Benchmark Results: Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X
H.A.W.X. will never challenge Flight Simulator X for realism, but this flight simulator delivers good-looking DirectX 10 graphics and hectic dogfights. Thanks to automatic image stabilization, daredevil flight maneuvers are rendered perfectly, and contribute mightily to fast-paced action of the game. In our testing, DirectX 10 crashed at 8x AA, requiring a switch to DirectX 9.
Unfortunately, the differences between DirectX 9 and 10 are huge. Sunlight effects are sharply reduced and the haze over landscapes and cities goes missing. For our tests, we used DirectX 10 and the High setting to achieve maximum graphics quality. We used the test sequence Mission: Glass Hammer Over Rio to measure FPS. Frame rates were good overall, but AA reduces 3D performance by as much as 50%.