Jedi Academy, Morrowind
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
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Star
Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi AcademyJedi Academy is something new I just started playing recently and having collected the old Star Wars comics from Dark Horse, the events following the war intrigues me (if anyone has read the “Dark Empire” series would understand). So far it looks interesting and I can’t wait to get into the meat of the game. This particular test occurs at the very beginning of the game where the character fights some “rats” (typical starter-level creatures) along a pixel-shaded waterfall and the fallen shuttle craft. I noticed this section of the game performed very poorly, so it makes for a good test. I will refine my testing of this game as I play more.
Game
Configuration
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| Screen Resolution | 1024×768 and 1600×1200 |
| Geometric Detail | High |
| Texture Detail | High |
| Texture Quality | 32 bit |
| Texture Filter | Trilinear |
| Detailed Shaders | ON |
| Shadows | Volumetric |
| Dynamic Lights | ON |
| Dynamic Glow | ON |
| Light Flares | ON |
| Wall marks | ON |
Here we see something we haven’t before… the FX5700 Ultra beating the softmod Radeon 9500. NVIDIA has always excelled at OpenGL performance, especially in games that are based off the Quake 3 engine, and Jedi Academy is no exception. Before you conclude that this game runs too slow for your liking, this test was meant to see how bad the game and hardware can get. Be sure to test your settings and turn off the detailed shaders if things are going too slow.
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The
Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe 3rd installment to
the Elder Scrolls franchise is proving to be very successful. Once again,
I am using Balmora as the “benchmark” town because of its large
number of NPCs and buildings (great for back-face culling testing), and a
large pixel-shaded river running through it.
Game
Configuration
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| View Distance | 50% |
| Pixel-shading | Enabled |
| Real-time shadows | Disabled |
| Min and Max Frame Rates | FX5700U
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FX5600U
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Softmod
R9500
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R9500
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Min
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Max
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Min
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Max
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Min
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Max
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Min
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Max
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| 1024×768 | 0x0 |
26
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56
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21
|
63
|
43
|
66
|
45
|
64
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| 0x8 | 16
|
55
|
19
|
53
|
38
|
64
|
42
|
61
|
|
| 2×0 | 19
|
52
|
17
|
57
|
43
|
64
|
46
|
63
|
|
| 2×8 | 22
|
56
|
23
|
52
|
39
|
61
|
41
|
59
|
|
| 4×0 | 5
|
11
|
3
|
10
|
35
|
65
|
39
|
62
|
|
4×8 |
6
|
10
|
4
|
11
|
37
|
62
|
37
|
60
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|
| 1600×1200 | 0x0 |
26
|
61
|
19
|
44
|
42
|
64
|
38
|
56
|
| 0x8 | 21
|
55
|
17
|
36
|
39
|
62
|
41
|
56
|
|
| 2×0 | 24
|
55
|
2
|
44
|
40
|
61
|
44
|
57
|
|
| 2×8 | 15
|
25
|
7
|
10
|
37
|
63
|
39
|
59
|
|
| 4×0 | 6
|
11
|
5
|
10
|
38
|
63
|
37
|
55
|
|
4×8 |
5
|
10
|
4
|
8
|
40
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58
|
36
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57
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Looking at the results, we see that the FX series takes a steep dive in performance when 4x anti-aliasing is enabled. This is similar to the behaviour seen in the Age of Mythology tests we showed earlier. It would appear that there is a compatibility bug with certain games with anti-aliasing. Just to make sure that this data is correct, I redid these tests and both the FX5600U and FX5700U came up with similar results.
Overlooking this unusual behaviour, we see that the FX5700 Ultra lags behind both the Radeon 9500 and the softmodded Radeon 9500. However, it does produce playable frame rates from 0x0 to 2×8 on both resolution settings. I did experience some unusual lag when I turned the character more than 45 degrees left or right. The game would pause or stutter for a split second and then continue on working as usual. At these points, the frame rate dropped 50% as recorded in the min/max frame rate chart above. The Radeon cards on the other hand did not experience such stutters or lag and ran very smoothly.
If you’re planning on playing and exploring Morrowind for a while longer, the choice is obvious that you should get a Radeon 9500 or higher. The FX5700 Ultra currently lacks the muscle to produce the same smooth user experience.
