Games Benchmarks - Far Cry (DirectX)
Far Cry is a DirectX9 title that uses a number of DirectX9 and DirectX8 Shaders. The 1.3x patches also introduces PS2.x and PS3.0 shader paths, making use of their longer instruction length capabilities to collapse some rendering passes. The test we are using is a custom Firingsquad demo and the highest shader profile available is used, which on the X850XT Platinum Edition is PS2.0b and on the 9800 PRO is PS2.0.
| Far Cry (FPS) | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 |
| X850 XT PE | 53.4 | 53.4 | 53 | 52.9 |
| 9800 PRO | 51.7 | 51.1 | 47 | 45.7 |
| X850 XT PE % Difference to: | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 |
| 9800 PRO | 3.30% | 4.50% | 12.80% | 15.80% |
In previous reviews Far Cry has always shown itself to be very dependent on the CPU but it’s still surprising how little benefit you get in this game with a X850XT PE compared to the 9800 PRO.
| Far Cry, 4x AA + 8x AF (FPS) | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 |
| X850 XT PE | 53.1 | 52.8 | 53 | 52.7 |
| 9800 PRO | 51.1 | 48 | 39 | 27.8 |
| X850 XT PE % Difference to: | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 |
| 9800 PRO | 3.90% | 10.00% | 35.90% | 89.60% |
At 4x AA and 8x AF the X850XT PE flexes its proverbial muscles at 1024x768 where it pulls away sharply from the 9800 with a 36% increase in performance and nearly 90% at the next resolution rung. It remains severely CPU limited though.
This game makes one thing very clear: if Far Cry is all you care about then upgrading your CPU and motherboard is a much more cost-effective way to improve frame rates. Or you could just not upgrade at all, the Radeon 9800 PRO remains very playable even with these levels of FSAA and AF up to 1024x768.
