Benchmark Results: 3D Games
Eurocom’s D900F takes a definitive lead over MSI’s mobile processor and AMD graphics, though neither solution can play Crysis adequately at these moderate settings.
Anti-aliasing is where the Radeon HD 4850 used to shine, but neither solution was fast enough to enable it in Crysis.
Buyers will need a machine with at least the D900F’s power to play Far Cry 2 at Very High detail levels and 1920x1200. Enabling AA made both systems unplayable, but the performance deficit of MSI’s GT725 appears to be its CPU.*
*Encountered by problems with these specific test results, we retested the GT725 and found that at these settings its graphics processor overheated. Further tests revealed that the fan was not responding appropriately to GPU temperature increase. The case was also venting more air from the CPU sink than the GPU sink, indicating a possible problem with MSI's single-fan design. The graphics unit's thremal-throttle condition may have been overlooked by the manufacturer, since it appears to occur only at detail levels that are beyond smooth playability even for an ice-cold Radeon Mobility HD 4850.
Clear Sky is playable at 1280x1024, but only on the Eurocom D900F. Lower quality settings would be required to get MSI’s GT725 up to speed. Neither notebook can play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with 4x anti-aliasing enabled.
World in Conflict requires either non-native resolutions or lower detail levels to play smoothly on the D900F, while the GT725 would have required even lower details to play at 1280x1024.
