GeForce3 Titanium Preview
By: Mike Chambers - October 1, 2001
Serious Sam Performance
The Beyond 3D maximum quality add-on script was used to test performance in Serious Sam. During my testing with the Detonator XP drivers, I found that they provided around a 5% increase in Serious Sam performance compared to the Detonator 3 12.90 drivers on the GeForce3.
Serious Sam
The maximum setting configuration script takes most graphics options to their highest levels, but does not include anisotropic texture filtering.
Karnak Demo - Maximum Quality
The Karnak demo is indicative of heavy multi-player game play and represents a worst case scenario. The GeForce2 Ultra does well in this test at 1024x768 while the GeForce3 provides even better performance at 1280x1024. The GeForce3 Ti 500 managed to grab a 14% gain in performance over the GeForce3 at 1600x1200 with a frame rate of over 50 fps.
Return To Castle Wolfenstein Performance
I couldn't pass up benchmarking the multiplayer test of Return to Castle Wolfenstien (RTWC) which came out in mid-September. RTWC is currently under development as a collaborative effort between Nerve Software, Gray Matter and id Software, and is based on the Quake 3 Team Arena graphics engine. I managed to come across a recorded demo from the folks over at SavageGamers, which is simplistic since it only contains the actions of one player.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
The RTWC graphics configuration menu is based on a modified version of the Quake 3 Team Arena interface. In the case of the standard high quality setting, which was used to test performance, texture compression is disabled and texture detail and geometry are both set to maximum detail.
Demo0002 - High Quality
As expected, both the GeForce3 and GeForce3 Ti 500 should provide great performance at high resolutions when the final version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein is released. As with Quake 3, the GeForce3 Ti 500 begins to pull away from the GeForce3 at 1280x1024 with a 13% increase in frame rates and 1600x1200 with a 14% increase.
However, these results are somewhat inflated since the demo did not record any frames from outdoor scenes as The Team Arena graphics engine is known to stress graphics performance in outdoor areas. During my on-line multiplayer testing, framerates hovered around 40-45 fps at 1280x1024 in open areas on the beach.
