TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Use of anti-aliasing made a dramatic difference in how graphics cards performed, even at the most basic 2x setting.

The Radeon HD 2600XT is now useless at 1440x900 as it was unable to deliver playable performance. The GeForce 8600 GT also struggled at this low resolution rendering an average of just 39fps. The GeForce 8600 GTS was only marginally faster at 40fps. The Radeon X1950 Pro and GeForce 7900GS also struggled managing less than 50fps at 1440x900. The Radeon X1950XT was a little more impressive producing 52fps at 1440x900 and 44fps at 1680x1050.

This time, with the 2xAA setting enabled, the Radeon HD 2900XT is no longer superior to the GeForce 8800 GTS as it falls way behind at all three tested resolutions. This means that the GeForce 8800 GTS now plays second best to the GeForce 8800 GTX which was again an extremely strong performer at 1920x1200.