOOM 3. Instead of darkness and confined spaces, FarCry places you outdoors, on bright sandy beaches, jungles or even on the water itself. This game gives our video cards a different kind of a stress test, and rest assured that FarCry ranks up there with the very toughest 3D game benchmarks. For this test, we are using the full retail version, and the included in-game demo.
FarCry offers us yet another extremely tight performance race between the Verto GeForce 6800 Ultra and Radeon X800 XT, and it's basically a virtual tie. The GeForce 6800 GT is a bit back compared to previous game results, and the last-generation Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5950 Ultra cards simply can't keep up the pace.
FarCry with 4X AA and 8X AF really puts the pressure on our video cards, and as with DOOM 3, we start seeing the GeForce Series 6 cards taking charge. The Verto GeForce 6800 Ultra moves into a commanding lead at both 1280x1024 and 1600x1200, while the GeForce 6800 GT gives the Radeon X800 XT a good run for the money, and even passes it as 1600x1200.
AquaMark is a relatively new DirectX 9 benchmark, and although it does not represent an actual game, it does use the same Krass engine as found in products such as Aquanox 2 and Spellforce. AquaMark 3 also supports new features such as Hyper-Threading, Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 2.0, and uses a wide range of DirectX 9 effects and features. For this review, we've tested in licensed 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 Advanced (FPS) modes.
AquaMark 3 is a very demanding DirectX 9 benchmark, and once again we're looking at a very close race between the top-end ATI and NVIDIA video cards. The Verto GeForce 6800 Ultra does hold a slight lead at 1280x1024, but gives it up at 1600x1200 where both cards are decimal points apart. The NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT also places quite well, and all of the top-end cards are faster at 1600x1200 than the last-generation models at 1280x1024.
Once we bring the higher detail anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering into play, the AquaMark 3 framerates drop, and the Verto GeForce 6800 Ultra starts falling back from the Radeon X800 XT.
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