Test--The Benefit Of Changing Range Of View
We conducted this test with maximum graphics quality (extended dynamic illumination of objects) with DirectX 10. Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering were deactivated and the range of view was set to maximum. The test system consisted of a Core 2 Duo E6750 at its standard frequency of 2.66 GHz, 4 GB of memory, and a GeForce 8800 GTS 512. The test resolution was 1920x1200 pixels.
In total, you can set the range of view in 12 steps. In the pictures, you can see the setting of the slide bar, which you usually find in the extended graphics menu. In order to make it easier to see the setting, we put a number next to it: 12 is the maximum range of view, 1 is the minimum.
You can hardly see any difference between level 8 and 12, where the frame rate stays at 24 fps. Beginning with level 8 the frame rate goes up by one and reaches 25 fps, but the illumination clouds of the anomaly are hardly visible. At level 4 or less, the number of objects in the background decreases and it’s strange that the frame rate actually drops down to 22 or 23 fps. A significant increase in performance only comes from the minimal range of view, with the frame rate shooting up to 27 fps at setting 1.
Playing with the settings doesn’t make sense here, because the gain is simply too small. If you want to see all the details, you can go back from level 12 to 8, which results in a gain of only 1 fps at maximum graphic quality. You would be better off staying at the maximum range of view and change the graphics or illumination mode; the potential for improvement there is a lot higher.
