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To showcase the in-game
rendering capabilities of the new GeForce FX GPUs, NVIDIA
provided screenshots from a few current, and soon to be
released games. These screenshots are intended to show
the benefits of the GeForce FX's 128-Bit Floating Point
color precision and to demonstrate the increased geometry
processing power of these new GPUs...
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Some
In-Game Screenshots |
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Impressive Visuals |
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COMMAND & CONQUER:
GENERALS
EA - WESTWOOD STUDIOS
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TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER
CELL
UBI SOFT ENTERTAINMENT
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -
OBLIVION LOST
GSC GAME WORLD
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UNREAL 2: THE
AWAKENING
EPIC GAMES
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Please keep in
mind that the pictures posted above are compressed JPEGs, so
there is some loss in image quality. Even with the
inherent disadvantages of compressed JPEGs, there is no
denying these images are fantastic. The increased
polygon counts used in the models and environments, the
realistic lighting effects, the bump mapping and the
realistic shadows make for some of the best looking gaming
to date.
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Preliminary Performance Information |
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Numbers Provided By NVIDIA |
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All this talk of
features is great, but if a given product doesn't perform
well, the feature set is all for naught. We do not
have final GeForce FX 5200 or 5600 Ultra boards in our
possession as of yet but NVIDIA did provide some graphs that
demonstrate the NV31's and NV34's relative performance,
versus the competition in a few popular benchmarks.
BENCHMARKS PROVIDED BY
NVIDIA
We are not going
to elaborate on these graphs much because we were not
present for the testing and had no control over the test
system. With that said however, according to this information,
NVIDIA is enjoying performance levels with the GeForce FX
5600 Ultra that are roughly 1.5x to 2x that of the Radeon
9500, when Antialiasing is enabled at a resolution of
1280x1024. But what about the 5200s?
BENCHMARKS PROVIDED BY
NVIDIA
The GeForce FX
5200, again according to the NVIDIA provided benchmarks, is
performing much higher than the current generation of
products it is meant to replace. When compared to an
ATi Radeon 9000 Pro, at a resolution of 1280x1024 with 2x AA
enabled, the GeForce FX 5200 is outperforming the Radeon by
over 250% in UT2003. When compared to the GeForce 4 MX
440, NVIDIA is claiming similar performance advantages.
We are eager to get production boards in our hands, because
if these numbers hold true in independent testing, NVIDIA is
going to have a couple of winning products on their hands...again.
So, where do the
GeForce FX 5200, 5200 Ultra and 5600 Ultra fit in the very
competitive mainstream video card market? Well, if the
performance levels NVIDIA is claiming hold true, the NV31
and NV34 based products are positioned very well. At
an MSRP of less than $200, the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra should
be a big seller for NVIDIA. This card has all of the
features you'll need moving forward, with performance levels
that rival competing products at the same price points.
The same can be said about the GeForce FX 5200 and 5200
Ultra. At $99 and $149 respectively, NVIDIA will have
some of the most feature-rich products for the money.
Take a look at the complete price breakdown...
NVIDIA should be
commended for bringing a true DirectX 9 part to the sub-$100
segment. If the performance is competitive, and it
should be, we think
the GeForce FX 5200 is going to find its way into a slew of
"boxed" PCs built by some of the larger OEMs, and budget
gamers are going to gobble them up post haste. There
are two hurdles NVIDIA must overcome though. First is
availability. NVIDIA told us, boards based on the NV31
and NV34 should be available in April. Historically,
we'd take NVIDIA at their word, but we're having a tough
time swallowing the April release date based on our
experience, or lack thereof, with the NV30. The second
hurdle was announced about 13 hours ago, ATi's new Radeon
9600 and 9200 boards. ATi claims the new Radeons significantly
outperform their "older" counterparts, and they are priced
between $129 and $200. Until all of these products are
available, and compared to each other, we obviously can't declare one
product superior to the other. What we will say is that
now is a great time to be gamer, we have never had as many
viable choices as we do today.
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