Hitman: Absolution
The recent introduction of Hitman: Absolution gives us a new title for our suite with built-in benchmarking capabilities. Not only does it support DirectX 11, but the characters are really well-done. Although this title is available on consoles as well, there are a number of PC-only features (like higher texture resolution, higher shadow map resolution, and increased gesture resolution). DirectX 11-specific additions include global illumination, bokeh, tessellation, Eyefinity support, and HD3D support.
Even at Low quality, the Radeon HD 8790M demonstrates its advantage over the 7670M. With anti-aliasing disabled, it delivers 35% more performance than the 7670M at 1280x720.
The delta increases as resolution goes up, too. At 1920x1080, the Radeon HD 8790M outperforms the 7670M by 45%, delivering fairly playable performance where last generation's part doesn't.
Enabling 2x anti-aliasing translates to a roughly 35% advantage favoring the Radeon HD 8790M across the board. At 1280x720, frame rates remain playable, but above that they aren't as viable. We're definitely still looking at mainstream hardware here.
The Ultra quality preset hammers that point home for us. No longer is the story about performance; it's now a matter of basic playability. Even at 1280x720 with no anti-aliasing applied, both mainstream GPUs struggle to serve up a smooth experience. Sure, the Radeon HD 8790M decimates its predecessor. But you're going to need to make some compromises when it comes to gaming on a less expensive low-power platform.
