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.
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NV SM3.0 regulator screenshot.
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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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DerekWilson - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Thanks Pete, we'll be setting AA and AF in the benchmark batch file from now on ... We've updated the site to reflect the fact that the first run of numbers had NV 4xAA set in the control panel (which means it was off in the game).We appologize for the problem, and these new numbers show an acurate picture of the NV vs. ATI playing field.
Again, we are very sorry for the mistake.
Bonesdad - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Wait till you see the numbers for NV's 6800 Ultra Extreme with Cheese!!!Pete - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Derek, was AA on for the nV cards? Apparently nV's latest drivers change behavior once again, to require AA to be set in-game, rather than via CP (which does nothing).Perhaps you could avoid this mess of ever-changing AA settings by using AA+AF for comparison screens? It'd also have the added benefit of showing the games in a more positive light. :)
joeyd - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
gordon151 - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
pio!pio! x-bit labs tested the difference between performance with the 1.2 and 1.1 patch on the NV3x (5900 Ultra) and well it wasn't pretty. NV3x actually saw a rather big performance drop using the new patch. I dunno if nVidia is gonna do anything about this since they seem to be turning a blind eye to the NV3x line with respect to future optimizations.DerekWilson - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
trilinear optimizations are onanisotripic filtering optimizations are off
AA has less noticable benefit as resolution increases, but nearly vertical and nearly horizontal lines are still obvious in games with high contrast scenes.
kmmatney - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Do you really need AA on when running at 1600 x 1200, as in these these benchmarks? Just wondering if its much of a benefit at this high of a resolution. I never go past 1024 x 768, so I wouldn't know.pio!pio! - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
So how about just the performance jump from FarCry 1.1 to 1.2 w/o using these high end shaders? (Ie for the previous generation Geforce 5900 crowd and lower)AnnoyedGrunt - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
Does that mean trilinear optimizations on, or trilinear filtering on?Thanks,
D'oh!
DerekWilson - Friday, July 2, 2004 - link
we used driver default:trilinear on
anisotropic off