NVIDIA SLI: Call of Duty 4

For our real-world gaming testing, I have split the results up between SLI testing and CrossFire testing.  We are interested in comparing how the Skulltrail system, with its 8-cores of processing power, compares to our standard GPU testing platform that uses a dual-core processor.  What we want to find is that Skulltrail offers a better overall gaming experience by relieving any CPU bottlenecks that the SLI or CrossFire configurations might offer.  To that end, you’ll see four sets of data on the SLI graphs:

  • Skulltrail + 8800 Ultra x 2
    • Skulltrail platform with two 8800 Ultra cards in SLI
  • NV 8800 Ultra x 2
    • Our standard gaming platform with two 8800 Ultra cards in SLI
  • Skulltrail + 8800 Ultra x 1
    • Skulltrail with a single 8800 Ultra
  • NV 8800 Ultra x 1
    • Standard gaming platform with a single 8800 Ultra

Call of Duty 4 (DirectX 9)



Call of Duty 4 is the next iteration of the very popular CoD series and is a return of the Infinity Ward team that made CoD1 and CoD2 so successful.  The graphics for this title are simply amazing, and considering that it is still a DX9 graphics engine, developers of these DX10 titles we use should be shamed!  If you want a great single and multi-player experience set in a modern warfare environment, don’t pass up Call of Duty 4.

Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 134

Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 135

Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 136

Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 137
Call of Duty 4 settings
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 138
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 139
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 140
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 141
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 142
 
Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire - Motherboards 143

Skulltrail is actually making a difference for us here with our SLI gaming system in CoD4.  At 1600×1200, where the CPU bottlenecks are most prominent, Skulltrail produced a 22% better average frame rate and a 43% higher minimum frame rate.  At 2048×1536, the Skulltrail platform still has the advantage in SLI mode but by the time we hit 2560×1600, the differences are much smaller. 

Even more interesting is our single GPU results – the Skulltrail platform was consistently slower than the dual-core system.

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