Setup and Methodology
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Setup:- MSI KT4 Ultra (VIA KT400 chipset)
- AMD Athlon XP1800+ @ 166MHz x10
- OCZ 512MB PC3500 @ 166MHz, 2-3-6-3-Fast
- MSI GeForce FX5600 (270MHz GPU, 550MHz RAM)
- MSI GeForce Ti4800SE (275MHz GPU, 550MHz RAM)
- Santa Cruz PCI sound card
- LinkSys LNE530TX v5 LAN
- Western Digital WD120BB 2MB Cache
- Windows 2000 with SP3
Variables (things we will test):
- Video card model
- GeForce 4 Ti4800SE (control variable)
- GeForce FX5600 (test variable)
- Drivers
- Detonator v43.45
- Detonator v44.03
- Game performance
- Freelancer (6000-7000 samples in FRAPS)
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2900-3200 samples in FRAPS)
- Unreal Tournament 2003 – CTF-Face3 Flyby
- Unreal Tournament 2003 – DM-Asbestos
- Image quality
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Unreal Tournament 2003 – CTF-Anubis
- Anisotropy levels
- 0 samples (0xAF)
- 8 samples (8xAF)
Constants:
- Screen resolution 1024x768x32bits
- Drivers set to “Quality”, VSynch OFF
- Anti-aliasing set to 0x.
- Freelancer details: Maximum details
- Morrowind details: 50% view distance, pixel-shading ON, real-time shadows OFF
- Unreal Tournament 2003: Ultra-High details, all options turned ON (i.e. foliage etc.)
Tools for Measurement:
- FRAPS was used to measure average frame rates in Freelancer and Morrowind
- Unreal Tournament 2003’s benchmark batch files used to record frame rates for UT2K3
- HyperSnapDX v5.11.01 used to take screen captures of Morrowind and Unreal Tournament 2003 (as per NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra Reviewer’s Guide, page 11)
Objectives:
- Determine if the optimization is isolated to Unreal Tournament 2003.
- Determine if the optimization is isolated to the FX5600 card.
- Determine if the optimization is isolated to v44.03 drivers.
- Determine if optimization’s effect on image quality.
