Palit NVIDIA GTX460 in Surround: 1GB vs. 2GB - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

Article Type: 
Review

Genre: First Person Shooter
Surround Support: Good

Downloadable benchmark utilised (average of the 4 flybys used) as while I like the STALKER games, I didn’t have the patience to want to actually play it right now. All settings at maximum, DX10.1, etc…

STALKER

Normal 16:10 gaming was perfectly possible even with 4xAA enabled. Surround gaming is far less comfortable, with the minimum fps being extremely noticeable in this title for some reason. Surround + AA absolutely impossible.

STALKER

Surround minimum framerates reaching into a more playable zone with a 2GB card, but enabled AA and STALKER is impossible at Surround resolutions.

STALKER

A quick look at the VRAM utilisation numbers shows exactly why AA makes the 1GB cards tank so badly. However, STALKER, Aliens vs. Predator and Crysis are really the only games tested here which I can honestly say a 2GB GTX460 SLI setup isn’t powerful enough to cope with at (near)-full details in Surround resolutions.