The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GPU Performance
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 26, 2006 1:07 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Mid Range GPU Performance w/ HDR Enabled
Next we looked at mainstream GPU performance, targeting graphics cards that were priced at or below $300; for reference we've tossed in a few pairs of cards running in SLI or CrossFire.
Not only have we reduced the resolution, but we've significantly reduced the image quality settings here. The result is a good balance between image quality and performance, however we would much rather play with our high quality settings as Oblivion can be one very impressive looking game with the details cranked up.
The white lines within the bars indicate minimum frame rate
The king of the mid range is actually the Radeon X1800 XT offering pretty much the best performance you can get for under $300, even outperforming the GeForce 7900 GT. If you already have a Radeon X1600 XT and happen to own a CrossFire capable motherboard, then simply picking up one more X1600 XT will do wonders for your performance. Remember that the X1600 series can run in CrossFire mode without any external dongle, so all you need are two X1600 XTs and you'll be looking at fairly good performance. While we wouldn't recommend purchasing two X1600 XTs (you're far better off with a single 7900 GT), if you already have one it's the cheapest way to get a good performance boost in Oblivion.
The GeForce 7600 GT proves to be a good middle of the road performer here, offering good performance while being priced at under $200.
The GeForce 6600 GT is unfortunately overwhelmed by our medium quality settings, and unfortunately has now become a low end contender as far as Oblivion is concerned. Running a pair of 6600GTs in SLI improves performance a bit but still no where near what a pair of X1600 XTs will do in CrossFire mode.
The white lines within the bars indicate minimum frame rate
Once again we see that there's no significant performance difference between the GPUs at the top of the charts, but performance really begins to drop off after the 7600 GT.
The white lines within the bars indicate minimum frame rate
The Medium Quality Dungeon benchmark is very friendly to the NVIDIA cards here, with the first ATI showing being the X1800 GTO half way down the graph. The GeForce 7900 GT and Radeon X1800 XT continue to be the best performers here, but the 7600 GT isn't too far behind.
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Yawgm0th - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - link
...or Oblivion is playable with an average of 20 FPS. I did a benchmark of my own (at a big Oblivion gate with 6-10 enemies and several allies fighting) with settings completely maxed (everything at it's highest except AA) at 1280x960, and my system pulled framerates slightly better than the 7900GT according to the FRAPS results. More importantly, the game is completely playable in all areas. Framerates are low for about four seconds anytime I enter a new area through a door of some kind, but that's not unusual for most games. After those first couple seconds, things pick up and I see no reason for the game to appear to have such abysmal performance as the article would indicate. My system consists of the following:2x1GB of Patriot 2-3-2 at 205MHz in dual-channel
Venice: 274x9 (about 2.47GHz)
7800GT with a slight overclock
Audigy 2
XP Pro x64 with latest nVidia drivers
Furthermore, that RAM was a recent upgrade. I had the game maxed with 1GB of the same stuff in single-channel.
At this point, I'm convinced that either there's something wrong with FRAPS (and there's certainly something different that caused the low frames in this article, because I shouldn't be outperforming the Anandtech test system when it's better than mine) or that the game is completely playable with mid-20s framerates. I don't think I've ever played a 3D game and found anything less than high-30s to be playable.
ueadian - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
Yep you nailed it that's my exact feeling. I played the game with my X800XL and it was very playable on high settings, oblivion gates killed my computer but not enough to drive me insane, other then that i didnt see any lag other then after entering a new area. Benchmarks are overrated I played Counter-Strike : Source at 20-30 fps for a year just fine and when I got a card to do 50+ fps miminum I really didn't notice that much of a difference.TejTrescent - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
Crazy.Testing just now, I got 20-30 on my system, no matter where I was, with a bit higher than those medium settings.
The game's ENTIRELY playable at even 18.
Dunno how, but it doesn't feel choppy when it falls, as long as it's above 15. Weird.
dhei - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - link
Laugh, real excitement comes from online play. Might as well pay $15 a month for a game with just as good graphics that is updated constantly. Plus you can play missions and fight monsters yourself just like a single player game if thats your bag or slay other people that are actull people online.Looking at screenshots, i've seen 4 year old MMO games that look better after they got free graphics updates. /shrug
I never understood why people pay for single player games like this. :D
kmmatney - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
You really can't judge the graphics of Oblivion by screenshots. The actual look and feel is much more impressive than the screen shots show.ueadian - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
Agreed. Screenshots do not to ANY game justice. HL2 didnt really impress me visualy with screenshots, but then I played the game all the way through and was blown away by the graphics.poohbear - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - link
"i've seen 4 year old MMO games that look better after they got free graphics updates. /shrug "name one
bobsmith1492 - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - link
What's "mmo" ??xsilver - Thursday, April 27, 2006 - link
when a cow is on crack it cant say "moo" properly :PMassivly Multiplayer Online
as mentioned before its difficult to play a game that has no end and is pressuringly addictive if you join a guild/faction
eg. most deaths that have resulted from gaming have been from players of such games; most recently from WoW i think
dhei - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - link
Dark Age of Camelot.