Gory Gaming: Bulletstorm Performance Analyzed

Test Hardware: Graphics Cards And Platform

MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II OC Edition

Sporting an 800 MHz core and 1024 MHz memory clock, the N580GTX Twin Frozr II OC Edition is equipped with Nvidia’s most-powerful GPU. The Twin Frozr II keeps the graphics processor cool, while noise is kept to a minimum. Overclockers should be happy to hear that voltage control is supported through MSI’s Afterburner utility.

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC Edition

The R6950 Twin Frozr II OC Edition also boasts the effective dual-fan Twin Frozr II cooling system, and this Radeon’s 810 MHz core is fed by 2 GB of on-board GDDR5 running at 1250 MHz. Five display outputs offer a wide variety of monitor options, including multi-display Eyefinity.


MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II OC Edition

MSI’s GeForce GTX 570 also supports overvoltage via the Afterburner utility and comes factory overclocked with a 750 MHz core. The card’s 1280 MB of on-board RAM runs at 1000 MHz. This model is equipped with the same Twin Frozr II cooler that we’ve seen on MSI's higher-end cards.

MSI R6870-2PM2D1GD5

This is MSI’s reference Radeon HD 6870 card, featuring stock 900 core and 1050 MHz memory clocks, plus 1 GB of GDDR5. Like the Radeon HD 6950, the 6870’s five display outputs can support up to four 1920x1200 monitors via Eyefinity.


MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II OC Edition

The N560GTX supports MSI's Afterburner overvoltage function. The card employs an 880 MHz core and 1050 MHz memory clock. One gigabyte of memory back Nvidia's graphics processor.

MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GD5 OC Edition

The N460GTX is equipped with MSI's Cyclone GPU cooler. Unlike the Twin Frozr II, this implementation employs a single fan, but its large heat pipes around the circumference prove effective at keeping the graphics processor cool in our tests.

This card is equipped with 1 GB of GDDR5 RAM at 900 MHz and a 725 MHz core clock. Once again, this model offers voltage control via Afterburner.


MSI R5770 Hawk

This is the lowest-priced option of the test samples we're using armed with the Twin Frozr II cooler and capable of accommodating higher voltages with MSI’s overclocking software. Set to employ an 875 MHz core and 1 GB of 1200 MHz GDDR5 memory, the Hawk is a capable Radeon HD 5770 option.


MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II 1GD5 OC Edition

Yet another MSI card that supports overvoltage, the N550GTX-Ti is factory overclocked to 950 MHz. Equipped with 1 GB of GDDR5 RAM at 1075 MHz, this model sports the Cyclone II cooler for low GPU temperatures.


MSI N450GTS Cyclone 1GD5 OC Edition

The lowliest card in our test suite, the N450GTS Cyclone offers the same voltage control and Cyclone cooler seen on higher-end models. With an 850 MHz core and 980 MHz memory clock, this model is pushed ahead of Nvidia's reference specification.

MSI P67A-GD65

MSI’s P67A-GD65 is packed with features, including two extra SATA controllers, FireWire ports, SLI and CrossFire support, and on-board power and reset switches. The board showed no weaknesses in our P67 Motherboard Roundup: Nine $150-200 Boards article. Armed with the latest stepping of Intel's P67 chipset, we don't have to sweat the SATA bug, either.

  • JohnnyLucky
    The next time how about installing a game on a solid state drive and a hard disk drive so we can find out about any differences in game play.
    Reply
  • shubham1401
    mayankleoboy1i enjoy the game and i am not embarrassed to admit it on my 3.33ghz core 2 duo and gtx580, it stutters a lot during some areas and level loading. even a slight CPU use by another processes make this game unplayable.
    Didn't happen with me. I have a 2.66Ghz C2D and 9800GT. And I played the whole game with ~45Fps at 1600X900 medium settings.
    :)
    Reply
  • yyrkoon
    JohnnyLuckyThe next time how about installing a game on a solid state drive and a hard disk drive so we can find out about any differences in game play.
    Where have you been for the last decade? It would only effect level loading.
    Reply
  • haplo602
    why are the pictures and descriptions on the cards backwards ? I mean firs the image than the description ? since we are scrolling DOWN normaly, it's the wrong way around.
    Reply
  • Maziar
    Thanks for the review :)
    The good thing about Unreal engine is that the PC game powered by it are almost always optimized and that's what's lacking in most of todays' PC games.
    Reply
  • kevith
    Why this commercial disguised as an article?
    Reply
  • hannibal
    The thing that "Epic is serious about multithreading" is good thing to see! We have had so long time 4 to 6 core CPUs, that it has been a shame that those cores had not been supported in games so far. This is very promising indeed!
    Reply
  • nevertell
    You definitely have to do these more often.
    Reply
  • Formata
    I love this sort of article. Would be nice to see that same sort of comparison done with Witcher 2
    Reply
  • joshyboy82
    I had no interest in buying this game, but I read the review to see if it my change my mind. Sadly it won't. I already am into too many games and I just can't seem to beat CS:S, so when I've run out of Witcher sequels and Portals, I'll only have Battlefields and Diablos to conquer, before I become a full time farmer (as a in-game career) in Skyrim. Sorry about your luck.
    Reply