Game Performance – General Gaming
For general game performance, I use Need for Speed: Most Wanted to measure the overall effect of processing the sound effects on the game’s frame rate. The tests were performed at the”high” detail setting (4 of 5 on the detail level meter) at 1280×1024 resolution. Data was taken during three laps around a track with three hard opponents in moderate traffic.
| Frame Rate Range |
Xtreme |
SB X-Fi |
Chaintech |
Audigy |
Realtek |
| 1 – 30 FPS |
1.3% |
0.4% |
0.8% |
1.3% |
0.4% |
| 30+ FPS |
98.7% |
99.6% |
99.2% |
98.7% |
99.6% |
Before you walk away thinking this test is a waste of time, it’s an important illustration that some popular games simply aren’t that demanding in audio. Looking at few games on the market, you can pick out the games in which this will likely hold true like sports and racing games, platformers, and certain real time strategy games. Of course this is a generalization, but it may help you decide what your audio needs are.
