Will Flaming Cliffs 2.0 be much better optimized for nVidia Cards?

[dok_rp]

Hello folks,

 

I've just read the second part of the FAQ about Flaming Cliffs 2.0 release on SimHQ and I was a little surprised to see how far apart the requirements for ATI and nVidia cards are.

 

The recommended ATI card is a 4850 and for nVidia-based systems it is a 8800 series card. How could those two cards be comparable when the former is much superior to the latter in every single aspect?

 

I own a 4890 and I bought it because of its great costXbenefit potential. Can AIT owners expect mediocre performance from Flaming Cliffs 2.0? Will the game be primarily optimized for nVidia cards?

 

Best regards!!!

[EtherealN]

Well, I'm not sure I agree with the relative strengths of the two cards - though I cannot recall the results of comparative benchmarks of the era.

 

When we compare an 8800GS with a 4850 we get these two "on-paper" metrics:

8800 Pixel Fillrate: 6.6GP/s

4850 Pixel Fillrate: 10GP/s

8800 Texture Fillrate: 26GT/s

4850 Texture Fillrate: 25GT/s

 

So there's a difference, yes, but they do switch places. The 4850 thoroughly spanks the 8800GS on memory bandwidth though.

 

But, we need to realize that there is a lot of difference between different 8800's. Indeed, some 8800 models more than double the memory bandwidth compared to the GS - and beat the 4850. Same in Pixel and Texel fillrates.

 

Admittedly though, this may be more an artefact of naming schemes, with nVidia being unfortunate in using the same number for very disparate models whereas ATI/AMD went for a more precise scheme.

[Kuky]

HD4850 is not a high end card...