Page 8 -Splinter Cell
Splinter CellIn our benchmark suite is the very popular game Splinter Cell is of course included. Making a believable world for a spy to play in is quite a daunting task, but the levels are varied, filled with appropriate objects and designed so that you usually dont have to choose between too many paths. It wouldve been great if you couldve had several points of entrance and that way get a lot more replay value. Sam and the rest of the characters do look terrific, with high polygon models and both crisp and appropriate looking textures. What really separates Splinter Cell from most recent action games is the use of shadows. Splinter Cell uses the Unreal engine, which weve seen in several great looking games in the past few months, but UbiSoft also added improved lighting. By using real-time cast shadows, lightmaps, etc, this title gives you some of the best looking shadows to date.
In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the national security of the United States, the NSA (National Security Agency) has ushered forth a new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. This top-secret initiative is dubbed Third Echelon. Denied to exist by the U.S. government, Third Echelon deploys elite intelligence-gathering units consisting of a lone field operative supported by a remote team. Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp, and nearly invisible.
You have the right to spy, steal, destroy and assassinate, to ensure that American freedoms are protected. If captured, the U.S. government will disavow any knowledge of your existence.
You are Sam Fisher.
You are a Splinter Cell.
Splinter Cell has two shadowing techniques, Projector and Buffer mode. We forced Projector mode in high detail on all graphics cards. Again, graphics cards without shader capabilities will run into a problem as they do not support it. We are talking about the GeForce4 MX and earlier models (the GeForce 3 excluded) only. With that in mind this software really is an excellent benchmark. Small side note, we are not using the standard timedemos. We made one ourselves that stresses the fillrate of the graphics card and will utilize the CPU very little.
Splinter Cell 1.2b | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 |
FX5500 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
FX 5600 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 12 |
9600 256 | 23 | 15 | 16 | 13 |
FX5700 | 27 | 23 | 18 | 15 |
9600 Pro | 32 | 28 | 22 | 18 |
FX 5700 Ultra | 33 | 28 | 23 | 18 |
R9600XT | 36 | 31 | 25 | 20 |
9700 Pro | 45 | 40 | 32 | 27 |
5900 XT Galaxy | 47 | 40 | 32 | 27 |
FX 5900 Ultra | 53 | 45 | 36 | 30 |
9800 Pro | 50 | 45 | 35 | 31 |
FX 5950 Ultra | 54 | 47 | 38 | 32 |
9800XT | 54 | 49 | 39 | 34 |
475/880 | 54 | 48 | 38 | 31 |
Let's take a look at some of the benchmark numbers. Unlike some of the future games, Splinter Cell doesnt use per-pixel lighting, so the framerate should be quite good even for owners of mid-end PCs.