nV News - MSI NX8800GTX Review and Mixed-Vendor SLI - Page 6 of 9
Review By Mike Chambers - January 23, 2007
DARK MESSIAH PERFORMANCE
Dark Messiah is a new breed of action role-playing game (RPG) that makes use of the Source Engine (Half-Life 2) from Valve. Dark Messiah provides a mixture of both game elements and blends in the animation and physics capabilities of the Source Engine. Although Dark Messiah received a number of unfavorable reviews, the player is drawn in by an exceptional combat system.
Dark Messiah
Click Image to Enlarge - 2560x1600 - 16x CSAA
Measuring the graphics performance in Dark Messiah consisted of loading a save point that begins with a full screen cut-scene of the player approaching the gates of Stonehelm on horseback. The cut-scene changes to half-screen when an Orge approaches and attacks the castle entrance. Control of the player is then taken over for a brief period as the orge bursts through the front gate. An MPEG-1 video clip of the action is available for viewing here (~ 22 MB).
Dark Messiah
Click Image to Enlarge - 1920x1200 - 16xQ CSAA
Dark Messiah Settings
PERFORMANCE AT 1920x1200
The MSI NX8800GTX delivered an impressive average frame rate of 60 fps at a resolution of 1920x1200 with 16x CSAA. Enabling 16xQ CSAA is best left for an SLI configuration as the average frame rate was almost cut in half to 33 fps.
Average Frame Rate - 1920x1200
Minimum Frame Rate - 1920x1200
PERFORMANCE AT 2560x1600
At a resolution of 2560x1600, the MSI NX8800GTX delivered solid performance up to 4x MSAA. At this point, SLI began to provide a noticeable improvement in the average frame rate (with the exception of 16xQ CSAA).
