Games Benchmarks - Half Life 2 (DirectX)
Here we'll use Half Life 2 to test the DirectX9 rendering performance of the graphics boards in this title. We are using our own internal benchmark from a level that has a lot of shader usage in order to maximise the utilisation of the graphics board, rather than the CPU.
| Half Life 2 (FPS) | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 |
| X850 XT PE | 94.3 | 94.9 | 94.7 | 93.8 |
| 9800 PRO | 92.7 | 91.5 | 74.1 | 58.7 |
| X850 XT PE % Difference to: | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 |
| 9800 PRO | 1.7% | 3.7% | 27.8% | 59.8% |
Even with Beyond3D’s internal demo the 9800 PRO remains CPU bound until the 1024x768 resolution. This is better illustrated by the performance increase the X850 has on it. Only starting at this resolution rung does the X series card leave its older sibling behind as it clings to the CPU limit ceiling.
| Half Life 2, 4x AA + 8x AF (FPS) | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 |
| X850 XT PE | 94.7 | 94 | 91.4 | 82.6 |
| 9800 PRO | 86.5 | 66.9 | 43.4 | 33.3 |
| X850 XT PE % Difference to: | 640x480 | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 |
| 9800 PRO | 9.5% | 40.5% | 110.6% | 148.0% |
AA and AF tell a different story as the Radeon 9800 PRO starts showing that its graphics bound in this demo, with this 3.2GHz P4, right from the start and only barely remaining playable at the highest resolution rung tested. If we turn our attention to ATI’s top of the line AGP card however, unless you have a monitor that supports 1280x960 or higher resolutions you won’t be utilising the card to its fullest.
In general, demonstrating up to three times higher performance than the 9800, upgrading is highly recommended for HL2 but perhaps to a lower-end card.
