Race Driver: Grid is the latest game released by the racing specialists at Codemasters. Grid is powered by the Codemasters' Ego engine, which is an evolution of the Neon engine featured in Colin McRae: Dirt.
Race Driver: Grid Settings
All the settings were turned to their highest value. The results were obtained by 3 driving laps around the Le Mans track with the BMW Touring car.
Race Driver: Grid Results
Performance was smooth in all situations. The minimum frame rate was obtained when going off-track, as there are a number of particles kicked up while doing so. I was surprised to see that even with almost a dozen cars onscreen, the frame rate doesn't deviate much from when racing through the same area alone. While 8x MSAA provides very acceptable performance, I play with 4x in order to keep the frame rate a little higher.
Antialiasing is an absolute must for this game, as it even cleans up the in-game menus. Codemasters have incorporated a more advanced AA selection mechanism which allows the user to select the specific AA setting available, even differentiating between 8xQ and 8X MSAA.
GPU TEMPERATURE
At a room temperature of 20.5C, the XFX GeForec 260 GTX's temperature peaked at 84C after ten minutes of running the FurMark stability test with Xtreme Burning Mode enabled at a resolution of 1680x1050 within a closed case.
CONCLUSION
The XFX GeForce 260 GTX (or the newer Core 216 260 GTX) is a great performer in all the latest games and will satisfy the needs of all gamers playing at resolutions up to 1920x1200. The recent price drop on the 260 GTX-based card allows SLI to be a worthwhile solution (or upgrade) for gamers with a solid budget.
The XFX GeForce 260 GTX is outperforming and outclassing the XFX 8800 GT 512MB XXX that a few months ago was the reigning champion of the $200-$300 price range. It'll be hard to find a card with a better value to performance ratio than the XFX GeForce 260 GTX for the holiday season.
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