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- Date:
- Tuesday , September 01, 2009
- Author:
- Mark Warner
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
Wolfenstein Gameplay Performance and IQ
Just in case you needed some more Nazis to kill in brutal and entertaining ways, the "new" Wolfenstein is here to deliver your supernatural World War II fix! We'll check it out on a broad range of video cards from the GeForce GTX 295 down to the Radeon HD 4770. Come with us as we find out what sustenance this game has to offer our starving video cards.
Highest Playable - 2560x1600
The resolution of 2560x1600 has been the domain of the high end performance enthusiast, though it is certainly not exclusive. Gaming at this very high resolution requires a strong video card, a fast and powerful CPU to feed that video card, and a robust system memory bus.
That said, the rampant increase in GPU power over the past 2 years coupled with a shift of focus from PC-first to Console-first games has changed the outlook somewhat. Quite a few games are now playable with very high settings at 2560x1600 on a wide variety of relatively inexpensive video cards.
Enthusiast
At 2560x1600, the GeForce GTX 295 blew the doors off of Wolfenstein. Not only was it able to play with maximum in-game settings, but it did so at an almost solid 60 frames per second. Of course, the other two video cards performed extremely well also, but as you can see from the graph above, the GTX 295 hardly ever dipped below 60 FPS during our testing. If the game had not been limited to 60 FPS, there is no telling how high it would have gone.
With maximum in-game settings at 2560x1600, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 spent a lot more time below 60 FPS than the GTX 295 did, but performance was still spectacular, with an average framerate of almost 58 FPS. That’s just 1.1 frames lower than the GeForce GTX 295.
Finally, the GeForce GTX 285 performed just under the level of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in Wolfenstein. Also playing with maximum in-game settings, we saw an average framerate of 56.4 frames per second at 2560x1600.
While this level of performance is spectacular, it is not unexpected. Remember, this iteration of Wolfenstein comes to us powered by id Tech 4, which is also the engine powering Doom 3 and Quake 4. While it has been updated to provide some manner of modern eye candy, this is still mostly 5 year old technology here.
Performance
Both the GeForce GTX 275 and the Radeon HD 4890 were easily capable of playing Wolfenstein at 2560x1600 with the highest possible in-game settings. The GTX 275 shone brightly during our testing, producing framerates almost 25% higher than the HD 4890. Of course, performance was great on both video cards, so the GTX 275’s "victory" doesn’t really count for much. Gameplay did not suffer on the Radeon HD 4890 at all, in spite of its lower framerates.
Mainstream
Neither the GeForce GTS 250 nor the Radeon HD 4770 were playable at 2560x1600 with maximum in-game settings. In fact, the Radeon HD 4770 was not exactly playable even with the lowest possible settings, which are shown above. Though the average framerate hovered at 30FPS, gameplay was jittery and there was a monstrous input lag. The problem was, without more exhaustive graphics options, we just couldn’t turn any more options off in order to get the game playable. And aside from that, it looked terrible with these settings anyway. We certainly would not recommend to anyone that they play at this high resolution with such low graphical fidelity.
The GeForce GTS 250 performed quite a bit better. At 2560x1600, we had to lower only 2 options to get the game playable. We took the Shadow Quality and Post-Processing Quality options down one notch each: shadows to Medium, postprocessing to Low. This caused dynamic objects such as characters, vehicles, and physics objects like crates and furniture to stop casting shadows, while static meshes such as buildings and other landscape and architectural elements kept their shadows. It also lowered the quality and intensity of specular lighting reflections.
Life At 2560x1600
At 2560x1600, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 proved to be the best value. The GTX 295 was literally off the charts, with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and GTX 285 following close behind. However, the low price of the GTX 275 makes it a standout value at this resolution.