Test Suite
Please note that the only application that was tested consistently throughout is 3DMark06, due to its constant availability. However, results achieved by the other applications listed are reliable if not completely comprehensive.

• Futuremark – 3DMark06 (1.1.0)
• Infinity Ward – Call of Duty 2 (v1.3)
• Bethesda – Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Relic – Company of Heroes (1.71)
• Techland – Call of Juarez
• Valve – Half-Life 2: Episode 1
• Monolith – F.E.A.R (1.08)
• GSC Game World – S.T.A.L.K.E.R – Shadow of Chernobyl (1.003)

Of course we chose to include the venerable 3DMark06 as our only synthetic benchmark. Despite it not really being the best indicator of GPU performance (scales dramatically with CPU clock speed), it provides one of the best, if not the very best, foundation for which to get a feel for overall system performance. We in the hardware testing industry like to call 3DMark06 a “sanity check”, because you can pretty much know what score a given setup should be getting, and running the test verifies that everything is working properly and lets you get a quick idea about how the system you’re working on stacks up to others.

As far as games go, we chose to bring back some of our favorites in Call of Duty 2, Oblivion, Company of Heroes, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and F.E.A.R., as well as bring in some new ones: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Call of Juarez. Our mainstays on the test suite list were chosen based on the type of results they yield. Manipulating certain settings in the game allows us to compare various components in the computer without having to change the hardware configuration. We maintain that these games are among the very best at stressing the graphics subsystem of any computer when details and resolution are cranked. The two additions to this list have been chosen because they are very graphically intensive games. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. pits your video card against grass shadows, full dynamic lighting, and expansive scenes that require quite a lot of graphics horsepower. Similarly, Call of Juarez offers vast expanses of trees, mountains, valleys, waterfalls, you name it. We challenge you to play Call of Juarez with maximum settings and a decent resolution without noticing any stutter from the game.

For the first time ever we will be running some DirectX10 games. These tests will be included in their own section toward the end of the article.

Tests
3DMark06

While old, decrepit, and on its way out the door, 3DMark06, as mentioned above, is still the gold standard for determining the general performance of your computer in “gaming-type” applications. No other test is so widely used in enthusiast forums by overclockers looking to break records. No other test is such a household name, if graphics benchmarks are a household name anywhere in the world that is. We ran the test at the default settings, as anyone that runs the test should, so we could compare the results with those we received earlier and even those received by other websites using similar hardware configurations.


From this information, it is clear that the Radeon HD 2900 parts, 512MB and XTX versions included, are competitive with the top of the line offerings from NVIDIA. It is also plain to see that CrossFire, at least in 3DMark06, scales graphics card performance reasonably well based on the standard set by NVIDIA’s SLI technology. The unfortunate thing about Synthetic tests like this is that it is more difficult to analyze the results achieved. Typically, overclocking a processor on a system with ultra high-end graphics before running 3DMark06 not only results in an increased CPU score, but higher SM3.0+HDR and SM2.0 scores are usually achieved as well. This means, at least in part, that 3DMark06 is fairly heavily controlled by CPU performance – meaning the test is not as meaningful for determining graphics card performance. What we take from this test is the knowledge that on some level, the HD 2900XT 1024MB product is competitive with the GeForce 8800 Ultra.