Creative Labs 3D Blaster 5 FX5900 Review

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Page 11 - Unreal II

Unreal II: The AwakeningNew in our benchmark suite is Unreal II -The Awakening. The reason we include this software as a benchmark is again related to driver-optimisations. Compared towards Unreal 2003 imageview.php?image=688it's not commonly used as test-software and therefore excellent to test products with.

You play John Dalton, an ex-marine now working as a space marshal for the Terran Colonial Authority. Dalton leads a rag-tag group of fellow ex-marines and one alien navigator aboard the ship Atlantis, charged with the task of patrolling the outer-reaches of space to quell any trouble that may crop up on any of the scattered colonies on his patrol.

Another plus is an incredible graphics engine capable of producing some of the most glorious and breath-taking graphics to date. This engine is put to good use with some inspired level designs of vast proportions, many filled with intricately designed structures and endless beauty. Character models here have a roundness and human warmth in their textures and coloration that make them almost leap off the screen. They're more cartoon-like than photo-realistic, although they have a peculiarly vivid presence that tops anything we've seen. They also don't have those bulky "Quake hands" sported by every human and humanoid denizen of a first-person shooter since 1996, so bonus points have to be awarded for that aesthetic alone.  

Unreal II: Awakening 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
9600 256 71 57 42 30
FX 5600 58 46 33 15
9600 pro 82 71 55 41
FX 5700 Ultra 94 79 61 47
5900 97 85 67 53
Blaster5 FX5900 99 85 67 53
9700 Pro 92 86 75 63
FX 5900 Ultra 101 92 75 60
FX 5950 Ultra 101 94 77 62
9800 Pro HIS 99 95 83 69

The 5900 is still doing nice numbers, very enjoyable framerates in any resolution. A few technical improvements in Unreal II include texture compression, alpha blending, distance fog, advanced particle physics with forces and particle collisions, and per-poly collision detection for characters. Let's look at AA and AF.

4xAA 8XAF 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
9600 256 46 35 24 11
FX 5600 39 29 20 13
9600 pro 58 45 33 16
FX 5700 Ultra 59 46 32 22
FX 5900 62 49 35 26
Blaster5 FX5900 62 49 35 26
443/788 67 53 39 28
FX 5900 Ultra 67 54 41 32
FX 5950 Ultra 69 56 42 33
9700 Pro 78 65 50 38
9800 Pro 86 73 57 43

Very similar results here, the game of course remains very playable yet up-to 10x7. Even the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra caves in even below 9700 pro performance. You are safe at 10x7 though.

imageview.php?image=689

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