Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat (DirectX 10)
In revamping the benchmark suite for this story, we added a number of DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 titles. Of course, testing DirectX 10-capable cards in a DirectX 11 game gives those boards a distinct advantage, since they’re forced down a previous-generation code path. So, while we have to address this in the next few tests, we ran the latest version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. using DirectX 10, just to get an idea of how the latest cards compete against previous-generation hardware.
Similar to what we saw in Call of Duty, the GeForce GTX 480 begins by trailing the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 and GeForce GTX 295 boards, slightly outpacing ATI’s Radeon HD 5870 and the old 4870 X2. Shifting to 1920x1200, three dual-GPU boards beat the GTX 480. And by the time we’ve hit 2560x1600, the Radeon HD 5870 also turns in better numbers.
There’s a rub, though. While scaling with anti-aliasing mirrors the no-AA numbers at 1680x1050, ascending the resolution scale shows the dual-GPU cards incurring a bigger hit to the point where Nvidia’s new flagship actually takes second place at 1920x1200 (with a playable average frame rate, no less) and 2560x1600.
Similarly, the GeForce GTX 470 retains more of its performance at 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 than the Radeon HD 5870 or 5850, despite its placement on the chart.
