Graphics Wars: Battle for Your 200 Dollars

Game Synthetics
Synthetic game benchmarks hit a little closer to the core usage scenario of a graphics card. These benchmarks are built upon the game itself and generally run a scene or series of scenes from the game in order to garner a performance score. As these benchmarks are built upon current popular gaming titles they offer a better picture of the video cards real world performance.

Metro 2033
First up we have Metro 2033, a game set in the post-apocalyptic former Soviet Union. Metro 2033 has become the new Crysis and while it is one of the most visually stunning games on the market it is also one of the most punishing, bringing even high end video cards to their knees. The benchmark is run at 1900x1200 resolution with all the eye-candy turned up. The test is repeated three times with the end result being an overall average frame rate measured in frames per second.


The R6850 edges out the N460GTX by a noticeable margin, even if both video cards fail to break the 30fps barrier. The sub-30fps score is not really all that surprising, as we mentioned, Metro 2033 is still pretty much a system crusher and can bog down even the fastest video cards. Additionally all of the eye-candy is maxed which obviously takes its toll.

Both cards would be more than able to provide smooth frame rates should the visual detail be reigned in a bit - as you can see in DirectX 11 mode, where the framerate is well below acceptable levels.


S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Call of Pripyat is set in the area around the Chernobyl incident. The test can implement both DX11 and DX10 elements during a run though of separate game scenes and as we have done in the past, we have sorted this test by the Sun Shafts test as this has proved to be the most taxing on the GPU’s.


Stalker CoP proved to be a knock-down drag out fight between the two cards with each competitor exchanging blows on a test by test basis. As we mentioned, the results are sorted by the Sun Shafts test, but it is not the only means of comparison. History has shown us that AMD based cards tend to score higher in the Day and Sun Shafts tests, while NVIDIA generally takes the lead in the Night and Rain tests. This particular matchup however showed a different story with the N460GTX managing to eek out a victory, albeit a small one, in three of the four tests. The R6850’s sole win in this round was in the Day test, where it bested the NVIDIA card by 7fps, conversely the N460GTX responded in kind by posting a near 7fps lead in the more rigorous Sun Shafts test.

We have mentioned before that the DX10 results are markedly low. Especially for NVIDIA cards where we can see the scores plummet. While scores for both AMD and NVIDIA-based cards suffer under DX10, NVIDIA cards demonstrate a definitively marked drop. This current performance delta renders the DX10 version of this benchmark as unreliable and therefore useless.

Colin McRae DiRT 2



Running the built-in benchmark in Colin McRae DIRT 2 shows both cards achieving solid frame rates near the 60fps mark. The N460GTX crosses the finish line first in a clear victory, however the R6850 isn’t eating too much NVIDIA dust turning in a still respectable 58fps average.

Just Cause 2
Just Cause 2 is a visually impressive game highlighted by bright and beautiful tropical location coupled with the sandbox style of play popularized by the Grand Theft Auto franchise. If you are looking for a great story line and visually stunning cut-scenes you will want to keep looking. The plot is thin and the banter between characters plays out with one-liners reminiscent of 80’s-era action flicks.



The game features three built-in benchmarks, with Concrete Jungle providing the highest GPU workload. Average frame per second scores are reported and the results have been sorted by the Concrete Jungle test. In an interesting twist of fate, just as DiRT 2 was an AMD-pushed title, Just Cause 2 is an NVIDIA "The Way It’s Meant To Be Played" title, so it is a little surprising to see that the AMD-based R6850 upsets the N460GTX in this scenario with the R6850 holding onto an average lead of roughly 10%. I guess "The Way Just Cause 2 Is Meant To Be Played" is on - an AMD card.

Click on next page to see the results in actual gameplay.