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Benchmark Results: Grand Theft Auto IV

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12:00 AM - 09/23/2009 by Chris Angelini, Fedy Abi-Chahla

Grand Theft Auto IV is one of those console ports that has always seemed to favor Nvidia hardware. Here we see all of our cards present playable performance at 1680x1050 and, for the most part, 1920x1200. The only time there’s any real differentiation is when resolution jumps to 2560x1600.

At that point, the CrossFire’d Radeon HD 5870s don’t miss a beat, and the two GeForce GTX 285s maintain 60+ frame per second performance. The single 5870 edges out the GeForce GTX 285, but just barely.

What happened to the GTX 295? This is one of those cases where 896MB of memory per GPU just isn’t enough. The card runs out of GDDR3 and won’t do 2560x1600 at the detail settings we used to test. This is an important lesson. Just because the GTX 295 is tops in Nvidia’s lineup doesn’t mean it’s always the right tool for the job. When it comes to the highest resolutions and detail settings, you want at least 1GB per GPU, and 100MB can make a difference.

Talkback
hispeed120 09/23/2009 6:13 AM
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-20+

I'm. So. Excited.

Anonymous 09/23/2009 6:15 AM
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-8+

Can't wait

CRosko42 09/23/2009 6:21 AM
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-16+

So it looks like 1 is enough for me.. Dont plan on getting a 30 inch monitor any time soon.

jezza333 09/23/2009 6:29 AM
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-18+

Looks like the NDA lifted at 11:00PM, as there's a load of reviews now just out. Once again it shows that AMD can produce a seriously killer card...

Crysis 2 on an x2 of this is exactly what I'm waiting for.

woostar88 09/23/2009 6:38 AM
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-8+

This is incredible at the price point.

LORD_ORION 09/23/2009 6:39 AM
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tipmen 09/23/2009 6:40 AM
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-17+

wait, wait, before I look can it play cry... HOLY SHIT?!

viper666 09/23/2009 6:40 AM
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cangelini 09/23/2009 6:43 AM
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viper666 :
why didn't they thest it against a GTX 295 rather than 280??? its far superior...



Ran it against a GTX 295 and a 285 and 285s in SLI :)

annisman 09/23/2009 6:44 AM
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-3+

I refuse to buy until the 2GB versions come out, not to mention newegg letting you buy more than 1 at a time, paper launch ftl.

jasperjones 09/23/2009 6:44 AM
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-14+

Thanks for the timely review. I have to say though, some of the technical details are beyond me. It'd be useful if you explained terms such as "VLIW architecture" or "tessellation engine"

viper666 09/23/2009 6:45 AM
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megamanx00 09/23/2009 6:48 AM
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-19+

O M F G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wish the darn thing wasn't so big, but man, what a card! Now I'm thinking about a bigger case :D

annisman 09/23/2009 6:49 AM
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-17+

Oops, who am I kidding ? I just ordered 2 5870's. One Sapphire, and one HIS, seeing as how they limit you to one per customer.

falchard 09/23/2009 6:54 AM
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-16+

I think most of this review has to do with how many games are optimized for nVidia. The Crytek Engine 2.0 and Source Engine are well known for heavily favoring nVidia architecture yet compose the bulk of the benchmarks. I think the fact ATI can do best in these engines when they have a detect ATI instant nerf its performance speaks measures for the actual card.

charlesxuma 09/23/2009 6:56 AM
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tipmen 09/23/2009 6:56 AM
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-14+

Another thing is that the 5800x2 isn't out yet, now think of two of those bad boys in Crossfire.

blackbyron 09/23/2009 6:59 AM
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-5+

Not bad for Crysis benchmark. I really want 5870 for my christmas present, but damn I also need to buy a new PSU.

blackbyron 09/23/2009 7:02 AM
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In addition, I am impressed that the 5870 has a better power consumption and better gaming performance compare to DX10 cards. If the card is affordable I'd definite buy one.

cangelini 09/23/2009 7:10 AM
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-3+

jasperjones :
Thanks for the timely review. I have to say though, some of the technical details are beyond me. It'd be useful if you explained terms such as "VLIW architecture" or "tessellation engine"



Jasper,
TBH, the architectural details are secondary to how the card performs. However, if you'd like a better idea of what tessellation can do for you, check out the picture of the Alien on page six!


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