How we test.... graphics cards

Computer Shopper’s graphics card benchmarks are designed to see how well a card will cope with real games, not just synthetic benchmarks. We run three different game tests to see how each card copes with different technologies; good performance in one game doesn’t necessarily translate to good performance in another.

We install the card in our Athlon 64 4000+ test bed (see below) and run each test at a standard resolution and settings. Results are plotted on a graph, against the reference performance of an ’average’ graphics card: a Point of View nVidia 7800 GT. The reason for picking this graphics card is that it is quite affordable for a card that can run the latest titles at a resolution of 1,280x1,024 — the native resolution of the 17in and 19in LCDs that most of us own .

We may rerun the tests with modified settings depending on the graphics card we’re testing. If it’s performing really well, we up the settings to see what it can cope with; if it’s doing badly, we drop the settings to see the point at which we can get a playable frame rate. That way, you can tell from our reviews exactly what a particular graphics card will and won’t cope with.

TESTS

Doom 3

SETTINGS: 1,280x1,024 resolution, high quality, 4x FSAA

WHAT IT DOES: Doom 3 is one of the most visually stunning games on the market and perfect for testing graphical performance. The engine uses OpenGL, so it’s a good indication of how any game using this technology will perform. While Doom 3 has a built-in demo, we didn’t feel this pushed graphics cards far enough, so we recorded our own demo. To test a graphics card’s performance Doom 3 plays our demo back as fast as it can. The number of frames in the demo divided by the time it took to play it gives us a score in frames per second. You can run our time demo on your home PC if you have a copy of Doom 3. In Windows Explorer open your Doom 3 directory, open the base folder and create a new folder called demos. Download our test file to this folder. Start Doom 3 and set it to the settings above and press CTRL+ALT+¬ (key to the left of ’1’). Type timedemo timedemo1 and press Return. The first test is jerky, while Doom 3 caches texture data, so run the test a second time to get the true performance figure.

The outside bits of Doom 3 really push a graphics card to its limits

Call of Duty 2 version 1.01

SETTINGS: 1,280x1,024 resolution, 4x AA, Anisotropic Filtering, Shadows: Yes, Number of Dynamic Lights: Normal, Soften Smoke Edges: World Only, Number of Corpses: Medium, Texture Settings all set to Extra.

WHAT IT DOES: Call of Duty 2 uses DirectX and is one of the most demanding games available. With a wide range of effects and frenetic action, it tests every aspect of a graphics card’s performance.

You can run a copy of our time demo on your home PC if you have a copy of Call of Duty 2. In Windows Explorer navigate to your Call of Duty 2 folder and open the main folder. Create a new folder called demos. Download our test file to this folder. Start Call of Duty 2 and click on the Options menu, select Game Options and enable the Game Console. Press the ¬ key (to the left of the 1) and type timedemo timedemo1. When the demo has finished press SHIFT+¬ to see your PC’s score.

There’s so much going on in Call of Duty 2 that graphics cards have a tough job rendering each scene

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

SETTINGS: 1,280x1,024 resolution, 4x AA, 8x Anisotropic filtering, Shader Model 3.0

WHAT IT DOES: Splinter Cell might not be the fastest paced game, but it uses Shader Model 3.0 to generate incredible lighting effects that can push a graphics card to its limits. As Shader Model 3.0 is becoming popular with games developers, it’s important that we test for its performance.

We run a timed demo file, which gives us a score in frames per second. If we get a graphics card that doesn’t support Shader Model 3.0, we mark this test as failed.

The use of Shader Model 3.0 means that Splinter Cell is one of the most graphically hard tests to perform

3DMark05

SETTINGS: 1,280x1,024, 4x AA

DOWNLOAD: http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark05.shtml

WHAT IT DOES: Futuremarks’ 3DMark05 is the most popular synthetic benchmark. We use it for graphics card testing, as you can download it and compare your graphics card to those we’ve reviewed in the magazine.

3DMark05 runs a suite of tests designed to test every aspect of graphics card performance from lighting and textures to generating realistic landscapes. The end result is a figure based on the card’s performance in each of the tests.