http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=461&type=expert&pid=14
Gaming in Windows Vista has definitely been a struggle since the operating systems release in January. We even ran an early Vista gaming benchmark article (though all DX9 titles) that contained more frustration than anything else and followed it up with detailed driver improvement guarantees from both AMD and NVIDIA. Both companies promised improvement in their performance and compatibility and they have slowly but surely gotten DX9 performance about on par with Windows XP.
Our DX10 titles show a slightly difference scenario though, one that hasn't been in the public eye long enough to get the full attention of both parties. In our single GPU testing, the NVIDIA 8800 GTX was by far the best performer in the DX10 titles that are currently available. The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card, closer to the actual price competitor to AMD's HD 2900 XT card, was also a strong performer and out matched the AMD card in just about all of our tests.
The AMD HD 2900 XT had some difficult times as a single card; it came in last in our 3-way comparison in all of our tests with the exception of Call of Juarez where it had a slight lead over the 8800 GTS 640MB. In our initial review of AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT back in May I concluded that the card was mediocre for current DX9 titles but that "real test on these cards will come later this summer and into the fall as the first Direct X 10 titles are finally released." Well that time is now, and AMD let us down again. This could be an issue with the hardware design or clock speeds but it also is definitely an issue with driver development.
Gaming in Windows Vista has definitely been a struggle since the operating systems release in January. We even ran an early Vista gaming benchmark article (though all DX9 titles) that contained more frustration than anything else and followed it up with detailed driver improvement guarantees from both AMD and NVIDIA. Both companies promised improvement in their performance and compatibility and they have slowly but surely gotten DX9 performance about on par with Windows XP.
Our DX10 titles show a slightly difference scenario though, one that hasn't been in the public eye long enough to get the full attention of both parties. In our single GPU testing, the NVIDIA 8800 GTX was by far the best performer in the DX10 titles that are currently available. The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card, closer to the actual price competitor to AMD's HD 2900 XT card, was also a strong performer and out matched the AMD card in just about all of our tests.
The AMD HD 2900 XT had some difficult times as a single card; it came in last in our 3-way comparison in all of our tests with the exception of Call of Juarez where it had a slight lead over the 8800 GTS 640MB. In our initial review of AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT back in May I concluded that the card was mediocre for current DX9 titles but that "real test on these cards will come later this summer and into the fall as the first Direct X 10 titles are finally released." Well that time is now, and AMD let us down again. This could be an issue with the hardware design or clock speeds but it also is definitely an issue with driver development.