Lost Planet DirectX 9/10 Widescreen Performance

Since we are evaluating a DirectX 10 video card, the use of Windows Vista is a definite requirement, but we also need some updated DirectX 10 game benchmarks as well. One of the best is the Lost Planet performance test, which comes in both DirectX 9 and 10 flavors, which allow across-the-board comparisons against last-generation graphics cards. The benchmark is also extremely tough on the hardware, and the resultant scores can be quite hard on the mainstream graphics cards, showing unplayable framerates in many cases. Since this is a high-end DirectX 9/10 game benchmark, we've utilized widescreen resolutions from the start, choosing 1600x1000 and 1920x1200.

To say that Lost Planet is a demanding game benchmark would be the understatement of the year, as you can almost hear the system grinding as it completes the testing. The initial Cave test area gets the Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB off to a good start, as it outpaces both the GeForce 7900 GT and Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB cards. The GeForce 8 Series mainstream flagship does score higher in DirectX 9 compared to DirectX 10, but this was the same story with higher-end GeForce 8800-based cards as well.

If the Cave portion of the Lost Planet benchmark is tough, then the Snow section is downright evil. The framerates drop back considerably, and we see the ATI cards putting in a better showing. Even so, the Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB posts score equal or better than a GeForce 7950 GT 512MB.

Lost Planet DirectX 9/10 AA and AF Widescreen Performance

Adding 4X anti-aliasing and 16X anisotropic filtering to the mix results in a brutal benchmarking environment, and the Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB has a severe drop-off in overall framerates. Here the Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS easily outperforms the GeForce 7900 GT 256MB, but the Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB now pushes ahead.

We see much of the same results in the Snow portion of the Lost Planet benchmark, but under this scenario, the Albatron GeForce 8600 GTS continues to post scores close to the GeForce 7950 GT 512MB, but the Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB now pushes ahead.