Benchmark Results: The Exceptions, Explained
Not all of our testing went perfectly. But in most cases, there was a good explanation, or a fix we could expect to see in the future with updated software.
For example, Virtu supports Aliens Vs. Predator. However, we use the game’s benchmark demo to generate performance scores. Because the executable isn’t recognized, we simply get an error upon launching the game, since HD Graphics doesn’t support DirectX 11. Had we had the option to add a title manually, we could have gotten this one working.
HAWX simply isn’t resident in Lucidlogix's white list. Again, we could have added this one manually if the functionality were enabled. But because a DirectX 9 path is available, this title does fire up and run on Intel’s HD Graphics core.
Also not on Lucidlogix’s list, Just Cause 2 stutters along on a different code path. Why does AMD’s card look faster than Nvidia’s? Certain features are only enabled on the GeForce cards. Enabled, they add interesting visuals, but also slow things down.
Metro is also supported. However, the benchmark app responsible for automating the Frontline demo isn’t called metro2033.exe. So, it didn’t run on either discrete card. In order to double-check support, we fired up the actual game and played through part of the first level with Virtu properly enabled until it blue-screened, citing an interrupt issue. It seems that the ability to spot-check performance with Virtu turned on is limited to benchmarks that can be run within each game, be it a built-in metric of FRAPS-based run, until we get a copy of the software with access to the white list.
