Far Cry

Far Cry is a DirectX9 title that uses a number of DirectX9 and DirectX8 Shaders. The 1.31 patch also utilises 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 these boards result in the Shader Model 3.0 path.

Far Cry (FPS) 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX 81.5 81.1 81.4 81.2 81.0
6800 Ultra 82.4 82.0 82.1 82.0 79.8
7800 GTX SLI 78.8 79.0 79.0 79.4 79.1
6800 Ultra SLI 79.1 78.8 78.8 78.8 78.8
7800 GTX % Faster than 6800 Ultra 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
Single -1.0% -1.2% -0.9% -0.9% 1.5%
SLI -0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.7% 0.4%
% SLI Increase 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX -3.3% -2.6% -2.9% -2.2% -2.4%
6800 Ultra -4.0% -4.0% -4.0% -3.8% -1.3%

Under normal rendering conditions on these graphics boards this Far Cry test also manifests itself as a CPU test rather than a graphics board test!

Far Cry, 4x FSAA & 8x AF (FPS) 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX 80.3 80.2 80.1 77.2 62.1
6800 Ultra 81.2 80.9 80.4 68.7 50.8
7800 GTX SLI 78.9 79.0 78.9 78.0 78.5
6800 Ultra SLI 78.7 78.6 78.7 77.7 74.8
7800 GTX % Faster than 6800 Ultra 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
Single -1.2% -0.9% -0.4% 12.3% 22.2%
SLI 0.3% 0.5% 0.2% 0.5% 4.9%
% SLI Increase 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX -1.7% -1.5% -1.5% 1.1% 26.5%
6800 Ultra -3.1% -2.9% -2.1% 13.0% 47.3%

With 4x FSAA and 8x AF enabled we are beginning to see some graphics limitations at higher resolution and as such we can see that a single 7800 GTX is able to open up a 22% performance advantage over the 6800 Ultra in Single board mode and 5% in SLI, as both boards are still fairly CPU bound in SLI mode. Due to the fact that the 7800 GTX has a higher performance in the first place, hence is more CPU limited with SLI enabled, it has less of a performance gain in SLI mode than the 6800 Ultra does.

Far Cry, 8xS FSAA & 16x AF (FPS) 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX 78.8 78.4 68.7 46.4 30.1
6800 Ultra 81.1 76.0 56.5 33.3 19.1
7800 GTX SLI 78.0 77.7 72.6 51.9 35.2
6800 Ultra SLI 78.4 76.3 60.7 37.4 21.3
7800 GTX % Faster than 6800 Ultra 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
Single -2.8% 3.2% 21.7% 39.4% 57.5%
SLI -0.5% 1.9% 19.6% 39.0% 65.1%
% SLI Increase 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
7800 GTX -1.0% -0.9% 5.7% 11.8% 16.7%
6800 Ultra -3.3% 0.3% 7.5% 12.1% 11.3%

With 8xS FSAA and 16x AF enabled the test is becoming somewhat more graphics limited and as such the 7800 GTX is able to stretch its legs a little more in relation to the 6800 Ultra, opening up a maximum performance gap of 58% at high resolutions. Curiously the boards are not responding too well with 8xS FSAA in SLI mode and the gains are somewhat limited, although the 7800 GTX does have a slightly larger gain, and as such a single 7800 GTX is able to outperform the 6800's in SLI mode.