3DMark Vantage focuses on the two areas most critical to gaming performance: the CPU and the GPU. With the emergence of multi-package and multi-core configurations on both the CPU and GPU side, the performance scale of these areas has widened, and the visual and game-play effects made possible by these configurations are accordingly wide-ranging. This makes covering the entire spectrum of 3D gaming a difficult task. 3DMark Vantage solves this problem in three ways:

1. Isolate GPU and CPU performance benchmarking into separate tests,
2. Cover several visual and game-play effects and techniques in four different tests, and
3. Introduce visual quality presets to scale the graphics test load up through the highest-end hardware.

To this end, 3DMark Vantage has two GPU tests, each with a different emphasis on various visual techniques, and two CPU tests, which cover the two most common CPU-side tasks: Physics Simulation and AI. It also has four visual quality presets (Entry, Performance, High, and Extreme) available in the Advanced and Professional versions, which increase the graphics load successively for even more visual quality. Each preset will produce a separate, official 3DMark Score, tagged with the preset in question.

The graphics tests have four quality presets available: Entry, Performance, High and Extreme. Each preset specifies a certain setting for the rendering options listed in section 5.6. The graphics load increases significantly from the lowest to the highest preset. The Performance preset is targeted for mid-range hardware with 256 MB of graphics memory. The Entry preset is targeted for integrated and low-end hardware with 128 MB of graphics memory. The higher presets require 512MB of graphics memory, and are targeted for high-end and multi-GPU systems.

3DMark Vantage is obviously fresh from the shelves. Recent developments in NVIDIA PhysX features however render the standard "P" score pretty useless. So we focus only at the GPU score which is an excellent representation of GPU scaling (and also what you should focus on to determine which graphics card is faster/slower).

The GTX 260 SP216 models will score roughly 8500-9500 points, and near 13000 points in 3DMark06.

Gaming: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game for PC based on a 'what-if' scenario of the second Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The game is created as a warning to mankind against mindless play with technologies. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the official prequel to the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game by the Ukraine-based GSC Game World studio. The game is set in 2011 and brings forth the events to have preceded the third campaign of Strelok to the Zone center. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky introduces an alternative look onto the events of the original game and offers the player to try himself out as a mercenary in search of his own path in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Completely new in our benchmark suite, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. CS which was released this week. We'll be conducting two tests. The first being Full Dynamic lighting with maximum image quality settings which 95% of you guys will use.

Image Quality setting:

• In-game Software Anti Aliasing enabled
• 16x anisotropic filtering
• Full Dynamic lighting with maximum image quality settings

Personally I was very impressed by the lighting, which is some of the best I've ever seen in a game. It's been completely changed. Camp fires cast moving shadows that impact on walls and characters in real time. Check it out; the OCX MaxCORE is fastest here.

And then the mother of all image quality settings, DX10 mode with Enhanced full Dynamic lighting Image Quality setting:

• In-game Software Anti Aliasing enabled
• 16x anisotropic filtering
• DX10 mode with Enhanced full Dynamic lighting maximum image quality

Sun rays burst through cracks in wooden roofs. Lightning lights up the night sky as well as dark interiors. It looks terrific and atmospheric, which is what S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is all about really.

This setting is for the hardcore graphics freaks like yours truly, and it is grand that they implemented it. And I dare say it ... it looks better than Crysis. You need to bring in the big guns, but with the GTX 260 SP216, 1280x1024 is fine and 1600x1200 actually playable ... though difficult.

Full Dynamic lighting with maximum image quality settings

Enhanced full Dynamic lighting maximum image quality settings