F.E.A.R. Performance

F.E.A.R. (or First Encounter Assault Recon) is a one of the newer entrants to our game benchmark suite, and it features jaw-dropping graphics, a killer Matrix-like "reflex time" feature, and a physics engine that can bring any system to its knees. This Monolith production includes a wide selection of System and Video settings, along with an in-game testing module to keep things 100% comparable between different graphics cards. In this case, as we are dealing with video card performance, so we have racked the computer and graphics settings to high (max only increases AF and AA) and then testing at the different resolutions.

F.E.A.R. is one of the most demanding game benchmarks in our entire suite, and its overall design rewards both pure graphics performance and an SM 2.0/3.0 feature set. The ASUS EN8600GT 256MB puts in another very nice performance, easily outpacing the other base mainstream cards like the GeForce 7600 GT and Radeon HD 2600 XT, and taking third spot behind only the GeForce 8600 GTS and GeForce 7900 GS.

F.E.A.R. AA and AF Widescreen Performance

Once we transition to 4X AA and 8X AF widescreen detail settings, all of the cards drop back considerably, and the ASUS EN8600GT 256MB falls back into the mainstream pack, offering framerates on par with the GeForce 7600 GT and Radeon HD 2600 XT.

Company of Heroes Performance

Company of Heroes is one of the more recent addition to our game benchmark suite, and true to form, it offers one of the most demanding benchmark environments ever. CoH is a WW2 real-time strategy game, which again provides us with a nice change of pace from the usual FPS benchmark. To give the video cards an even tougher time, we have enabled SM3.0, and set every available graphics option to High.

Company of Heroes is another very demanding game benchmark, and is an area where ATI video cards tend to hold a significant advantage. This is made clear in the benchmark chart, but in terms of NVIDIA-based cards, the ASUS EN8600GT 256MB does quite well, and stays well ahead of the GeForce 7600 GT.

Company of Heroes AA and AF Widescreen Performance

It is virtually the same story once we upgrade to the widescreen/higher detail settings, and the ASUS EN8600GT 256MB again places well in NVIDIA-centric terms.