NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2 Review - Benchmarking Half Life2: Lost Coast

Up through 2.5M pixels, the 9800GX2 gained between 4-11fps. The smallest increases were in the TH2Go resolutions, which all hit 130fps with the 9800GX2. And, all of the TH2Go resolutions hit right at 130fps. So, even though 3840x1024 has over 4.25x the pixels of 2400x600, the performance is dead even.

The 9800GX2 really starts to shine in the 4M pixel area, adding 43fps (+50%) to 3840x1024, and adding 56fps (+63%) to 2560x1600. If HL2 is your game, and you play at less than 4M pixels, the increased performance in between the GX2 generations will be negligible. But, if you are playing at 4M pixels, the performance increase is astounding. With the 9800GX2, Half Life 2 basically becomes CPU-limited.

This test was run using the built-in stress test, in Half Life 2: Lost Coast. It provides a set course through a number of environments, showcasing particle, lighting and water effects. It also showcases HDR, which was added to Half Life 2 with the Lost Coast expansion. All of the settings were maxed out. It was run with Full HDR, 4xAA/16xAF, and V-sync off.