Half-Life 2 Performance Comparison

Aside from Intel's GMA900, all of the cards we tested offer acceptable performance in 1024x768. Nonetheless, the 16 MB GeForce 6200 TC card still doesn't exactly give cause for celebration. In 1280x1024, Half-Life 2 is unplayable on any of these cards. The two TurboCache cards, Ati's X300 SE as well as Intel's GMA900 turn in very low results.

In the lower quality settings, the GeForce PCX 5750 is able to shine. This is largely because it renders at reduced shader precision, making it faster but resulting in lower image quality compared to the other contenders. While the game remains unplayable on Intel's GMA900, all cards offer acceptable performance in 1024x768. In 1280x1024, the 16 MB GeForce 6200 TurboCache card and the Radeon X300 SE make a poor showing, bringing up the rear.