Windows 7 series: NVIDIA and AMD Graphics and Gaming Performance

Mid-range: Left 4 Dead

Developed by a new team of Valve’s, Left 4 Dead is a single or multi-player game that encompasses the most automatic story for a shooter: zombie apocalypse.  The team aspect of the title, based on Valve’s Source engine, really makes this a unique gaming experience that I think all PC gamers should be required to play.



The Valve: Source engine supports in-game demos that can be played back as fast as possible (fixed frame count) or in real-time (variable frame count) to simulate a more real-world experience.  I chose the last stage of the Farm House “movie” and played through the cornfield section to get the majority of the level in the FRAPS run through. 





While the NVIDIA GTX 260+ is the clear winner in terms of performance here in both Vista and Windows 7, the NVIDIA driver situation means that performance actually decreases in the operating system move while for AMD the results are 100% stable.