Crysis is a very heavy DirectX 10 game. We updated this game to version 1.2.1 and used the HOC Crysis Benchmarking Utility to help us collecting data. Since we don’t think the default demo based on the island map stresses the video card the way we want, we used the HOC core demo available with the abovementioned utility. We ran this demo under three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600, first with image quality set to “low” and then with image quality set to “high.” Since all video cards achieved a number of frames per second below 10 at 2560×1600 with image details set to “high,” we are not including this test as the results aren’t reliable. We ran each test twice and discarded the first result, as usually the first run achieves a lower score compared to the subsequent runs since the game loses time loading files. The results below are the average number of frames per second (FPS) achieved by each card.
We benchmarked the forthcoming SiS 771, a socket AM2 chipset with integrated graphics. Take a look to have a clue on the performance of motherboards based on this new chipset.
We added five new thermal compounds to our previous roundup, for a total of 35 different thermal compounds from major brands. We also tried another “alternative” compound: spray oil.
Our review of Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, a mainstream socket 775 motherboard using solid aluminum capacitors based on Intel P965 chipset and supporting all new Core 2 Duo CPUs and also DDR2-1066/PC2-8500 memories.
BFG MX-680 features a modular cabling system, one 120-mm fan and one 80-mm fan that only kicks in when internal temperature is above 50º C. Let’s see if this is a good product.
