As our second test, we used the fly-by scene in the tutorial. Since it doesn't contain any extreme effects, the cards can run at much higher frame rates. This test is meant to show how well the graphics cards handle the 3D engine, especially at higher resolutions.

Basically, only the Geforce 8800's are still able to deliver playable frame rates at 1920 x 1200. The Radeon 2900 XT once again shows a 50 percent performance penalty when anti-aliasing is enabled. Nvidia cards benefit from additional video memory starting at 1600 x 1200, while ATI cards show no such improvement.

Except for the Geforce 8400 GS, Nvidia's smaller cards run the game better than their counterparts from ATI. If you wish to play at higher resolutions with these cards, you'll have to disable anti-aliasing and turn down the detail level in the game menu.