Benchmark Results: World In Conflict
World in Conflict
We use the game’s built-in benchmark for testing World in Conflict. While you'll often hear that an RTS is playable at 25-30 FPS, we set our average target at 35 FPS to better cope with the minimum frame rates experienced in the game.
The Radeon HD 4850 does fine at 1280x1024, but enabling 4x AA exceeds its limits. As in Part 1, the GeForce cards are more limited by the processors in this game. While the GeForce GTX 260/Phenom II X2 550 BE combination reaches the target, it’s hard to ignore the added performance gained by stepping up to the Radeon HD 4890. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 285 is able to match the HD 4890 when paired with the Phenom II X4 955 BE, but doesn’t get anywhere near the 57 FPS it reached with the Core i7-920.
Besides seeing the bottom three GPUs slide down a bit, not a whole lot changes at 1680x1050, and the GeForce GTX 260/Phenom II X2 550 BE remains our cheapest AM3 platform to reach the target.
Again, at this resolution, World in Conflict paints an interesting look at platform balance. While graphics cards like Nvidia's GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 285 surely benefit from pairing with additional processing cores, CPUs like the Phenom II X2 550 BE and X3 720 BE also benefit significantly from stepping up to a Radeon HD 4870 X2. At this resolution, we clearly see both CPU and GPU limitations coming into play.
At 1920x1200, the GeForce GTX 260 falls a bit and, just as in Part 1, requires a quad-core CPU to remain above target. The Radeon HD 4890 is the sweet spot for a balanced and least-expensive minimum recommendation.
Deciding where to spend extra money for World in Conflict gaming isn’t easy based on the average FPS. Sure, a quad-core processor helps, but look how well the Phenom II X2 550 BE performs when paired with AMD's Radeon HD 4870 X2. Even divulging the minimum fps reported by the built-in benchmark adds very little to this picture.
At 2560x1600, the picture becomes clearer. Only the dual-GPU solutions remain playable. The Phenom II X2 550 BE is sufficient, but more processor provides added performance. Plotting Core i7-920 results to this chart, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 only manages one additional FPS, while the GeForce GTX 295 manages an additional five FPS. The Socket AM3 platform would, of course, come in at a significant savings, although it’s less apparent when you factor in the additional cost of buying a 30” LCD and a graphics card capable of pushing 2560x1600.
